jasons

We were in Crosby a few weeks ago for Easter and we saw it on 1960 in Atascocita while driving home. Had to do a double-take!

Hi ProHouston - judging by your picture you must work in the same building as me. I'm in 1980 Post Oak.

I don't quite get the pervasiveness of posts from people who used to live in TW and now live in Houston, or people who live in Houston that would never move up here. Why do they feel the need to post in TW forum about how much better they think life is outside of TW? Who are they trying to convince, and why? Is it some sort of inferiority complex? Is it some strange way of subconsciously justifying a move by trashing the old digs? I mean really, what's the point?? We moved to TW area, Imperial Oaks to be specific, from Dallas (Frisco) in 2005 and couldn't be happier with our neighborhood. I wouldn't move into Houston for anything. For me, it's worth the 40-minute commute every day. Every second of it. And believe me, a Houstonian could argue until they are blue in the face about the virtues of living in "the city" and I STILL wouldn't give it a second thought, not in a million years.

My favorite city, hands-down, is Tampa, FL. It's nothing like the SE coast of Florida (Miami-FLL) which is a GOOD thing. It's much more relaxed, family-friendly. In many ways, it's what's left of the "Old Florida". Not too big, not too small. One of the world's best airports. The area has some of the finest beaches in the entire world; several local beaches consistently make the "best beaches" list. Great watersports. Boater's heaven. Wonderful climate, they call it the "Suncoast" for a reason. Close to the cultural center of Sarasota. Just over an hour's drive to Disney & all the Orlando theme parks. Excellent food, especially seafood & Cuban/spanish food. Good cigars too. Incredible nightlife. Gasparilla. And finally - the stadium has a pirate ship in it!! In many ways, Tampa is a smaller version of Houston, but with better beaches (if you even consider Galveston a beach), prettier water, and less pollution.

Atlanta takes the cake with its infinite versions of "Peachtree Street"

That list really looks like a list straight out of PLANO, not TW...

Most of what SpringTX said is correct. Can we all stop with the whole "The Woodlands wouldn't exist without Houston" argument? Please. Houston wouldn't exist without Galveston - and would be just another dot on the map if it weren't for the Hurricane of 1900.

Re: Plano/Frisco/Allen, etc.: As a former resident of Plano & Frisco, and now TW, I can tell you this is correct. Those cities had the foresight to box Dallas in. It's not good for Dallas - but for the people who live in the 'burbs, it's a GREAT thing. Why are Plano, Frisco, Allen, etc. such great places to live, with virtually zero violent crime? Why have they been the fastest-growing cities in the entire USA? Because they are NOT Dallas. Dallas has had to learn to deal with its own problems without the help of the "rich suburbs". Houston needs to learn the same instead of raiding every wealthy ETD around it like Robin Hood. And yes, that's exactly what annexation is - a land/money grab under a false veil of "better services." Ask the people in Kingwood where all their state-of-the-art fire equipment went. IMO this is a good thing for TW. I don't like the payout involved but at least a good chunck gets earmarked for the Hardy. For those of us in TW at least it stops the bleeding before it gets out of control.

I think the reason is b/c The Woodlands is prepared to fight and they have deep pockets. The problem with Kingwood is they waited until it was too late to fight; they didn't learn the lesson from Clear Lake and got sideswiped. After Kingwood, The Woodlands said "not again, not here", and Houston knows it. All else being equal, the key advantage The Woodlands has is time.

This is a Godsend for The Woodlands, long term IMO Maybe some people CAN afford million-dollar homes b/c throughout their lifetimes they WERE fiscally conservative and properly managed their money - as opposed to spendthrifts that can't afford a pot to pi$$ in. What a concept...

BTW - How did all the evacuaees get dumped onto Riley Fuzzel/Rayford anyway? Rayford was a parking lot for abut 24 hours and I never understood where everyone came from....

I've only lived here for a year. I'm concerned about what's happening along the Hardy Toll Road. Several wooded tracts of land have been clear-cut. One of them is a neighborhood with the first houses being completed. I can't help but wondering WHY? Why cut down all those trees - just to plant two sticks in the front yard? The neighborhood would look SO much nicer if some trees were left behind. There is a new clear-cut section along the end of Rayford where it links to Riley Fuzzel too. I feel sorry for those people who just moved into Legends Run. It looks like a bomb went off over there. Also - I hate to see smoldering piles of cut trees. Don't we already have a bad enough pollution problem in Houston? It should be outlawed in my opinion.

I've only lived here for a year. What gets me is what's happening along the Hardy Toll Road. Several wooded tracts of land have been clear-cut. One of them is a neighborhood with the first houses being completed. I can't help but wondering WHY? Why cut down all those trees - just to plant two sticks in the front yard? The neighborhood would look SO much nicer if some trees were left behind. There is a new clear-cut section along the end of Rayford where it links to Riley Fuzzel too. I feel sorry for those people who just moved into Legends Run. It looks like a bomb went off over there. Also - I hate to see smoldering piles of cut trees. Don't we already have a bad enough pollution problem in Houston? It should be outlawed in my opinion.

The Wal-Mart on Sawdust has a For Sale sign that says it is going to be replaced by a new, larger Wal-Mart. The property is for sale by CB Richard Ellis.

Thanks Houston19514

I wouldn't say "ALL" but many are...and I think a lot of it has to do with tracts and tracts of low-quality ranch houses that were built and surrounded by apartments (that have since become run-down). Great examples of this are places like Mesquite, Garland, and Irving near Dallas and to some extent areas of W/NW Houston. Those are the subdivisions built in the 70's and 1980's that are your typical Fox and Jacobs ranch house with two Arizona Ash trees in the front yard and the low-pitched 20-year brown shingle roof. Regardless of location - who wants to buy a piece of that? Contrast that to most of North Dallas (which at one time was the suburbs) where the homes are nicer, custom homes on larger lots. Those areas have not suffered the same fate and urban blight. As for where we live, they just finished widening part 1 of Rayford and Riley Fuzzel all the way to the Hardy. Part 2 of Rayford should start soon and they are indeed building a new strip center (anchord by a Kroger Signature) just outside the neighborhood. Call me crazy but we're very much looking forward to the new shopping center as it will be much more convenient than the HEB on I-45. I'm sure there will be more traffic too (hence the widening of Rayford) but nothing like the overdeveloped condo-land where I work on Post Oak.

I have to disagree on the "nothing good" about suburban hoods. I live in one (Imperial Oaks) in Montgomery County. We love it. We moved there FROM Houston (near I-10 and Chimney Rock). Wouldn't trade it for anything. Besides the commute (which on the Hardy isn't bad at all), there are several things we like: - lots of trees, green spaces, and conservation areas in our neighborhood - a new community center with several swimming pools, recreation facilities, etc. Oh, and we don't have to rely on "the city" to maintain them - as if that'd ever happen - maintained sports courts and walking trails - a HOA that beautifully maintains the community landscaping - our stores are new and therefore more open, spacious, and IMO more enjoyable to shop in - our roads are all new and therefore not full of potholes (like most of Houston) - we have our own elementary school which has a community feel - I have a 4 bedroom house, 2 car garage house with a pool for less than $200K. Try getting that in "The Heights" or "Uptown" - NOT - most importantly, I can go the gas station after dark and not have to constantly look over my shoulder for fear of getting carjacked. As far as grids, I don't think cost is a huge factor. Pavement is pavement. It is usually a function of either geographic limitations or the fact that some developers steer away from grids so the neighborhood doesn't have a cookie-cutter feel. If you look at the 'burbs of Dallas (Plano, Frisco, etc.) it is almost ALL grids because developers can easily acquire cheap farmland in blocks and convert it to neighborhoods. Also, the 'burbs in DFW are incorporated cities with regional planning, so the interconnected grid system is much more palnned-out by the North Texas Regional Council of Governments. Cities work together to fuse their road systems. (The more upscale neighborhoods tend to be "less gridded" so they don't look so "tract"). Here in Houston, the outlying area is all MUDS and unincorporated areas, so there isn't the same level of regional planning, hence no grid (unless you are in Katy/Sugar Land). It mostly has to do with how the area has grown-up over the years and how much available space there is. Compare a map of an older city in the northeast or Atlanta to a map of Phoenix - big difference - and it is largely geographic. Everyone has their own personal preferences. You couldn't give me a free house to entice me to move back into the city. But I understand why some people may prefer it (close to museums, short commute, more cultural, etc. etc.). But as a new Dad, different things are important to me now - and to say there is "nothing good" about new neighborhoods is completely false. Like I said earlier, if they are so bad, then why are Collin, Denton, Rockwall, Williamson, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties the fastest growing in the state? I agree with you on one thing. I wouldn't move to Katy (or anywhere west) in a million years. It's just like Dallas IMO (no trees).

And all this dense development is making traffic so much worse as well. Not all "redevelopment" is a good thing. BTW I picked up a copy of Suburban Nation. It's nothing more than a liberal socialist sales pitch IMO. Any book that cites "examples" of the authors' work (read: hire us) isn't unbiased. If the 'burbs were so bad, The Woodlands wouldn't be the #1 selling development in the state, now would it?

Is Del Frisco's still coming to the Galleria? The new map lists "The Oceanaire" as "Coming Soon" but there is no mention of Del Frisco's...

Well, I think that web site isn't correct. It's probably nothing more than a pile of fill dirt. Here is what the Handbook of Texas says about Mt. Houston, nowhere near this place: MOUNT HOUSTON, TEXAS. Mount Houston is east of U.S. Highway 59 near the Dyersdale oilfield in north central Harris County. It was founded on the Houston, East and West Texas Railway ten miles from Houston. A post office operated there from 1910 until 1918. In 1914 Mount Houston had two churches, a sawmill, a lumber company, numerous market gardeners, and a population of 100. By the 1980s three churches and three schools were within a mile of the townsite, but the community had not significantly increased in size.

We have had to do this before and although yes it is true - when you purchase a new home you usually do not have to pay a reletting fee or other penalites for breaking your lease - but you WILL have to pay back any move-in specials such as "first month free" or whatever. Just something to be prepared for.

Hey Observer: It wasn't so much that we "passed" on The Woodlands as much as we just fell in love with the house we got. The previous owner basically ate the cost of a new $30K pool that was one-of-a kind. We narrowed our search down to about 3 neighborhoods (Imperial Oaks, Woodlands, and Legends Ranch) and just happened to find the right house at the right price in Imperial Oaks. And our HOA fees are significantly less, but that's just a bonus not what made the decision for us. The Woodlands does have more amenities, but Imp. Oaks has everything we need (clubohouse, tennis courts, etc.) One thing Imperial Oaks does have over the Woodlands IMO is access to 45 and Hardy Toll Road. I'm to either in 5 minutes, but I do happen to live near the front entrance which helps... I have a buddy moving down from Dallas and they looked in similiar areas and ended up doing a build job on a lake in Legends Ranch. There are lots of choices in the area. I think getting an apt. first and then making a decision is a smart move.

My commute time varies, altho I usually leave at about 7:30-7:45AM and leave in the evening 5:00-5:45PM. These are peak times and would explain why it may take a bit longer than if I left at say 6:30 AM. In the evenings, I have noticed a big difference if I leave at 5:15 vs. 6:15. If I left at 6:15 I'd be home before 7 myself.

Hey Observer: If you are looking for a larger lot, you might want to look at Legends Ranch Estates, which is close to The Woodlands off of Rayford Road. The have a few custom builders and acre+ wooded lots. This builder is one of about 5 or 6 there. http://www.internest.com/imperialhomes/imp...lhomes16121.asp There are also smaller lots in this section, but still good sized. A friend of mine is moving here from Dallas ans is getting a 2-story Brighton home on the water (with a 100' along the lake) for $225K. That would easily be over $300K in Dallas. http://www.canyongate.com/communities/legendsranch/ You might also want to look at Imperial Oaks - David Weekley and Coventry are building in a gated section and you could get a very nice home in your price range. http://www.imperialoaks.com/ We live in Imperial Oaks. I have been trying various commute routes and times. I work near the Galleria on Post Oak. My commute varies between 34 and 38 miles and the time runs from 40 minutes door-to-door to about an hour. The quickest way for me is to take the Hardy Toll Road, then US 59 (or I-45) to I-10, then cut across to 610/West Loop. That's 40 minutes flat and has few, if any backups at all. If I take I-45 down and 610 around it takes about an hour. So far we have been very happy. We love it here and everything is conveniently close without feeling like we live in Sprawlburbia. It has been a bit of a challenge learning where all the stores and shops around The Woodlands are (due to the signage issue you cited) but in a few weeks we'll have it down. The best thing to do is simply search on the 'net before leaving if you need to find the nearest Starbucks. Hope this helps!

Hey Observer: I am in the process of relocating to Houston myself, but I have lived here before so I am very familiar with the area. The IT job market here is VERY healthy. There is a shortage of talent here, so finding an IT job is relatively easy. Dallas and Austin traditionally are labeled the IT