Cervelle/Southgate In Pearland

[jonj101]

Hello.

I am new to this forum, and I was glad to find a place with such active discussion concerning Pearland.

I wanted to get the viewpoint of visitors to this forum on the southgate subdivision, which is located just south of Pearland Town Center, and just north of the Southfork subdivision which was previously occupied by Royse, but for the most part has now been turned over to Cervelle for development. Some of the residents of southgate backyards actually have a view of the "lake" and park of town center. Cervelle is the exclusive developer of Southgate.

My wife and I are in our late 20's, and we are considering moving to Pearland from our current residence near downtown Houston. While I do have insight into southgate because my parents and an uncle have moved into the subdivision, I would like to get a fair opinion from some of you. I noticed reading this forum that some of you dwell in SCR, and I just wanted a comparison to your experience.

Basically, from what I know about Southgate, the tax rate is currently 2.71, because they have no MUD tax in that one development (however the new construction in Southfork wil have MUD tax). The HOA fees are around 200/year (south fork will be nearly 400/year), and all the homes have detached garages and the lots are typically 80 x 120.

However there are some extras in the surrounding developments that southgate does not have (for example a community center, etc.) The salesperson at Southern Trails pointed out to me that in terms of resale oppurtunity this could make a significant difference. From your experience in SCR have you seen this make that much of a difference?

Also, do you know anything regarding the quality of Cervelle homes. Im impressed with my familys' purchases, but once again I dont want to take a biased eye to anything out there. Any info, viewpoints, etc. is welcome. Thanks.

p.s. - sorry for the first long post.

[RobertAcct]

My wife and I were under contract to build a house in Southgate. We liked the large lots and the nice garages. We did not think that the neighborhood was very pretty. It did not have any extras (park, pool, community center ...). The neighborhood was very plain. We ended up buying a house in Sunrise Lakes. I believe that Southgate is a nice neighborhood but it will not be an upper echelon neighborhood. You cannot beat that tax rate thought, if price is your number one factor in a house.

[jonj101]

My wife and I were under contract to build a house in Southgate. We liked the large lots and the nice garages. We did not think that the neighborhood was very pretty. It did not have any extras (park, pool, community center ...). The neighborhood was very plain. We ended up buying a house in Sunrise Lakes. I believe that Southgate is a nice neighborhood but it will not be an upper echelon neighborhood. You cannot beat that tax rate thought, if price is your number one factor in a house.

I agree with pretty much everything you said - the neighborhood itself doesnt have anything that just pops out as amazing. (except for the garages and houses themselves imo)

I havent yet looked into Sunrise Lakes - does it have all of the amenities you mentioned? Also, is it a headache geeting down 518 into your subdivision? I know the traffic sometimes can be kind of jammed near 518 and 288, but i didnt know so much about further down.

We might need to look around more - weve looked west of 288 mostly, but havent considered much east of it.

[Crionics]

I like the large garages in Southgate. One thing that seemed odd to me is that the lots don't seem to be raised much from the street as compared to SCR. The houses seem "low".