So let's say you have a couple kids and a couple dogs, and you're going to put the kids in public schools. However, your job is downtown. You're looking to buy and your absolute max budget for a home is, let's say, $325K. What's the best suburb to live in? You want good schools for the kids, a yard for the dogs, and as reasonable a commute as possible. Katy, Clear Lake, Kingwood, Cypress, Woodlands, etc. Currently I live in Houston but close to Cypress. I work in west Houston so the commute isn't bad at all, but if I had to take 290 to downtown... that'd suck. So I'm just wondering what I would/should do if it looked like I'd start to work downtown. Note: I'm not against Park and Rides or Metro busses, but I'd still like a reasonable drive.
Noticed that you didn't put Sugar Land. Commute goes anywhere from 25 min to 1.5 hours depending on the conditions. It seems like it's something you're looking for in regards to your family.
Assuming you don't avail yourself of the magnet system for schools -- you want to be zoned to good schools?
If you work on the west side of town and want a good suburb then go to Sugar Land.. There are multiple ways to get to the west side... 59, Westpark, 99 (if you wanna go way west).
I live in Cypress and take the 217 bus at the Cypress Park and Ride (Skinner and 290) into downtown. Sleep or text/Clutchfans the whole ride in and out. Kids are zoned to Cy Ranch. Can't beat that
When I owned a 2-bed rathole on Dairy Ashford, I was always surprised at how easy it was to get out to Sugarland for any kind of meeting. Memorial was never much of a hassle either. I don't know anything about schools, it probably gets better farther west. I did read somewhere that Fort Bend has the highest graduation rate in the country for African Americans, that's probably a rising-tide of sorts.
This, I believe there's a new one in that area on its way as well. I remember when Beltway 8 was two lanes both ways with trees on all sides in that area. And I'm only 30. That place is booming.
Redfin app will give you a rundown of the school rankings a house for sale is zoned to. Limit your search to specific areas and see how the schools line out. I am fighting the same battle myself at the moment and it helped narrow my search down within a couple days Spoiler Katy is probably your best bet, but the taxes are outrageous ...godspeed
I'm not at all familiar with these areas. Are the schools good? Yeah just forgot to put Sugar Land. Get me a job at Ineos and guarantee I'll have very little - if any - contact with those I knew from K-12 that I intentionally broke off communication with, and I'll consider it! Yes, good schools. Don't kids have to qualify for magnet schools? Right now my only child is an infant so hard to know if she'll be the kind of student that gets into one of those. (As you can tell I'm not very familiar with them; I was not a bright child.) Never heard of those. Will Google. I've looked into that. If I were to suddenly have my job moved downtown, that's what I'd have to do.
I would do the Richmond/Grand Parkway area, just because I've seen what you can get for $325k there vs $325k in other suburbs. Plus, I am pleased with the development in the area, and I do not mind the drive to downtown everyday.
On 59 north the good suburbs start after beltway 8. The closest to downtown and best located are Fall Creek and Summerwood. The commute is easy because you can take beltway 8 to 59. These go to summercreek high school which is a brand new high school (within the last 5 years) and supposedly good. After that, the next good suburb is atascosita. This is a little deeper "inside" from 59. Good area. The commute to downtown is a little longer because there are only two roads out of atascosita, 1960 and will Clayton. The high school is atascosita which is a pretty good school. Next is kingwood which is a good deal further than the previous locales, especially the deeper you go into kingwood. There are also only two roads out of kingwood, kingwood dr and north park and there are 50x more people living here than there were 20 years ago. This area has the best schools of the three though with kingwood high school and kingwood park.
FWIW... THIS happened between these two schools last year. I'm not sure that Haymitch wants to move his kids into the midst of a race war. :grin:
Yeah... highly doubt you want to put your kids into a school district with that kind of stupidity. Also take a look at Missouri City (also FBISD). Lots of growth projected there from what i've heard (haven't done my own research), and property value is projected to go up in the next 5-10 years. One thing to keep in mind tho, traffic continues to grow out there - especially on Highway 6.
