Anyone live in Houston???

[amyup]

My DH just announced that its possible (pretty much guaranteed) he will be offered a job transfer in Houston within the next couple of years. He thinks we should consider moving there...I know its not even happening yet but for him to even think of moving is freaking me out. All I can think about is the humidity and the humidity. What are the nice suburbs in Houston? Places with good schools, great shopping.....


Thanks
Amy

 

[VickiVM]

I live in San Antonio. My sister and her family lives in Houston. I personally don't care for it - it's extremely large with tons of suburb communities. Traffic is pretty bad. But my sister and brother-in-law love it there. Culturally, there are plenty of venues to keep the city interesting. Great BBQ and seafood!

Since it sounds like you have plenty of advance notice, you might want to consider spending some there on a mini-vacation to get a feel of the city.

Any chance you might could live in San Antonio....Love my city. Awesome people here and still somewhat of a hometown feel to it.

 

[Bonnie Voyager]

We spent 4 years in the Houston area (1990-1994) and we absolutely LOVED IT!!!! We lived in an area called The Woodlands (north of Houston). It was like living in Paradise! There are lots of nice areas on the outskirts of Houston! We go back every year or so to visit our friends and enjoy the area. I would not hesitate to return! Good luck with your decision. Definitely go down and visit!

 

[Bonnie Voyager]

By the way, we also spent a year in San Antonio in 1975-76. Also an awesome city (one of my favorite)! We vacation often in San Antonio! We spent Easter week there this year! We went to see the Rockets versus the Spurs on Easter Sunday at the SBC Center in San Antonio. (Spurs won, but they are both our favorite teams so we would have been happy either way!) I love to visit San Antonio, but I preferred living in Houston. Texas Rocks!!! Oh, I was born and have spent most of my life in Delaware (nestled between New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C., so I do have some other cities to compare Houston and San Antonio to!)

 

[trappednabox]

I live in Houston & I LOVE it!!! I have lived here all my life, and I can't imagine myself living anywhere else. Tons of great musuems, theater, GREAT shopping ( the Galleria ROCKS!!) Yes every city has it's less then perfect areas, but like I said, I can't imagine being anywhere else. Hope you like it here!

 

[Bonnie Voyager]

Amyup, I just noticed you currently live in Northern CA! Our next-door-neighbors when we lived in Houston, moved there from Walnut Creek or somewhere like that outside of San Francisco. They always talked about how wonderful the place was that they moved from, but after being in Houston for a while, they stopped talking so much about California and started saying they hoped they never got transferred back! They also LOVED Houston and all she had to offer! Even better than Northern California! Housing in Houston is MUCH more affordable than California! Just another thing to think about! Good luck!

 

[amyup]

We used to live in Walnut Creek now we're closer to Sacramento, loved Walnut Creek! If we were to move I think we would be looking at the Woodlands area, it looks pretty in the pics! Glad to know there are people that love it there.

 

[lil mermaid]

We lived in Walnut Creek and then Livermore for a little while. We moved here (North of houston) about six months or so ago. Let me know if you have any specific questions. IM me if you want. I will tell you...the summers are brutal. But...the rest of the year, is really lovely! Houston definitely has its pros and cons but overall we like it here very much. Don't h.ave much time to post now...have to put DD to bed,

Does your Dh happen to work for an oil major by any chance??

 

[luvmy2sams]

My parents live in NW Houston, and I take the kids down there every time we're out of school. My parents love it, and I do as well. Tons of stuff to do for people of all ages...beautiful communities...a short drive to the Gulf.

As for San Antonio, we just returned from a long weekend there and absolutely fell in love with it. We're already talking relocation, so if anyone knows of a company that needs a brilliant engineer, please point my DH in that direction.

 

[DemonLlama]

Born and raised in Houston, now live an hour away and was there very frequently visiting my parents until they relocated to Colorado this year.

The Woodlands are a nice suburb north of Houston, Clear Lake is a nice spot in the Southeast, Kingwood for the Northeast side, and there are many great suburban communities to the Northwest.

Houston is the most spread out city you can imagine. It takes an hour and half to drive across the farthest reaches.

If you are interested in a central area, then you would might want to look at the Heights or Rice village near the museum district and medical center. This also would depend on your housing market, but it's a very cool area.

 

[Planogirl]

I agree that Houston has plenty of nice areas both on the outskirts of the city and within the city. Besides those already mentioned other nice central areas include Bellaire and West University. The housing is so much less costly than in California that you'll be amazed!

As for traffic there is that but consider moving fairly close to wherever your DH is transfered to and then it will likely be way less of a problem than in many areas in California.

I miss Houston. We left it several years ago and I always kind of hope that we'll be able to get back someday.