Go to Texas or not to go to Texas !?

Question

My Husband has a job offer in texas, I was wondering, what areas in texas are good areas to live in, cheap houses, nice neighborhoods, elementary school, the crime rate, and entertainment (family fun). Looking to spend on our first home about the cheapest to $175,000; 4bed, 2baths. I need help because I'll be in teaxas in the month of May. Thanks.

I'm thinking about moving to fort bend county. More like stafford area or the houston area.

Answer 1

google in texas real estates and look through the city you need to move into

Answer 2

Since you filed this as a Houston question, I'm going to hope the offer is in Houston. Realistically, you need to be even more specific to look at houses. The first thing you're going to notice in Texas, coming from almost anywhere in the country, is scale. Texas is big. From one side of the "Houston area" to the other could take you a couple of hours depending on the specific locations and time of day.

Personally, I took a pay cut a while ago to escape up constant travel and settle here in Houston. All in all, it's been an excellent decision. It's hot in the summer...but real estate prices are very reasonable for a major metropolitan area. Just to give you a sense, I got over 700 hits for homes meeting roughly your selection criteria, in a variety of neighborhoods. There are good and bad neighborhoods in all directions from the city center and sometimes good and bad neighborhoods are pretty close to each other...so I am reluctant to paint with too broad a brush until I have a better idea what area you might want to move in to.

Answer 3

Stafford, TX is small town and not as many job replacement options in that area as would be on the northern end of Houston. Also pays less. Did not mention line of work. If manufacturing / industrial (extremely unstable) you may want to ask that job if they are air conditioned and how many hours they expect you to work. Many do 12hr shifts, 7 days a week. (Gets old fast.) They don't always tell you up front and day shifts dissappear once you arrive. Night shift is the hard to fill. 6pm - 6am or some variation. Cost of living increases, raises rarely happen. Fort Bend County is still high in taxes but better than Harris. Sugarland overtouted, overpriced. Buyer's market - so your price range is very good. Can go on www.har.com and look at all the options. If you are doing ok where you are at - would advise you not to leave. If moving is the best option - you can make it here but it is a different mind set. 'Race Track' describes the lifestyle here. There are amenities.

Answer 4

San Antonio, House prices are very affordable compared with other states I have lived in. The temperature is HOT in the summer, but pretty nice the rest of the year. Great areas to live in many parts of the city & suburbs, lots to do, close to the Hill Country, lakes and rivers, only 3 hrs to the coast. Fantastic Riverwalk, the Alamo, Sea World, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Water Parks etc. Great place to live......In most nice areas you can get a 4 bed 3 bath for about $140,000 easily.

Answer 5

Without any detail about WHERE the OFFER is, I suggest one of my all time favorite cities in this country and likely on the planet is Austin.

No offense but in 2007 CHEAP isn't very realistic.

Austin has one of the most diverse "mixes" possible in any city. It's the State Capital. It's a College town. It's etchnic mix is pretty friendly and tolerant. It's Culture is varied and very broad based. One can cross the border to Mexico in a relatively comfortable drive, and/or be in Louisiana and other GULF states without much strain. It's Crime rate is below the national average, and it's school systems aren't any worse than many others.

One other thing I enjoy about Austin is that even in the "Inner City" (not strictly downtown) the neighborhoods seem accomodating, pretty clean, and close to ANYTHING.

I'd avoid West Texas, as it's less developed in large measure, and rather bleak. If I had to choose Texas as a place to live, I'd choose Austin.

Steven Wolf

Answer 6

Stafford is mostly a "light industrial" kind of town, meaning that most of the business is in little business parks.

Try neighboring Sugarland, where you can get a fair amount of house for $175K. I assume your husband's job offer is in the Stafford area, so you are smart to look in the area. Missouri City is a little run down, so stick with Sugarland.

Try here:

http://www.har.com

(It is the Houston Area Realty web site)

Answer 7

Cypress, Tomball, Katy, Spring these are around Houston any of these are great. Good school systems and you can find a great house in these areas that is in your price range. Good luck!!! Texas is a great state and the people are really nice here.

Answer 8

Houston is great. Fort Bend has a wide range of race. It's a great community. TEXAS period is great. Fort Bend your in the middle of Katy and Harris county. U can come in to the city or you can go out to the country(katy). Plenty of GREAT malls.
You'll love TEXAS

Answer 9

Houston and Dallas both have a lot to offer, including relatively cheap housing, good schools, nice neighborhoods, etc. Can you be more specific about what city you'll be moving to? We can all give you better information then (hey, it's a huge state--welcome!)

Answer 10

Im in NW Houston - Cypress TX. Cy-Fair is one of the best school districts and we have a 20% homestead exemption. Houses are really reasonable (175k is no problem for sure) and it's a really popular area lately.

Answer 11

Texas is a steam bath in summer and an ice box in winter unless you get to go to corpus christi where 175,000 will buy you the mansion of your dreams and winter low temperatures are most areas high temps. Beautiful balmy weather year round, best housing deals in the nation, large city with 5th largest port in the nation, plenty for tourists and natives to do all the time. Just watch out for the rest of texas as all that is called tex's-azz.