SAHM Relocating to Houston

nikkisun54

Hi Folks - I will be relocating with my husband and 16 month old son to Houston in the coming months. Upon our move, I'll now be staying at home, which I'm thrilled about! Looking for any information on location, mom networking, etc. No idea where to begin, we're from the Baltimore area! DH will be working downtown...

xoexpat

We will be relocating to Houston early next year! Our twins are 21 months. We have found har.com, Trulia, Zillow and Areavibes.com to be helpful.

nikkisun54

@xoexpat that's great! We'll have to keep in touch since our little ones are close in age! Do you know where you're considering moving? DH will be working downtown, but we're really considering Kingwood or the Woodlands. Spending my entire life on the east coast, I need to have some trees!

DragonflyDreaming

Don't do the woodlands if he is working downtown. If you do, definitely rent first! Traffic is horrendous into downtown. The woodlands is beautiful/amazing!! One option if you do try it, take the hardy till road all the way down (do not even think about trying I-45 unless he wants a 2+ hour commute each way some days. The Hardy Tollway is pricey, but we'll worth it!

I live up near the woodlands (in Spring). There are a bunch of great neighborhoods! If you are looking to buy (and want easy access to the Hardy Tollway), check out a neighborhood called Harmony in spring that's being built!

If you end up far west in the woodlands, you will have a LONG commute to get to the freeway to get anywhere.

Again, I would highly suggest renting for your first year, just to get a feel for Houston and the traffic situation and neighborhoods.

Hope you guys will love it here!! So much to see and do! And if you come across any mommy groups, please let me know. I am only 8 wks with my first, but haven't been and be to find any local groups yet.

PS: there is a birthing center called Nativity in the woodlands that's supposed to be really good! And I toured St Lukes and really like it (in the woodlands) but don't know much about real experiences yet

nikkisun54

Thank you @DragonflyDreaming! Definitely helpful, and yes I have heard that The Woodlands is a bear if you're commuting from the city. DH and I have a 12 minute commute right now (we work for the same firm) so I can't imagine subjecting him to that intense of a commute! We were thinking Kingwood because it's apparently a great town with wonderful schools, close enough to The Woodlands to visit if we need to , but apparently the routes you take to get downtown are much easier. Have you heard the like, or know of any other comperable towns outside Houston? I was definitely liking how much house you could get for the money in Kingwood - coming from the NE, it was jaw dropping...

As for mommy groups, I have been checking them out a bit ahead of time to see what our options are, and to make sure wherever we end up there will be the a good opportunity to meet other moms. A couple of girls gave me the advice of searching SAHM groups on Meetup.com; I've reviewed it and there are actually quite a few - you should check it out!

Thanks for recommending Harmony - it looks like a dream! I will definitely need to keep that in mind when we're house shopping, but we are hoping to start off in a rental - apartment probably - while we figure out where we want to be. We'll likely need to pay a bit to sell our current place, so there's that...

HeartLikeMine3

Hi, I live in kingwood and have a 14 month old son. I currently stay at home and LOVE kingwood my husband drives downtown and its about 40 min to his office with minimal traffic. Kingwood drive can get kinda backed up so I would suggest looking towards the front side. Good luck and maybe we can plan a play date when you move.

nikkisun54

Thanks, @HeartLikeMine3! I will definitely be turning to you as the move creeps closer, but I'm so glad to hear that you like it! I've been doing a lot of research online and Kingwood seems like a great place to raise children and the typography reminds me of home.  

Bummer about the drive, though. As I mentioned above, my husband is NOT used to a commute, but I told him he'll be facing that likely in any affordable suburb in Houston. I have heard that most of the neighborhoods we've seen that we like are toward the back end of Kingwood, with the exception of Bear Branch (I think that's what it's called). Regardless, we do plan to rent a place for the first year to get a feel for the area/neighborhood we want to be in.

Do you find that the community is friendly and welcoming? We're extremely integrated in our town here in Maryland and are hoping to find something similar...

HeartLikeMine3

@nikkisun54‌, I forgot to mention my husband drives to the far side of Houston. Houston itself is so huge so it depends where your husbands office is. You can be in Houston in about 20 min but it all depends on location.
Kingwood is a wonderful community, very friendly people, tons of kids and to me the best place to raise a family. It's still has the small town feel with plenty to do. I think you will really like it

JKlein

We just relocated to Houston in April. We ended up in Sienna Plantation. My husband takes the Ft Bend Toll Road into the city, with no traffic issues what so ever. He works near NRG stadium and the toll road basically drops him off right there, and it leads right into the Medical Center for my appointments at Texas Children's.