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Houston Babies
Hi ladies :) Moving to Houston soon
Hi all. I'm currently a Seattle bumpie who is excited to move to Houston in a few months.
We're moving there with DH's job end of June/beginning of July. I am somewhat familiar with downtown (my brother works for Continental corp. office) and have been there a few times but since he is single and living downtown he doesn't know a lot about the good areas for families to live/rent. Any suggestions about areas we should be looking to live and any info about the city would be great. DH's office is downtown. He is used to a 45 minute traffic packed commute here so anything less would be great. I'm so excited to move there and be in a warm climate!!
Also, any recs for OBGYN's, pediatricians, etc would be great.
TIA!
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Re: Hi ladies :) Moving to Houston soon
Welcome!
are you looking for more of a suburb area or in the city?
Welcome! I love Seattle (minus the rain). There are lots of great places to live in Houston but you need to decide if you want to live in town or a suburban area. Most of the good school districts are in the suburbs with a select few good schools in HISD.
If you're willing to commute, my favorite suburb is the Woodlands (super far north) and we live in Pearland (15 miles south of downtown). DH commutes downtown and since 288 hasn't been widened yet and Pearland is growing so fast, his 15 mile commute does take him nearly 40 minutes.
I also like Sugarland and Katy a lot as well.
You'll pay more to live in town but since you're coming from Seattle housing, it may not be so bad.
I would recommend renting for a few months if you can to see what parts of town you like.
For OB/GYNs, many of us (myself included) went/are going to Dr. Bobo with Women's Specialists of Houston in the Medical Center area.
I live in Sugar Land and love it!. DH works in Bellaire, which isn't downtown, but his commute from here is about 20-30 min on average.
My OB is in Katy (another great suburb) and I love him. PM me if you'd like his info.
I live in CyFair and it would probably be about an hour to downtown. So I'm not much help there.
I do love my ob - Dr. Patrice Firpo at Houston OGA. She delivers at the Women's Hospital of Texas. I loved the hospital, had great care, good nurses and was pretty well pleased all around. However, some people are very against Women's for one reason. I had a c/s and they take the baby to the nursery for an observation while I was in recovery. It was 3-4 hours I think. I knew it going into the day and was 100% ok with it. I took the time to rest and get out of that super groggy post surgery feeling. By the time I got to my room I feel much better and DS was brought to me. We had the option to keep him in the room or send him to the nursery during our stay.
well, i know you said 'burbs but i am going to plug my neighborhood anyway. i live just north west of downtown in an area called the heights. it's super SUPER family friendly (my mom's group has over 700 members) and we love that it feels like a small town in the city. we love that my husband's commute to DT is literally less than 10 minutes, so even after working a 12 hour day he can be home in time to give the boys a bath and tuck them in. it's also the most walkable neighborhood in the city. even though a lot of the suburbs have planned areas that are walkable, you usually have to drive there, then walk. i can get to nationally renowned restaurants, small local spots, stores, even groceries on foot. we have an amazing bike trail that will go all the way to downtown soon. you can even bike to Target!
if you want to check out a slice of life in the Heights, check out my blog. it's not a personal blog about *my* life, it's literally about the neighborhood https://theheightslife.com
here is another good resource for information about all parts of houston
https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/forum/4-houston-neighborhoods/?s=23f95707a42e14613de20c1f24fc6cc7
the suburbs of houston are not like the 'burbs of other major metro areas in the country. we have a lot of wide open space here and make use of it. that's not to say the burbs aren't great for a lot of people; it's just that o think when you come here from another part of the country (like i did) it's sometimes not what you think. you are not really connected to the city (again, some people want that) at all.
i agree with pp about renting. all the burbs and nieghborhoods inside the loop have a different flare. you'll want to find which ones suits you the best before you buy.
I'm in Katy @ 30 minutes from downtown also close to a lot of park and rides if your Dh may want to look into them. Both DS pedi Agnes Kisch
https://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Agnes_Kisch.html
and my OB/GYN
https://www.premierobgyn.net/kristin-schmidt-md.html
is in Katy.
another vote for the non-burbs!
We've lived in Montrose for three years now and we're moving across the bayou into the Washington corridor this weekend. We're going to be sandwiched between the Heights & Montrose.
I love love love love love where we live, especially with a child. There are a lot of housing options, lots of parks, it's ridiculously easy to get to the zoo and the museums and good, original food is everywhere.
I honestly can't imagine living in any other area of Houston. Feel free to PM me if you want more specific information.
j+k+m+e | running with needles
Hi, and welcome (soon!). I have lived in both the center of Houston (the Heights) and the 'burbs. They are so different, and it's really all about what you want and can afford. We would have stayed in town if we could have afforded a house that we'd be comfortable having 2-3 kids plus our three pets in. The schools in the Heights are improving (some are already very good), but the elementary school our house was zoned to seems to be low on the list to improve, so schools were another issue for us. We know we want to go the public school route and would prefer a neighborhood school we're zoned to as opposed to applying to higher-rated schools and crossing our fingers that our son would get in.
Last summer, we moved to a house that's about 20 minutes from the Heights/downtown. We now have a lot more room to spread out both inside our house and within our little neighborhood that sees no drive-through traffic. We live on a cul-de-sac and love it. I won't recommend my area because it's on a very congested freeway, but it works for us since my husband's office is just two exits down from our neighborhood.
Houston has so many options. If you were able to rent for six months or a year, I do think that would be a tremendous help in figuring out your priorities within this particular area. Moving stinks, but I'd think it's better than buying somewhere that won't make you happy in the long run. Good luck to you!
I don't think you'll find an apartment complex in the area that doesn't!
Hey there! I think you will love it down here - especially if you like the warm weather. I love the warm weather and it's nice to spend 80 percent of the year outside wearing short sleeves!!
We live in the Kingwood/Humble area. It's a really nice area and a lot of the homes are on Lake Houston out here. The school systems are fabulous and it's a great community to meet people!! From where we live, it takes us 35 minutes to get to downtown Houston. No tolls (yet) or anything so it's nice. You should check this area out.
I go to Dr. Kris Barnsfather at the Kingwood Medical Center. She is AWESOME!! Her website is https://www.awhkingwood.com/AWH_Kingwood_Home_Page.html. Check it out and let me know if you have any questions!! Good luck!
We lived in the Cypresswood area when I worked in The Woodlands and really liked it a lot. I lived in The Woodlands proper before that. Now we live out in Katy, and like it as well. Both are convenient to the park and ride, and I highly recommend that if you'll be working downtown. It makes the commute so much nicer.
I love the Heights and Montrose as well, we just can't afford them right now. I grew up near Rice University, and the schools around there were excellent, but when moving into the HOuston school district you just need to be careful with the schools since some are great and others... are not.
I definitely recommend renting first. Houston doesn't have great public transport at all. The park and ride is great if you're working downtown or the medical center, but otherwise you're going to be driving.
I'm seeing Dr Bobo at Women's Specialists and delivering at St Lukes. It's quite a drive in from Katy, but I really wanted to deliver in the medical center and I like her.... When I was in The Woodlands, I saw Dr Ritter for my ob/gyn and really liked him as well.
Also check out www.har.com - they have houses for sale so you can see what is out there. You can narrow your search to the areas that all the ladies identified. It will also show you major streets and so forth. It is a big help.
We live on the North Side in Spring. I am about 40 minutes from downtown. My H works on the Southwest side but leaves at 6:00am so his commute is only 25 minutes top. What time you leave for downtown or out of downtown also makes a HUGE difference. 15 minutes makes or breaks you pretty much! Having the toll roads "helps" move traffic, but it still is bumper to bumper in some areas. You/Your H will learn all the back roads and "alternate routes" available.
Goodluck finding something!
Thanks! Spring is near The Woodlands, right? And that is close to the airport? I just found out my DH's office is like 10 miles away from the airport in downtown so I'm thinking that area might be the best commute wise. Both of us HATE dealing with traffic and would rather avoid it as much as possible.
If he's 10 minutes from the airport but working in downtown, the airport is probably Hobby, the smaller of the two airports. The bigger airport is Bush and more like 20 - 30 minutes away from downtown.
I'm sending you a PM
j+k+m+e | running with needles