Moving to Houston!!

Hey guys..long story short..I am currently in Bakersfield, CA..got a promotion and expected to start my new position in Houston on January 12, 2015!!

So 2 questions for you guys..

1st: Where is a good suburb to look for a nice newer house with a 3 car garage? (My new office is in Bellaire so I dont want a commute longer than 1 hour)

2nd: Can a 2005 long travel Prerunner handle everything the greater Houston area can throw at it? (Should I try to sell it prior to leaving Cali and just get a brand new truck? Or if I do decide to hang onto it for a few more years. will I have any luck selling it while in Houston?)

Mine is the access cab

 

1. I would definitely browse the Cypress area, near 290 @Barker Cypress. Great area, good schools, hit or miss traffic.

2. The biggest obstacle will be guzzling gas. If it can handle concrete then you will be fine.

3. Congratulations on the promotion! and welcome to Texas!

 

Welcome to Houston!
I moved here from California almost 5 years ago...
Bellaire is on the Southwest side of town so I would think maybe checking out at Pearland, Katy, or Sugarland.
Hopefully more folks chime in with suggestions as I'm not too familiar with this side of town, I work on the East side of town and live on the Northeast side.

 

Have you asked in the Houston B.S thread? They might be able to help, people from all over in there.

 

Katy for sure. We were looking to move over there as 150,000.00 would buy us a brand new, freshly built 3 bdr, 2 bth, 2 car garage where as it would only get us a late 70's model 2 bdr, 1 bth where we are now. Plus if you have kids it is a great school district.

 

Stay aways from 290! Unless you just like to sit in traffic.
Bellaire has some nice homes with 3 car garage.

Gas price here is cheaper than cali. Your long travel should be put to good use with the house pot holes

 

You're going from mountains to flat lands?

 

Yeah, The Katy/Cinco Ranch area on the west side of Houston would be my recommendation. Great schools and infrastructure, although your property taxes may be more than say, Pearland. I-10 is in great shape, having been redone in the past 5 years or so. Your Tacoma will be able to handle everything down here with no problem.

 

Yeah.. leaving the moutains, desert, beach, and everything in between..but for a big push up in my career..its worth it

 

Thanks for the input guys!! I have been looking online for houses..and I really think the Cypress area or Pearland might be my first choice..

 

By the way, in Huntsville, not far north of Houston, you'll find the Texas Off-Road Ranch. Never been there myself, but I know they have get-together so there from time to time

 

Howdy from Cypress! It's a nice little community with great schools, bars, restaurants, entertainment and shopping, but it's growing. With that growth is traffic. On a good day wirh no traffic, Cypress to Belaire is 20-30 minutes. With traffic, maybe an hour or more.

As for the Prerunner, you'll be fine in the city. Unlike CA, almost no public land to offroad...it's al private. Most trucks that offroad are 4x4 for trails, crawling or mudding.

Not to say you won't be able to sell the truck, but if you can get top dollar in CA, try to do that.

 

Houston traffic is a mess. I wouldn't touch Katy with a 10 foot pole. I sit and look out at that freeway and thank the lord I don't have to sit in the traffic trying to get home. That being said it very much depends on budget. Houston is a sellers market right now and finding something in a more convenient area is tough. There is a small neighborhood just off 290 up Fairbanks north Houston. I can't remember the name but it's roads are all named with orchestra themes. Great quiet and safe place and wouldn't be a bad commute. If you can find a place in there they are priced in the high 200's to low 300's. Best of luck and welcome to Texas!

 

Most of the Houston tw members are from pearland lol

 

Yes come to pearland!!!

 

Get ready for H Town drivers, there are two places with more aggressive drivers then Houston and Boston is one of them........

 

California has aggressive drivers. I think more aggressive than houston. When they are not in traffic anyways

 

According to "surveys" (note, these rarely contain a lot of statistical facts) Houston is ranked high as having the most uncourteous drivers in the USA. In this case it is true. Basically the bigger the vehicle combined with the more aggressive driver has the right of way.
People generally don't have necks here (unless there is an accident, when their necks suddenly appear and turn into rubber), so they rarely do shoulder checks before changing lanes or turn around to see when backing out of a parking space.

It's really not a big deal. I just translated my motorcycle riding techniques into driving techniques. Always slightly faster that the flow of traffic so that I am never in the same place all the time. I also drive aggressively.

Now unto the home subject. Houstons home prices are on the rise, but they have not reached anywhere near the prices of most other metropolises. Some people on our local gun forums tend to think certain part of Pearland is "bad" and a little too ethnic. I have been to those areas and nothing has ever happened to me.
Sugarland has had home invasions in the past. So yeah. Whatever the case is my uncle has lived there for over 17 years in a nice part of it and nothing has ever happened. I like both areas.
Both the 288 and 59 suck when it comes to traffic; at peak times prepare for at least 1.5 hours if there is any road incidents. Otherwise you are looking at 1 hour or so in traffic and a possible 35 minutes without traffic driving faster than the speed limit.

Seeing as you need a 3 car garage it might be beneficial to look a little further south of Pearland (slightly cheaper home prices at times, more land, and the possibility of a detached "shop".)

Welcome to Houston!

 

First off welcome and congrats on the opportunity. Houston is a nice town. Little big for me but I don't like neighbors...

The biggest thing you may not like is like was mentioned here. Texas wheeling is all done on private land. I've grown up this way so I'm use to just paying to enter a park or knowing people with land. TORR in Huntsville or the beach in Galveston will be your two closest wheeling areas for the prerunner. I will say I'm not overly familiar with how you wheel a prerunner. I don't know if I've ever even seen one in Houston that was actually used for its intended purpose. As for selling it I'd ask you how long you plan to stay and if your emotionally attached in any way to it. If so keep it. It'll definitely be different from other rigs around here but that said if people in CA will pay for the existing mods to it I can't imagine anyone here appreciating it. If you are not attached and want to wheel with the locals you'll probably end up wanting 4wd IMO but it'd be interesting to see that thing tear down the trails at TORR or the beach.

 

I'm in Pearland also. You are not limited to freeways to get to Bellaire. So you have options.
We have a 1 story with a 3 car garage and love it. There's a lake close by I can go rowing in. Nice and quiet.


290 is fixing to have some MAJOR reconstruction.