My fiancee and I are looking at new/ newer homes in Shadow Creek Ranch and Sienna Plantation. She is going to be going to school in the med center and I work off of 59 and Hillcroft. The neighborhood we are strongly looking at in Sienna is in the new part of Sienna right off of Sienna Ranch and only 2 minutes to highway 6. The only problem I see with the neighborhood is that it appears we would be in the minority. Its not a deal breaker but it would be nice to live in a neighborhood with other young couples such as ourselves.

I got the feeling from the neighborhood that we would be living in Shadow Creek Ranch that it would be neighborhood we would fit into better and it seems a little nicer.

Overall we think Sienna is a little nicer development, but the for our price range the nicer neighborhood would be in Shadow Creek Ranch. We aren’t thinking about having kids anytime soon, but we are considering the schools a little for resale value. The house in Shadow Creek Ranch would be in Alvin ISD.

I know quite a few of you all live in Sienna and Shadow Creek Ranch so I would like to know what you all think about the two places.

I'd go for Shadow Creek Ranch over Sienna Plantation for one simple reason...

Sienna isn't close enough to a major highway for me.

neither

All things being equal, I think Sienna is nicer, especially with all the trees that didn't get torn down. The downside of course is the distance to downtown and the fact that Sienna goes really far back, so it's still a pretty good distance from Hwy. 6 unless you live up front.

I live in Shadow Crack and my only real complaint is the lack of HOA enforcement, but I like the easy drive to downtown. Put Sienna where SCR is, and you have the best of both worlds.

I believe that portion of Sienna is zoned to Elkins High School. My cousin lives in Sienna and that is where she goes now. The elementary schools in Sienna are good, but Elkins High School not so much. After I graduated from there, more and more people from Quail Valley and Fresno started to school there...and that screwed it up.

I think Sienna is getting it's own high school in a few years (I think it opens in 2010), so that negative will be lost. It IS a long ways to a major freeway, although it has good access to the ft bend toll.

As for SCR...negatives are it's property taxes are really high (honestly not sure of Sienna's rate, but I remember being floored hearing the amount a coworker pays in SCR). It's situated near a major and possibly growing landfill. I've heard mixed reports of how much it actually affects the area...probably depends where you are in SCR. While the drive may not be terrible now and probably never will be to the med center, 288 is getting significantly worse with each passing year. It does have good access to shopping and and such with all the recent development in the area.

Fort Bed tolway to medcenter is easy and suspect Seinna would be easier commute to Hilcroft and 59. Front partof sienna is devleping and new water park is going in. this area will also have good access to the FB Tollwa whihc is being extended at least to Seinna Parkway.

Sienna's taxes are high. My brother gripes about them all the time. Nice neighborhood though.

I would go with Shadow Creek Ranch. I'm actually looking at a few places over there and have friends that have lived there for a couple years. Easy to get to downtown, lots of new stores and restaurants in the area.

Southwyck and Silverlake areas on the other side of 288 are also nice. A lot of young families and more trees than SCR.

I think Sienna fits your needs a bit better, especially if you can quickly get on the ft bend tollway (and you don't mind all the tolls with 2 cars and 2 commutes each way). it will be slightly closer.

my taxes in SCR have gone down quite a bit since I moved in 2004. there have been some reductions from the county and our mud tax is down some. I'm just over 3% effective, down from close to 4%. HOA has nearly doubled to $815, and enforcement is a joke (unfortunately). Services are good, not great.

I'm on the far East side of the development and for the past 6 months I've been able to smell a chemical stench in the early morning (apparently from the dump, but could be from other construction or the gas plant on almeda).

We like where we live in general, though with my wife not working downtown anymore I wish we were a bit more west (toward my work).

[This message has been edited by cclearman (edited 1/5/2009 9:00p).]

jg07 - I have lived in Sienna since 2000. I feel it is a nice community, 3 good elementary schools - middle school in place - new high school is under contruction now, wide range of home prices/builders and amenities. Med center commute is a snap with the Ft Bend Parkway, 59/Hillcroft would not be terrible either. Negatives - Taxes and HOA dues are high. The HOA is responsive and the common areas are kept up well. I do not know a lot about SCR other than landfill comments and Alvin ISD which have been mentioned. Pearland town center gives SCR good access to shopping/eating/entertainment and 288 is easy to get into Houston.
Good luck - questions?

Tough decision. I would say that Sienna has more amenities and is a lot nicer. I have also been a Fort Bender my entire life.

Plus, with the Fort Bend Toll Road, my friends that live there and work down town can get there in minutes. The med center is even closer.

And w/ sienna you are also close to sugar land and first colony mall. while its not much, its still some decent dining and drink.

Go Sienna.

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And w/ sienna you are also close to sugar land and first colony mall. while its not much, its still some decent dining and drink.

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Any advantage here has been almost completely eliminated....maybe a few more eating options in the form of chain restaurants in Ft. Bend, but shopping and dining options continue to grow in Pearland.
I grew up in Manvel and remember when all of that was just rice pasture.

I lived in Silverlake for 5 years and now live in Sienna. Looked hard at SCR when I left Silverlake. There is no contest IMO. Sienna is much nicer than SCR. SCR is also one of the worst areas in Houston regarding foreclosures. Although longer mileage wise, my commute to downtown is the same now. Sienna was smart and saved alot of their old trees. In SCR and Silverlake you feel like you are living in Arizona because you can see the top of everyone's home. Sienna has much better parks, including the state's largest residential water park, a brand new equestrian center and club sienna which includes 8 new ball fields and at least 4 soccer fields. Sienna lacks convenient shopping/restaurants, but those are coming very soon.

Thanks for all the input. I really do like Sienna as a whole. But the new sections to the front just don't feel or look the same to me. The actual section of homes we are looking at in Shadow Creek seem a little nicer compared to the section we are looking at in Sienna.

Across the street from the Sienna Section is some low income housing that looks nice and maintained today but many people I've talked to have warned me about what it could be in a few years. Plus the house we are looking at in Sienna is the 2nd house down from Sienna Springs which in the future looks like it could be a busy street.

I timed my drive to work from each and they were almost exactly the same. Its a tough decision and I keep going back and forth, but I think we'll be happy with either one.

if you buy a "used" home in Sienna, you'd be able to get a great deal. homes have a hard time reselling in there, per my real estate friends. that would be my greatest pause in buying there.

plus, it is kinda in the middle of nowhere. the positive is as mentioned above, easy access to med center via the ft bend tollway.

nothing wrong with Elkins high school, have many friends with kids at that school and they all seem to like it.

My take on homes having a tough time selling is because you can go buy a new house for the same prce as people are are aking for used. Problem is they paid a lot and now need to sell and want to recoup what they put inas elas realestate fees. not gonna happen right now