I've read through some threads on the subject, but with some being a few years old wanted to see if anything may have changed.

My wife and I currently live in Round Rock and are considering moving to Houston to be closer to her family. We both work remotely so a daily commute isn't an issue. Her family lives in the Memorial Park area so being within ~30 mins from there during non-peak times would likely be ideal.

Looking to start a family within the next year. We were thinking ~3k sq. ft, <$600K, good schools, good community, etc.

Some neighborhoods we have on the list:

Bridgeland
Fairfield
Towne Lake
Cane Island
Firethorne
Falls at Green Meadows

Any additional areas or places around The Woodlands we should be considering?

Thanks for any input.

I live in The Woodlands (we are in The Township), but in Harris Co. The Woodlands crosses two different counties (Harris and Montgomery) and three different school districts (Conroe, Tomball, and Magnolia). If you want to be that close to her parents, you would need to be near I-45 and/or the Grand Parkway. The zip codes you should be looking in are as follows:

77380, 77381, 77382, 77384 - Montgomery Co. Zoned to Conroe ISD, but not all of the properties in these zip codes are in The Township.

77389 and 77375 - Harris County. Parts are zoned to Tomball ISD and are in The Woodlands. Other parts are zoned to Klein ISD or Tomball ISD and are not in The Woodlands

77354 - Montgomery County, zoned to Magnolia ISD, and only some properties are in The Woodlands. This is the farthest area from I-45.

I've lived here for a while, and right now inventory is ridiculously low. Prices are reflecting that. It's difficult to find 3k sq ft under $600k. Not impossible, but you will probably be looking at an older home that needs updates.

Anything built within about the last 10 or less years and/or with a pool is going for a premium. New construction is $750-$800k+ for 3000+ sq ft (and that's even for neighborhoods in unincorporated Harris County).

For example, these are two houses in my neighborhood in 77389 that have sold in the last month. The first one might have sold for just under $600k; I'm pretty sure the second sold for more than $600k.

https://www.har.com/homedetail/114-kendrick-pines-blvd-spring-tx-77389/12191035

https://www.har.com/homedetail/134-kendrick-pines-blvd-the-woodlands-tx-77389/12191187?sid=6194738

I've lived here long enough to have decided that, if I was not in The Woodlands, I would not live in unincorporated Harris County, at least not in this general area. Too much disorganization and lack of zoning. And I personally think Tomball ISD is a preferable district over Klein.

We just sold our home in Fairfield and are moving out a little ways between Tomball and Magnolia.

Fairfield was good to us. We lived there for 7 years, and it has changed a ton in that time. When we moved out, they had just begun working on most of the stores right outside the neighborhood. There were only a few small stores, plus HEB and the Outlet mall. In the last few years, they have built a TON of stuff that you probably really dont want to live right next to (lower priced stores, movie theater, etc). Also, the outlet mall has become a bit of a nightmare from what I understand (we no longer shop there at all). On tax-free weekend, you can pretty much forget about leaving your house due to the insane amount of cars that will be driving through fairfield trying to find a way back to the highway. We lived over a mile from the outlet mall and had people park in front of our driveway last year. Also keep in mind if you are trying to get to 290, Mason is pretty much the only street you can use to get out that direction, and it gets crazy backed up most of the time even on a normal Saturday. Traffic in and out of FF was not fun to deal with.

Crime has started to hit FF in the last couple of years a lot more than when we moved out. The access to 2 different highways within 5 mins might have something to do with that (get off highway, hit a home/car, back on highway immediately if needed). I'm probably exaggerating a little bit, but the Fairfield facebook page has been litttered lately with crime posts. We never had an issue with it, but we were buried deep in the subdivision by the main park.

Overall, we really enjoyed fairlfield for what it was. It was affordable when we moved there but the prices have definitely gone through the roof for what you get. We sold our house ~60k higher than I ever thought we would be able to.

If you are planning to build a family there, it is great for that. We had two kids there and they always enjoyed the parks. You have to keep in mind which elementary it is zoned to, as most people will pay extra to be zoned to Swenke (in the back of the neighborhood near the higher priced homes) over Keith Elementary. Also keep in mind, right now FF is zoned to Bridgeland high school. Lots of rumors that Cy-Fair will eventually build a closer school, so who knows which high school your kids go to if you are still living there.

The choice for us was to GTFO of cy-fair ISD. We were not comfortable with the amount of competition and the fact that they just hired a lot of upper management types from Austin ISD to run Cy-Fair. For instance my niece is in 4th grade and was already told if she wanted to play high school sports in cy-fair, she already needed to be focusing solely on one sport and have a private trainer most likely.

We chose to move to Tomball ISD to get a little smaller school for our daughters, and get away from some of the hustle and bustle that comes with living in a big neighborhood like that. We also wanted at least a little bit of land, so that pushed that decision as well.

I know this probably doesn't help much, but wanted to give a data point for you to consider with Fairfield. We enjoyed our time there, but would not move back. I know some people who have lived in FF for 10+ years that just cashed out on their house and bought a nicer house towards the back of the neighborhood and they would probably disagree with my post, but this was our experience over the last few years and why we decided to get out while the market was high.

Good luck in your decision! It is not easy, especially trying to decide while not living there.

Carriage Hills. Lots of deer running around the hood, cool park area, 5ish minutes from 45. Woodlands schools without Woodlands taxes.

Regarding the woodlands, we just had some friends move into a house really close to Meadowlake Park in the woodlands and really like it. (Thats a tiny park, just giving you something to google to find the area). Seems to be in your ballpark.

If you're going to look at Cane Island, I would recommend also looking at Cinco Ranch II. I think you'd like it.

Just recently left Firethorne after 5 years. We enjoyed it and had our first two kids while there. We enjoyed the parks and the pool and the people were nice. That being said, I would probably move to the Cinco section just south on 1463 before Firethorne. Based on what I saw, amenities are equal or better to Firethorne and I suspect you'll see better price appreciation over time (some friends of ours have certainly seen significant appreciation). We could afford Firethorne at the time as our first home, but didn't really want to stretch budget for Cane Island or Cinco. I think that shows a bit, as there are some lower end homes and people in certain parts of Firethorne. Several of them were still great people, not all though. I personally would still choose Firethorne over Cane Island.

The guy wants to be near Memorial Park and all you guys are discussing The Woodlands? That's showing just under a 40 minute drive on Google maps right now.

Google Maps is whack, shouldn't take longer than 30 mins.

This depends on where you are in the Woodlands. And they're full of **** if they say they can get downtown in 15, even on the inbound HOV.

I don't think OP's parameters are realistic. Those #'s put you more than 30 minutes from Grandma/Grandpa if they're near Memorial Park. Are they in a 55+ community? If they're in a house, maybe they should consider sticking a sign in the yard & moving out.

Montgomery County is booming, we're looking to find something on Lake Conroe & that is difficult. The #'s OP suggest put you way outside the Houston area unless you want to look in 1 of the wards.

I live up here, and I just plan on it taking an hour when I want to go into town. If it takes less, then great. More often than not, it takes an hour. Only more if traffic is really jacked up. If all the stars align perfectly and the traffic gods are in a good mood, I can get to Clear Lake in an hour. That doesn't happen very often.

But are any of those locations the OP mentioned 30 mins from Memorial Park?

I just figured I'd be helpful and at least give him some areas/zip codes to search if he is truly interested in being in The Woodlands, like he mentioned. He can figure out for himself if the trade offs are worth it.

TXTransplant said:

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I live in The Woodlands (we are in The Township), but in Harris Co. The Woodlands crosses two different counties (Harris and Montgomery) and three different school districts (Conroe, Tomball, and Magnolia). If you want to be that close to her parents, you would need to be near I-45 and/or the Grand Parkway. The zip codes you should be looking in are as follows:

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Thanks for the detailed response.

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The choice for us was to GTFO of cy-fair ISD. We were not comfortable with the amount of competition and the fact that they just hired a lot of upper management types from Austin ISD to run Cy-Fair. For instance my niece is in 4th grade and was already told if she wanted to play high school sports in cy-fair, she already needed to be focusing solely on one sport and have a private trainer most likely.

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Wow, that sounds crazy. I went to an extremely competitive high school academically in Round Rock ISD, fortunately it was easy enough to make varsity in multiple sports because we were pretty bad athletically. Ideally it would be a good high school that isn't killer academically or athletically, but who knows what stuff will look like in 15+ years I suppose.

Quote:

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Regarding the woodlands, we just had some friends move into a house really close to Meadowlake Park in the woodlands and really like it. (Thats a tiny park, just giving you something to google to find the area). Seems to be in your ballpark.

If you're going to look at Cane Island, I would recommend also looking at Cinco Ranch II. I think you'd like it.

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Quote:

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Carriage Hills. Lots of deer running around the hood, cool park area, 5ish minutes from 45. Woodlands schools without Woodlands taxes.

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Just recently left Firethorne after 5 years. We enjoyed it and had our first two kids while there. We enjoyed the parks and the pool and the people were nice. That being said, I would probably move to the Cinco section just south on 1463 before Firethorne. Based on what I saw, amenities are equal or better to Firethorne and I suspect you'll see better price appreciation over time (some friends of ours have certainly seen significant appreciation). We could afford Firethorne at the time as our first home, but didn't really want to stretch budget for Cane Island or Cinco. I think that shows a bit, as there are some lower end homes and people in certain parts of Firethorne. Several of them were still great people, not all though. I personally would still choose Firethorne over Cane Island.

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Thanks for all the feedback everyone

Quote:

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I don't think OP's parameters are realistic. Those #'s put you more than 30 minutes from Grandma/Grandpa if they're near Memorial Park. Are they in a 55+ community? If they're in a house, maybe they should consider sticking a sign in the yard & moving out.

Montgomery County is booming, we're looking to find something on Lake Conroe & that is difficult. The #'s OP suggest put you way outside the Houston area unless you want to look in 1 of the wards.

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Can you clarify your feedback?

You don't think it's do-able to find a house meeting the criteria? Firethorne to Memorial Park is 27mins on google maps and there seems to be a lot of houses for sale on Zillow. I'm just using Firethorne as an example. We are coming into town this weekend to check out some neighborhoods and wanted to see if any should be added/removed. I really have no idea so I would love to not waste time doing something if it isn't realistic or doesn't make sense.

I know her parents aren't going to move. They live in a nice community ~5 mins from Memorial Park with neighbors they love while being <10mins from their business.

FYI - The Woodlands high schools (there are 2) are just as competitive - if not worse - that what the other poster described for CyFair.

TXTransplant said:

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But are any of those locations the OP mentioned 30
mins from Memorial Park?

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Not sure, I don't know Houston at all so only going off of Google Maps which says:

Bridgeland to Memorial Park: 27 mins
Towne Lake to Memorial Park: 26 mins
Cane Island to Memorial Park: 28 mins
Firethorne to Memorial Park: 27 mins

If there aren't realistic would be good to know that. We wouldn't be going to see family at 8 AM on a weekday during what I think would be heavier traffic in the Houston area.

TXTransplant said:

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FYI - The Woodlands high schools (there are 2) are just as competitive - if not worse - that what the other poster described for CyFair.

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Thanks.

ChrisTheClassic said:

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We just sold our home in Fairfield and are moving out a little ways between Tomball and Magnolia.

Fairfield was good to us. We lived there for 7 years, and it has changed a ton in that time. When we moved out, they had just begun working on most of the stores right outside the neighborhood. There were only a few small stores, plus HEB and the Outlet mall. In the last few years, they have built a TON of stuff that you probably really dont want to live right next to (lower priced stores, movie theater, etc). Also, the outlet mall has become a bit of a nightmare from what I understand (we no longer shop there at all). On tax-free weekend, you can pretty much forget about leaving your house due to the insane amount of cars that will be driving through fairfield trying to find a way back to the highway. We lived over a mile from the outlet mall and had people park in front of our driveway last year. Also keep in mind if you are trying to get to 290, Mason is pretty much the only street you can use to get out that direction, and it gets crazy backed up most of the time even on a normal Saturday. Traffic in and out of FF was not fun to deal with.

Crime has started to hit FF in the last couple of years a lot more than when we moved out. The access to 2 different highways within 5 mins might have something to do with that (get off highway, hit a home/car, back on highway immediately if needed). I'm probably exaggerating a little bit, but the Fairfield facebook page has been litttered lately with crime posts. We never had an issue with it, but we were buried deep in the subdivision by the main park.

Overall, we really enjoyed fairlfield for what it was. It was affordable when we moved there but the prices have definitely gone through the roof for what you get. We sold our house ~60k higher than I ever thought we would be able to.

If you are planning to build a family there, it is great for that. We had two kids there and they always enjoyed the parks. You have to keep in mind which elementary it is zoned to, as most people will pay extra to be zoned to Swenke (in the back of the neighborhood near the higher priced homes) over Keith Elementary. Also keep in mind, right now FF is zoned to Bridgeland high school. Lots of rumors that Cy-Fair will eventually build a closer school, so who knows which high school your kids go to if you are still living there.

The choice for us was to GTFO of cy-fair ISD. We were not comfortable with the amount of competition and the fact that they just hired a lot of upper management types from Austin ISD to run Cy-Fair. For instance my niece is in 4th grade and was already told if she wanted to play high school sports in cy-fair, she already needed to be focusing solely on one sport and have a private trainer most likely.

We chose to move to Tomball ISD to get a little smaller school for our daughters, and get away from some of the hustle and bustle that comes with living in a big neighborhood like that. We also wanted at least a little bit of land, so that pushed that decision as well.

I know this probably doesn't help much, but wanted to give a data point for you to consider with Fairfield. We enjoyed our time there, but would not move back. I know some people who have lived in FF for 10+ years that just cashed out on their house and bought a nicer house towards the back of the neighborhood and they would probably disagree with my post, but this was our experience over the last few years and why we decided to get out while the market was high.

Good luck in your decision! It is not easy, especially trying to decide while not living there.

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I've lived in Fairfield for 22 years.. this post is absurdly exaggerated. Fairfield Facebook may make crime seem up, but the actual crime report from the constable disagrees. Facebook just carries on about every suspicious car.

Mason out of the neighborhood is a piece of cake save for a few days lately when construction shut a lane down.

Yes, the schools academically and athletically are fiercely competitive... But that's a socioeconomic indicator. No idea who directed a 4th grader to do that.. that's a condemnation on that one person, not a community or school district.

I have my issues with Fairfield (when Cypress area in general), but I just disagree that the above is a remotely accurate representation.

My issues with Cypress, as my kids are in their teen years asked I start to look towards empty nester.. is a great area to raise a family, but very little to offer those without kids.

I did mention that people would likely disagree, but wanted to share our reasons why we are moving out from Fairfield. I wanted to share the data that I wish we had known whenever we moved in. As I mentioned, Fairfield is a great neighborhood in general. I think it is trending the wrong direction with all of the shops that were built in the front of the neighborhood so we made the decision to get out while we could. I could be completely wrong on that judgement.

The story about my niece was not exaggerated, and I've heard it from multiple sources with multiple kids. They are starting club sports so young nowadays that you literally have to decide by 3rd or 4th grade is what we have heard advised to our friends kids who are that age. Our kids are not that age yet, so no personal experience there.

The point about traffic was more to point out that you can't get from FF to Memorial in 30 minutes when it takes 10+ minutes to get out of the neighborhood itself. We lived close to Salyards, and any given day it takes 10-20 minutes just to get out to 290 - Especially on Saturdays, when they are likely to be heading to grandma and grandpa's house.

Using Firethorne, it's a new MPC so that's why you see so much on Zillow. I haven't personally been out THAT far in the Katy area, but you're every bit of 15 min from getting on the freeway. I just don't know if the infrastructure is there on FM1463 & the area to get you in that 30 minute window. I could be off but I lived in Memorial & went to 7 Lakes & Cinco a few times for my kids sports & it's a hike. And I drive fast.

It may be a great place to start & stay awhile as your family grows. I don't know how the market would fare if you decided to sell w/in 3-5 years as there is so much being built out there that the next group can look at new vs. buying used. Just my thoughts.

Anyway, good luck on you choice. If you need a realtor, I can connect you.

12thMan9 said:

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Using Firethorne, it's a new MPC so that's why you see so much on Zillow. I haven't personally been out THAT far in the Katy area, but you're every bit of 15 min from getting on the freeway. I just don't know if the infrastructure is there on FM1463 & the area to get you in that 30 minute window. I could be off but I lived in Memorial & went to 7 Lakes & Cinco a few times for my kids sports & it's a hike. And I drive fast.

It may be a great place to start & stay awhile as your family grows. I don't know how the market would fare if you decided to sell w/in 3-5 years as there is so much being built out there that the next group can look at new vs. buying used. Just my thoughts.

Anyway, good luck on you choice. If you need a realtor, I can connect you.

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Yeah good point by everyone, definitely depends how deep you buy in some of these neighborhoods.

Jmo, stay out of Harris County due to taxes, insurance rates, And general government overreach . I like
Montgomery County but you can see the urban creep
Heading this way too in the form of way too
Many new apartment complexes. We have been in Magnolia for quite a while and we are making our plans to escape the urban sprawl that is happening here as well.

Within 30 mins of Mem Park. I got nothing .

When you are ready to buy in Houston and sell in Round Rock, we'd be happy to help. 2% buyer rebates and flat fee listings with full service on both sides.

Add 10-15 minutes on all those times
Maybe more when traffic rebounds to pre covid levels

Stay on Round Rock. Seriously.

Check out the Green Trails area. It's unincorporated Harris County, just east of Katy. Homes are older but it's a great neighborhood with good schools and a lot of young families.