Moving to houston?

[SA14mars]

General question - this is mainly for pre-research purposes but I am graduating in a few months and am considering a change of scenery (e.g. something other than Dallas or San Antonio), what are some nice parts of Houston that would fit on the just-out-of-college budget? either appartment or small home. any part of town to avoid (I hear traffic is bad?)?

[anderson]

As a starting point, I recommend that you start looking inside the Loop (I-610), the "Inner Loop". Many of the neighborhoods where you could previously find cheap, safe, convenient housing are now gentrifying, so you have to look a little harder now. But the Inner Loop still has a lot of affordable housing.

The Inner Loop is also where you'll find most sports and entertainment venues, most museums and arts venues, many of the major employers and three of the main business districts, most of the colleges, a couple of large parks, and concentrations of other people who like living in a higher-density, more urban environment.

Of course, if you want to have more space for the same or even less money, then there's plenty of ridiculously cheap good housing further out.

Traffic is pretty bad, but if you live near where you work, it's just not an issue. I've always worked inside in the Loop, so I've never had to deal with traffic getting to or coming from work. I've also known people who live inside the Loop, but commute to work outside the Loop so that they're always driving opposite from most of the traffic.

Just as a quick overview on Inner Loop areas (all on the West or Central parts of the Inner Loop):

Rice area -- anywhere near Rice University or the Rice Village. Lots of Rice, UH, and Med Center students live in these neighborhoods, so there's still plenty of reasonably priced housing. The area also includes some extremely pricey neighborhoods, but it's a mix so you just need to look around. The Rice Village has lots of cool bars and restaurants and you're also near all the sports venues, museums, downtown arts venues, Hermann Park, and not far from the MetroRail line.

Montrose/Near Town -- basically the area north of the Museum District, west of Midtown and downtown, south of Allen Parkway, and east of Greenway Plaza. This area has lots of cheap apartments and houses, along with an ever increasing number of new condos and lofts. It also has plenty of "walkability" in that shops, restaurants, and such are pretty interspersed with housing.

"Montrose" refers to the area radiating out from the intersection of Westheimer and Montrose, which is historically the city's gay/artsy/bohemian neighborhood - probably not a good spot if any of that would bother you. The area has a lot of mon-and-pop type stores, restaurants, coffee shops, and such. Niko Niko's, the Greek restaurant that sponsors the soccer radio show on ESPN 790 AM, is located on Montrose just north of Westheimer. Houston's Pacifica radio station (alternativish public radio) is based there. The University of St. Thomas and the Menil Collection museum are also in this area, sorta bordering on the Museum District.

"Near Town" (or Neartown) refers to mostly the same area as Montrose, but with a few more gentrifying neighborhoods that haven't historically been part of the Westheimer/Montrose alternative/artsy scene.

Museum District -- basically south of Montrose/Near Town, west of the Med Center and Midtown, east of the Rice Village area, north of the Rice University area. This area is gentrifying very rapidly, but still has a number of small apartment complexes and duplexes that offer cheaper housing. As the name implies, it includes most of the museums (Fine Arts, Contemporary Arts, Natural Sciences, etc.).

Midtown -- north of Hermann Park, south of downtown, west of the South Freeway (288), east of Montrose/Neartown and the Museum District. This area used to be very neglected, but thanks to population growth, redevelopment downtown, expansion of the Med Center, and the new MetroRail line, it's becoming the gentrification capital of Houston. New condos or apartment complexes are going up everywhere. There probably isn't a whole lot of affordable housing left, but not everything has been redeveloped yet. The area also includes "Little Saigon", one the Vietnamese shopping and restaurant areas in Houston.

Med Center area -- mostly the area east of Rice, south of Hermann Park, north of the South Loop, and expanding eastward toward the TSU/UH area. The Med Center skyline looks like many cities' downtown and visitors coming from Hobby Airport on first glance sometimes mistake it for our downtown. About 50,000 people work in the Texas Medical Center, plus I don't know how many students in the various medical schools and related research centers. Many of them live in the area. Much of the housing is expensive, but there are still plenty of affordable, large apartment complexes occupied mostly by Med Center, Rice, and UH students. Reliant Park is in this area. The MetroRail line is also very convenient. It's not as walkable as some of the other areas I've mentioned above and doesn't have the same sort of convenient shopping/restaurant access.

Downtown -- I'm not sure you can find affordable housing there. I lived in Midtown for a while because I wanted to be close to work downtown but thought the new condos and lofts downtown were ridiculously priced for Houston. Anyway, living downtown has its obvious advantages of being close to jobs, sports and entertainment venues (Minute Maid Park, Toyota Center, Bayou Place), and arts venues (Wortham Center, Hobby Center, The Alley, Jones Hall). There's a lot more retail and restaurant business there now and more on the way.

Greenway -- Greenway Plaza is major business district with several high rise office towers. The Greenway area usually refers to the area west of Montrose/Near Town, south of River Oaks, east of the Galleria area, and north of the Bellaire/West U area along the Southwest Freeway (US 59). There's actually some reasonably affordable housing in this area in older apartment complexes. The old Summit, which became Compaq Center, and which is now Lakewood Church, is in Greenway Plaza. There's no MetroRail access now, but the next line is planned to go right through there.

The Heights -- residential area northwest of downtown, north of Montrose/Near Town, mostly south of the North Loop, east of Memorial Park. This area is an older residential neighborhood that's being rapidly gentrified. It still has a lot of older houses where you can find affordable rent. It's very, very residential, so you won't find much in the way of entertainment venues, but those areas are still pretty close.

Hope that helps. There are also neighborhoods outside the Loop that you should consider - e.g., Garden Oaks or the Galleria area near the Loop, plus lots of others further out - but I don't know those areas as well.

[Hierarchyfive]

General question - this is mainly for pre-research purposes but I am graduating in a few months and am considering a change of scenery (e.g. something other than Dallas or San Antonio), what are some nice parts of Houston that would fit on the just-out-of-college budget? either appartment or small home. any part of town to avoid (I hear traffic is bad?)?

You should contact some of the Quakes players. They will be moving to Houston too, and they share the same salary as you. Don't laugh it is true.

[VioletCrown]

You should contact some of the Quakes players. They will be moving to Houston too, and they share the same salary as you. Don't laugh it is true.

I saw the thread title and thought that it was going to be about the boost the Quakes players just got in their salaries. Simply because of the much cheaper housing. While they may not like having to move, they will certainly love the extra money they now have. Or the opportunity to actually live in their own home/apartment.

[yanks02]

Wow Anderson, nice job with the descriptions!

[anderson]

Wow Anderson, nice job with the descriptions!Thanks. It's mostly just cut and paste from emails I've sent to people who have asked about similar information before they relocated to Houston. This town's full of relocated folks.

[Craig P]

I had an apartment near Chimney Rock and N. Braeswood for 6 yrs, starting out right out of school. It was a very convenient location for commuting to and from my job at SW Freeway & 610, but wouldn't have worked as well for a commute to someplace outside of the southwest quadrant of the city.

Traffic is mainly bad on the freeways radiating out on the west and south of the city (290, I-10 Katy Frwy, US-59 SW Frwy, I-45 Gulf Frwy -- they're reconstructing the Katy Freeway, so it may go from intolerable to merely unpleasant). North and east, not so much, although that's mainly because those aren't the greatest parts of the city to live in (although I really do think that the area along US-59 Eastex Frwy is headed for a gentrification cycle because of the good freeway access to downtown and lack of traffic). 610 is bad through the Galleria area (between US-59 SW Frwy and I-10 Katy Frwy) during either rush hour, with the backup stretching a few miles south of that in the morning, but fine everywhere else.