i was wondering what would be a good area to look in for apts or condos? dont want to have to worry bout my FD every night or some one breaking into the house.

 

That really depends. What side of Houston are you going to be working on? Do you want to live within Houston or in Katy, Sugarland, Spring, or one of the other millions of suburbs?

 

Traffic is pretty bad in Houston. So location is important.

Where will you be working?

Do you have a family to worry about as far as school districts?

 

Find a happy medium between commute time and cost of rent and prepare yourself for the traffic.

Welcome to Houston.

-John

P.S.- As others have said, we need more info to give ideas on where you'd want to look. Houston is huge.

 

I like living in Alvin. No one jacks with my junk.

I park all kinds of **** in my yard and only mow the yard when when the city starts bitchin. Paradise I tell you!

 

im retired military, so probably try and find something part time, dont really need to work but that gets boring. can live off of 1500-2000 a month. just looking for a quiet apts or condo where i dont really have to worry bout my ****. lol

 

Why Houston? Seems like retired military would stay closer to a base for access to Commissary, PX, etc... There must be something bringing you to Houston, either family, or you just love hot humid nasty weather and terrible traffic....Clear Lake has a lot of retired people down that way and you are closer to the water if that matters at all. Otherwise for the safest, cleanest, most purely suburaban areas of Houston, you would either head towards Katy or up near The Woodlands. Most 1 bdr apartments rent for close to a $1000/mo though if you want a garage and a nice complex in those areas though.

 

San Antonio would be better as there a few military installations near there, and the weather is better. Hurricanes rarely make it there and same applies to tornadoes.

You also may be able to work at USAA who insures us "ex military".

 

well Tx. is warmer than washington, i was born in Austin i do have relatives all over the area. from copus to george town to oklahoma city. its as good a place as any. im not really nailed down to any one area. i have a room mate that is a old navy buddy of mine and he was thinking of houston, it sounded like a good idea so i statrted asking questions...there really is no particular reason more like a random somthing to do. my room mate and i are both in our 40s and divorced. into computers and video games whos knows maybe find some women to take up some of our time...lol. so looking for a more modern area to move to that has warmer weather. im into the inport cars so im looking for a bit of the car scean also.

 

I'll do my best and breakdown some of the neighborhoods.

Here are some neighborhoods to stay away from:

More ***** = worse

2nd Ward **
3rd Ward (The Trey) *****
4th Ward *****
5th Ward (The Nickel) *****
Acres Home *****
Alief **
Airline Dr. Area ***
Calvacade area ***
Denver Harbour ****
Eastend District **
Galena Park ***
Greenspoint (aka Gunspoint) *****
Gulfton (Northern part) ***
Homestead Area *****
Independence Heights *****
Kashmere Gardens ****
Lakewood ****
Machester ***
Magnolia Park ***
Northside Village ****
Settegast ****
Sharpstown *****
South Park *****
Sunnyside *****
South Bank ****
Trinity Gardens *****

I personally live in one of the above neighborhoods, and its not too bad, but I'm used to it, and I know where to go, what to do...etc. But a fresh (new) person should be more alert in some of the above and completely avoid others. I don't mind going into Magnolia Park or the Eastend to get food, or meet friends, etc....but even as a Houston native, you wont catch me in Trinity Gardens, 3rd Ward, 5th Ward, or Acres Homes at night.

WHEW!!!!

Ok, here are some nice neighborhoods. I wouldn't mind moving to any of these. My personal best have "A+" next to them.

Afton Oaks (Million dollar homes) A+
Baytown
Black Horse Ranch A+
Bellaire A+
Cinco Ranch A+
Clear Lake (Nice waterfront homes) A+
Conroe
Copperfield A+
Friendswood A+
Katy A+
Kingwood A+
Lake Houston
League City
Magnolia (Not to be confused with Magnolia Park)
Memorial A+
Montrose
Pearland A+
Rice Village
River Oaks (next to Afton Oaks, million dollar homes) A+
Shadow Creek Ranch A+
SouthSide Place
Tanglewood
W. University
Woodlands A+


Hope that helps....this is by no means a scientific review, just kind of my personal opinion.

 

^^^ So, YOU PEOPLE know which neighborhoods to stay away from because they will take your stuff (*****) and which neighborhoods to go to in order to find the good stuff (A+) ?

 

I am not one of "THEM" ******...lol.

Side Note: Also stay away from Alvin. LOL...jp.

 

lol...so giveb the info i have been given as well as the option of San Antonio...what would be some neighborhoods to look at in San Ann?

 

League City / Clear Lake / Friendswood / Pearland area if interested in Houston

 

For San Antonio stay in the North/northwest side. Stone oak is really nice. Along I-10 between 410 and 1604 is normal/nice. 281 from 410 towards 1604 is a great area too, but plagued with really bad traffic (and there doing a lot of construction at the 1604/281 interchange). Outside 1604 on I-10 (towards el paso) is where all the really rich people live.

San Antonio isnt a bad place to live, but has a very small car scene. The twisty backroads are a blast and if you're not looking for a lot of car guys to hang out with and like doing weekend cruises out by yourself, its the better cruising experience. The local in-city roads are really poor though, and frequently will form rim-bending potholes after a good rain, so watch out. There's only about 1 place in town that Id let work on a rotary powered car though, and its only 1 of the techs at a certain dealership.

Houston has a much bigger car scene and a lot more experienced mechanics out there. The roads are generally in better condition, but the traffic is much more dense and there really arent any twisty back roads.

I live in a really nice complex thats on the northwest side of town. There's another FD in my complex also. Really close to the cars and coffee monthly meetup also.

 

^ this is good advice. Austin has a decent scene close enough to jog to if you're in SA. The club there, TexasRXs, does pretty regular runs to food spots etc.

Also you might want to make sure you can get your car inspected. From your mod list, it doesn't look too bad. Austin (Travis county) has moved to sniffers, but SA (Bexar) and Houston are still saftey + visual as far as I know.

 

Houston tests emissions like austin does.

BTW spazzytroy - your 20b swap looks even more complex than my v8 swap.

 

I'm glad Pasadena wasn't on the bad list

 

Thanks for all the info....looking at Apts in both Houston and San Antonio. if there is any more info on these 2 places all in puts are still appreciated

 

NW H cool...all of the H has bad traffic

 

San Antonio use to have about 4 good autocross sites where as Houston has the lousy Police Academy.

Yes, north west San Antiono near USAA.
USAA 9800 Fredericksburg Road, San Antonio, TX 78288
http://maps.yahoo.com/#lat=29.522234...conf=1&start=1

 

I would pick Austin over Houston and Houston over San Antonio....but that's just my opinion.

For Houston, I would look into Katy, The Woodlands, or Sugarland. There are other areas of town that are fine, but I prefer those areas when you think about the broad scope. Almost anywhere you end up in those areas will be in a good part of town.

 

sugarland in good

 

Sugar Land is a relatively nice area. I can also vouche for the copperfield area and katy. But if you ever have to go near 610..... BE READY TO SIT!!