FlyingHoustonian

Shadow Creek Ranch which is in Pearland technically just west of 288 and just south of the Beltway 8 (and I will be putting a home on the market in a couple of weeks so check it out :-) ) and there is a Costco a mile away with a beautiful new library opening in a month. HWY 288 has free lanes; the toll road is the middle and 8 is tolled but has frontage/feeder roads that are free along both sides. It is just over the line in Brazoria County vs Houston being in Harris county, the country's 3rd most populous at nearly 5 million and the country's most diverse city. Pearland is actually more diverse than most Houston suburbs, but has fewer of the varied restaurants like in town, though I am told that is changing rapidly with dozens of new places opening in the last year or so. I don't get back often anymore for more than a day or so but area is booming all over.

Not sure about the feckless and constantly recycled 'swamp' non-sense as most of Houston and the metro is not nor ever was a swamp, though plenty of US Cities were built in parts of swamps like Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, (and London in the UK) but I digress. As for traffic, that depends on where you live and where you go. Here in DC the traffic is worse than Houston and in LA and Austin, etc. For the non city slickers, one has to realise that traffic and weather and some petty crime comes with big city living, I have lived in cities and metros including London, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, Riyadh, Roma, Naha (Okinawa), Catania, Napoli, Maastricht, Aachen, Rio de Janeiro, Oklahoma City, Maracaibo, Belize City, Philadelphia, Detroit, Merida (MX), Phoenix, and Edmonton along with several other locations I shan't mention...all have good, all have not-so-good. YMMV on what you find good and bad in each of course.

CO-PLAT

That is very helpful. Thank you.
I didn't realize 288 has free lanes. I'm definitely renting for a year. I want to make sure its right for us before committing to buying a house. I drove through Shadow Creek Ranch a few weeks ago and it is nice and very close to my future workplace. I'm flying in Saturday and have three home showings scheduled Sunday...one in Massey Lakes Estates and two in Rosharon. There is a lot of new construction which makes Google Maps useless when trying to see what the neighborhoods look like remotely.

YadiMolina

I'm a relatively new Houston resident and did precisely what you're proposing, including getting flustered by Google Earth. I rented a home in eastern Fort Bend County for a year, then decided to buy a house in northwest Harris County. I'd say the entire ring of master-planned developments around Houston over the past 20-30 years are indistinguishable. Schools were important to us. I appreciate being an extra 25 miles inland for any hurricane (either to evacuate or for dissipation), as well as being closer to IAH and road tripping to the rest of the state.

The previous poster is spot-on. Houston isn't necessarily a swamp, but it is flat as can be and doesn't drain well. So, get used to flooded streets during storms. Developments like Shadow Creek Ranch and all the rest have all those attractive lakes scattered about, which are there to hold the water in storms.

Good luck with your decisions and your move.

dmkorten

I second the suggestions of Shadow Creek Ranch (or some of the other master planned communities near it like Silver Lake. To me it makes no sense to commute from a different part of Houston (even someplace "close" like Sugar Land) when the houses and communities will be basically the same. Manvil and Alvin might make some sense. If your employer is just north of 8 and west of 288 you likely will not need to even get on those roads to get to work. Back roads will get you there.
I live in the east side of Pearland (closer to 45), but looked at houses in SIlver Lake and Shadow Creek Ranch. Pearland is mostly chain restaurants (not even an Indian restaurant), but you are very close to Houston itself. You can get to the museum district or Rice Village in 20 - 25 minutes, Same for downtown.
You are a hike from IAH, but close to HOU if you don't mind Southwest.

EmailKid

Or flying AA to DFW to connect. No idea how often they fly these days, but a quick glance showed they now use CR9 and not ERJ 145 like when I lived in the area

CO-PLAT

I spent most of Sunday shopping for rentals. I did not like the new housing developments in Rosharon. I toured a 4-year old home in Massey Estates (Pearland) that was trashed. The neighborhood itself was nice. The best area and home I found was in Missouri City. Specifically, Lake Olympia gated community. I met three co-workers today that live in Missouri City. One of them lives in Lake Olympia and it takes him 20 minutes to get to work when leaving at 6:20am. One 80 cent toll each way.

YadiMolina

I commuted through Lake Olympia for a few months. That Fort Bend Parkway is pretty slick, never was any traffic even at peak hours (albeit covid). But watch out on Lake Olympia Parkway, I saw a few speed traps enforcing an absurdly low speed limit for a divided arterial road.

CO-PLAT

Will be back Saturday night for another week. This time with the wife. Nine properties in Missouri City to see on Sunday. Two more in Houston very near to my workplace, two in Manvel and one in Pearland. I work very close to AVEVA stadium.

Last week the weather was pretty wonderful. I was told to savor it by my coworkers.

I'm really liking what I've seen so far. My coworkers and people in the general population are all pleasant. I also like the racial diversity compared to the Pacific Northwest.

CO-PLAT

Separate question. I'm a Delta Diamond and 2MM. Do I need to switch to United or can I stay with Delta? My current "home" airport is PDX so I almost always have to connect somewhere. I was travelling 41% with my old job and expect to do 20% with the new job.

EmailKid

I suspect that as 2MM you are familiar with the hub penalty ...... er, nonstop premium

In my (too few) road warrior days flying ex IAH a decade ago I found myself on US more often than not (crediting to UA) even though prior to that job my personal flying was on CO. But due to pricing (company policy and all that WRT price), CO was out.

IIRC DL used to fly ex HOU (been a while since I've lived in Houston / Galveston area, so don't know if they still do), but that could be a nice option.

I never minded connecting (usually in PHX), but many do.

aztimm

Doesn't AS have a hub at PDX? I've only been there a few times, but I think I remember there being tons of AS flights.

As for switching carriers, that's something I have done a, "wait and see," after a move. I lived in Arizona for so long, and got used to America West, then US Airways, and American...when I moved to Austin I figured I'd see how it worked to stick with AA (and it has mostly been good, especially since they added AS and B6 as partners, and tons of point-to-point service). But in a place like Houston, with the old CO Hub at IAH, I would think it would make sense to fly UA... Thankfully PHX didn't really have the, "hub penalty," that @EmailKid referenced; probably because WN has also had a significant presence there.

CO-PLAT

Yes, but their network is lacking. I did a status match to AS a few years ago and ended up never taking a single flight with them because they couldn't get me to the places I needed to go.

djp98374

my own opinion….

My moms sister has lived near Columbus, TX for 40+ years. I’ve been down to visit multiple times over the years. One of her sons live in immediate hoystonnarea, her other son lives in Dallas, and the eldest son lives about equidistant of San Antonio and Houston south of I-10.

the best time for weather is roughly November-early April. The other times it’s a sauna.

Portland is dry in the summer and humid in the winter. Houston is not.

look at where you place is relative to water bodies.

talk to the local county/ community area on flood zone risk areas and evacuation zones fir hurricanes.

you will need to have ready an emergency kit. You keep all your important documents in one place as well as items you might need.

living in Portland you might have experience driving in snow and ice, people in texas don’t and they don’t have equipment. The littlest snow on the ground causes panic driving.

given the problems with the electric grid, make sure to check what your ho e is on. Some communities have price locks/ max amt while others do not.

dmkorten

DL only flies to ATL from HOU. If you want to get to other hubs you have to fly out of IAH.

s0ssos

So was reading about the teen in Waller County who hit 6 cyclists and the police just let him go (which is ridiculous). I was expecting Waller County to be in western Texas but it is right next to Houston.
I know in California if you go outside of the coastal areas it changes dramatically, like if you leave LA and are in Lancaster it is the boonies but not so different like Bakersfield. In Texas is the distinction so big even if right next to a big metropolis? Basically redneck country where the law doesn't apply if you leave Houston?
I do remember being stopped while driving through Texas just cause the police wanted to 'check us out' (didn't do anything wrong, after running my driver's license and making me wait a little let us go).