Moving to Houston
 

As some of you already know, I have been planning to relocate to Houston to start a new job. I will be moving there in a few weeks. Many of you have been very helpful and already suggested areas to look for a house. However, could you please also suggest where should I look for a nice, clean and safe apartment complex? This would be my temporary residence until I find a house for permanent residence. I will be working near Westheimer exit off of Beltway 8.
I would prefer a suburb over in-city living since, from my experience, suburbs are usually cleaner and safer. My working hours should be a bit outside of rush hours so hopefully traffic shouldnt be an issue. Thanks again for the help.

It would really depend on how much of a commute you are willing to make and how close you prefer to be to your office. Any of the areas previously mentioned (Katy, Clear Lake, Kingwood, etc.) all have nice apartment complexes, as well as residential housing, and are all considered suburban areas.

I'm sure there are tons of good alternatives for you with regard to location of apartments, but one I thought you might be interested in that I passed today is located on Winrock between San Felipe and Woodway (just east of Voss). I don't know the name, but if you're interested I can find it out for you, as I drive near there frequently.

It's a little bit east of where your work is located, but it's in a very upscale area, within walking distance of quite a few restaurants and shops (including a good Italian restaurant, Thai restaurant, Texas-style cafe called Buffalo Grille and Whole Foods Grocery store). It's pretty easy access from there to either Westheimer (to the south) or to I-10 (to the north).

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Susan

My son lived on Westheimer and Woodland Park just near Wilcrest, and even though it was a somewhat upscale neighborhood there were two people held up as they walked to their car to go to work in March. Live in the suburbs.

There are a number of fairly upscale apartment complexes in the area near your job. You could look at complexes in the Royal Oaks area, as well as to the east on Westheimer. I have lived near the location mentioned by Susan for over ten years and love this area. I really enjoyed the Phoenician apartments when I moved to the area initially. It would be a little farther (15 to 20 mins) although you would go against rush hour traffic. You can live in suburbia too if you desire: recommend looking in the Sugarland area if you wanted to be not too far away, but you will deal with some more traffic. I do recommend staying at a fairly new and upscale development, but please don't be scared by the last poster.

Thanks so much for the information. Those upscale apartments, what are their rents? In general, what is the average rent for a nice, 2-bedroom apartment in Houston area? By the way, since I am planning to move to a house quite soon, within 2-3 months, I am not sure if I should be spending a lot of money on an apartment.

As for traffic, I wouldnt mind upto 20 minutes drive.

I don't know about the rent, as I haven't rented an apt in a long time. Most young professionals that I know live close to downtown or in mid-town, but it doesn't sound like it's the best option for you with the location of your work.

You might want to try the Galleria area (and areas to the west of that). This way you'd be going against traffic. I'd avoid apts along Westheimer -- too busy. I found this website that lists some apartments in the area. http://www.apartmentshoustonmovingre...m/galleria.htm

You'll find the price varies significantly by location, amenities and age. Some apts have been there for 20 years, while others are brand new.

Susan

qz - Many apartments require an initial 12-month contract. If you're only staying for 2-3 months, make sure you specify that in your search, as that probably will exclude many choices.

I agree with the previous poster on the length of rental agreement terms. Six months is probably the shortest you will find.

For this reason, have you thought of looking into temporary corporate housing apartment rentals that are done specifically for your type of situation? They will usually rent on a month by month basis while you are looking for a home.

Unfortunately, I'm no longer in the Houston area, so I don't know of particular names, but I know they exist since I used to book them for our own corporate people who were moving to the Houston area.

gz, Oakwood has some short term rentals in Houston. I know one complex is btwn downtown and Montrose, but it appears to be in a neighborhood area (although it would be inner rather than suburban). Not sure if they have one closer to Westheimer and Beltway 8, which is further south/west.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing -- renting for less than 6 months will likely limit your choices significantly.

I drove by the apartments I was telling you about this morning and got the name -- it's Woodway Square. Their website is www.woodwaysquare.net. You might want to contact them about lease terms.

Susan

emd, Oakwood is one that I was thinking of since I know they have numerous locations in the country.

I also know that there are a couple of other properties that I used for short term corporate housing in Houston. I only wish I could recall the names. Guess that's what so many years away does to one's brain. :)

I have been searching some moving companies and I am wondering if anyone has an experience with any of these. Perhaps, you could suggest some other.

The companies I have talked with yet are: Wright-Way Moving, Pacific Movers, East West moving and storage, City Moving Systems, Team USA and All American Movers. I am trying find a reliable and honest relocating service.

Also, someone suggested that I make an arrangememt with a separate company that specializes in moving cars to move the car as that might be cheaper.

We've moved three times cross country with Graebel and were very satisfied. Moving from California to Dallas, they put our Porsche in the van and it came along with our furniture, as we drove in the family car. The moving business is full of scoundrels so choose wisely. A large national-wide company is the best, I think.

By the way, some large apartment companies will go for a three month lease if they have many vacancies. Also no deposit. That's how it was for my son in Houston. If you need to extend you can go month by month. He also got $130 off the monthly listed rent.

My in-laws live in Houston and we go out to see them about 3 times a year. There are TONS of brand new apartment buildings (as well as new homes) going up all the time and the rents are very reasonable (compared to living in NJ).
You should be able to find something suitable...

qz-- what about leasing a condo/ townhouse? you might have a better chance at getting the short lease you need than with an apt. People who rent out their condos/ townhomes want to fill them too, since they're footing the mortgaqe when it's empty, so they may be quite willing to let you live there for a few months to take the load off their own pocketbooks. As you know my husband is a realtor, and he was looking into buying a condo as investment property in the Westpark and Beltway 8 area near where you'd work. There are lots of condos/ townhomes around there. You can search on www.har.com, select find a home, then select Residential lease.

http://www.har.com/cs_forlease.htm