Moving to Texas?

[NSXRguy]

I am from NJ. My gf family has a house in pearland, tx and my gf is planning on moving there also, so i *might* move with them.

Ive asked other forums on how the lifestle there and the common answers were

1)houston and lower on the map are ghetto
2)hot as hell summers
3)no state income tax

I want to know what prime thinks of pearland and the surrounding area. If you are from the northeast originally, please chime in. Thanks

 

[ysoslow]

pearland is actually a very nice area.

 

[docjohn]

although it was many years ago, I was going to move to houston out of training.....long story short it is a very multicultural city which like any other has good areas and not so good.I was impressed enough to consider moving.

 

[socold57]

Htown is always hot year round pretty much, be prepared to drive everywhere , everything is spread out lol, what you gonna do job wise?

 

[Nero Tenebre]

According to Forbes we are pretty damn cool:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/07/26/houston-tops-our-list-of-americas-coolest-cities-to-live/

Of course that does not take into account our backwards-looking politics :biggrin:

Though Houston proper can be very young and rich with diversity/culture, the outlying regions are not the same at all. Pearland itself is a pretty new development but unfortunately that means that it's just another suburb anchored by it's Wal-Mart and other big-box retail tenants clustered around a freeway/farm-to-market road intersection. If you're from the NE, you will really notice the expansive freeways and sprawl. Cheap real estate has kept this place going and people have flooded in from all over because it's comparatively cheap to live here with a decent standard of living.

I almost worked for the real estate developer that "master planned" the new Pearland and believe me when I say it's a repetitive money-making formula they apply. Anyways, from a planning perspective it's obviously a failure but most people just see that it's a new suburb where everything is new and therefore "nice", and that it has a shorter commute to downtown on a less congested freeway than some other suburbs.

On the plus side, it's close to MSR (track)

 

[GBL1]

A close friend JUST moved to Houston a couple of weeks ago (she's originally from Oklahoma...works in the energy field).

She's still getting used to it, but learning that what I have heard is fairly true: with no zoning laws per se, you have ghettos mixed in with upper-crust areas...to encourage a diversity type of thing. Nothing wrong with that, but if I spend $$$$$$ on a house in a "nice" neighborhood, I really don't want:

* to hear police sirens in the middle of the night near my house responding to gang wars and out-of-control domestic shootings, etc...

* my kids having to cross through rough any areas on their way to school.

* worrying about my car or house getting broken into because section 8 housing is across the street from my neighborhood.

* have pawn shops, liquor stores, & payday cash-advance places (not to mention loitering pan-handlers) nearby.

This may sound a bit harsh, but if one has the means to fulfill their desire to live in a "no eye-sore" area, they should be allowed to do so. Just saying...

I am sure there are very nice areas where these scenarios are not the case, but I can tell you from first-hand experience, Ferrari of Houston is right adjacent to a very sleazy-looking flea market...not what I expected to encounter when I visited.

On a plus side, it does seem to have more NSXs per capita than the Dallas area...with more activities.