Moving to Houston - Mustachian areas?

[ryanht13]

Office will be 20 minutes east of Cypress. 30 minutes north of downtown on Hwy 249 going towards Tomball.
Would like to live a local/walkable lifestyle. Or at least not sit in traffic all the time. I enjoy the outdoors and exercise... also a sports fan.

Thoughts?

[bobechs]

Select a place to live within walking distance of the office.

Everything else will fall in to place.

[ooeei]

Can't comment much on the specific area, but good luck doing the walkable lifestyle here.  It can be done, but you're swimming upstream for the most part.  Out of the 10 or so people at my workplace I've asked, me and one other guy are the only ones with <40 minute commute one way.  I'll second the advice above, live close to work, and preferably a grocery store, and the rest you'll just have to figure out.

[CheapskateWife]

*Raises hand in back of the room*

My folks live in Tomball and I'm pretty familiar with that area; !

The 249 corridor has really built up the last 10 years and so housing close to amenities is pretty easy to do.  There are a lot of folks in that NW part of Houston who ride their bikes and even commute, but there are few dedicated bike lanes.  The urban planners have allowed for rather generous shoulders that help with safer biking on busy roads, though.

My favorite place to visit when we are home with M&D is Burroughs Park in Tomball...lots of fabulous walking/biking trails.  I wouldn't call it hiking because everything is flat out there :)

Housing in that area has gotten more expensive in the recent past due to new oil companies moving into the area...but then they all started loosing money this year so we are kind of watching to see what RE is going to do as a result.  I'd rent first to get a feel for the area then buy a home.

If you like pine trees, you are moving to the right part of the state....you know its humid there, right?  like 99% most of the year, kind of humid?  Still lovely though, and I'm hoping that when we FIRE, we find our forever home not far from there.

Awesome places for small venue music are http://doseydoe.com/ or http://mainstreetcrossing.com/music/

Please feel free to PM if you have some specific questions about the area!

[Noodle]

Happiness in Houston is about commute time, not geographical distance, and it can be really hard to know the traffic patterns without personal experience. The same distance between my home and work, in a different geographical direction, could mean 2-3x the time spent in the car depending on traffic. Definitely rent first to check out the area--there was a rental shortage during the boom but with low oil prices that seems to have eased quite a bit. 

Walkable in terms of daily activities is going to be tough to find anywhere because Houston/environs are so spread out (and because 6 months of the year you have to be willing to arrive at your destination drenched in sweat), but there are areas with better access to green space for your "outdoors time." There is a big multi-year Greenway/park building project going on along Cypress Creek, according to the local news.

[acanthurus]

I used to live in the area as well. Are you at HP? Rent first to learn the area, it's a weird mix of ghetto and rich people. You will quickly learn how Houston's lack of zoning affects things.

[Runge]

Will work be inside the beltway (Sam Houston Tollway) or outside along 249?