Moving to Houston, Texas - advice needed!

[teamnomistake]

My DH's job is being transferred to Houston in a few months time. We have 2 boys, one aged 2, one 4 months.

I've never been to Houston, and we have to find somewhere to live and start a new life. I'm quite daunted as I'm a SAHM at the moment and feel like I've just found my feet following the birth of DS2. I have a nice circle of Mum friends and a good amount of weekly playgroups and so on and am going to have to start again. I'm quite jealous of DH having the job as he'll have structure to his days.

I'd love to hear from anyone who knows Houston. I have a million questions but I guess the most fundamental is working out where to live. DH will be in the central business area, so we'd want to be a reasonable commute from there. Ideally we'd want to be somewhere where there are parks and restaurants and things for the kids within walking distance (I've heard Houston is very much a place where you have to drive everywhere)

Any suggestions or general Houstony info would be very gratefully received. Thanks so much

Iirc, expatinscotland has Houston connections and can perhaps offer some valuable advice.

Also post on the 'Living in America' thread in the Living Overseas topic. You'll probably get helpful responses there.

In the meantime - does your dh's company have an HR department that could offer advice? Presumably they'll be helping arrange/pay for the movers, etc. Perhaps they could put you in touch with other expats (either in or out of the company) who could offer advice.

Final word of advice - even though home purchase prices will probably seem ridiculously reasonable, don't buy straight away. Rent first until you get to know the city, areas and specific roads/streets.

Good luck.

Hi, I live in Houston, what would you like to know?
I don't know central business district, as we live on westside, but you could consider Rice Village/ West University - not too far to commute, and parks etc to walk to. If you are only here for a couple of years then you do not need to worry about school districts - ie where your dcs would go to school - if they were older, I would suggest avoiding Houston Independent School District which pretty much covers central Houston. Do not look at east side as somewhere to live. (Don't even go there in your car). The Heights is an "up and coming" neighbourhood - meaning some is more seedy than other parts, but the houses are lovely, and rent not too expensive.
And yes, everyone drives everywhere. Let me know what else I can answer!

I'm originally from Houston (been in UK 5 years now).

It's a great place to live. Very affordable.

You have to drive though. There is public transport but I'm not sure how good it is as I only ever used it once. There usually isn't much that is walkable unless you live in Houston proper and then it's only certain districts.

Houston is very very spread out. My house was inside Beltway 8 (technically Houston city limits but really suburbia) and my nearest grocery store/shopping centre was a good 10 minute drive.

HTH

Hi teamnomistake, are you living in Houston now? my DH's job will be moving us there over the summer. Are you enjoying it and where would you recommend we rent a house? please let me know if you have any tips on very good schools?

any info will be helpful, thanks

As far as I remember when dbil moved there, joining the church was about the only way to get to know people - all the community activities seem to revolve around church. Not sure if that's still the case.

Hi Jetagemum,
We're in Houston - moved here a year and a bit ago with DH's job, though we're moving on again shortly. Why don't you join the "Living in America 2012" thread as there are a few other Texas dwellers on that I think. Also feel free to drop me a PM with a bit more info about you and your family and and I'll send you some useful info, suggestions for local groups to join etc...