I got contacted about a job that would be a significant step forward for my career, but it would require relocating to Houston. I'm curious if anyone happens to live in Clearlake or anyplace near Johnson Space Center and what your thoughts on the area are. If you were going to buy a house this summer, what areas would you be looking at?

Thanks!

Working from memory,, but i recall that Clear Lake is full of master planned community neighborhoods. That makes finding homes that are stable in value pretty easy.

Resident!   Lots to choose from - (sorry Bad Pun).

I'm a bit north of JSC & closer to Ellington Field - I love the Thunder of Afterburners & the Smell of Kerosene!!!  

Lots of nice neighborhoods, but most of the Construction is 60's-70's-80's-90's ...  Seabrook is just down NASA 1.  Kemah is just other side of the bay.

New Construction is mostly a bit further south in League City where a LOT of new built homes are going up.

All of the above and look into the Friendswood or (East) Pearland area and parts of Webster, as well. I-45 from NASA Pkwy. out to Texas City is a mess for at least a couple more years. If schools are a concern, others will likely have more detailed info for you. Price range would help too. Good luck!

Made an account to answer this, long time lurker here.

I grew up in Houston Born 1990, joined the military age 20 and just got out 4 months ago.

I Have lived in the PNW , San Diego,  New Jersey, Jacksonville Florida.

Been to a lot of places in between , Could be because I’m subconsciously biased but in my opinion Houston is a great place to live and it’s where I’m currently at after having the pick of the litter where I wanted to live after getting out.

Only draw back is the city of Houston in there infinite wisdom back in the 80’s and 90’s didn’t address the growing congestion problem of having a major city. Public and personal transportation is tied to highways . There is virtually no other form of transportation that doesn’t require a motor vehicle. Because of this there is traffic during peak hours, just to give some context I think I’m the 2000s the population of Houston was give or take 4 million. It’s 2021 and I believe the population is 7 million, you do the math.

I live in a suburb southeast of Houston ,Pasadena,Pearland,Clear lake ,Laporte, Sugar Land I’m all familiar with.

Pearland IMO is at the top of the list where I would want to live, and will eventually purchase a home there.

Be wary, Houston is pretty Liberal. I’d say it’s about 50/50 of right and left. But we probably have more moderates then anything, in Texas we typically only give a shit about Texas to be honest.

EDIT: I just saw your from WA, I lived in Everett, Bremerton and Port Orchard. If it means anything I loved Seattle and surrounding areas and is probably 2nd on my list of places to live ,behind Houston.

Live near your office and don’t live in Houston city limits.  

Personally I think it’s a great area to be for opportunity.  If a young person ask me where To go after school I tell them the Houston area.

Some areas are great.   Clearlake, Memorial / The Villages,  Woodlands,  Affluent people making good money who speak English & value hard work & clean living...

But vast swaths of Houston are 3rd World level, Crime Ridden Shitholes (and unfortunately - the Shit tends to splatter out into the nice parts from time to time)...

The Drive across or around Houston really sucks, so try to live very close by where you work - if you can get there avoiding Freeways or Toll Roads, that much the better.

BIGGER_HAMMER

Clearlake is a great area.

Before you buy, drive your work commute during rush hour.
Anyone that tells you a long commute in Houston rush hour traffic helps them wind down is full of shit.

Clearlake is close to one of the nicest private ranges in the metro area.

If you are looking inside the Houston city limits I can give you crime info. I have patrolled SE/Clear lake over 20 years. Personally I would live in the Galveston County side of Friendswood or League City. Make sure wherever you decide to live did not flood during Harvey.

Thanks for all the info everyone! Sounds like I'll be looking in Clearlake or just over the border in Galveston county. I currently live south of Seattle and choose to live as close as possible to work because of the commute, but given remote work I wish I was outside of King county.

Interview is on Tuesday so we'll see how it goes.

Good luck with your interview.

Shoot for the Stars!!  


BIGGER_HAMMER

I live across the street from JSC, and have for 20 years.

The following will make more sense if you print out a map that shows the various towns, and streets.

You didn't say if you were actually going to work on site at JSC, or for a NASA contractor.  If you're working on site, all the entrances are along Nasa 1 (main East/West street), to the south of the site.  I think the site is only running 25% capacity now - they'll stretch it out for as long as humanly possible to avoid having to go back to work in the office, as the NASA workers like working from home.

You didn't mention kids or schools, which will play a huge role in where you live, as different districts have different quality schools.  I'll assume schools are not a factor in your house location.

Another factor will be do you want water view / access?  NASA is next to Clear Lake, which connects to Galveston Bay and then the Gulf.  Water view places are obviously more expensive, and much fewer to be had.  I don't live on the water but across the the street from it, have water views to the sides, and it is nice seeing the water and all the pelicans / gulls flying around.  

People have mentioned Pearland and Friendswood - those are two nice suburb towns to the west - but it's a good 20 minute drive, no traffic, from JSC to Friendswood, and probably 30 to Pearland.  And Nasa 1 back up badly in the evening going west.  I'd wager if you left at 5 it'd be 30-40 minutes to Friendswood.

Across Nasa 1 is Nassau Bay, another nice suburb town.  Like the other towns around the Clear Lake Area, it has its own city government, police, mayor, city council, so you don't have to deal with the Houston jokers, and HPD which won't have the response time, or care about factor that a small town outfit will for things like noise violations, traffic accidents, car burglars, etc.  It's a mix of older houses, ones that have been updated, and bigger ones here and there, and if they have water views to warrent a larger house.

Down the road to the east are various smaller towns - Taylor Lake Village has some nice houses in it, then Seabrook goes to Galveston Bay.  Kemah is over the bridge, and to the South, on the other side of Clear Lake.  Traffic for Kemah is going to cause a longer commute than the other places.

League City is also south of Nasa, and again, it's a longer roll than Nassau Bay / Taylor Lake / Seabrook.  Webster is a bit further West of NASA, but on the same side of I45.  It's an older neighborhood and generally not as modern and large houses as the other places.

The nicest places around are in or around Bay Oaks Country Club - it's to the Northeast of NASA.  Some really nice houses along the greens, and generally pretty upscale.  Those places I believe are in City of Houston, as is NASA itself, though on a long term lease to the Federal government is my understanding.  I've not lived in the City so I can't comment on their level of services like police, water, roads, etc.  You don't really notice a difference just driving around.  But you'd think a local government would be more responsive than a huge one like Houston.  Then again, maybe smaller towns have money issues for fixing stuff - can't tell unless you know all the details about place X and place Y.

Clear Lake refers to the lake (actually it's connected to Galveston Bay and isn't a lake), and the general area of East of I45, south of Beltway 8.  There's not a Clear Lake city government, as it's all City of Houston, though I think they have their own water board or such.

One guy mentioned Hurricane Harvey and flooding.  Harvey dumped 50-60 inches of water over a few days here.  I'd never seen it rain like that - the sky just flowed water like a waterfall.  Many places that had never flooded before, flooded then, so I would not auto disqualify a place that flooded during that storm - 50 inches of rain in 2 days is not a usual occurrence.  But you do want to know, both as a guide for possible other storms, and for finding out if the place was properly repaired if it flooded.  

Another thing to find out is elevation above sea level, and if the place floods or gets close during hurricanes.  Hurricane Ike in 2008 put a foot of water in my garage, and was 2 feet from getting up to my living room.  Living room is at 12 feet above sea level as a guide.  

Places close to the water are going to have high insurance premiums, so ask what their current policy costs and covers.

There's an awesome private range in Friendswood, called Pearland Shooting Center.  There's a waiting list to join, but if you move definitely sign up and try to join.  200 bucks a year or so, all you want to shoot, many many rifle and pistol ranges.  

Clear Lake area is about 20-25 miles to downtown Houston.  Traffic is bad during rush hour and best avoided, but at other times like the weekend, it's maybe 30-35 minutes there.  Hobby airport is about 15 miles away, and between Southwest who had a big hub there, and Delta to Atlanta, you can go most places via that one, and not have to go up to Intercontinental, north of Houston and a 45 mile drive.

It's a very nice area - no real slums or public housing.  Webster has had a lot of illegals move in the last 20 years for work at restaurants and the mall and such, as well as lots of construction jobs, but they don't seem to cause any problems, at least to us home owners - don't know what it's like to live there in one of the apartments.  

Houston has a very high level of restaurant quality, and there are many great places to eat.  Weather is hot May to September time frame, but nice the rest of the year.

Gun stuff will be a breath of fresh air compared to WA - open and campus carry passed a few years ago, and we're on the cusp of getting Constitutional Carry passed.  The gun grabbers are playing defense here instead of offense like it WA.

I think you'll like it, and would recommend you move.

Holler at me with any other questions.  Good luck.  

we just hired a girl from houston.

perfect texas accent.

i'd listen to that little gal read the phone book.

Anywhere past Beltway 8 and East of I-45 is decent.  I would stay away from inside the Beltway and the loop unless you want to live my lifestyle.

Only one thing to say about Houston . . .  R U N  !  !  !

Deleted

I’ve lived in Houston for 20 years and haven’t noticed that.   Closest is referring to places by their old Ward numbers, but with gentrification (honkey settlers) it means less than it used to.

I’m north of 99, but figured I could add some partial Houston truth and humor to the thread.

That map is surprisingly accurate.

Yes, actually is Surprisingly Accurate...

You can get a feel for the city by watching the local news Channel 2 (NBC), Channel 11 (CBS) , Channel 13 (ABC) over the internet.  Just google "Channel 2 new Houston", or "Channel 11 news Houston", or "Channel 13 news Houston" ...

8 minutes of people of color robbing, raping & killing each other, (two minutes of commercials) then 8 minutes of "Local Interest & Weather" (with two more minutes of commercials) and then the final segment of 8 minutes of "Local Sportsball" the cutie closing "ahwww how sweet" story. (and the final two minutes of commercials) ...

Get your Texas Carry License ASAP as you can.  Carry where & when you can.   Just amazing the amount of violent crime here in what used to be formerly safe sections of Houston.   Home Invasions, Freeway Shootings, Store Robberies, ...

BIGGER_HAMMER