I moved to Houston - North suburbs 11 years ago and this is what I wish I had known

1. Houses here do not have basements so storage is important!

Houses around Houston do not have basements. In place of a basement, homes often will have a game room to give you the added space. Game rooms make great spaces for the kids to hang out, those pool tables from your basement, or as a "man cave".

However, the lack of a basement can pose a storage challenge. Basements often give families a lot of additional storage. Without a basement, some key things you need to look for when looking for a house are:

• Large closets
• storage spaces in addition to the attic
• possibly additional storage in the garage
• built-in/hidden storage under stairs or behind bookcases - homeowners have gotten creative by adding custom storage spaces. Example Below:

2. School Districts do not line up with city boundaries

In other states, it is easy to tell the school districts because they align with city boundaries. It isn’t as clear-cut and dry here. Growth and expansion have greatly changed populations and city areas in the past 10-15 years. Some towns are so large now that multiple school districts cover different parts of it.

For Example: Conroe ISD encompasses the towns of Conroe, The Woodlands, parts of Spring, and up near the southern parts of Willis. Klein ISD covers Klein, parts of Spring, and Tomball.

How should you use this knowledge to your benefit?

When looking for a house around Houston it is important to identify a general area, then choose the school district you want to be in. The final step is narrowing down the town within the school district. You may decide to only search for homes in "The Conroe ISD section of Spring" or "The Klein ISD part of Tomball".

3. Not all of Houston Floods! This is a myth largely derived from media headlines about the hurricanes here.

There have been bad floods such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We do get hurricanes here yes. While both of these are true, many places all over Houston have never flooded. Often times the national news makes it seem like the entire Houston area is flooded as well as every home. This simply is not true.

It is important to research any home you are interested in. Your Realtor should be offering flood plain information as well as known events that have affected the house.

The most important thing to remember about Houstonians is that we are a community of people who adapt and help each other out in every situation. Every time there is a weather event in the area, neighbors help each other. The entire community comes together in big ways that I never saw living in other parts of this country.

Bottom Line:

I love living here. It took some growing pains at first, and I miss things about my former home of Chicago. But Houston has become my home, and I would not move back to my previous home for so many reasons! My hope is that you have a smooth transition, fall in love with the food and more, and feel right at home!