RE: Houston: Suburbs vs in the Loop
Woodland Heights is pricey--it's a deed-restricted neighborhood with regulations against sub-dividing lots, so you don't see the plethora of townhouses (and lower prices) that you do in other parts of the Heights, Montrose, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love the neighborhood, but there's hardly anything there for under $300k, and anything under $500k is really, really small. Rice Miltary (north of Memorial between Shepherd and Westcott) is a pretty young neighborhood with tons of townhouses, but all the construction there has outpaced the infrastructure (especially roads), so I'm not as big on it. The Western and Northern parts of the Heights are also affordable, but not as nice as you go further West and/or North.
There are good options in the mid-$200s in Montrose (by which I mean anything from say Taft to Shepherd, and Allen Parkway down to Alabama), and even cheaper in the Fourth Ward, which is more of a "transitioning" neighborhood but is super convenient to downtown.
To me the issue with the 'burbs is that to get any sort of nice neighborhood for a good price, you have to go the WAY out ones (Woodlands, Kingwood, Katy, etc.), possibly with a couple exceptions. Prices in the closer-in, nicer suburbs (think Memorial Villages) reflect the fact that they're, well, closer-in and nicer.
My husband and I are super lame and haven't been to a bar in years (I exaggerate...a little), but even for us, there are big advantages to living in town: walking to Kroger/restaurants/retail, central location (not too far from either airport, theaters, sports venues, etc.), plus it's where all our friends are.
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