Is houston a fun place to live? where in houston?
The Woodlands is a nice place to live. 20 north of Downtown Houston. The Woodlands has great schools, river walk atmosphere (similar to San Antonio), miles of walking/running trails, tons of restaurants, clubs, theaters and shopping. People in The Woodlands wear normal clothes. Anything from mall shopping to high end couture. Won't see wranglers and cowboys here unless they are visiting.
A good place in Houston to live?
Depending on your interests, where you will be working or attending school, and if you are planning to buy or rent Houston can be a big city or it can be small cow town. Montrose is young, trendy, alternative-lifestyle friendly, is chopped full of small shops, great coffee houses and yummy places to grab a bite. Montrose is also home to the Menil Museum, St. Thomas University and is very close the museum district, downtown, and the medical center. Renting is affordable, and home prices range from 200K on up. The Galleria area boasts apartments, highrises, and expensive homes. It is just "outside the loop" (an imaginary demarkation line for Houston City Limits - now it has become a status symbol to live inside the loop). This area becomes more strip center-esque but still has great eateries, good bakeries, the 5th largest mall in the US (the Galleria - a simon mall). If you want to live further out with more affordable homes and good school districts, you can look into Cypress (northwest of the city), Kingwood (annexed by Houston) is approximately 32 miles north of Houston), Atasocita is also north, Katy (it's too far for my taste. It is west of Houston - like heading towards San Antonio). And SugarLand is southwest of Houston. For more information, to compare crime stats (very important) and to request brochures - try www.houstontx.gov. To search for housing (rentals and/or purchase): www.har.com Good luck with your move.