I have had clients that went against my advice - and bought a larger home in a  nice neighborhood on the North side of I-10 than what they could buy in the Cinco Ranch part of Katy.  Three years later they discover they can't sell the home because the price to sell won't cover the closing costs and mortgage. They're stuck.  How does this happen?  Well the land and development costs are lower in these unproven areas - therefore a developer can buy the land cheaper and sell homes for less money - and still make an acceptable profit - the problem is - they cant guarentee the re-sale values and unless the conditions turn out to be just perfect - problems happen.  Ultimately these neighborhoods turn into rental neighborhoods because that’s the only thing an owner can do if he gets transferred - this causes prices to go down even  lower.

So . . what are the conditions that ultimately result in a neighborhood gaining popularity?

Mark Fuller is a leading real estate professional specializing in Luxury Homes In Houston Texas.

Some combination of

1) Excellent location relative to where people need to be - work, school, leisure etc.  2) Excellent Schools  3) Excellent amenities 4) Good shopping, dining and infrastructure.   

There are three main suburb areas that have a consistent track record of price appreciation and liquidity and contain these 4 items.   In my opinion these are listed here in order of best performing -

Katy area (selected master planned communities of Cinco Ranch, Grand Lakes and Seven Meadows),

The Woodlands (selected Villages) and

Sugarland - Telfair.

Now - what about all those other great suburb communities that have beautiful homes and lots of nice trees and landscapes etc - yes - I'm sure they are great houses and great places to live - the question is - will you be able to sell your house when you need to and will you get the price you need in order to move on.  Its sort of like this  - if you can drive a Bently for about the same price as a Chevy - we should probably buy the Bently.  Yes - maybe the Bently is a little smaller than the Chevy - but 5 years from now  - you can sell the small Bently - make a profit and buy a bigger one.  Make sense?

Mark Fuller is a leading real estate professional specializing in Luxury Homes In Houston Texas.