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| Renting and Leasing |
If you are relocating to the Houston area, you may not be ready to purchase another home. In that case, renting or leasing may be the perfect solution. The Houston region is the fourth largest rental market in the nation, with more than 550,000 total apartment units (nearly 347,000 in Houston alone). This provides you with plenty of choice in the rental market whether you’re looking for an apartment, townhouse, mid-rise, high-rise, condo or single-family home.
While some people strive for homeownership, others feel that renting or leasing is a much more suitable decision for short or long term. Since you have just arrived in your new city and have so many things to get done, making a large investment like real estate might be best handled after you get acclimated to the area. If you were relocated by your employer, it is possible that another relocation might be in your future, so purchasing a house might not yield a return on your investment. If you moved to Houston from another rental, perhaps you are just not ready to plunge into owning your first home. Either way, allowing yourself time to settle into your new environment before committing to homeownership can give you time to decide what type of home is best for you and get to know the various neighborhoods that make Houston such a diverse place to live.
The past few years alone have seen a massive surge of newly built apartment and condominium high-rises in highly desirable areas like in and around Downtown Houston and in the Uptown and Midtown areas. Although these new options might not be cheap, the choice they afford gives renters the assurance that they can find something to suit their lifestyle and budget.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Houston is a diverse patchwork of exciting neighborhoods that offer an array of rentable living environments. Depending on your needs or wants for a particular location, whether its overall an feel or proximity to your place of business or desirable entertainment and leisure opportunities, Houston has the residential area to make your new life an exciting adventure.
— DOWNTOWN
Downtown Houston grew up around the spot where its founding fathers, the Allen brothers, stepped from their boat onto the banks of Buffalo Bayou in 1836. Houston’s downtown grew and underwent a renaissance that allowed its carefully preserved original commercial buildings to share blocks with modern skyscrapers, performing arts pavilions, high-rise residences and urban lofts. Many lofts and condominiums are found in buildings whose histories add character to downtown living in part of the old Fourth Ward, the Theater District, the Historic District and the blocks around Minute Maid Park. Those living downtown are diverse, including young professionals at the center of the action, empty nesters desiring proximity to artistic and cultural opportunities and downtown business owners and operators. Downtown is home to the Houston Theater District, second only to New York’s Broadway with close to 13,000 seats. Downtown residents love the convenience of walking distance to fine restaurants and sports facilities like the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Park and the Houston Rockets’ Toyota Center.
For living, downtown predominately offers lofts and “soft lofts,” either newly built or carved from renovated buildings in a wide price range. High-rise residences range from entry level to luxuriousness on par with New York’s Upper West Side. An added convenience is the city’s light rail system linking downtown with the Texas Medical Center and NRG Park as well as points east and southeast.
As part of Downtown Houston’s push to invite a younger, hipper crowd to live in the urban center, many older buildings and some new construction projects have gone the way of residential lofts. Desirable as an innately cool and chic living environment, lofts typically have unusual or flexible layouts and visible architectural perks like high ceilings, great natural light, exposed ductwork, brick walls and open space that present a classically sophisticated yet laidback vibe. Most often large, adaptable open spaces typically originating in former industrial or commercial buildings converted for residential use, lofts in Downtown Houston also can be brand new yet have the feel of being historic. Downtown Houston’s historic loft rentals like The Rice and Hogg Palace have been popular for the last two decades while others are rising up all over town.
The trend has developed a variety of options in lofts, from authentic historic warehouse lofts and new luxury lofts. Although the “authentic” element may have drawbacks like potentially drafty windows, living in a historic building lets residents engage in a piece of early Houston history at the heart of Downtown Houston. Differently, luxury lofts are in relatively new construction and feature modern luxury amenities with some design elements traditionally associated with lofts.
In the past few decades, Downtown Houston has experienced a flurry of revitalization of old historic buildings into relevant dining, living and retail concepts as well as new construction throughout in an effort to make the downtown area desirable and attractive to new residents and a new generation. The hotspots for renovation have occurred in a few particular areas, including the historic area around the recently revitalized Market Square Park and East Downtown (EaDo).
Market Square was Houston’s original town center, just two blocks from Allen’s Landing where the city’s founders arrived in 1836 and decided to create the city of the future. Here was the civic center of the new city, home to four City Halls (all lost in turn to fires) and a bustling open-air produce and fish market. In 1960, Market Square became a parking lot at the center of Houston’s hottest nightclubs and restaurants and in the mid-1970s, it was turned into a green space, gaining local artists’ work during the 1980s, only to be forgotten during the oil bust when buildings in the Historic District were demolished or forgotten. Beginning with the redevelopment of Market Square Park in 2007–10, this area has been reborn and restored to its original splendor with a modern vibe. The buildings around it have followed and many have already been renovated and made relevant again.
While some people strive for homeownership, others feel that renting or leasing is a much more suitable decision for short or long term. Since you have just arrived in your new city and have so many things to get done, making a large investment like real estate might be best handled after you get acclimated to the area. If you were relocated by your employer, it is possible that another relocation might be in your future, so purchasing a house might not yield a return on your investment. If you moved to Houston from another rental, perhaps you are just not ready to plunge into owning your first home. Either way, allowing yourself time to settle into your new environment before committing to homeownership can give you time to decide what type of home is best for you and get to know the various neighborhoods that make Houston such a diverse place to live.
The past few years alone have seen a massive surge of newly built apartment and condominium high-rises in highly desirable areas like in and around Downtown Houston and in the Uptown and Midtown areas. Although these new options might not be cheap, the choice they afford gives renters the assurance that they can find something to suit their lifestyle and budget.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Houston is a diverse patchwork of exciting neighborhoods that offer an array of rentable living environments. Depending on your needs or wants for a particular location, whether its overall an feel or proximity to your place of business or desirable entertainment and leisure opportunities, Houston has the residential area to make your new life an exciting adventure.
— DOWNTOWN
Downtown Houston grew up around the spot where its founding fathers, the Allen brothers, stepped from their boat onto the banks of Buffalo Bayou in 1836. Houston’s downtown grew and underwent a renaissance that allowed its carefully preserved original commercial buildings to share blocks with modern skyscrapers, performing arts pavilions, high-rise residences and urban lofts. Many lofts and condominiums are found in buildings whose histories add character to downtown living in part of the old Fourth Ward, the Theater District, the Historic District and the blocks around Minute Maid Park. Those living downtown are diverse, including young professionals at the center of the action, empty nesters desiring proximity to artistic and cultural opportunities and downtown business owners and operators. Downtown is home to the Houston Theater District, second only to New York’s Broadway with close to 13,000 seats. Downtown residents love the convenience of walking distance to fine restaurants and sports facilities like the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Park and the Houston Rockets’ Toyota Center.
For living, downtown predominately offers lofts and “soft lofts,” either newly built or carved from renovated buildings in a wide price range. High-rise residences range from entry level to luxuriousness on par with New York’s Upper West Side. An added convenience is the city’s light rail system linking downtown with the Texas Medical Center and NRG Park as well as points east and southeast.
As part of Downtown Houston’s push to invite a younger, hipper crowd to live in the urban center, many older buildings and some new construction projects have gone the way of residential lofts. Desirable as an innately cool and chic living environment, lofts typically have unusual or flexible layouts and visible architectural perks like high ceilings, great natural light, exposed ductwork, brick walls and open space that present a classically sophisticated yet laidback vibe. Most often large, adaptable open spaces typically originating in former industrial or commercial buildings converted for residential use, lofts in Downtown Houston also can be brand new yet have the feel of being historic. Downtown Houston’s historic loft rentals like The Rice and Hogg Palace have been popular for the last two decades while others are rising up all over town.
The trend has developed a variety of options in lofts, from authentic historic warehouse lofts and new luxury lofts. Although the “authentic” element may have drawbacks like potentially drafty windows, living in a historic building lets residents engage in a piece of early Houston history at the heart of Downtown Houston. Differently, luxury lofts are in relatively new construction and feature modern luxury amenities with some design elements traditionally associated with lofts.
In the past few decades, Downtown Houston has experienced a flurry of revitalization of old historic buildings into relevant dining, living and retail concepts as well as new construction throughout in an effort to make the downtown area desirable and attractive to new residents and a new generation. The hotspots for renovation have occurred in a few particular areas, including the historic area around the recently revitalized Market Square Park and East Downtown (EaDo).
Market Square was Houston’s original town center, just two blocks from Allen’s Landing where the city’s founders arrived in 1836 and decided to create the city of the future. Here was the civic center of the new city, home to four City Halls (all lost in turn to fires) and a bustling open-air produce and fish market. In 1960, Market Square became a parking lot at the center of Houston’s hottest nightclubs and restaurants and in the mid-1970s, it was turned into a green space, gaining local artists’ work during the 1980s, only to be forgotten during the oil bust when buildings in the Historic District were demolished or forgotten. Beginning with the redevelopment of Market Square Park in 2007–10, this area has been reborn and restored to its original splendor with a modern vibe. The buildings around it have followed and many have already been renovated and made relevant again.
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