Hi Laura,
As you've probably heard before, location is everything but that depends very heavily on your own personal preferences. Elements usually associated with location are typically quality of schools, property taxes, proximity to work, community, cultural and recreational opportunities, just to name a few. I'd recommend starting with something measurable; the distance to places you visit regularly (i.e. weekly or more often) such as school(s), shopping, banking, work, medical services etc. A great resource to rate a neighborhood is walkscore.com. After you get used to measuring or quantifying things like this, you can move on to less concrete items. Also, recent studies have shown that in the Houston metro area if you take into account the true cost of a commute to work you save nearly $400/month for every minute you shorten your commute.
Of course consulting a Realtor local to that area is always advisable.
-Josh