What are the best areas to buy a home in the northern side of Houston?

Looking to move to the north of Houston and looking at several areas. In order of preference:

Conroe
Cypress
Magnolia
Tomball
Kingwood

However, being from Florida and only spending a few days there so far, not sure how those areas really are. I'm planning on spending a week out there to check them all out and looking for new construction/planned communities in just a couple of weeks. No kids, just two dogs and a wife – so school ratings are not a factor.

The home builders we're looking at in these areas are

Beazer
Brightland Homes
Castlerock
Centex
Chesmar
Coventry
David Weekly
DR Horton
Empire
Highland
KB
K Honvanian
Legend
LGI
Meritage
Perry
Rausch Coleman
Shea
Taylor Morrisons
TriPointe
Toll Bros

Looking for feedback from the informed locals here on any tips, recommendations or any other info that can help us narrow things down. Are there areas that we shouldn't even consider? Are there certain builders that we should shy away from (Lennar is already off this list because of the horror stories in Houston and know of here in Florida)?

Would appreciate the input and feedback you all and regardless, hope to be a good neighbor to you all soon!