What townhouse communities near the loop would you recommend?

Moved to Houston a couple of months ago and looking to purchase a home. My spouse works in the med center so we’re hoping to buy somewhere with a ~20 minute commute or less. Unfortunately, it seems like most homes within the loop are either way out of our budget, too far, or not in safe area. In our search we’ve noticed that there are quite a few townhouse communities somewhat close to the loop that may potentially fit our needs. That said, it’s all new to us so I’m wondering if anyone here could give us some guidance on which areas to look at? Budget would be up to about $450k and ideally the commute would be within a legitimate 20ish minutes with normal traffic. In addition, if anyone knows which builders are good and which ones to avoid, that’d be appreciated as well.