Don't plant a Chinese tallow tree! They're one of the few that change color around here, but they're horrible invasive and nasty shedders! They're a serious threat to natives.

Check out website Trees for Houston.

A couple of oak varieties have nice bright "fall" color, but it may not happen until around December first, depending on the weather each year. Try Texas Red oak, or Shumardi oak. Both are good trees here. Given ample water and fertilizer, oaks actually grow very fast. "Fast" means a sapling will become a shade tree in about ten years and a forest giant in twenty-five.

Go to the nurseries NOW!
Write down any of the trees that have nice foliage, then go home and research whether or not they actually grow well here.

There is a red crepe myrtle that turns red in the fall--used to have it, but can't remember it's name. Other crepe myrtles turn various colors--don't top them like you see people doing! This justs make them more prone to catch a nasty fungus and die.
Red oaks turn red here in the fall.

For yellow, try a pecan.
Soapberries turn a lovely yellow, but also drop hard berries. (as do Chinese tallows--which are illegal to plant because the have destroyed so many plains habitats in state parks.)
Pears turn nice colors. Plant the ones that actually make fruit though, Bradford and other asian ornamentals have way too many problems here.

Think beyond leaves.
Possumhaw and yaupon hollies are small trees loaded with red or orange berries. They have little round leaves: yaupon is evergreen and possumhaw loses it's leaves around Xmas.
Persimmons do great in Houston--especially the asian ones. The trees lose their leaves and then are covered with beautiful and yummy orange fruit.
Beauty berry bushes come in purple or white berries.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden blog

Shantung maple. Red maple. Big tooth maple. Chinese pistache. Red oak. bald cypress. Houston is a little too far south for optimal fall color though. Ive lived in houston for many years and I can't think of any trees with spectacular fall color. I planted shantung maple 'Fire Dragon' at my mom's house in houston and they turned little bit of red but I've never seen them in person. 'Fire Dragon' is known for its bright red fall color while yellow is the most common for regular shantung maple. No idea about the rest of the trees that I listed. There is one red oak in my mom's yard and don't recall ever seeing them turning red.