Houston In The 1980s

[Flashman]

I bought my first house in Houston in 1982. Things were still going pretty well - so well in fact that I had to buy a negative amortization loan with increasing interest rates. (Who said that all these creative mortgages are new?)

It was in Concord Bridge - the SW corner of Eldridge and Little York. I think we paid about $69k for a Gemcraft home, and the interest rates went from 11% to maybe 13% (I cannot recall exactly) and the equity amount increased for the first four years. In other words, we weren't even paying all the interest we owed!

By the fourth year the house was worth much less than we paid for it, and the interest rate was 13%! About 1/3 of the houses in the neighborhood were abandoned. All the surviving neighbors got together to mow the lawns of the empty houses. It was a stinking mess.

I bought a house in The Heights (420 West 23rd - you can look it up) for $112,000 in 1988. (the house is now appraised for $402k. Not really such a big deal - that is only about 6.5% annual increases). We rented out the Concord Bridge house (on Lyndonville) for what we were paying on the mortgage. We finally sold it in 1990 for what we owed. I felt extremely lucky to get that much.

I keep telling people that we have seen this movie before. I just hope it has the same ending.

[FilioScotia]

I bought my first house in Houston in 1982. Things were still going pretty well - so well in fact that I had to buy a negative amortization loan with increasing interest rates. (Who said that all these creative mortgages are new?) I keep telling people that we have seen this movie before. I just hope it has the same ending.

My wife and I returned to Houston in 1988, after ten years in east Texas. That was just before Houston's enonomy started picking up again. By then every neighborhood in the county had foreclosed homes everywhere. By the thousands. We thought we could pick up a foreclosure at a bargain price, but after several weeks of looking at trashed out houses we gave up on that idea.

So we decided to shop for a new house, even though most name-brand home builders had ratcheted down to almost nothing to get through those times. We were looking in the CyFair ISD, and we finally found a small General Homes area named Sommerall West behind Langham Creek HS that still had some model homes and a sales office.

We were stunned to learn we could get a new home for less than most of the foreclosures in the same general area, so we bought one. For 68,500 dollars. That was in May of 88. After we picked our 2100 sq. foot floor plan and the empty lot, it took General Homes more than three months to build the house. That was because there were almost NO carpenters or house contractors in Houston at that time. Most had moved on to other cities not as hard hit by the oil bust.

We finally moved into the house in September of 88 and it proved to be the best investment we ever made. The economy started showing a pulse again around 1990, that little General Homes neighborhood Sommerall West was bought up by Friendswood Development in 1991, and it's now the much bigger Copperfield West Creek Village. We still live there, we paid off the mortgage early 6 years ago, and today it's worth 140K. I hope.

I think I and Flashman can speak from experience in saying that this too shall pass. If you're able to stay in your house, do so by all means and by any means necessary.

[marmer]

I have a very similar story except it begins in Pearland in 1990 with a Pulte home. Wouldn't want to try to sell it, but it has been a darned good investment and it's just about paid off.

[IronTiger]

Besides dad did pull a few strings to keep him out of prison.

Not surprising. While I do support the Bush family, there was certainly corruption in it. Of course, that's not unique (Kennedys!)

[TJones]

My father was Operations Manager of Flexitallic Gasket in Deer Park then. Flexitallic makes these HUGE copper gaskets for all the oil pipelines in the surrounding areas. They were hit especially hard during this time as all the oil companies were scaling back production to counteract OPEC's B.S. Somehow, my father kept that business going and then 6 years later they made him CEO then 3 years after that they screwed him over, but he was ready to leave anyways, so it all worked out.

[TexasVines]

In my area Lakeside and Walnut Bend it seemed like things hit hard because there were literally 10 for sale signs on some blocks, but a lot of people in that area were higher up and or pretty valuable and many were conservative with their cash....many many of our neighbors still live there today and some even call our house the (my last name) house even though the people that bought it from us have lived there now longer than we did

there were also a lot of people in that area not in the oil business....some of our neighbors on our street went over seas one with Aramco and another with Cooper and rented their houses out....houses if they sold sold for 30,000 - 40,000 less than when times were better.....some were vacant, but all were maintained.......WestChase went from being developed and streets cut and landscaping done on the edges of the raw land to just vacant space with nice landscaping and streets of nothing....same with CityWest.....the HPD was busy back then solving real crimes so all those vacant places like CityWest pond, end of Richmond...the drinking age was 18 then and cops and society were a lot less strict back then....every so often especially at the end of Richmond the cops would roll up in a car or two and those "new to the game" would go running off into the field and the cops would just laugh and not even get out of their cars and get on the speaker and say they were getting complaints and to pick up all the trash or they would run us off for good....when Richmond finally got extended the cops came by one night and told us a new place to go that was a four lane road just north of the west side police station where they stopped construction because a ditch there was polluted and the company went under and it was going to be forever before it was all settled...I don't think the cops ever came there

all over Houston was basically abandoned developments many commercial....streets, landscaping, vacant land......out west near Dairy Ashford they went from building two streets of houses at a time to building none.....you could go out there during the boom and 25-30 houses were framed at a time....then they just finished them and that was that....many did not sell for a year or more....same in Alief, Sugarland and many other areas on the west side

the SNL deal was really a separate issue, but it was like a kick in the nuts after a punch in the face....Houston lost all their major banks....Texas went from single banks under a holding company to branch banking, Texas Commerce, Republic, Gibraltar SNL and tons of others were bought up....the real kicker was many of the bankers jerked the strings on people pretty quick because they all thought oil was going to be back pretty soon....when oil did not come back those banks found themselves sitting on assets decreasing further in value and costing in upkeep...Frost was the only major Texas bank to not go under....Mortgage lending went to hell too

Commercial construction fell off the map as well and a lot of buildings sat as empty shells....times were bad, but it never seemed like a total panic...a lot of the USA was still doing OK and many people had moved out of Texas to build homes and commercial property so while some companies were down others were able to ride it out by working out of state or in Hong Kong (money seemed to flow out of Houston to Hong Kong for commercial properties then back from Hong Kong early on in the recovery)

apartments were what REALLY went to hell.....places like gulfton NEVER recovered...oil is hard ass work for young people....young people that liked to work hard and party hard and spend cash....so they rented apartments....also the yankees that were flowing in crapping everything out from places like Michigan were also dead ass broke so renting an apartment was their only option at first....the apartments in some areas of Huston have never recovered and many probably will not until the D8 runs them under.....crap built in a fashion that absolutely prevents any type of renovation and torn to hell and never maintained for decades now

a lot of schools had T-shacks so when things went bad Houston did not have tosit on a ton of empty school...the T-shacks just went away.....there was a LONG time where Houston did not build a lot of high schools or even many middle schools....the elementaries seemed to come after the subdivision filled out so there were not even a ton of those vacant...I think Alief shut off part of Hastings and or Elsik and even then they were HUGE schools in population so class sizes shrunk...a lot of people I knew lost their ass, but many seemed to have connections and they got into something else...others had actually saved some money and just stopped pissing it all away....a few moved back to California and rode that boom up again....there was a long time when Texas was way down and most of the rest of the USA was doing pretty well...people that were young and single or young with young kids were the ones mostly up and moving....higher ups were doing a lot of commuting during the week and back home on the weekend....or some overseas

looking back Houston really rode it out pretty well and with the exception of losing all the big banks and the clout that came with that it was probably pretty good for Houston it really diversified the economy over all and taught people about saving cash VS pissing it into the wind....for all the "high rolling" back then people were a lot more conservative in Houston then and even today....they were not house flipping every year they were paying houses off and buying things like nicer cars that were easier to toss the keys back on and cloths and other BS that did not totally kill them when they had to stop buying them....Texas also has the homestead exemption and back then it was unlimited amounts....so people that say it coming ditched a LOT of assets and went and bought a ranch or a big house and homesteaded it and that is what they were able to use to climb back out of the hole...Texas back then did not allow home equity loans so real estate had not totally blown out of proportion as well......the home equity and 2nd/3rd mortgages is what is killing the USA now

it was a pretty crazy time before the bust and pretty crazy after....Houston in the 70s - 90s was a wild time

[e streeter]

i started my oil and gas career in 1982, but in dallas at arco. the first sign of trouble was the voluntary retirement in 1985, after that it was lay offs about every other year. i also think the windfall profit tax was a huge disincentive to drill wells in the early 80's. and just shook my head when they talked about bringing it back last year. fortunately congress never got their act together and the natural market of supply and demand brought the price down without government interference.

don't know about the housing market in houston in the 80's, but i know that the market crashed in dallas because of flipping, especially condo's along lake ray hubbard. most of it was paper flipping and many s&l's went under. it used to be impossible to keep up with bank names as most of the texas banks were bought up my national banks, which were bought up themselves. our office used to be across from the "old republic bank building", because that was the name we were all familiar with.

i also bought a house in the 80's at double digit interest rates and actually took a transfer in 1984 and let my company take it off my hands and they kept me whole. didn't buy another house until 1997, 5 years after i moved back to houston just before the market took off again.

i too look at what is going on today as a second act of the 80's. it is sad that we didn't learn lessons from the 80's and many are repeating the same poor choices. glad there are a few that have learned from the past and are doing fine through this latest downturn.

[dakotafleming]

In the late 1980s, Houston was riding the wave of big oil, but then in the late 1980s the price collapsed, taking the economy with it. But what happened? I can only tell that eleven banks closed (per Wikipedia), two large malls (Greenspoint and Town & Country) got into a tailspin that they never recovered from, and the closure of Sakowitz (related?)

Still, it's largely a blank (didn't College Station suffer too?) but I'd like to hear some more stuff about it...

Admins: if there is a topic for this, bump the topic by merging this post into it

I think Town and Country mall closed because of Beltway 8

[FilioScotia]

I think Town and Country mall closed because of Beltway 8

That's true. The economy had nothing to do with that. T&C was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Extension of Beltway 8 was what killed it.

Sakowitz failed because all its very high-end stores were free standing, and because of the popularity and growth of shopping malls, such as the Galleria. The 80s oil bust didn't help and they were all closed by the 90s.

Let us not forget the Savings and Loan debacle. That had huge impact on Houston's economy at about the same time that oil went south.

Edited March 30, 2009 by FilioScotia

[marmer]

Some of these have been mentioned in other threads, but I've been waxing nostalgic lately.

10. The Astrodome

9. Astroworld

8. Neal's Ice Cream

7. Cactus Music, the big store

6. Full-scale opera and ballet performances at Miller Theatre. (and not ridiculously crowded)

5. Easy, cheap parking everywhere

4. World Toy and Gift

3. San Jacinto Inn

2. Gilley's

1. River Oaks Theatre repertory movies

[lockmat]

Some of these have been mentioned in other threads, but I've been waxing nostalgic lately.

6. Full-scale opera and ballet performances at Miller Theatre. (and not ridiculously crowded)

Performances are no longer "full-scale?" What's the difference?

[RedScare]

10) Confetti

9) Galveston Mardi Gras

8) Power Tools

7) Rendezvous Houston

6) The Carabana Club

5) US Olympic Festival

4) 1986 NL Championship

3) Hurricane Alicia party

2) The Twin Towers Hakeem and Ralph

1) Challenger Explosion ( not 'cool' at all, but rather the pulling together of the citizens of the city in its aftermath)

[marmer]

Lockmat, what I meant in #6 was very traditional works, costumes and staging, such as Madame Butterfly or Swan Lake. I remember seeing both of those at Miller. Since then, I think both HGO and Houston Ballet have dropped their Miller offerings due to budget cuts. The last few were very reduced in scale, with premieres of unfamiliar new works, projection-heavy staging, etc.

[musicman]

cruising westheimer.

[RedScare]

cruising westheimer.

OOH! Forgot that one. Used to drink beer in the parking lot in my lifted Toyota pickup. Good times.

[musicman]

...and many times there was an associated stop at #'s and/or house of pies. ok i just had a judy's flashback too.

[RedScare]

Late night House of Pies or One's A Meal runs should make at least honorable mention.

Though I would not put them in the 'cool' category, the 1980 Heat Wave and the also 1980 Hurricane Allen evacuation were certainly memorable. Of course, the Allen evacuation was far eclipsed by Hurricane Rita, which set a standard for evacuation misery that will likely never be topped.

[marmer]

Late night House of Pies or One's A Meal runs should make at least honorable mention.

Though I would not put them in the 'cool' category, the 1980 Heat Wave and the also 1980 Hurricane Allen evacuation were certainly memorable. Of course, the Allen evacuation was far eclipsed by Hurricane Rita, which set a standard for evacuation misery that will likely never be topped.

I very nearly put One's A Meal in my list. I thought about House of Pies, but it's still here and mostly unchanged. Jamail's Grocery next to House of Pies would have been a good one, but I had only ten.

By the way, I like your list. Rendezvous Houston was really cool, for one.

[musicman]

I thought about House of Pies, but it's still here and mostly unchanged.

oh it's changed alright. crowd isn't the same.

Edited August 5, 2009 by musicman

[gto250us]

Oh Yes - Houston in the 80's

1. Oil bust 1982-1986

2. Unemployment of 9.3% in 1983

3. Dozens of Banks and S&Ls go bust

4. Shamrock Hotel torn down

5. Nolan Ryan traded to the Rangers

6. Much of Market Square destroyed

7. The Katy Prairie begins to be destroyed

8. Houston Gamblers formed (what a joke)

9. Sheila Jackson Lee first elected to office

10. West U tear down phase begins

[Pumapayam]

Oh Yes - Houston in the 80's

1. Oil bust 1982-1986

2. Unemployment of 9.3% in 1983

3. Dozens of Banks and S&Ls go bust

4. Shamrock Hotel torn down

5. Nolan Ryan traded to the Rangers

6. Much of Market Square destroyed

7. The Katy Prairie begins to be destroyed

8. Houston Gamblers formed (what a joke)

9. Sheila Jackson Lee first elected to office

10. West U tear down phase begins

Someone needs their diaper changed?

[CDeb]

5. Nolan Ryan traded to the Rangers

Technically, he wasn't traded. John F***ing McMullen didn't want to re-sign him. I hated him almost as much as Bud Adams. Almost.

[gto250us]

Someone needs their diaper changed?

Nah, the diaper is ok. I just don't have any nostalgia for Houston in the 80's.

Do you remember trying to drive to IAH before the Hardy or Beltway Toll roads?

What about Westheimer after they restriped it to add lanes. Buses didn't even fit within the new lanes.

The whole city was a mess in the 80's. And then there were the Oilers, Jeeze.

[crunchtastic]

10) Confetti

9) Galveston Mardi Gras

8) Power Tools

7) Rendezvous Houston

6) The Carabana Club

5) US Olympic Festival

4) 1986 NL Championship

3) Hurricane Alicia party

2) The Twin Towers Hakeem and Ralph

1) Challenger Explosion ( not 'cool' at all, but rather the pulling together of the citizens of the city in its aftermath)

I see your Confetti and Power Tools and raise you a Cardi's and Island!

Ah, someone else with fond memorires of the Caribana. I remember 3 for 1 drinks there, and

'New Wave' nights on Tues or Wed--can't remember which.

Add to the list:

Phi Slama Jama

The Old Kemah drawbridge

Ale House

shows at Rockefeller's

[rsb320]

Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Alabama.

The Roxie, Parade Disco and when Griff's was fun.

Pasternack's Grocery.

[lockmat]

the 80's is when The lockmat was born

lol, jk

[RedScare]

I see your Confetti and Power Tools and raise you a Cardi's and Island!

Ah, someone else with fond memorires of the Caribana. I remember 3 for 1 drinks there, and

'New Wave' nights on Tues or Wed--can't remember which.

3 for 1's rocked! I used to tend bar at Dan & Nick's Sportsmarket a block away at Rice and Kirby. We would walk down to the 'Bana, hit the 3 for 1, and go back to work. Great buzz for a couple of bucks! Sadly, when the owners of Rice Village decided to renovate, they deemed a club that catered to Reggae lovers to be incompatible with their plans and refused to renew the lease. Caribana moved into Earl Campbell's old country bar on Bellaire or Bissonnet(?) off of the Southwest Freeway. I went once with a couple of my cooks. Nearly got myself killed. While the Rice Village location attracted many immigrants from Africa and the islands, the new location was quickly taken over by drug dealers who figured that I was a cop. My friends overheard them talking and quickly hustled me out. Last time I ever went to the 'Bana.

[Subdude]

Cody's

Griff's

Butera Delicatessen

Hungry International with an incredible beer collection

Ale House

Boardwalk Beach Club

Harlow's

The Roxy

Power Tools

The Island

I'm a little ashamed to admit to Studebakers, Remmingtons and Cooters.

[RedScare]

Nah, the diaper is ok. I just don't have any nostalgia for Houston in the 80's.

Do you remember trying to drive to IAH before the Hardy or Beltway Toll roads?

What about Westheimer after they restriped it to add lanes. Buses didn't even fit within the new lanes.

The whole city was a mess in the 80's. And then there were the Oilers, Jeeze.

A person who did not love the frenetic roller coaster ride of 1980s Houston must either be addicted to Master Planned Communities and a member of the HOA board, or a former S&L president. The city saw the population explosion in the early 80s, followed by the bust in the middle, and the climb out of the rubble in the end. It was a great place to spend your 20-something years, when you owned no real estate and no business, and spent most of the decade in school. I am sure it was rough for some, but the 80s was the last decade of unbridled hell raising on a budget, and combined with the Boomtown atmosphere, it was a free-for-all.

Sorry you missed out on the fun.

[marmer]

I am sure it was rough for some, but the 80s was the last decade of unbridled hell raising on a budget, and combined with the Boomtown atmosphere, it was a free-for-all.

Sorry you missed out on the fun.

Yes. Exactly.

Houston was cheap, fun, and safe. Within reason, of course. And there were way more quirky clubs/bars/restaurants/shops than there are in today's over-developed mass market national brand sprawl.