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TAK

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Everything posted by TAK

  1. drove by here yesterday... looks like the rest of the new centers going up... starbucks is up (wonder if it will stay open).
  2. if you were plunking down $150k on a car, you probably wouldn't notice the homeless person...
  3. i'd like to read about the other improvements, if you don't mind...
  4. it's like everywhere else in houston... how much money you spend will determine how much better the schools will be (or will be perceived to be). most of the schools in the greater houston area (or texas, if you like) are below average (nationally). You will never find a consistently "good school" in a poor neighborhood. It's a sad fact of life. Even "good schools" in the suburbs don't stay that way. Eventually, the price for homes will drop for whatever reason (over building, foreclosure, economy, martians, strip clubs, whatever...) and people with less income will move in, and the people with more income will leave (kinda like "white flight" - which, imo, is more about money than race) further perpetuating the decrease in home values and overall community income and voila - "bad" schools. when i lived in spring branch in the 80s, i lived in the apartment ghetto hood... the schools i was supposed to go to were bad. we moved to the suburbs, i went to a good school. fast forward to now, and the spring branch schools are good again, and the school in the suburbs is 'bad'. follow the income if schools is really what you're looking for. otherwise, know that most schools in the greater houston area about the same. move wherever you want to LIVE and then sign your kid up for some type of educational program like Kumon. They'll get a better 'education'. You won't have to chase schools every five years, thus paying for the price for the educational program (by not increasing your mortgage) and then some, and perhaps your child will end up at the top of the class - which generally means they are going to be a success as the move on, regardless of how good their school was. If you find a place, ask VicMan about schools.... ;-)
  5. when i looked at it a couple of years ago, i recall seeing quite a bit of Jewish influence in the neighborhood (from what I could read online.) I just don't know the area well. It seemed to be like where I live now. Nice in the houses, but not so much in the apartments surrounding the houses. i am a realtor (inactive) so i did go in and look at it a few years ago. i don't think it's been touched since then, and it need a lot of work when i was in it. again, if i were single, i would make a super low offer on it and try to fix it up right. i need a really good deal on a mod. not necessarily MCM (the pink and aqua just don't work for me...) but a modern structure that i can remuddle without angering the traditionalists too much.
  6. www.har.com/5776233 OK, so I am not a modernist, I just like neat stuff. (I just used neat... wow.) So, take a look at this place and let me know if you'd consider it "mod" or some other name. Some houses, I know would be considered mod. Some, like this one, I'm not so sure. I'm guessing that, by some strict definition, it's not. However, by the "Metropolitan Home" definition, it probably is. I go more by the Met Home definition of mod, and tend to like all the places that would fall into that more general bucket. I've actually gone to look at this place (years ago). Other than the neighborhood, it looked like the house could be made into something nice with the right people working on it. If I were single, I'd take it on. Thoughts on the house and the SW Fondren Northfield subdivision/area? Thanks, TK http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/94/hr2016894-1.jpg http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/94/hr2016894-2.jpg http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/94/hr2016894-4.jpg
  7. I'm trying to think of what "upgrade" this hasn't happened to.
  8. should be ready just in time for the construction of what could become the worst traffic in the U.S., and certainly in TX. maybe someone will finally buy the former putt-putt / go-kart spot, too... :-P
  9. Keep in mind, if you're frequent to HAIF, there probably isn't much "hidden" anywhere in this city. To most of Houston, Westbury is hidden as far as potential and what's going on there in terms of real estate. I bet most of Houston has no clue where Westbury is.
  10. i actually think theaters as we know them are going to start to go away. they only make money on the concessions. i can put up a 40" - 86" screen at home, not hear 20 kids talking, and 3 cell phones ringing, and have a beer and a steak for the cost of a coke and popcorn and movie. the current movie theater model is terrible. we may have theaters, but not like they are today. i hardly even go to the theater any more. if i REALLY want to SEE and HEAR the movie, I go to the theater on Weslyan - high price + pay to park = fewer kids just hanging out and talking through the movie (i understand, i was a bad ass kid, too. but i don't have to like it now that i'm old.) if my wife just wants to go to the movies, we hit Willowbrook or the Marq*E on i-10 and prepare to deal with racket. it would be nice to have nice stuff nearby, in the city or in the near burbs... not necessarily "new" (ie, far out burbs) just nice stuff.
  11. Wal-Mart goes where population growth and families are (ie, people who need to bargain shop). Most of Wal-mart is new building, which happens to be where more middle class families are (ie, burbs). However, you know by going into Wal-mart, that is not necessarily who they cater to. Wal-Mart doesn't go into the city much at all. When WM went to Meyer Park, that was still considered suburban. I'm waiting for WM to build more in/near the city, but don't expect that they will, unless they get a killer deal on the land (because that's how WM operates.)
  12. i'm guessing the apartments on pitner are still there. i used to live there. saw my first shooting at the basketball court at hollibrook elementary. that strip between hollister and clay was more hood 30 years ago than some of the areas in SW Houston are now...
  13. define "change" define "demographics" good luck with all of that. look at the city. all of the "demographics" are going to "change". It's an endless pursuit.
  14. wow.... i gotta get into the office more often (long commute from houston). this is right by the old IBM offices (of which, i believe, the 2nd phase will encompass, as IBM has sold most of the space to the Domain.) This is not "far" from downtown Austin by any stretch, and it's very near all of the 'money'. this area will probably become austin's galleria area. Hmmm, maybe I should move back to Austin, I suspect there will be some housing bubble type action going on there before there is in Houston. Might as well play along...
  15. i went to lanier for 6th and 7th grade (vanguard) in the early 80s. i remember a girl getting run over one day by a guy who lost control of his car in the bus driveway. i was on the bus, he drove up the driveway, ran over a girl and his car got lodged between the bus i was on and the building - with the little girl still under the car. and i remember Mr. Baugh, in his smug, holier-than-thou way, telling me he hated football and football players because the only purpose of football was for the players to hurt each other... chillout, man, i was 12 years old... get back in your volvo... purple izods and purple polos were a big deal...
  16. if by "rough" you mean lots of kids who are black or hispanic, yes. musicman, do you happen to live in the woodlands or kingwood? several of your posts about "thugs" and "rough" seem to indicate you have no idea what you're talking about, but you see young minorities as rough thugs, instead of just kids being kids. how many "thugs" do you think are going to go downtown and pay to park just to stand around and "not shop"? how many thugs do you see at Bayou Place - none. How many "thugs" do you see near downtown, period - only at the bus station, and more than thugs, you just see poor minorities. If you have a real issue, man up and say what the issue is. Don't puss out and use codes like "thugs" and "rough" when, i'm guessing, the only "rough" "thugs" you know are those you see on TV. Being someone who lives near those you seem to refer to as "thugs" and "rough", I assure you, you have very little to be concerned about. "They" aren't going to mess up your high end bowling alley. I've never seen any "rough" "thugs" at an ESPNZone (and I've been to a few.) I've never seen any "rough" "thugs" in the city theaters in SF or Boston or Chicago, so your fears are either overblown fears of crime, or fear of minority youth - neither of which you have to be concerned with at HP. Carry on. edit: nothing against kingwood or the woodlands, as they are both nice places - the reference, for anyone who didn't get it, would be to the stereotyped bubble mentality... playing on the opposite stereotype of "rough" and "thug" used by musicman.
  17. interesting - i startred this same thread sometime last year - more from a questioning standpoint than predicting. makes sense that IH would "gentrify". hell, cross yale on 30th and where are you? yes, GO
  18. hbcu, i noticed your inwood forest post about losing 3rd Ward and 4th Ward, and potentially Acres Homes. How would suggest people (and let's be direct here, we're referring to black people) "protect" their neighborhood? As I drive through Acres Homes, which I do almost every time I leave my house in Inwood Forest, I say, "man, this could be a really nice spot. it's a great location and it has great lots." HOWEVER Most of the people in Acres Homes are not taking care of their part of Acres Homes - just as people did not take care of their part of 3rd and 4th, and 5th, which will, eventually, also be 'taken' - or, in my view, given away. Yes, there are some nice homes in AH. There are some people who actually take care of their home, but about half of the homes in AH are not kept up to standard. The houses are old, and, for the most part, owned by older people who don't have the means (financially or physically) to bring the houses up. Younger folks, like myself, would not buy most of the homes in AH. I would buy a large lot and build a new home - which I am considering - but I have to be concerned about property crime and school, neither of which Acres Homes does a good job with. So, hbcu, you've done a good job at pointing out areas where 'folks' have lost prime locations and are setting themselves up to lose another. Do you have any recommendations on how to properly address such issues?
  19. they could still rake the sand, making it appear a little nicer - breaking up the "sand cakes" and getting the seaweed (or whatever it is) and whatever other unsightly crap there is moved...
  20. i went by today, too. still 3 parking lots, but there was a portable building or two in the middle parking lot across from the Fannin building, so something has happened or is about to start happening... going to S. Texas or working at ExxonMobil will not suck as much once this is done.
  21. i didn't even know where this was going to be until last nite... i've gone by the site several times, the ground is broken in that the parking lots are no longer parking lots, but not much else has happened. this is right across Polk from South Texas, 1301 Fannin (ExxonMobil) and a parking garage... I'll go by again pretty soon to go to lunch with my XOM buddies... I don't think this will happen anywhere near 'on-time' and i don't even know what the schedule is.
  22. what's going on in spring shadows? i keep hearing people talk about it being up and coming and the school being good... i remember when spring shadows was terrible...
  23. it definitely goes past 518. i can't remember if i had a stop or not when i drove to hwy6 last month. there is a lot of development out there, so don't worry, it'll be a freeway soon enough.
  24. TAK

    Crime In Midtown

    i was dreaming of a missile attack at that time and woke up... i thought it was thunder... i live in inwood forest
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