Memorial Real Estate

[Houston11]

I am happy it is all over with and I donot want to post pics. This will let everyone knows where I am and god knows what could happen.

[rps324]

I am happy it is all over with and I donot want to post pics. This will let everyone knows where I am and god knows what could happen.

Yes, it could have been worse. It is just aggravating to deal with. Make sure the locks are changed immediately in case they decide they "forgot something" but I am sure you are already way ahead of me on that one.

Congratulations on getting it handled. I would document every bit of damage with pictures though. It can come in handy if you want to pursue them for damages, also, you might check with your accountant to see how much of that you can take off your taxes, etc.

[Reefmonkey]

More good news, they have completely moved out before I could file a writ. Although I am very happy about that, I am still feeling the pain. They have done some minor damages, left a major mess, steal some potted plants and took some of my stuff from the garage. They didnot mow the lawn for weeks and the pool is green. Lawyer bill is humongous plus the added cost of getting the pool up to date and the curb appeal back. It is tough having a dead beat tennant. I hope everyone learns from my mistake if you ever plan on renting.

Glad to hear that they are finally out, but hate to hear about the mess and the cost to you. It must feel so violating to have something happen like this. Are you planning to try to recoup some money? You probably won't get it, but if you gave them notice that they owed you for excessive damages, and then they didn't pay, you send it to a collection agency, who could then put it on their credit report.

Not only would it give you some satisfaction to know that for the next seven years they have a ding on their credit that will affect them every time they apply for a credit card, etc, it would also alert other potential landlords that they are problem tenants, and you'd be helping prevent someone else from suffering what you did.

I just saw this is Memorial NW (not Memorial Area, so should have been in "Great Northwest" forum, but oh well, no biggie). I went to Klein HS, had lots of friends who grew up in Memorial NW. It's a nice neighborhood. Sorry to hear that it happened to you there.

[PapillionWyngs]

What are you going to do with it once you get it fixed up.

Please tell me you're not renting it.

If you are, go with a realtor.

[Houston11]

NO NOT RENTING AGAIN. I am just holding on to it until I moved in but until then my family will use it as vacation home.

We love Texas!

[Reefmonkey]

NO NOT RENTING AGAIN. I am just holding on to it until I moved in but until then my family will use it as vacation home.

We love Texas!

That's funny to think of someone using a house in the nondescript suburbs where I grew up as a "vacation home"!

My mom grew up in Miami, so she probably has the same feeling when she hears people are going on vacation there.

[Metro Matt]

Yaaaay! Lowlife tenants should be thrown out on the street.

Were they NOLA's?

[Trae]

Does anyone think the Memorial Villages would ever consolidate to make one suburban city? Each village would still have its signage, but they would all be in "Memorial, Texas". This type of thing happened in suburban Los Angeles before, where a whole collection of little villages/communities came together to form Santa Clarita, California.

[Waterfall]

Probably not. The cities do not get along so well, so that type of cooperation would be difficult.

[TheNiche]

Does anyone think the Memorial Villages would ever consolidate to make one suburban city?

Absolutely not.

[VicMan]

Some cities share fire department services and other services. Which cities hate and like which cities?

[KatieDidIt]

Some cities share fire department services and other services. Which cities hate and like which cities?

They share the police department, Village Police. They are pretty self-sufficient so I don't see why they would merge together. I've never heard of any "hating" each other, ever.

[KinkaidAlum]

I'd miss seeing SV and cannon stickers on the proud residents' cars.

[G-man]

I think that the Villages will continue to cooperate, but I think that each values its own separate identity and autonomy. As some have pointed out, there is an overlap of various services with some sharing and others opting out of particular arrangements. For example, Piney Point, Bunker Hill and Hunters Creek share the Memorial Villages Police Department, Hedwig Village has its own department, as does Spring Valley whose police also serves Hilshire Village (I think that Hedwig and Spring Valley maintain their own forces due to the fact that they have substantial frontage on I-10 which gives them greater opportunities for "revenue enhancement" shall we say ).It might be interesting if someone can elaborate as to how the individual Villages arose. All I know is that in the 50s there was an attempt to incorporate all of Spring Branch before it could be annexed by Houston (yes the annexation controversies were going on even back then). This failed, and the result was the incorporation of the 6 Villages in part of the area.

[Trae]

Together, the Village population would be close to 30,000 I believe.

[VicMan]

Together, the Village population would be close to 30,000 I believe.

If we are using 2000 Census figures....

3,654 - Bunker Hill Village

2,334 - Hedwig Village

720 - Hilshire Village

4,374 - Hunters Creek Village

3,380 - Piney Point Village

+3,611 - Spring Valley

____

18,073 - Combined population of the Memorial Villages in 2000.

[TheNiche]

It was mentioned in a book that I'd read a couple years back that the area of the present-day Villages started out as predominantly German settlements. Anybody have a more thorough history of the area, going back into the 19th century?

[FilioScotia]

Does anyone think the Memorial Villages would ever consolidate to make one suburban city?

The Memorial Villages were created when those areas were outside the Houston city limits, long before the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction law of the early sixties gave Houston control over all areas within five miles of any point on its boundary line.

In fact, it was formation of the villages and some major annexations by Pasadena and Deer Park a few years later that led to the ETJ law. Watching NASA's growth in the Bay Area, Pasadena annexed a large area going all the way to Galveston Bay and Clear Lake, which more than doubled Pasadena's size. That did it, and the Houston legislative delegation got the ETJ law passed in the next session in 1963.

Since then no unincorporated area in the ETJ has been free to incorporate without permission of Houston City Council, which means it's not going to happen. I'm not an expert on the ETJ law, but I'm willing to conjecture that it would prevent existing grandfathered municipalities in the ETJ from consolidating to form a new municipality.

[Trae]

^^But if they are already cities, they can't just incorporate amongst themselves?

[FilioScotia]

^^But if they are already cities, they can't just incorporate amongst themselves?

I don't know. I'm just theorizing that for all the villages to become one village, they would all have to UN-incorporate, and then RE-incorporate as one new city. I believe the ETJ law gives Houston power to prevent that.

It would also seem to be a simple matter for one of the villages to just annex all the others, but I think the ETJ law also gives Houston veto power over that.

I'm guessing the villages will always be the villages, until such time as they get tired of being enclave cities, dissolve themselves and allow their areas to be annexed by Houston.

[strickn]

Clusters with enough total household income distributed at a high enough average level can generally pay to take care of their quality of living problems without undue trouble. Becoming part of Houston would only complicate and jeopardize that process, from the level of infrastructure maintenance attention right on up. Each Houston City Council member faced with these ETJ decisions already "represents" ineffectively 150,000+ people. Fun as groupings are to think about, can you think of any reason that the villages would want to turn to maximum bureaucracy for what they presently accomplish with a minimum?

[FilioScotia]

Can you think of any reason that the villages would want to turn to maximum bureaucracy for what they presently accomplish with a minimum?

No I can't, and I have to wonder why this subject even came up. People in the Memorial area decided decades ago that they didn't want to be part of Houston, so they incorporated to create their own towns. They had their reasons then, and those reasons are even more justifiable now.

The Memorial Villages are the most desirable area in Houston precisely because Houston City Council has no say in how they're managed.

Can you imagine how fast their quality of life would deteriorate if -- for whatever reason -- they had to dissolve and become part of Houston?

[Trae]

I wasn't saying that they should go into the City of Houston.

[texasdago]

What incentive do they have to merge? They're doing well as they are and are self-sufficient - let them be as they are.

[TheNiche]

What incentive do they have to merge? They're doing well as they are and are self-sufficient - let them be as they are.

Yep, and why would a voter in any of the villages consent to dilute the power of his vote by merging the various municipalities?

[mpbro]

Hello HAIF,

I've been in California for a year now, and alas, we may be returning to Houston. We used to live near Rice U., but this time we're aiming for somewhere in the Energy Corridor, focusing in the Memorial area. I am somewhat ignorant of the scene there, and I know there are many here who can educate me.

I'm looking for solid areas where large (>15000 sf), secluded lots are the norm. A place where I can go for a walk with my family is a big plus. Good public schools are appreciated.

Say that you follow Buffalo Bayou from the Tanglewood area all the way to, say, Eldridge. Can I find what I'm looking for at all points along the way? How do land values change? What is the general feeling of the important neighborhoods?

Thanks!

[TheNiche]

I'm sure that KatieDidIt is going to take a peculiar fetishistic pleasure in this post when she discovers it, but in the mean time, I'll suggest the following tools to help guide you in the familiarization process:

H-GAC - Census Thematic Maps

http://www.h-gac.com/rds/census/Maps/Censu...matic_Maps.aspx

Google Maps - Streetview

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...=12&layer=c

City of Houston - GIMS Viewer

http://www.gims.houstontx.gov/viewer1.htm

TEA - School District Locator

http://deleon.tea.state.tx.us/SDL/Forms/mapWin.aspx

TEA - Measures of Accountability (i.e. school & district performance, demographics, funding, etc.)

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/accountability.html

And of course, you probably already know about har.com.

Have fun!

[KatieDidIt]

I'm sure that KatieDidIt is going to take a peculiar fetishistic pleasure in this post when she discovers it, but in the mean time, I'll suggest the following tools to help guide you in the familiarization process:

H-GAC - Census Thematic Maps

http://www.h-gac.com/rds/census/Maps/Censu...matic_Maps.aspx

Google Maps - Streetview

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...=12&layer=c

City of Houston - GIMS Viewer

http://www.gims.houstontx.gov/viewer1.htm

TEA - School District Locator

http://deleon.tea.state.tx.us/SDL/Forms/mapWin.aspx

TEA - Measures of Accountability (i.e. school & district performance, demographics, funding, etc.)

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/accountability.html

And of course, you probably already know about har.com.

Have fun!

Oh Niche......what can I say. We all love our places don't we?

Mpbro, 15,000 sf lot in this area is getting a little pricie these days. I don't know what your price range is, but I can tell you where to find those size lots. Houses in Western Memorial have increased almost 200k since 2004 in most places.

We bought 1/2 an acre in Yorkshire last year, right across the street from Terry Hershy, the now groomed and hilly park that runs along Buffalo Bayou from Beltway 8 to Highway 6. All I can say is that it's awesome, quiet, green and very private yet with kids biking and collecting creatures from the bayou,.Its 1 mile from Town and Country and the new CityCentre, and using the WestPark it's 10 minutes to the Galleria. These houses are going fast, there are four left in here, one which backs to Memorial. It's the biggest turn over this little subdivision has had in years. It used to be one every few years would come on the market. Orginal owners love it so much they never moved and the houses are immaculate. Lately though the 65 plus crowd (most upwards of 80) is moving out and into smaller digs (these houses range from 3500 sf to 6500sf), young families coming in and totally remodelling. I can honestly say about every 3rd or 4th house is currently being updated on one thing or another this spring. But 402 Regentview just went on the market and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have that lot. House is move-in condition, but can certainly be easily tweaked.

Wilchester West is slightly less expensive, but its lot's are seldom over 11,000 sf and those are hard to find. North side of Memorial runs about 150k less than south side, lots 8-9500 sf.

Nottingham Forest is awesome, and less expensive, but bigger lots are rare as well.

Some places off Rancho Bauer and White Wing have almost a full acre, but its a weird little area. Kinda messy and culverts and standing water...which REALLY isn't good with the mosquitos when you are near Buffalo Bayou. Gaywood has the same situation, but it's getting McMansionized BIG time.

This area is really booming right now because of oil and companies relocating and building Class A high rises and the CityCentre and Memorial Hermann and people moving in from the burbs ...etc etc etc.

Rule of thumb on lot size,: All the bigger ones are South of Memorial, yet North of the Bayou.

Schools are incredible. All of them. West of Dairy Ashford the school district changes from Spring Branch to Houston ISD or KAty ISD. Most people would say that the "Memorial" neighborhood ends at Dairy Ashford because SBISD ends there. South of Buffalo Bayou is all HISD and would be considered transitional in places and downright low-income apartments in other.

If you need anymore info let me know. Easy for me to scope out a house you are interested in on the morning walk with the border collies.

My husband grew up here and its still pretty much the same. Laid back and private, yet full of families who are really comfortable with themselves. Most have and will live here upwards of 30 years. There are tons who have returned here to raise their own kids. I haven't experienced any "keeping up the with jones" stuff I lived with on a daily basis in the Woodlnds.

[mpbro]

Guys,

Thanks for the info. Price is always an issue, but for the sake of this educational discussion, assume it is not. ;-) I prefer older, 1-story homes. Frankly, the less updated, the better. Looking to pay for land, find some hidden value (i.e., insurance) in the structure. We played that game in Southgate, and it worked well.

Here is a listing I thought looked about right. Seems real secluded with a 2/3 acre lot, and certainly not new!

Katie, it seems like most of the areas you discuss are outside BW8. What do you think of the area between 610 and BW8? What do you think of the 5 "Villages"? Too snooty?

I am familiar with Hershy Park, and I think it's the gem of W. Houston. A good-sized lot backing to the Park would be nice.

Thanks again.

[KatieDidIt]

Guys,

Thanks for the info. Price is always an issue, but for the sake of this educational discussion, assume it is not. ;-) I prefer older, 1-story homes. Frankly, the less updated, the better. Looking to pay for land, find some hidden value (i.e., insurance) in the structure. We played that game in Southgate, and it worked well.

Here is a listing I thought looked about right. Seems real secluded with a 2/3 acre lot, and certainly not new!

Katie, it seems like most of the areas you discuss are outside BW8. What do you think of the area between 610 and BW8? What do you think of the 5 "Villages"? Too snooty?

I am familiar with Hershy Park, and I think it's the gem of W. Houston. A good-sized lot backing to the Park would be nice.

Thanks again.

Like that area Mpro but have three reasons I personally wouldn't buy there. 1) HISD schooling. 2) Not a real walkable, kid-friendly bikeable neighborhood. You have to go out and onto Voss to get to other neighborhoods. Voss has turned into a traffic packed freeway the last few years 3) Big time flood issues, and the ground makes foundations problems chronic over there.

PS- I used to live over in Tanglewood for around 12 years. Love that part of town. But you get a little locked in by the major traffic streets.

Actually I LOVE the true Memorial Villages, but I personally see more possible appreciation West of the Beltway. The villages are just so pricey for what you get, and the older homes are pretty much at the height of what they will ever be worth.Also, their village tax adds to your annual bill. And once again, the villages are mostly one lane streets off major roads. Most of my friends live in the Villages, and do admit that Memorial HS is snootier than Stratford. The reality is that the Villages are two miles from my front door and we all go to the same Randalls. I drive the boys to school in Piney Point every day, a whole whooping 5 miles. Where I would buy if I could IN the villages? Tynewood or Marchmont.

The villages were out for us in our search because we needed livable in SBISD, and wanted it on a big lot for under 1 million, and Hubby won't live anywhere near open culverts....or Gessner

This is an interesting listing west of the Beltway. I think its over priced right now. But if you could get it lower, I think it would be a real winner. http://www.har.com/1677200

Here's the one that backs to the park. The houses to the west of it are easily worth 1.2 and up.Lots of possibilites http://www.har.com/5840349

One in Gaywood where the lot makes up most of the value. New construction has hit this neighborhood hard.

http://www.har.com/6059105

neat Street clinging to the edge of the Villages http://www.har.com/5477381

The reason I talked so much about those listing west of 8 is because you said around the Energy Corridor. And the park really adds to the charm, walkability and kidtasticness of the area.