mpbro

Weird that it was packed going north. It's Rodeo time, and miserably busy in the afternoons for those few weeks. People are already drunk at 5 pm! I rode the train for more than a year, and the straw that broke the camel's back was the rodeo. The only good thing about riding the train is being able to sit down, decompress, and read the paper. When it's standing room only, you're way better off driving. So that's what I started doing, and never stopped. The stations are designed to accomodate triple trains, but I have never seen one.

at least it will look cool on google earth/maps!

Jeez, with all the recent Holcombe demolition, you'd hope they would slap a Starbucks (or anything with an espresso machine) down somewhere around there.

Very good use of long focal length lenses. Interesting, creative compositions...

Yeah, it wasn't even like she had a pair of stellar oaks--it was just a cacophanous amateurish collection of "exotic" plants. It was a cute house, though. We were about 20% apart on price, but she eventually sold for less than our initial offer! When the listing agent, whose son was married to the owner's daughter, wasn't above calling the seller "crazy", I knew we had a real on our hands...

We once offered on a home in Boulevard Oaks where the lady resident wanted right of refusal on any subsequent alterations to the landscaping. :wacko: Walked by what I thought was your flip on Sugar Hill--place looks grand. I love Tanglewood!

There is currently a bill in the state senate under consideration (SB270) that would require sales disclosures in TX. It's being opposed by the usual cast of characters. My favorite is an editorial in the Chronicle: Yes, that's right, the terrorists will exploit disclosed sales. More to the point of zillow, they did obtain a TX broker's license to obtain access to MLS sales. For my place (just south of Rice), zillow gives me absurd comps (one in the ghetto, one outside the beltway). The automatic models are powerful, but they have their limitations. I think something that relies on user interaction to make local corrections (one house is a dump, another has a terrible lot, another has a great lot and is unusually nice) is the way to go. Zillow doesn't currently build any local sense of community, and I think this will be its ultimate downfall.

Good question... hey, then land values in excess of $50/sqft won't scare you! ;-) Really, there isn't all that much to walk to in this area. I live in Southgate (east of Greenbriar, west of Main, north of Holcombe, south of University) and walk to the Village once in a while, and run on Rice campus. I used to walk to MetroRail, which was fine, but the Med Center is a grungy, unpleasant place to walk. West U has good sidewalks, Southgate does not. If you like neighborhoods filled to the setback with homogeneous McMansions, then yes, by all means, restrict yourself to West U. ;-) Seriously, I have no idea what your friend means. If you want upside, the area east of Kirby is better than West U, because it is rapidly starting to look like West U. Lots of spec builds. Here is an estimate of land values: Land value is tricky to estimate, but I think the graph is roughly correct. Notice a strong jump in land values when you cross Kirby. Land values in Southampton (if you can't spot it, let me know) are basically as high as in West U. Southgate's land values are still < $50/sqft in some sections, but catching up with West U quickly. The Braeswood area (south of Bellaire) is another West U crossover area, but check the flood plain! Yes, definite snob appeal! Flooding issues are primarily in Braeswood. Schools are all HISD. Southgate/Morningside Place have Roberts Elementary, Southampton/Boulevard Oaks has Poe Elementary. Both are excellent. Pershing MS is fine. Bellaire HS is seen as the best HS in the area, and this boosts Bellaire's values. Have fun!

there's no way a 747 could operate out of Hobby! Runways too short. Others here can give actual figures, but I think longest runway is 7500 feet. Probably need at least 10-11000 for a 747.

I did a calculation a while ago, and a Cessna 172 gets about 12 miles/gallon. That's better than a Ford Excusion, and at twice the speed. Unfortunately the AVGAS costs over $3/gallon, if I am not mistaken. You've got to either be really close to the airport on both ends or have cars on either end. And with weather, I'd be reluctant to rely on flying on a daily basis. But the president of my company is a private pilot, and he flies to work engagements from time to time (though in California).

Heh-heh, hilarious. Good post, thanks.

One of my favorite touches is the stained paneling on the ceiling. For a minute there I thought it was original shiplap. Did you drop your ceilings? I couldn't find the ceiling in previous pics. That's one attention to detail that we just don't see anymore--interesting ceiling material!

I'll take a few inches of snow any day to a patina of smooth ice. Even northerners quake at the sight of a true ice storm. Snow is a handicap of the laws of physics that keep tires on the road. Ice is a complete breakdown!

Studded snow tires are a dream if you can justify using them. But illegal in many places due to the havoc they wreak on whatever pavement is not snow covered!

Hmm, thanks for the info. I found something on the web from This Old House. It shows him pulling the old stuff out, and it looks like old caulk. The stuff I've got is brittle, with the consistency of and texture of cement. But who knows, maybe it's REALLY old. Probably wouldn't hurt if I used glazing putty.

I've not been overly impressed with the food here. Even high-end restaurants seem to operate under the "bigger is always better" philosophy. Obviously, there are many exceptions, and generalizations can always be picked at. But as a general rule, I have to look harder before I find restaurants that I like...of course, YMMV! Houston is fantastic in the arts. Lots of theater options, lots of excellent museums. Much better than SF. I'll miss the Menil. One myth I would like to dispel: that Houston's cost of living is appreciably cheaper in anything except housing. I've honestly not noticeda huge difference in food prices between Houston and other big American cities (maybe ignoring NY). And food's a big deal, since there isn't much else to do but eat out! Regarding weather, it's not that Houston is so terrible in an objective sense--it's that SF is so nice! Compared to much of the rest of the US, Houston's weather (IMO) is better. I'll take Houston's 93, humid, and cloudy over Dallas's 99, "dry", and cloudless. Or, for that matter, -20 in Chicago with snow over Houston's 40 with no snow. People seem to be nicer in Houston than SF (IMO). SF's entrenched left-wing politics gets on my nerves, as well. Anyway, good luck with the move.

My wife and I like to spend our free time outside. The Bay Area has: 1) Better weather 2) A nice coastline less than an hour away 3) Fantastic dayhikes in the coast ranges, less than an hour away 4) Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur 1.5 hours away 5) Wine country 1.5 hours away 6) Skiing 4 hours away 7) Some of the US's best backpacking/climbing/whatever in the high Sierra, 4 hours away 8) San Francisco 30 minutes away We found that in order to get an equivalent outside fix in Houston, we had to fly somewhere else! With a finite amount of vacation, and now a baby, this has become impractical. If you don't care about outdoor stuff, or are satisfied with different outdoor stuff, Houston's fine. To be fair, there are people in the Bay Area who never go to the mountains or San Francisco. They probably would be happier in Houston. Anyway, "quality of life" is a pretty subjective quantity, so I always laugh when magazines attempt to quantify it. OK, now that I've given my definition of "quality of life", what's yours?

I'll be selling my house soon and I want to fix the trim on my aluminum-frame 1952 casement windows. As you can see from the attachments, the trim was originally some type of cement, which has been painted repeatedly over the years. I'd like to strip this crap with a putty knife, then re-do the grout (for lack of a better word) as if I was drywalling. Any advice on materials, methods, etc.? Much appreciated.

You are right, thanks for the correction. I forget where I got the numbers I did, but they were wrong.

Hmm, $750K house, let's say with $250K down, leaving $500K financed. For a simple 30-year fixed P&I loan, that's $2800/month. Probably a bit much if you've only got $100K in income to work with, but I don't think you'd need $300K/year to be comfortable! My gut feel on rents is that the equivalent home currently rents for around $2000/month. I don't dispute the current rent versus own equation in SF. But having lived there during the tech boom (and then bust), I can assure you that rents can be far more volatile than home prices. I watched rents double between 1998 and 2000 for most Silicon Valley locales. And watched them plummet from 2000 to 2002. The area is still effectively in recession, though coming out nicely, and we see rents creeping up. While homes may be overvalued, I'd say rents are currently abnormally low. The rent/own dynamic is a bit different out there. Ownership rates in San Mateo/Santa Clara counties run between 15 and25 percent. Around 10% in SF County. I don't have a good handle on residential vacancy rates, but I suspect there is slack in the system that depresses rents. FWIW

We're moving to the SF Bay area within the year, so this issue is prescient for us. We're interested in San Mateo County, which is south of SF, on the peninsula. Here's a graph of 9-year median price trends for four cities in the county. Millbrae, San Carlos, and Belmont (MSB) are "normal" cities. They have similar demographics and good schools, and are (incredibly) "middle class". East Palo Alto has a more checkered history. A gang war during the early '90's recession made EPA the "murder capital of the USA" for a couple years. Since then, the city has gentrified somewhat, but still has bad schools and a lot of crime. If you look at the graph, note that over a 9-year period, median prices in MSB doubled ($500K-$1M), implying an annualized return of 8%. Median prices in EPA more than tripled ($200K-$650K), implying a whopping 14% return over the 9-year period. Let's say that the "bubble" will correct in 5 years. In other words, let's say that after 5 more years, the return over the 14-year period will return to a "historical" (please throw me a bone!) average of 5%. To achieve that in MSB, median prices only have to fall only to $990K. To achieve that in EPA, prices would have to fall a whopping 63%, to $395K! The point of this story: even within relatively small counties, certain communities exhibit bubble-like behavior, while others do not. Switching gears a little, however, recall that this housing "bubble" has occured against the backdrop of a worldwide commodity boom and double-digit percent devaluation of the USD versus some currencies. I'm not trying to justify the inflated values of Miami condos, but perhaps properties that are backed by actual land assets may be at "fair value"--it's just that our economy has suffered from pretty significant inflation that the Fed surely won't tell you about!

Heh-heh, the traffic in New Orleans is terrible, maybe as bad as it ever was. Most of it seems to be out of state contractors doing repair work.

Heavy traffic's the sign of a good economy, and it can work in reverse. I lived in the SF Bay area until 2004. In 1999, freeways were packed. In 2001, the same commute was smooth sailing. So as you stew in gridlocked traffic day after day (as I do) enjoy the silver lining: rising property values, full employment, etc.

That's a good-looking place. Nice choice. I'll be interested to see what you do with the bathroom(s) and wood paneling, among other things.