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!

I don't have a pic or anything, but the Gallant Knight was demolished this morning. I saw it on the way to work.

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...

I could maybe possibly understand somebody wanting that for removal of significant trees on the property...but not the landscaping in general.

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:

This bill is also potentially dangerous in this age of of terrorism and identity theft. Even the individual investors who make $1 million or less on a property sale can become targets.

When sales prices are reported, the information wouldn't become dusty trivia hidden away in the basement of a rural courthouse. The prices would be on the Internet, easily accessible from anywhere in the world. Texans would be exposed. Should the elderly widow have her real estate wealth advertised to crooks and con artists?

If we lift the veil on real estate sales prices, we would open the door to the criminal element to misuse this information. These instances may be rare, but even one tragic case is one victim too many.

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...

I just moved to Houston from New York last month and was hoping for some house hunting advice.

hey, then land values in excess of $50/sqft won't scare you! ;-)

I want to live inside the loop and was looking to live somewhere where I could at least walk to a few places.

I like the area around Rice but an acquaintance told me to absolutley avoid anything east of Kirby. At the time I did not ask her to elaborate, but as I do my own research I am not sure I really buy that adivce. Driving around and looking on HAR, the area just north of Rice and east of Kirby (and even east of Greenbriar) appears to be really nice. The home prices sure dont seem to support the notion that one side is better than the other.

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!

Is there something I am missing? Is it some kind of snob appeal where the residents of West University neighborhood look down on those "poor" folks east of Kirby. Is there a flood plain east of Kirby? Bad schools on the east side? Any advice is welcomed!

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).

My 2 cents...

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!

Well, it's quite the icy sheet here in B/CS. Foot-long icicles hanging from everyone's roofs. No snow accumulation on the ground, but there's a nice sheet of ice everywhere. It took me a while to break through the ice shell and get into my truck this morning, only to discover that TAMU is closed again today (last night they had said they would open at 9 am and start class at noon). It's just plain ole' raining right now and temp is at 30F. Supposed to get above freezing today, I hope.

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!

Nope no need for chains, they plow the roads regularly, and they keep a lot of salt down to reduce the ice issues. Like I said just more prepaired for it, I doubt that the State of Texas has a snow plow south of Wichita Falls.

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!

The "grout" that you refer to is called glazing putty. You can still find it at most hardware stores. I've heard that a heat gun is a great way to soften the putty, and you can remove it with a putty knife.

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.

For the moment, let's just say it does not involve hiking or backpacking ;-)

Thanks for the thoughtful and honest response. I am considering a possible relocation myself, but mine would be to Houston. I asked the question of you in part because in the process I want to be careful that I am not misperceiving the quality of life in Houston.

My definition of qualify of life revolves more around having access to a multitude of great restaurants, theater, art, museums, variety of sporting events etc., all at a reasonable cost. (In my perfect world, there would also be skiing available within a few hours' drive, but we can't have everything, I guess)

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.

I am curious... What does San Mateo County (or the general area) offer that will give you an improved quality of life compared to Houston?

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?

You guys are missing a huge component of this equation that truly affects the bottom line

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.

This sounded awfully low to me (10% to 25% of the population in the area owning homes), so I looked around for some data. I found data from the US Census Bureau showing that the home ownership rate for the US as a whole was 69% in 2006 (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/qtr306/q306tab5.html). Then I looked up the home ownership rate for San Mateo County it was 61% in 2000 (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06081.html). For Santa Clara, it said 60% (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06085.html). And for San Francisco County, it said 35% (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06075.html). I presume we're looking at different measurements or different definitions or something.

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

You could always rent.

The average household income in The Woodlands is just over $100K. That qualifies you for absolutely nothing in northern California. You can't find a starter home on that salary.

Unless you're one of the few who were lucky enough to buy in California before the boom, there's no way anyone but the very-rich could ever move there today. If your income is close to that of what the President of the United States makes (over $300K/year salary), then you can move there and look for a decent home in a middle-class neighborhood. If not, then you're locked out of the whole northern California area.

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!

I think the people from New Orleans and the open border has lot to do with traffic, but i don't mind my fellow Americans needing a place to call home. The illegal's need to go back home, end of story!

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.