Philliper

Not sure if this topic has been discussed before but I was wondering what people have found effective for eliminating or at least decreasing the amount of mosquitos in their yard. I unfortunately get attacked by them every time I go outside and get huge welts. I have seen some products at Home Depot but not sure what works. I think they are bug zappers with mosquito attractant. My yard is about a half acre in the Inwood Forest area. Thanks for any thoughts.

there is a rumor that waterway square in the woodlands will have a W hotel. i do not know if this means that the development company is courting W hotels or that W hotels are interested in placing one here.

I actually work for Starwood Hotels/Resorts in which the W Hotel is part of. As of right now, the plans are to put the aloft hotel (which is a less expensive version of the W) in the SW area or possibly just south of the Galleria area. Then of course the new Westin and Sheraton will be going close to where Sam Parkway and I 10 meet...and there will be a Four Points over in that area as well...then another Starwood product, the Element, will be going in off 249 and Louetta...all of which are planned to open around 2009. There had been talks about the W taking over Hotel Derek but that is no longer the case.

If you really want an honest answer, I would call George Szontagh (www.housecheck.com) or one of the other Heights-focused home inspectors and pay him $75 or so for an unbiased opinion.

Whatever you do, don't call a roofing company.

IMHO, if it ain't leaking, and it ain't rottin', ain't nothin' to worry 'bout.

I definitely agree with cwrm4...George is AWESOME. He did the inspection on our house in Inwood Forest and did a fantastic job and even kept in touch and answered any questions I had. He is a great trustworthy guy.

I usually don't get involved in conversations of this sort, because they don't change anyone's minds, and typically just raise everyone's blood pressure.

Getting away from the whole paedophile discussion on here...

I agree with you Orikal...these topics do get the blood pressure up, yet its great that you get involved. I think the more people might hear a different point of view...maybe they will understand each other a little more. After all, we all live on this earth together and I am sure, we all wish to make it a better place to live.

To the forum- I'm not a great debater...not the most educated person...certainly not the most eloquent of speakers (or writers in this case), but I do want to give my input.

I hear of people saying that they don't believe in judging, yet, when I read some of these posts, there is judgement all over.

One thing I have learned in my young 37 years is that the world is made up of all kinds of people and thats ok. And every one of these people are entitled to their own opinion. But why do many people believe that only certain people deserve human rights and others should have limited rights? Isn't that a form of judging? Didn't God or whomever you believe in create us as equals? I believe so..and I would think he or she would want that to be carried on.

I am a gay guy...has a good job, treats people well, has lived a good life so far, has a loving family, a great partner, has a bunch of pets that love me...except one of our birds, but she's a little ____...whatever...my point is..I am human as is each one on here...don't you think we all deserve to be treated the same. You can disagree with what I do behind closed doors all you want..that is your right...but is it the rightwings right to take away something that GOD had intended for me to have when I was created?

i live in inwood north - across the bayou from the course and i have a view. i don't mind the golf course closing, per se, but i am interested/concerned with what would go into the spaces that are now course. there are plenty of rumors - mostly relating to "low income housing". i don't mind that either, but i would like to know ahead of time so i can decide what to do with my place and when to do it.

i have a feeling there will be some real estate opportunities either way this goes. just depends on your point of view.

I think I am going to keep an open mind about this. I hate seeing the golf course go...really was hoping that they would have turned it public. But who knows...perhaps since the area is not all that far from downtown Houston and other popular areas, and the fact that Oak Forest has been rising in value...maybe mid-income homes might be built? Guess we just have to wait and see. But this won't keep me from buying my house there in IF, and still plan on spending money and time to fix it up nice. Also won't keep me from trying to talk the area up to get more people interested in the area.

Well, possibly good news about the 'hood:

Dear Inwood Forest Resident,

Great news!

The Application to replat has been withdrawn by the applicant.

IFCIA has received WRITTEN CONFIRMATION of this fact.

However, this war is not over yet, we just won one battle.

Hello, all-

I've been lurking on this forum ever since I found out that we would be moving to Houston. Now that we are here and have begun the house hunt in earnest, I need some advice.

My husband got a job in the medical center. But we're not doctors and absolutely can't spend over $200K - actually we'd rather it be more like $180K.

We would like a good sized home (3-4 bedroom) with a little personality and a decent to good sized yard for the dogs. And we're looking for somewhere that would make the commute as painless as possible for him. We're hoping to start a family soon, so a good school district would be nice but I guess isn't essential since it will be a few years before that would become an issue.

Everything that we're seeing either has crime stats that scare me or is a community with nothing but cookie cutter brick homes with no trees. Is it possible to find a safe place with a little style in our price range?

We found a place in Quail Valley that we are considering, but there is talk of them selling the golf course and that concerns me. (I posted about this in the Sugarland forum.)

I guess we have champagne tastes and a Coca-Cola budget. Are we doomed?

Any advice that you may have would be great. Thanks so much!

My partner and I did a lot of looking around Houston for a house and decided on Inwood Forest. Now the area doesn't have very good schools from what I hear, but the actual Inwood Forest neighborhood is pretty nice, decent size houses, large yard (we have a dog, birds, fish so that was important to us). My partner will be working in the Med Center too...not all that bad of a commute from what we could tell...drove it a few times to check it out. Its on a golf course..the course was recently sold BUT it may not be a bad thing. There is talk about fixing flooding issues and possibly building single family homes. My THOUGHTS are, since the area is between 610 and 8 on the NW side and not all that far from downtown, that it will possibly start to come around and be a good investment. This is what is happening to Oak Forest neighborhood which borders Inwood. Houses are from the 70s but have a lot of character, larger yards, and is DEFINITELY affordable. Good luck!

Here is the latest: The new owner of the Inwood Forest Golf and Country Club is NOT Renaissance Golf Group, LLC. It is a separate partnership named Inwood Forest Partners, LP. This new partnership apparently includes many, if not all, of the principals of

Renaissance Golf Group, LLC. Richard Cook is a limited partner in the Inwood Forest Partners and will serve as General Manager at Inwood Forest; he also is the General Manager at Quail Valley.

On the Inwood Forest website, there is a link that you can click on to add your email so that you will be sent email information about what is going on with the golf course purchase.

Very true. some good friends of mine bought 2 Perry Homes in midtown and remodelled one of them once they figured out which one was the better location. after the remodel, they put the other one back on the market. however the inspector said that the roof rafters weren't to code so they couldn't sell it. They spent about 5000 to bring it up to code and then threatened legal action against Perry because Perry sold them a defective product. Perry evidently wrote them a check.

Regarding Inspectors, my partner and I are buying a house in Inwood Forest and went to www.housecheck.com. George did an AWESOME job with the inspection. He was so great to work with and was so thorough--explained everything to me to where I understood what was going on with the house. Just a FYI

I believe that has yet to be decided.

Today, the guy that did my inspection on my house in Inwood sent me a email saying: Just FYI, there was an article in a local free paper this week that the I.F. golf course has been sold to an outfit that buys struggling courses and turns them around. This paper is not on the web. There wasn't anything about it in the Chronicle

It would be AWESOME if they fixed up the course..maybe changed it to a 18 hole public course and built some houses on the other 9 holes!! Think there is another meeting about it next week.

This is an email I recieved from my sister today regarding her daughter's campaign:

Jenn is an exceptional young lady. She has been an advocate for her uncles and those like us that have been infected with HIV. She has endured the ridicule of those who have lambasted her convictions and has been the beneficiary of those that understand her motives. All she is asking for is a little help.

Sometimes the wisdom of the young is lost on us. Let us all try to make sure this is one of the times a young lady's sincere appeal is not tossed aside.

Wow....that is so awesome to hear stuff like this. Makes me feel great about my choice to move to Houston soon. Way to go, Jennifer!!

Drywall mud is typically the basis for most textures, and it is water soluble. Problem is, the paint on top isn't water soluble. So....you're going to have to get rid of the paint, and then you can get it wet and scrape it.

Alternatively, you can just scrape like hell to get it mostly leveled out (arduous, messy process), and then texture over it again. If you want it perfectly smooth for say...wallpaper, then you'd have to scrape, then sand.

Ahh..didn't even think about the paint on the wall. I was thinking of going with more of a orange peel look I guess so...looks like I will be scraping. Thanks for your advice

sounds like the 70's blown on texture (popcorn), i would just use a broom and sweep it off but i'm not sure about the resulting aesthetics. i doubt water would be needed if my visual is correct.

well, I think its worse then popcorn...this is like long sharp, pointy texturing.

I am buying a house in Inwood Forest, and the walls have this pointy texture on them. In areas, if I backed myself against the wall, I would perforate myself. Does anyone have any suggestions how I could fix this myself easily? Someone suggested that I might be able to wet the wall with water using a spray bottle...then scrape it off. Just wanted to have some advice/opinions. Thanks

I had the same problem when I was in Korea. It's aight though. You're right by searching online. They're everywhere:)

Here's the Beckham commercial. Janet Reno, Rascal Flatts, Martha Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Reggie Bush, Dwayne Wade, LL Kool J, and Chad Johnson were all in it

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2819646

And here's K-Fed's commercial. It seems to a fan favorite. Cracked me up...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...eoid=1858150935

I thought the Go Daddy commercial was smart..the Doritos ones were pretty funny...definitely liked the K-Fed one too...OH...the one with the rabbit trying to use the mouse. Hillarious!

i'd like to see some good, new single-family stock. i'd buy if it looked like an uptick was happening. i like this physical location... just need someone to bulldoze a few apartment complexes and turn them into nice parks...

yeah, it MIGHT be a decent thing if the houses being built are well priced and all, BUT, with all the possible new houses going up, will probably make it harder for the older houses to sell. Also kind of a bummer to see the golf course go....

Thanks for the link!

What I don't get is, if Inwood was sold to a "golf group" (Renaissance), it would seem they would retain the area, or part of it, as a golf course. I did a search for Renaissance but came up empty.

Yeah, I know...I would have thought the same thing. Was hoping the course would have turned public. I guess there is another hearing or something on the 14th or 15th of this month so hopefully we will learn more about whats going to happen.

The 2011 Superbowl WILL be in the new Cowboys' Stadium. That's been known throughout the league for the past 2 years. All that's left is the rubber stamp vote from the team owners in May. Jerry wants it in 2011. Anyone who understands the NFL and the politics among NFL owners, knows that whatever Jerry wants. . .Jerry gets. He's the single-most important reason NFL owners receive a bigger share of revenue. The owners won't say no to Jerry's request. Besides, in 2011 the Cowboys' Stadium will be the absolute best in the world.

Actually, second best next to the Indianapolis Colts new stadium. GO COLTS!! 2011!

How did you hear of that, Philliper? What is your source? My GF would love to know the details, as would many of her friends.

Hey...go to this website..the link is at the very top: http://www.inwoodforest.net/

Does anyone know which section of the course they are looking to sell off?

It seems it is now official that Inwood Forest Golf Club/Course is now sold. The entire thing, from what I read, is going to be used for single family residences. Not sure how I feel about this but it's a lot better then a company building a bunch of crappy apartments.

no f'n way anyone in their right mind would put another apartment complex in here. there are SO many empty units already.

now, if it's retail, that might not be so bad. i could use a "new" grocery store i could walk to.

if it's a liquor store, corner store, and borrow money store... not so much...

From what I read on the Inwood Forest newsletter is that there is a meeting tomorrow downtown about their application to use the land for either commercial or residential (apartments). I'm with you...if its commercial, I sure hope it will be something that would be beneficial to the neighborhood and hopefully start to turn the area around some. I just wonder what they will do with the rest of the golf course since that would wipe out the club house, parking lot, etc...

While Deregulation on the whole has only led to higher prices, it appears the prices are starting fall.

A lot of people are still on TXU and Reliant and paying upwards of around 16 cents or more per kw/hr.

There are now a couple providers on the Powertochoose.com website offering 10.98 cents per kw/hr...that's a pretty significant savings.

Considering that I avg around 2,000 kw hours per month...

$320/month (Reliant)

$219/month (Spark)

Same service. No contracts. No monthly fees.

I encourage everyone to shop the rates regularly and keep switching. It'll help drive prices down:

Power to Choose Website

Mrfootball...thanks for sharing that link. I've been asking various people about utilities down there (moving soon from Indianapolis-GO COLTS!) and have been freaking out by what I am hearing. Good to see there are some choices other then Reliant, etc...

yeah, a nice course surrounded by some shiny new tax credit properties or who knows what.

It is on the front page of the January 26th to Feb 1 edition

"Residents take a swing at club

Inwood Forest homeowners brace for battle over bid to close old-line golf links"

".....Inwood Forest Golf and Country Club Inc. has petitioned the City of Houston's Planning and Development Department to replat 8.3 acres of land from restriced recreational to unrestricted reserve, which would pave the way for commercial development on the site.

"It's very devastating to even think about what this could do to the community," say Clymer Wright a board member of the Inwood Forest Civic Assocation.

Rumors are circulating that the owner may be planning to build a shopping center or apartment building on the property,..."

Thanks rps. I'm not too familiar with the power of a neighborhood association but I would HOPE that the IF community would have some kind of say in the matter.

Hey RPS...was it the Houston Business Journal? I tried to do a search but nothing with "Inwood" came up

FYI - there was just an article in last week's business journal about the owners of the Inwood Country Club looking to sell off part of the golf course for redevelopment, possibly commercial or apartments.

You are kidding...I'll have to look for that. Man, that would probably be the worst thing they could do in that neighborhood.