Marksmu

What is currently occurring in the health insurance industry in Texas right now is the insurers are excluding all pre-existing conditions without regard to the likelihood of a problem. They are doing this to maximize income the last few years as the baseline numbers for full blown Obamacare are based on the last 3-5 years of Historical data...if they can show that they received xx% before the law, and now are getting XX-10% then they can petition to recoup that 10% saying its all b/c the government is forcing them to cover people who are obvious risks. Its all a statistical game with them....its sick. People who are supporting Obamacare don't realize all the BS and games being done in the background to manipulate the numbers that will become the baseline in 2014. In 2014, there will be an option for you that can't exclude pre-existing conditions...the insruance industry is broken, but the logical fixes have been outright ignored in place of partisan bickering...like the Walmart. Its one persons view of what is appropriate versus anothers.

YET - they still have not even let them fix it up. Its pure political garbage and its an anchor on the whole area!

Outright refused? I've never heard of anyone getting refused coverage....being quoted astronomical rates? Yes - total refusal, that would be a first....unless you were looking for life insurance...then I get it. Regular old health insurance should be nothing more than an actuarial chart, pre-existing condition exclusions, and a check. I buy the health insurance for my company and in doing so have dealt with every major carrier operating in Texas.... I feel that I've seen just about everything they can throw at you - but outright refusal would be the first Ive seen.

I got a message this morning that said the HAHC again told them to shove it and completely disregarded the petition. They apparently (this is 3rd hand information) did not budge on their requirement to make the camelback larger and to move it back 3 or 4 feet thereby rendering the garage useless.

285 signatures in a few days....that must be representative of the overwhelming support for the HAHC...especially since this thing is barely making its online debut, and is doing so using one of the worst most liberal petition sites on the net....I almost quit when I had to click through the other 4 petitions - tell Obama I love him and want a lifetime dictator, Ban assault rifles, ban high capacity magazines, tell the government global warming is man made - BARF- but alas for the sake of the family, I completed the petition, and skipped the other liberal trash on that site.

I don't see the media picking up a story about how the city abuses the power that it dishonestly vested in a bunch of know it all snots....I have found the media to be pretty much worthless at covering anything at all that actually matters....well at least in an unbiased way. You have well connected snots controlling every day people. Its sickening but it is exactly what we knew would happen. A few builders/architects who these well connected snots have wine/cheese with will have their process go smoothly - everyone else - well you should have picked their friends to do your project! Everyone else just go ahead and get your checkbook out and prepare to design your house to the whims/desires of the snots who make up the HAHC.

Apparently the HAHC is doing exactly what we said it was going to do, and is denying extremely reasonable requests just to flex its muscles...This petition is going around asking folks to sign it b/c the HAHC is refusing to approve their addittion. The HAHC apparently wants a bigger Camelback and has no regard whatsoever for the costs that it is imposing upon the family. 200 signatures and about 1/4 of them have had unpleasant dealings with the HAHC already. http://www.change.org/petitions/houston-archaeological-and-historical-commission-hahc-approve-application-to-restore-my-1920-home-that-has-been-neglected-for-yrs?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=url_share_before_sign Shocking! Apparently this family's only mistake was not choosing the city/HAHC preferred contractor/architect....I would bet that this same exact plan if submitted by an architect who supported the ordinance would have sailed through....It is infuriating to me that some group like the HAHC has the authority to prevent this property owner from repairing their home how they see fit. This is PRECISELY why the ordinance must be repealed and the HAHC done away with in its entirety. Good ole boy politics has no place in individuals private property rights! GTHO of the Heights HAHC!

Everyone knows that nothing ever gets denied because of traffic counts. Traffic counts are only used to force the developer to do a project that the city would otherwise have to pay for. Nine times out of Ten, the traffic counts are fine - the city just holds the permits over the developers heads until they just comply with their demands. Time is money and these guys have loans/payrolls/investors to pay. Most developers have figured this out. If this apartment developer is savy - they are already know who they have to bribe, I mean, what they are going to have to do to get full approvals...the process of criticize, pretend to care, request more information, then approve is well known. I have been through several of these processes with a multitude of properties in Houston - the process is used almost exclusively to force a developer to do something that even the codes do not require - something like putting a curb/gutter onto Allston for example.

The sign originally showed that it was going to be more townhomes like the ones down the street from it....

Looks to me like TC is building with the full intention of acquiring those two lots eventually. I would not be surprised if when they build the project they build everything except the small one story apartments shown South of the 2 lots....They know the holdouts will sell during construction so they submit something that looks bad and once all the city approvals are in - bada bing - they are out. If I owned them (and i would love to own them) I guarantee I could make something obnoxious enough on those lots that nobody would lease from that place if they did not buy me out. I would not say the hog is slaughtered TC wants them and he is going to pay for them.

In the end, even if the hold out does not get lots of money and he will get way more than its worth....they need that property to build out the block, it is near the dead center of the lot. They wont get slaughtered - the cost to design around that thing which is guaranteed an access easement and have it still look decent would be astronomical compared to the cost to pay more than twice what it is worth. The hold out will get the most, or wind up floating in a ditch - I don't know this TC fellow so I can't tell you which way he will go.

Its not a straw man argument. You said that the new builders and building the cheapest houses to make a quick buck and get out. Its not true. It is a lie. The quality is identical, the building materials are identical, the craftsman ship is identical. What you do not like is the look of them. It's your right not to like the look of everyone's property...its not your right to force them to change their house to meet your approval. I personally do not like the smaller lot sizes and I would never own one...I live on a 6600 sq ft lot and it is way too small...I think the subdividing of lots smaller than the original platted 4400sqft should be stopped...The streets really can't handle the density in their current widths - especially across most of the west side of the Heights where the streets are extremely narrow....So I reckon we can agree on one point. Too many houses tucked in together does not look bad - but all those cars parked on the street does look bad. So we will agree on one point. - Subdividing lots is bad. The price discrepancy between the two homes you have posted there are quite simple when viewed with an open mind and without the mental gymnastics of your personal preferences...1) Lot size. The dirt value alone represents approximately $140,000 in price difference (3300sqft lot vs 6600sqft)...$550 vs. $799 --(add $140K for dirt) were now at $690 vs $799. 2) square footage....2400 sqft vs 2900 sqft....average cost of new construction $140-$160/ft (avg $150 *500 sqft) = $75,000 so now were at $765,000 vs $799K....3) - a remodel costs more than new construction...there is demolition and then the cost of bringing old up to new standards. 4) Location. The Columbia house is zoned to the better schools and in the more developed (less transitional) side of the Heights....easily making up the $30K remaining difference in asking price. When its all said and done the two houses actual value are nearly identical...the differences are not architecture, or preference, they are PURELY economic. One has more yard, more square footage, and a better location. You prefer the look of the awful McCamelback, and I prefer the look of the other....Why should your preference win over mine? That seems VERY selfish.

Im still awaiting the names of some of the evil builders who are building "add water Italiante-ish boxes" b/c I do not know where these are being constructed. I walked nicholson from 19th to Heights and saw only a few townhomes that I know you would object too.... Please, if these awful homes are so prevalent I would like to know who is building them so I can invest some cash in them - b/c they obviously have figured out how to big junk and still manage to charge $600K for them...thats a hell of a awesome business model in a state where the builder mandated warranties are only 1 year.

Please do let us know (with the exception of the townhomes near 6th and Nicholson) the names of these evil builders who are building the terrible boxes..Just go ahead and name a few...the builders I see building on the west side are. 1) Sullivan (not low end) 2) Whitestone (not low end) 3) Ansari (not low end) 4) Distinctive Living (dont know much about) 5) Bungalow Revival Im sure there are more but I cant think of them all...suffice it to say that I do not see many of these "very low end" new builds you seem to think exist. The new construction is usually, not always, but usually of a very high caliber. EDIT - There is only one set of townhomes that I know to be of poor construction...the rest are just townhomes, which I am not a fan of personally, but even they are not poorly made.

So I can't compare two properties less than 1/10th of a mile from each other? My rental property is less than 2 full blocks away from my house...rental on Ashland, house on Waverly...the two streets share an alley for god's sake....they are completely comparable. I can grant you that the Heights in general west of Yale were more ignored than the East side, but its not because there was or wasn't preserved bungalows, new construction, or even ugly undesirable houses, it had to do with schools and the fact that the East side of the Heights attends Harvard and the West side attends Yale....A huge number of the new residents moving in have young children and want better schools - the West side is behind the 8-ball in that regard....in the last 24 months the West side has obliterated the East side and it would be intellectually dishonest to say that the massive differences between the two sides is not due to the ordinance. The growth in the Heights was driven by a mix of builders and residents. You took 50% of the investment out of the game. The west side had more room to improve, but its improvement has not been incremental...Prices went from $330K-$400K for a new build to $650K in less than 24 months as the new builds all shifted out of the historic areas. HCAD can be arbitrary and often inaccurate, but its not totally meaningless....in the last 5 years they have made it a point to get the most desirable areas of Houston into nearly standardized appraised values...lots are almost all appraised exactly the same, and price per sq/ft has been equalizing rapidly.....The bottom line is that whether you can admit it or not - the spec builders and families with children are looking outside of the district to build new construction so they can get what they want...that is driving the values in those areas up disproportionately faster than the areas inside the districts where the prices are much more stable. It does not mean that the HD is losing value - rather it just means that they are worth less than they would have been if it were not for the HD's.

The non-encumbered West Side of the Heights is out appreciating the rest of the Heights quite rapidly at the moment. The only thing holding the West side down is the schools. If the schools were equivalent there would be no competition at all. The Heights is desirable PERIOD. No historic ordinance is going to change that. It is developed, it has great bars/restaurants/trails...the ordinance is not going to change that. The only thing the ordinance has achieved is to slow the appreciation. It is not going to stop it - but it is slowing it. My rental house is in the historic district, and it had no change in its 2012 market value per hcad. My actual house I live in is out of the historic district and its appraised value rose $137,000...the only "improvement" done to my house was a $38,000 pool - so roughly $99,000 is appreciation out of the district, while the well maintained shack we rent saw zero change. The proximity of the Heights to downtown and the places around it make the Heights desirable to everyone, ordinance or not....but there really is no comparison when comparing East/West side appreciation over the last 24 months. The west side obliterated the east side.

Codes may or may not prevent basements in Houston, but the water table does...I would never intentionally store a car below the natural grade in Houston...it doesnt take long with a sump not running to fill up your "basement" with water...some ares around Houston you can find water less than 8' below the surface...Ive got a place east of town where we hit water at 3 feet.

Those magic expanding walls are nice! City is getting better at noticing them though...the Heights inspectors can be tough!

Wow - what a waste of time/effort. It would cost 50% less to just start from scratch, turn out 50% better, 90% more efficient, and look just as historic. But by god we must save the OLD to prevent real progress! Cant somebody please think of the children!!!

They need a new showroom...its a tiny showroom. Also worth noting as you come over the old rail-road track bridge where 6th would be, they have parked all their superduty trucks in the shape of a Christmas tree, with a red truck being the topper... I just thought it was cool to see, so I thought I'd share.

Build a new garage "room" with the required electricity plumbing etc, and do the finish work of adding a bath and kitchen without permit. There is always a way around a bunch of nanny's running a nanny state. I'm so glad I live in a non-historic, no deed restriction part of the Heights!

I Love my garage apartment! My relatives love my garage apartment as well...Also when handled appropriately by residents I see no problem with renting the apartments...I rented mine to my brother in law and his wife while their house was being remodeled, I rented mine to a friend of a friend while they were building a house, I rented mine to a good friend of mine when IKE split his house in half, and I rented mine to my in-laws while their house was being repaired as well... Both of the repairs from IKE I was paid out of insurance proceeds and the other two were just low cost rent....My garage apartment has been a blessing...used frequently and loved by pretty much everyone who uses it...My other set of in-laws from out of town far prefer it to staying in our house as they like to sleep late and my kids get up before 5:30Am.... I understand rent restrictions b/c some will abuse it, but rent restrictions when you have good owners does kinda stink. My apartment has its own parking space on my property and everything else about it has had zero impact on my neighbors.

The vast majority of what you consider aesthetically pleasing "bungalows" are nothing more than a 19XX Sears catalog build on your lot track home....They are the Pulte/David Weekly/Meritage/Trend Maker,etc homes of the 19XX's.... I do like the look of many of them, but I abhor the look of a camel back. It is possibly the most visibly displeasing style of "architecture" and I do use the word architecture lightly here, as it is just a box built onto the back of an old track home. Some of the new construction lacks creativity, but there are quite a few builders like Sullivan, who go out of their way to build a beautiful house that fits the neighborhood, that also actually fits a modern day life style with nice kitchens, baths, family rooms, etc.... The VAST majority of the people moving into the heights driving up the property values want bigger houses... because they also want/have families. That may necessarily displace those like you who want to live in a shack....Is there a market for shacks? Yes - there are a good number of folks looking to feel good about themselves as well who want to downsize their life, get an electric car, and be environmentally conscientious....those buyers, though they exist, generally wont be able to afford the area for long..unless they keep the HAHC from driving up their property values...I predict that many of these new residents will start to move b/c after a few years the novelty of being green will meet the realization that the small houses have no storage, and their bike looks stupid in their kitchen.

The only possible reason that there is more value to a remodel in the district than outside of it is because there are fewer people who want to deal with the annoyance of a panel of learned beings telling them what they can/cant do to their home....when fewer people are willing to do something - the fact that its already done inherently makes it more valuable as the the pain in the butt is no longer present....However the house itself is not more actually more valuable...its worth the same as the one on the other side of the alley that does not have to deal with the headaches. Other than feeling good about oneself and touting to their friends that they live in a historic bungalow (its never a house) there is no real benefit to the historic areas. Half of them have already been 40% rebuilt with new homes...its really one of the dumbest ordinances I've seen.

13 days is how long it took to pend...I can look up the sales price once it closes...It sure looks to me like someone WAY overpaid...I dont care that its an over sized lot, that property is not worth $400,000...its max value is $300,000....Someone with way more money than brains bought that....That same person obviously does not need a loan to do what they are planning either b/c there is no bank that is going to lend on a property that costs that much more than its worth....it will NEVER appraise for $400,000...It would be a stretch to get the lot to appraise for $260,000, and a bank is going to value that house below $40,000. As to your opinion on the value of the new construction you are way off....nothing like a hideous Camel Back to keep the historic nature of the area(sarcasm just i case you missed that)....everything (except for a couple rows of townhomes) is high quality construction...I watched some of the Ansari homes being built, and the foundation framers on those properties were the absolute best I have seen yet...I even got their information b/c I was impressed with their attention to detail....There have been quite a few Sullivan homes built in that area as well and they use some of the absolute best construction techniques. Im not a fan of the front facing garage homes or the townhomes, but even they are a vast improvement over a 800 sqft shack....however, those homes are the minority of the new construction...most new construction - exceeding 75% of the new construction (in area, not quantity) are nice custom builds - Whitestone, Ansari, Sullivan, etc....your characterization of these homes as being shoddy quick buck investor properties is ridiculous. Those homes will be there adding significant value to the area for 50+ years until the next new wave of construction/trends dictate they be replaced so we can all finally have the landing pads on our roof for the flying cars. The historic districts may over 30+ years end up being worth more (I doubt it, but its possible) but if they do, it wont be b/c the investors were kept out, or the homes are nicer, or the construction is of higher quality...it will be b/c there will always be some idiot with more money than sense wants to brag that their house is better than your house because its old and in a historic district (which is exclusive!) and therefore special...The only reason anyone would pay more for less is ego and they want to feel superior to others. You exude this trait and I bet a night out with you would likely entail the mentioning of your "historic home" to everyone you encounter...