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htownproud

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Everything posted by htownproud

  1. htownproud
    I had not noticed before that it will have what appears to be a circle drive off Louisiana.
  2. htownproud
    Yes, it's the same unfortunate place that was there before. Disappointing.
  3. htownproud
    Ideally it would be neither, as the tunnels killed street life in downtown. That said, if I was building a Class A building, I would want to be connected to the tunnels. Houstonians love their air conditioned walkway (even if they have to walk an extra 10 minutes to simply get across the street).
  4. htownproud
    Yes both are HISD. Pershing and Lanier are fairly similar quality for middle schools (you are in a lottery for Pin Oak if you are in West U and Bellaire (and other surrounding areas for that matter)). Bellaire is a better high school than Lamar, although I think that most of West U is zoned to Lamar.
  5. htownproud
    I agree that the yuppie-fication of West University in the 80's (not 90's) is similar to what is occurring in the Heights now, but even then West University Elementary was one of the top HISD elementary schools. And West University was never a ghetto with rampant crime, so gentrification did not really occur. West University has always been a middle class neighborhood, which is why the schools were always good (and I do think the good schools helped West University explode). I'm sure the Heights will get better schools, but I suspect it will take many years before they are as good as comparable schools south of 59.
  6. htownproud
    I'm sure it differs from person to person. Many of the folks I know that have moved here from CA have spent about the same on housing (albeit that is a limited sample set) -- your name suggest that you live in the suburbs--nothing wrong with that, but many folks from CA don't want to do that. And Ross stated his real estate taxes were $1,900 in CA. Assuming your rate of 1.25%, his house in CA was valued at $152,000. Here, if his property taxes were $3,600, his house was significantly more expensive (about $180,000). I don't want to veer too far off topic though. My point was simply that the tax situation is not as simple as some suggest (as our posts demonstrate).
  7. htownproud
    I don't dispute this either. I originally said that in some cases it was better tax wise for folks to move from CA to TX, but that it wasn't always the case. And I don't know enough about the property taxes in Houston, but I thought the over-65 exemption only meant that taxes would not go up any further, not that the tax rate/amount would decrease. That's why I suggested that at retirement on your taxes would be $40k forward. Also, the following suggest that the average CA tax rate is 0.68% (and TX is 2.57% -- this seems not to reflect the homestead exemption): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/business/11leonhardt-avgproptaxrates.html?_r=0
  8. htownproud
    Correct -- the analysis would be different if you were dealing with two different priced properties. I was assuming similar priced properties -- I think most people buy what they can afford, so would be getting roughly the same priced house (albeit that house in Houston may have much more square-footage).
  9. htownproud
    I'm not sure your statement is always true. Someone in an $800k house in Houston with a homestead exemption will pay about $16,000/year in property taxes (~2%). I believe that the equivalent tax on an $800k house in CA would be about $6,000 (0.75%), so it is a wash between the two states (assuming $10k in income tax). Furthermore, once you stop working, you still have to pay the property tax every year, but your income tax is minimal. So if your Texas home appreciates to $2 million by the time you retire, you're on the hook for $40k/year in property tax after retirement. Meanwhile in CA, I believe you are paying property tax based on the year you bought the home (no appreciation), so about $6k, and your income is significantly lower. So your combined income and tax bill in CA is drastically lower than someone in Texas. I'm sure in many instances someone moving to Texas is better off in terms of lifetime taxes, but I don't think that is always the case.
  10. htownproud
    I doubt it will be connected to the tunnels -- that part of downtown has poor access. Of course that is why this area of town actually has street level restaurants -- the tunnels have really killed downtown residential/retail (as has been pointed out in numerous other threads).
  11. htownproud
    If you want to read a Chronicle article that is subscription only, you simply copy the title and paste it into Google. The first result will be the full article, and you won't have to pay for it.
  12. htownproud
    Burger King and Jack in the Box are both about 300 or 400 yards away as well.
  13. htownproud
    22 Waugh is close to Washington, not Dallas.
  14. htownproud
    why dry cleaner? i love the one on gray and taft. juan mon's was okay food, but i didn't think much of the location. not visible enough from major streets -- i would always forget it was there.
  15. htownproud
    It's not my cup of tea, but it's a lot better than if they had just made the top of the glass middle section flush with the two stucco sides.
  16. htownproud
    there is no plan to move HQ to Houston on the horizon. not saying it won't happen 20+ years down the road, but not in the immediate future
  17. htownproud
    One of the problems with this building is there is nothing around it, compared to the other Class A office towers in downtown (and no tunnel access, although I hate the tunnels). That said, this part of downtown appears to be picking up though, so perhaps they can get the high paying tenants.
  18. htownproud
    There is still plenty of industrial land on and around Washington if someone wants to build mixed use on it.
  19. htownproud
    Heard the developer of Sky House speak this morning. He stated that very shortly they will be pouring a floor every three days. Seems crazy fast to me, but he was confident. It is called Sky House b/c there will be a house at the top with all of the amenities (gym, kitchen, etc.) and a large pool (sorry if this is somewhere else on this thread already).
  20. htownproud
    Walmart. 106 pages of comments on the Heights/Walmart page can't be wrong. The City could enter a 380 agreement to fund tunnel improvements. Nothing controversial with those.
  21. htownproud
    Thank god the shacks behind this on Victor won't be touched. I would hate to see the shanties get torn down. Every time I drive by them, it makes me think that I live some exotic, like a slum in Bombay or Rio.
  22. htownproud
    Leonard -- that HEB is in a neighborhood. This Walmart was built on a toxic dump. If you want to build your home immediately adjacent to a heavily industrialized toxic dump, with heavy rail going through it to boot, don't complain when a Walmart spruces up the area. (I would not have wanted the Target built at Dunlavy either, but again, the Target was built in the middle of factories, warehouses, and a heavy recycling center.)
  23. htownproud
    Here's my two cents, which I admit are simply my perspective. I live in Montrose. I used to shop at Target, but I recently made the decision to only go to Walmart from now on. For most Saturday errands, I was going to Target first, and then having to go to Walmart as well b/c Target didn't have everything that I needed. And then I would kick myself b/c I would see that the things that I had purchased at Target were cheaper at Walmart (Walmart saves me trips to Home Depot as well). I would also say that the area around Walmart is much nicer than it was three years ago, and nicer than the area around Target. I don't know about the 380 agreement, or the bridge, or whether the area became nice b/c of the Walmart or in spite of the Walmart. None of that matters to me -- I'm just happy to have the Walmart there.
  24. htownproud
    I hope that retail makes it, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Maybe a single convenience store could make it there. Obviously if more residential (or even offices) pop-up over there, then maybe additional retail could survive.
  25. htownproud
    We need a Treasures in the tunnels.
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