musicman Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Yes, some people think this is a big problem. if alexis carrington can survive this crisis, i think we all will too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgriff Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Aha! Its the kind of building that's responsible for crime! Problem solved!Yes, some people think this is a big problem.How about maintaining cheap housing close to town?It's gonna kill me not to respond to this but we've gotten a little OT here and I don't see us agreeing on anything so I'm calling it quits on the discussion of housing for maids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgriff Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 if alexis carrington can survive this crisis, i think we all will too. We should make her pay our maids rent before someone makes us pay it. I just couldn't resist... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 How about maintaining cheap housing close to town?There's already cheap housing close to and within town. I already told you where it can be found, and most of those neighborhoods are very stable. And don't forget that new affordable housing is created daily as buildings age.Why do I get the sense that you've either never been to Pasadena or that what you really want is for new relatively more costly housing to be built for use by poor people? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 There's already cheap housing close to and within town. I already told you where it can be found, and most of those neighborhoods are very stable. And don't forget that new affordable housing is created daily as buildings age.Why do I get the sense that you've either never been to Pasadena or that what you really want is for new relatively more costly housing to be built for use by poor people?Pasadena, Baytown, Spring.......townhomes eventually pushing poor inner-loopers outside the loop is a natural event. The necessary adjustments will happen as needed by those affected, without government intervention, hopefully. We've had many discussions here about "affordable housing" and gentrification and I think we're getting a little off topic with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sowanome Posted November 16, 2007 Author Share Posted November 16, 2007 Let me see if I got this straight:Townhomes in the inner loop are expensive.More expensive townhomes in the inner loop are being built.You bought one. Good for you. I'm sure you'll let us know when you're ready to go laughing to the bank. Great Observation!!!!Yes, you're absolutely correct. I bought an inner loop townhome just a couple of months before meeting my future wife, who has a house in Kingwood. We chose to live in my home when we got married and had a child instead of dealing with the ridiculous commute from Kingwood to DT and UT. Now my wife's commute is non-existent and mine is 10 minutes tops in morning and afternoon. We don't have a yard but we've got nearby parks for our son to enjoy. It is all about preferences. It's nice to see that in Houston we finally have some options to fit various preferences! Plus, it's nice to lease my wife's house out to someone with a different preference and reap the tax benefits and additional income! Cheers...I agree, the 8 minute commute during rush hour is the best! My spouse and I meet at home for lunch at least 3 times a week....... I'm glad i don't have drive the westpark tollway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 GORGEOUS! What's the name of the community? I'd like to look it up on HAR.com.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capnmcbarnacle Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I'm tired of hearing Houstonians, especially those on this board, crying about wanting an urban feel, but opposing the townhome " cookie-cutter" trend that is going on! For example, if you look in the suburbs or back to the late 70's, 2 out of every 5 homes on each street have identical floorplans and layouts. In some instances they have the same color/siding/bricking! Having grown up in one of those suburbs from the 1970s, I ended up living in Montrose to try to get away from it. Thanks for hitting the nail on the head for me.Look, I don't have a problem with new construction. It's inevitable. I do have a problem when builders build sky high to to the lot lines on either side of me and behind me and take away sunlight and replace views that once looked down the block with an 8 foot fence. I do have a problem with builders creating traffic and parking messes because there are curb cuts where street parking used to be. I do have a problem with people who move into those places and then complain and want to change the neighborhood they came to (and I'm not saying the initial poster is one of those). And I'll go out on a limb and say that Montrose seemed urban before the influx of townhomes.There are some good designs out there, but a lot of the original backlash to these -- going back at least a decade -- was the way they messed up the neighbors' quality of life. But hey, that's what you get without deed restrictions or zoning. The next round of bitching will be from the people who bought Perry townhomes 10 years ago and now have 40 foot monsters blocking their views and sunshine. Take a drive between Westheimer and Gray to see some of those babies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpe3 Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Out with the old. In with the new. That's how we do it in Houston and I'm fine with it. What's been going on in Houston's inner loop for the last 15 years is nothing short of amazing and it ain't over yet. We're only 20 years into a 50 year densification cycle. Draw a ring around Downtown, the Med Center, the Galleria and Memorial Park. Come back in 20 years and you'll be amazed.Does anyone hear remember the West U of 30 years ago? The whole place was a bunch of 1,300 SF termite infested cracker boxes. It was always expensive, but now it's only for the richest of the rich who don't bat an eye at their $20,000 to $50,000 annual property tax bill. This is one of finest areas of executive housing in the country.I'll take this over Austin any day where the vast majority of the close-in housing stock is woefully obsolete and will only continue to deteriorate as the decades pass thanks to their current restrictions on development.Not everyone can afford West U, or Southhampton or River Oaks so bring on the townhomes for the rest of us. Clearly that's what the market dictates. More people with more money all living, shopping, drinking, dining and working in close proximity to one another. And thanks to Houston's building requirements that force all commerical develepments to self park on site, I can drive my own car everywhere I want to go, usually in 10 minutes or less. I love it.Show me any place in America besides Houston where I can have a recently constructed, 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath, 2,400 SF townhouse with a 2-car garage in one of the best in-fill locations for $300k. It doesn't exist. Similar location, size and quailty in Chicago would cost $1.5 million. New York? San Francisco? Try $3+ million. San Diego? Denver? Seattle? Boston? Miaimi? Forget about it.Sure. Houston's lax development guidelines have allowed developers to build their share of questionable properties, but that certainly doesn't make us unique. I can go any city in America and find ugly buildings. We have a self correcting system. If developers build stuff that people don't want or can't afford they will soon be out of business. I'd much rather the market deciding what gets built than the government.bpe3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sowanome Posted November 17, 2007 Author Share Posted November 17, 2007 Out with the old. In with the new. That's how we do it in Houston and I'm fine with it. What's been going on in Houston's inner loop for the last 15 years is nothing short of amazing and it ain't over yet. We're only 20 years into a 50 year densification cycle. Draw a ring around Downtown, the Med Center, the Galleria and Memorial Park. Come back in 20 years and you'll be amazed.Does anyone hear remember the West U of 30 years ago? The whole place was a bunch of 1,300 SF termite infested cracker boxes. It was always expensive, but now it's only for the richest of the rich who don't bat an eye at their $20,000 to $50,000 annual property tax bill. This is one of finest areas of executive housing in the country. I'll take this over Austin any day where the vast majority of the close-in housing stock is woefully obsolete and will only continue to deteriorate as the decades pass thanks to their current restrictions on development. Not everyone can afford West U, or Southhampton or River Oaks so bring on the townhomes for the rest of us. Clearly that's what the market dictates. More people with more money all living, shopping, drinking, dining and working in close proximity to one another. And thanks to Houston's building requirements that force all commerical develepments to self park on site, I can drive my own car everywhere I want to go, usually in 10 minutes or less. I love it. Show me any place in America besides Houston where I can have a recently constructed, 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath, 2,400 SF townhouse with a 2-car garage in one of the best in-fill locations for $300k. It doesn't exist. Similar location, size and quailty in Chicago would cost $1.5 million. New York? San Francisco? Try $3+ million. San Diego? Denver? Seattle? Boston? Miaimi? Forget about it. Sure. Houston's lax development guidelines have allowed developers to build their share of questionable properties, but that certainly doesn't make us unique. I can go any city in America and find ugly buildings. We have a self correcting system. If developers build stuff that people don't want or can't afford they will soon be out of business. I'd much rather the market deciding what gets built than the government. bpe3 So much to agree with, I don't know where to start! Here goes: #1. The market will definitely dictate where the money is going and what they (being those who move into townhomes near West U/River Oaks/Memorial Park/Tanglewood/Galleria/Heights/Bellaire) want to spend their money on! Look at the amt. of $$ spent to live in many of these places. I agree, not everyone can afford the minimum $700K single fam home in those areas. #2. If you can't afford that, but want all of the same ammenities what should you do? ===> Buy the $400k+ townhome in the same zip code and save yourself the expensive foreclosure! #3. This again equates to "More people with more money all living, shopping, dining, drinking and working within close proximity of one another." It's all Economics...... As demand goes up, So does price #4. It's hard to believe, but since Houston was so under developed for so long and is trying to catch up, there will be some significant gains for homeowners within the inner loop in the next 5 years or so. The reason is bc the mixed use development that has finally come to Houston. Mixed use will change the inner loop forever, esp since many of the developments will occur in hoods that are UPSCALE staples of houston (West ave., Regent Square, High Street===>River Oaks) not to mention the Galleria area..... #5. west houston and the western halve of the inner loop will be insane in 5 yrs....... #6. When people visit they are often in awe of the galleria area with all of the chrome stop light fixtures, just wait until the infill is finished. People will drive from the Pavillions via allen parkway as they ride past Regent Square where Allen Parkway turns into Kirby (River Oaks) and continue until they turn right at Westhiemer, Where they'll see 2727 Kirby/West Ave. "WOW" and they continue west on Westhiemer as they drive through Highland village and High Street, where they will see "The W" and Hotel Derek and the Galleria........Wow as they turn up Post Oak and see the all of the new Development and the Hermes Store..... The drive continues up Post oak until they are on the 610 feeder road and turn right onto Memorial Drive..... Enough said as they ride through Memorial Park, Camp Logan, Crestwood, Glen Cove and Rice Military... "WOW" as we drive past The Royalton, Bayou on the Bend and the remaining parks as we end the ride Downtown where Memorial turns into Texas Avenue....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 #4. It's hard to believe, but since Houston was so under developed for so long and is trying to catch upLOL the air must be a little thin in your hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojeaux131 Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 The whole place was a bunch of 1,300 SF termite infested cracker boxes. Great post. Welcome to the forum, bpe3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecondTour Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Talking about cities that are cookie cutter, but still manage to pull it off, look at Paris. Its so easy to get lost in that city because its hard to differentiate one building from another. But its still a gorgeous city that has done well to balance architecture, art, style, and greenspaces into an area that is sought after and visited by more people than anywhere else in the world.+1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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