All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

My favorite thing about Houston is the food. We have authentic top-notch cuisine from all over the world, attributable to our great diversity. On the other hand, we have awful traffic, crime, and pollution, and there are panhandlers on nearly every corner. All three of the cities you listed are pretty humid and swampy, so I guess you're okay with the subtropical climate. 

My advice, give some thought to how you want to live and then choose a place that enables you to live how you like, even if it takes a bit longer to "get rich" there. 

For example, if you like to bicycle through wooded mountain trails, Boulder CO is a great place for cycling everyday. If you enjoy saltwater fishing and sampling and endless variety of world cuisine, come on down to Houston. If you like theme parks and rollercoasters, Orlando has them. I've never been to Atlanta and know very little about it.

Prioritize your personal daily happiness. Choose a place that suits you.

I would gladly join a monthly meet-up. I'd prefer to meet inside the loop. My schedule is pretty flexible as long as I have enough advance notice to arrange childcare. I avoid the Galleria area whenever possible, but 59 @ Beltway 8 is definitely manageable. I am also located in the Hobby Area. Weekends would probably be slightly easier, but weekday evenings are also fine. 

Hi and welcome!

@Brock Krpan I do not personally own any IKEA cabinets, but my friends and family who do really like them. I've seen IKEA custom kitchens in everything from fancy uptown condos, to homes in the burbs, to garage apartments listed on AirBnB. They offer lots of price points to fit any budget and you get to choose your level of involvement with transportation and assembly. Since they are all modular units, if one gets destroyed you should be able to replace just that one. The surfaces are easy to clean. They are well designed, and even the cheap ones look pretty nice. You can always go bang around on them in the store to figure out which ones feel sturdy, if you are so inclined. They have little show rooms-set up for all their stuff.

Costco does cabinets, too. If you have the Executive membership, you get 2% back on all purchases at the end of the year (up to $1000.)

You might consider talking to the University to see if they may want to lease a space. Colleges often have multiple satellite offices. San Jac, for example has a SBA center in Pearland, and the administrative office that handles grants and awards is a few miles from the campus. 

Here is a link to the community organization working to improve Houston Southeast, which includes Third Ward. http://houstonse.org/

Here is a link to the official City Of Houston Redevelopment Authority. http://www.houstontx.gov/lara/

The above websites are run by the people who are planning improvements in the Third Ward the area. They will know what is happening now and what is on the books for the future. Talking to them should yield some win-win scenarios for you and the community.

The Purple line of the metro rail is going to connect to the University. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the plan is to eventually run a new rail (Blue) through Third Ward, too.

FYI, in case you didn't know, a few years ago Third Ward Houston was ranked the 15th most dangerous neighborhood in the US on a list compiled by the FBI. Definitely focus on security. Good lighting, cameras, signs emphasizing the presence of cameras, gated entry.....all good ideas.

Liz

Doh! 

Just missed it. When's the next one?

Liz

There is a shipping container building going up near me! Each layer has an 8x40 anchoring the east and west side, with a big open square space in the middle. This gives the exterior that "shipping container look" that hipsters are so attracted to, without being truly limited by the 8x40 shape. I'm betting the other two sides will be mostly windows and balconies. There is already one around the block from a hipster brewery/bar which looks really nice and pulls over $1200 in rent per unit. I'm guessing the same group is putting up this new one, too. I'm excited to see how it turns out. If you find anything exciting about creative use of shipping containers, please share. It's a fun and interesting topic. 

Liz

P.S. I did some research on the topic about a year ago. Before purchasing a shipping container, find out what kind of cargo was in it. Avoid the ones that carried high VOC items. It's easier to buy a clean one than to remove toxic residue. This has a huge impact on the quality of air inside them.

@Vijaianand Thirunageswaram Thank you for sharing your insight.

Even though oil has dropped, we aren't experiencing layoffs and O&G insiders aren't worried. Housing prices in Houston have been slowly declining from a ridiculous peak about 2 years ago, but the market is still moving pretty fast. The most recent property I scheduled to have a look at only three days after it hit the MLS, but the seller got 5 offers the first day and it was gone.

Perhaps you could hedge your bets by having several properties lined up to see on your trip, so that you aren't flying all the way out here to see just one that may be snatched up already (or a dud?) You can learn a lot about the market in an area by setting up a search for what you want and checking the results on the MLS everyday. In this way you can learn to spot patterns and get a grasp on how fast properties that meet your criteria tend to turnover at the current price points.

Short answer, the only way I know to be sure a property won't sell to someone else is to put a contract on it and pony up some earnest money.

Liz