Building materials will be going up in price due to the storm , some materials will be in short supply , not available or on back order .

Houston Real Estate Highlights in August(* asterisk denotes that the “Harvey effect” has been removed): Single-family home sales rose 7.6 percent year-over-year, with 5,844 units sold*;Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes declined slightly to 49 days;Total property sales jumped 36.8 percent, with 9,978 units sold;Total dollar volume increased 40.1 percent to $2.86 billion;The single-family home median price rose 3.0 percent to $236,870, reaching an August high;The single-family home average price also achieved an August record, rising 1.9 percent to $300,670;Single-family homes months of inventory was at a 4.1-months supply, down from 4.3 months last August and equal to the national level;Townhome/condominium sales rose 12.3 percent year-over-year, with 457 units sold in 2018 compared to 407 one year earlier*;Leases of single-family homes rose 7.6 percent with the average rent up 3.4 percent to $1,926*;Volume of townhome/condominium leases fell 8.6 percent with the average rent up 5.5 percent to $1,639*HAR https://www.har.com/content/newsroom?

Price is determined by supply and demand.

I'm just not sure that it has huge growth potential and the economic outlook is sluggish.

@Joshua Kaufman from the facts you supply it seems that the Broker when the sale was made is different from the Broker whose Agent you had a Referral Agreement with. 

We missed out on 2 good ones, even when acting quickly.There is a lot of new supply coming soon, so I think some landlords are worried about how that will effect rents in the area.

He then calls in his licensed and insured subcontractors that specialize in their respective trade . the contractor supplies the customer with a contract , establishing pay schedules and an exact scope of work .

The house has doubled in sqft and the basement now has a family room and master suite for $5000 in supplies and a cost of $3400 in rental income...so around 8500 cash in. 

Every Utiilty is also different so you have to know that market, what’s available and how to put into effect a concise plan with guarnranteed supply rates in the case of Electric and Natural gas. 

I know here in Bay Area (CA) while there's definitely foreign money.... there's also plenty of domestic money being thrown at houses and low supply.