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  #21  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 12:08 AM
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VivaLFuego VivaLFuego is offline
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$500K for one of those? that's pretty cheap compared to something near downtown in most of the major cities, the new townhomes that are that close to downtown (how far are those in Houston, about 1-2 miles from downtown?) In Chicago typically run aobut $900K - 3+ million, and the designs are often much crappier.
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  #22  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 1:03 AM
dharper6 dharper6 is offline
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Originally Posted by VivaLFuego View Post
$500K for one of those? that's pretty cheap compared to something near downtown in most of the major cities, the new townhomes that are that close to downtown (how far are those in Houston, about 1-2 miles from downtown?) In Chicago typically run aobut $900K - 3+ million, and the designs are often much crappier.
Check out HAR.com and select townhomes/condos. I did that recently and found that a lot of condos are less than $500K, even in some of the highrises in Uptown and River Oaks. The catch is that the monthly homeowner dues are really high and drive up the actual cost tremendously. Having lived in a condo and served as a board member in Austin, it does take a great deal of dollars to maintain such a building, so dues are usually really high. It would be good to hear from some Houston condo owners regarding the month dues.
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  #23  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 1:19 AM
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The MAJORITY of the townhomes posted in this thread are far less than $500,000. In fact, I'd ay about 65% of them fall in the $250,000 to $450,000 range. Very few are over half a million outside of the 77019 zip code.

All of these are for sale and can be found right now on har.com.
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  #24  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 3:41 AM
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^ Those are pretty great prices; how are those neighborhoods to live in right now, is there much retail, any nightlife (restaurants, bars, etc), just curious. Also, what range are we talking about for monthly maintenance fees? Here, townhome associations might typically collect something on the order of $100-200/month for basics like snow/trash/leaf removal, landscaping, etc, but that's not very expensive.

People say cost of living in Chicago is relatively low compared to the coasts (and it surely is), but these prices for new construction near downtown Houston are a further reality check!
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  #25  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 4:32 AM
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I did not have any maintenance fees for mine. Although some do though.
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  #26  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 5:28 AM
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I did not have any maintenance fees for mine. Although some do though.
I remember seeing a condo on HAR.com that had a monthly maintenence fee of 35 cents per square foot. That would be $700/month for a 2,000 square foot condo. A friend indicates that it can be a lot higher than that in some developments. The condo I lived in in Austin had a monthly fee of only $120/month, but a friend in Austin lived in a high rise condo near the university that had a fee of $500/month for his 1200 square foot unit.
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  #27  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 5:57 AM
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Originally Posted by vertex View Post
You have to ask yourself, will anybody pay $500k+ for a Houston townhome that sits near a smoggy downtown, especially when you consider just how notoriously soft houston real estate has been (historically speaking)?
The Houston market is undervalued. The soft market you are talking about is either a reference to the 1980s when the price of oil fell and lots of jobs were lost leading to a downturn in the demand for houses, or the lack of appreciation over the past several years relative to other markets.

First of all, the city's economy is much more diverse now. Also, the slower appreciation in the housing market is partially due to the fact that there is little speculation here and no shortage of new homes in the suburbs. I have yet to see anyone flip a house in Houston. The politics and economics of the city make it less profitable and as a result investors rarely buy to turn around and sell for a profit.

And as a reference to the lack of rail, since 2000, the metro has grown by more than 500,000 people but commute times have decreased and traffic seems to have improved. While we might not have elaborate rail systems in place, Txdot knows how to move traffic.
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  #28  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 2:00 PM
dharper6 dharper6 is offline
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Originally Posted by Reverberation View Post
And as a reference to the lack of rail, since 2000, the metro has grown by more than 500,000 people but commute times have decreased and traffic seems to have improved. While we might not have elaborate rail systems in place, Txdot knows how to move traffic.
Do you know if the 500,000 applies solely to the new light rail system or does that include bus as well? Also, do you know whether rail is being expanded beyond the downtown-to-med center route? I haven't used it yet when visiting, but it looks great and seems well used.
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  #29  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2006, 6:21 PM
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The University Line hasn't started construction yet. The next line will go from the University of Houston down Richmond, past Greenway Plaza and then to the park and rides on the Westpark Tollway.

He said more than 500,000 people have moved to Houston since 2000 and yet our traffic still improved.
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  #30  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2006, 12:13 AM
dharper6 dharper6 is offline
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Originally Posted by Double L View Post
The University Line hasn't started construction yet. The next line will go from the University of Houston down Richmond, past Greenway Plaza and then to the park and rides on the Westpark Tollway.

He said more than 500,000 people have moved to Houston since 2000 and yet our traffic still improved.
Oh...ok. When he said "metro has grown" I thought he meant the mass transit system had grown by 500,000. It's called the "metro" in some cities so I misinterpreted the statement. In any case, it's pretty impressive and apparently succesful. I wonder what the naysayers are saying now.
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  #31  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2006, 7:36 PM
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some really nice townhomes!!!! wouldn't mind staying in any of those
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  #32  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2006, 10:07 PM
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Originally Posted by fangorangutang View Post
Great pics! I wish we had townhomes like that here in Portland.

I've heard that Houston is the "worst planned city" in the US. I don't know if this is true, and perhaps people are just basing it on its lack of zoning regulations (correct?). But how is that actually working out for Houston in terms of quality of life, development, and transportation issues? Clearly the city is making great progress.



Public infrastructure in Houston is perhaps the MOST planned in the nation. But private development is by far the LEAST planned in the nation.

The lack of zoning has led to developers doing what the market want up until now (suburban sprawl), but it also will allow for massive densification once Houstonians begin to flock to the urban lifestyle as they have in Atlanta.

For us urban lovers, Houston's lack of regulation will actually help our cause, because any regulation created in Houston would almost certainly be slanted towards the typical suburban code (some exceptions apply), which inhibits urban growth.


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Originally Posted by glowrock View Post
Great infrastructure? Certainly not in terms of mass transit of any sort, at least. Sure, the freeway/road infrastructure is good, but Houston needs MUCH better transit (both rail and bus) service if it's really going to be able to densify very much without the traffic simply becoming unbearable.

Aaron (Glowrock)


Yes, I meant roads (of coarse). But, the government/significant % of the people, have only wanted only roads up until now. And with that they have planned and invested like no other city. "Infrastructure" doesnt just pertain to the type we desire, but all types. Also, their Bus transit is very good, imo. But I think most of us know that the type of person moving into urban areas now, are not the type of person that will just jump on a bus for the fun of it.

And, densification doesnt proportionally equal to additional traffic. If the city increases density by 25%, it will not have 25% more cars on the road at any given time, because trips will become shorter, thus cars take up millage on the road.

Last edited by austin356; Dec 17, 2006 at 10:19 PM.
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  #33  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2006, 12:42 AM
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Originally Posted by vertex View Post
You have to ask yourself, will anybody pay $500k+ for a Houston townhome that sits near a smoggy downtown, especially when you consider just how notoriously soft houston real estate has been (historically speaking)?
downtown isn't smoggier than any other sought after part of town. the real estate market here has been quite hot lately and is guaranteed to appreciate considerably.
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  #34  
Old Posted Dec 31, 2006, 8:24 AM
fiddlerboy fiddlerboy is offline
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That's my house!



That's my house - third on the right.
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