New study states Houston not as affordable as it seems

You do not even understand the very basics of the real estate market. Let me give you a hint: supply matters too.

 

So you're saying with light rail I can be close to work, have a big house with a yard, and it all be affordable? Just like NYC? That's awesome.

 

Two bedroom condos jumped from 275K to 300K last week in the little Midtown neighborhood I was bidding in. What is worse is the selling agent putting pressure to drop my mortgage broker (Chase) and go with their prefered broker. Once I said I wanted to compare GFE's, they killed my deal. I was the high bidder. Bidding took place on Saturday and my deal was dead on Sunday. Very shady.

Oh by the way, my apartment rate will be $1700/mo. to stay in Midtown in my 1 bedroom. It's a runaway train.

 

Gas
Tolls
Insurance
Maintenance
Parking (its not always free).
speeding or other fines (for some)
...

It all adds up. On top of that cars are a depreciating asset.

 

Live inside the loop.

 

Yeah its expensive on the west side of the inner loop, plus parts of west Houston. When you factor in gas + wear and tear on your car, the cheaper rent in the boonies isn't as cheap. Not to mention dealing with traffic. I use to reverse commute on I10 and it was still bumper to bumper and annoying as ****. It's not all about saving time when using rail. If you have money, come buy in the Third Ward and East End like yesterday. The North side near the line also. Once those rail lines are complete in those areas they are going to really take off (they are already). The weat side of the loop will then want rail even more.

 

Oh noes. Not with the minorities!

Oh and forget about buying in the east end now. Prices went up 50% before last year.

 

Cause everyone works inside the loop, amirite?

 

Sure seems like it in the morning and the afternoon.

 

No, but that's where a lot of te jobs are. The three biggest employment centers of Houston plus areas like Greenway and the universities. That's what's great about rail. It could have stops outside the loop. The HOV doesn't give you that. That thing is getting as backed up as the freeway. The Katy tollway is always backed up. You pay to sit and traffic and have me catch up to you when the tollway ends.

 

The more I think about it, the more I agree that Houston and the greater area isn't as affordable any more.

My parents bought their house in 2006 for 380 (Grand Lakes in Cinco Ranch). A large house on the corner and lake front. They're listing it for 620 and it should only be on the market for about a month or two.

The key is to get in early and build a house. Everything else is gonna cost you a pretty penny.

 

That's a silly idea. If its a choice between commuter rail and highways for Houston, I pick highways.

You can't have people take rail into a city and then when they hop off the train, they can't go anywhere because there's no public transit in the city. You can't start building commuter rail lines before there's an actual transit network in the city.

Metro is doing the right thing. Focus on light rail in the city and try and beef up targeted bus routes. That's all you can do. We underfund Metro like crazy, the state isn't going to step up, and our Congressmen (specifically Culberson) are out sabotaging any effort to get federal funds for transportation. You work with what you have and we're in no position to be promising commuter rail. Commuter rail works in places like Chicago or New York because once you get into the city you can actually move around with the public transportation network.

You will not be able to please everyone with public transportation. The city is too spread out and there aren't enough dollars to create a comprehensive transportation network. Not to mention Houston's city streets are so screwed up because they aren't a grid system that it isn't even feasible to make clean bus and rail routes.

To me the #1 failure of Houston is our mess of a road system isn't of the normal grid system. It makes having quick bus routes really hard and it makes developing routes that provide convenient stops for everyone impossible.

We're working with a flawed city in terms of planning so expect a flawed public transit system. Everyone needs to take a step back and lower their expectations.

 

Everything is cyclical. Eventually there will be a crash. Buy during the crash and sell when its good.

 

Houston suburbs are booming

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...-fastest-4849985.php?cmpid=hpfc#photo-5245604