Yes, our rep Garnet Coleman started a little campaign a while back ("This is our home and it's not for sale!") to try to keep gentrification at bay. He's from the Third Ward and takes it very seriously, though I think his approach is lousy. It will be gentrified, however, so in the long-run, you might be in whiteytown after all. In the meantime, we have some of the worst schools in Texas, so that's probably keeping the outsiders at bay somewhat. I live about halfway between TSU and Riverside Terrace, pretty close to 288. My particular block is in terrible shape, but neighboring blocks have some pretty nice houses. But, because we have so many empty lots and teardowns in my particular area, it is ripe for Urban Lofts and the like. They are moving in, along with Perry Homes and the rest of that crap.
That is unfortunate but obviously typical. The great thing about Riverside is many of the houses are architectually amazing. Unfortunately it appears that many have not been kept up over the years so I wonder when they will start tearing them down. That would really be sad but nobody appears to want to renovate. What will you do about schooling for your kids?
I knew my kids were going to private school before they were born. So, when I was picking a place to live, I didn't care what the school system was like. In fact, I was biased against places with good schools, because the school is a driver for property prices. Riverside does have some awesome houses. If only I could afford one of those. They are better kept up with than areas to the north of them, so I don't think as many will be replaced. I would think their owners would have an easier time with rising property taxes than the rest of the neighborhood. It would be a place to expect ugly NBA-star mansions to pop up I suppose. Back on topic, there is a mini McMansion neighborhood on the periphery of the 3rd Ward. There's a couple around the rest of the neighborhood too.
Depends on the area too. Even in Houston. There are some models in Cypress that are 40% less than the exact same model on the exact size lot in the Woodlands. The homes in my neighborhood are modestly priced between 250-350K, but they are totally custom and would run $500-$800K if built in Bellaire or West U.
You are absolutely right. I know that fresh outta law school if I work a mid-major law firm I'd start out at $100-150k so if Astro only made $30-50k a year we'd easily crack that. Since most college students now days are encourage to pursue post graduate education we'll start out making more money than most people. I think a lot of people forget that.
Many are lawyers, doctors, jr. execs at large companies, etc. Most are small business owners that make a lot of money.
The median family income in West U is only around $150K, and I would be that is tops around Houston. $180K per year for a family is definitely the exception to the rule.
Seriously? Those houses are crazy expensive. That would mean my family income is greater than the average of West U and that makes no sense to me. JV - I guess that is another of my (many) problems - I am kind of against private schools. Also - they tear down houses in River Oaks (including the 5 mil "Dogwoods" which was the first house built in RO) so RT will get hit at some point I am sure.
The schools in 3rd Ward don't really get iffy until your kids hit middle school. I believe the elementary schools over there have pretty good rankings. But remember that your kids can go to any school as long as they are in a Magnet Program (I grew up in 3rd Ward but went to River Oaks, Lanier and Booker T. Washington). I think the area will undergo a mixed gentrification process, not say a complete one like the "original Midtown" area. The process is getting thick on the Medical Center side of 288. I drove through there last week and I swear there is a townhome development on every side street (will all those homes really sell). I'm not so sure about the other side of 288 though. It's a little more rugged (the bottoms, cuney homes, etc) and there is a HBCU over there. I've seen a lot of development on the outskirts by the feeder, but not much going into the area. I also haven't seen many new grocery stores, etc. I'm curious to see how my old home will turn out and I've been trying to get a house there for a few months now.....
The commodity price boom that started in 2003 and continues today has made people very wealthy in this town. There is a ton of money in Houston and a very large upper middle class of salaried professionals who make $200-$400k per year and wouldn't blink at plopping down $500k and up for a house. This pool doesn't even include the business owners who have benefitted from the boom. 2.5x your annual comp used to be the rule of thumb for a house, but now with rates being low and low down payments being the norm, people are stretching that mulitple even higher. So someone making $400k could get into a million dollar house comfortably.
i live in that general area (further east though.... Tanglewood neighborhood) and can tell you for a fact that the people that live here are very wealthy. hell, my parents bought their house for almost $1.5 mil (not cash, though), and that isn't anything round these parts. it's an older home about 5000sf, but i can almost gaurantee that they'll be demolishing it in the next 2-3 years and rebuilding. i work for my uncle's construction company building luxury homes in the memorial/tanglewood area and can say for sure that the avg. price of his homes is in the $3-5 mil range, some reaching $10+.... and his business is booming. i think a lot of people here are greatly underestimating the amount of extremely wealthy people in this city. it's almost ridiculous.
