OT: Houston Area Real Estate

[Blong]

Nothing to do with soccer, but I have come to find out that homes in the Houston area can be had for ridiculously cheap prices. Specifically, in and around the city of Spring.

Does anyone in this forum have an explanation for why this is? Is that area extremely remote? Is there a white-flight issue?

Just curious.

[truthandlife]

The housing in Houston is very reasonable (cheap labor from Mexico and lots of land). The other side of things is the property taxes are astronomical. It all balances out.

[Blu N Houston]

Nothing to do with soccer, but I have come to find out that homes in the Houston area can be had for ridiculously cheap prices. Specifically, in and around the city of Spring.

Does anyone in this forum have an explanation for why this is? Is that area extremely remote? Is there a white-flight issue?

Just curious.
Spring ='s traffic! lol If you have to work downtown it can be a pain.

[Craig P]

Nothing to do with soccer, but I have come to find out that homes in the Houston area can be had for ridiculously cheap prices. Specifically, in and around the city of Spring.

Does anyone in this forum have an explanation for why this is? Is that area extremely remote? Is there a white-flight issue?

Just curious.
I'd guesstimate that Spring is at least 35 minutes from downtown even when there isn't traffic. The distances is a pretty significant factor -- the Houston metro area is still developing that far out, so there isn't a lot of price pressure yet. Prices rise as you get nearer to downtown, although even in some of the near Loop areas they're still lower than most other major metropolitan areas.

(Yes, traffic sucks out that way (or at least, it did the last time I was through there... I also recall ongoing road work, so if they've finished that it could have improved significantly), but I don't think it's significantly worse than a similar distance south on US 59 or I-45, west on I-10, or northwest on US 290.)

[SA14mars]

I'd guesstimate that Spring is at least 35 minutes from downtown even when there isn't traffic. The distances is a pretty significant factor -- the Houston metro area is still developing that far out, so there isn't a lot of price pressure yet. Prices rise as you get nearer to downtown, although even in some of the near Loop areas they're still lower than most other major metropolitan areas.

(Yes, traffic sucks out that way (or at least, it did the last time I was through there... I also recall ongoing road work, so if they've finished that it could have improved significantly), but I don't think it's significantly worse than a similar distance south on US 59 or I-45, west on I-10, or northwest on US 290.)

Traffic is really bad (worse than Austin or Dallas), and geographically-speaking the entire city is located in what should be a giant swamp (parts still are). It isn't land-locked like Dallas-proper, and hasn't been canibolized by independent suburbs.

EZ tag is nice though.

[Craig P]

I was addressing the relative traffic situation -- north on I-45, generally, was no worse than 59 south or 290, and better than 10 west. The big issue in Spring was that the highway dropped from four lanes a side to two; I think they were expanding the highway, and once that happens, the traffic problems there will lessen significantly.

(I lived in Houston for six years and moved away a bit over a year ago, so I'm pretty well in-touch with traffic in the city. I don't know that I agree with the "really bad" assessment -- it's usually not all that bad outside of rush hour, aside from I-10 which can develop traffic jams during the day on weekends.)