Why is Houston housing so reasonable? (Baytown, The Woodlands: renting, HOA fees, homeowners insurance)

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by Wysiwyg

well thats really not the *reasonable* part of the OPs question. but I understand, we need to find the extremes in houston in order to compare to other cities' norm. if you stick to the averages you know houston is cheap - atleast the base price of buying a residential property.

Not cheap. Affordable...kind of. Because like I said a few weeks ago, where I live is not inexpensive at all.

And let's stop saying cheap. It makes it seem like Houston isn't worth it.

[Wysiwyg]

Originally Posted by mpope409

Not cheap. Affordable...kind of. Because like I said a few weeks ago, where I live is not inexpensive at all.

And let's stop saying cheap. It makes it seem like Houston isn't worth it.

youre right. affordable. or looks affordable baseprice and loan tenor-wise.

while were on that... when it comes to mom&pop, whole-in-the-wall kind of restaurants, its more expensive in houston compared to NYC

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by Wysiwyg

youre right. affordable. or looks affordable baseprice and loan tenor-wise.

while were on that... when it comes to mom&pop, whole-in-the-wall kind of restaurants, its more expensive in houston compared to NYC

Why the angry face?

[Wysiwyg]

Originally Posted by mpope409

Why the angry face?

i need to find a real good buy in houston to keep our optimism. i developed a habit of leaving a good tip, but these days I rarely find a place that deserved it and I feel i'm being screwed. mostly due to price-to-yumminess rating being lower than i hoped. anyway, thats OT. sorry I take my ethnic cuisine seriously

[tstone]

We found a couple of dirt cheap holes in the wall in San Francisco too. Much cheaper than I've ever seen here. Although overall that was the exception, not the rule.

[Chinadoll]

As a Native Houstonian I have to be honest and tell you that it sucks to live here. Pollution, traffic, over run with illegal aliens and Katrina victims. The Trans Texas Corridor is a scam to turn all the freeways into toll roads. 100% most of the time and near constant rain since may. I need to leave for health reasons due to toxic pollution. Highest homowners insurance rates in the USA. Remember, you get what you pay for.

[kpoeppel]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

Stop scapegoating the unions with that corporate socialist crap. It has a lot to do with depressed wages and undesirability. There is really no natural beauty here; no mountains, lakes, blue oceans, or great weather. The trees and the other flora and fauna are the only beauty here.

If you want a heavily-unionized utopia, come here to Erie, PA! We lot's of great high-paying jobs compared to the "depressed" economy of Houston!
Here, we create wealth out of thin air just by going on strike! It's great! Just keep striking, and your wages just keep going up...you don't have to become more highly skilled or anything. A college or technical education? That's for suckers who live in those southern states!

We also have much better weather than Houston, with 200 cloudy days per year and 100+ inches of snow per year.

[crbcrbrgv]

I was born and raised in Chicago. I visit often and still have family in the area. The average, AVERAGE house in a blue-collar not too far from downtown suburb such as Berwyn or Evergreen Park is about 240-$250,000. The average house in Sugar Land is less than 200,000. People complain about the property taxes and they should. But there is no 4.4 percent income tax. Even when you add up insurance, taxes, mortgage etc. a house costs nothing near what it costs in the Chicago area. Sure you can argue that Sugar Land is so far out, but it really isn't. And all these people complaining about the prices of lofts downtown? Hello! Living near the city center always costs more. You can even find up 800k condos in downtown Detroit for goodness sakes. The city centers are becoming much more expensive everywhere and the suburbs cheaper.

[Wysiwyg]

Originally Posted by Chinadoll

As a Native Houstonian I have to be honest and tell you that it sucks to live here. Pollution, traffic, over run with illegal aliens and Katrina victims. The Trans Texas Corridor is a scam to turn all the freeways into toll roads. 100% most of the time and near constant rain since may. I need to leave for health reasons due to toxic pollution. Highest homowners insurance rates in the USA. Remember, you get what you pay for.

Houston is the Katrina victim.

[OutOfState]

Houston housing costs are among the lowest in the nation. On top of that, if you were to look at what the "average" home was that you were using for that city to city comparision, well, there would be no comparison.

In NYC, to use an extreme example, the 'average' home is a condo that goes for 700-800k, or whatever that number actually is, is most likely 400-600 sq ft, it's 30-50 years old and has little inthe way of amenities.

In Houston, the average home is likely somewhere around 18000-2200 sq ft, its probably 15-20 years old, and it almost certainly has better amenities than that average NYC condo.

If you do a true comparison, apples to apples as the cliché goes, the differences in the housing markets are even greater than they appear.

Reasons? All the ones listed before by others. No surprises to anyone who knows both cities. Supply and demand, of course.

I think the amenities has something to do with it, but not everything. A part of the population is not mobile and will endure an area regardless. NYC metro has that many more people than Houston, the majority who would never consider living elsewhere. They help drive up the price too.