Why are homes in Bellaire, Kirby, River Oaks, Memorial, so expensive? (Houston: apartments, rent)

[PinkLadyK]

People, stop arguing about traffic. It's bad everywhere. In the loop you're gonna stop-and-go at traffic lights and if you have to travel from the suburbs to the city, you're gonna stop-and-go on 10, 290, 59, 610, or 45. The only escape from traffic is to live way out and never travel inside the loop, or, in other words, not live in Houston.

[PinkLadyK]

Originally Posted by detachable arm

Looks like the inner loop shills are out in full force here. They have to keep up the embellishments to keep telling themselves (and others) that the money they waste isn’t actually wasted. Must be that polluted air you can clearly see hanging over the inner loop when you fly in.

That's a stupid argument. Everyone spends money on things that other people think is not worth it. Thank goodness, or we'd all be after the same commodities and there wouldn't be enough to go around.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by PinkLadyK

People, stop arguing about traffic. It's bad everywhere. In the loop you're gonna stop-and-go at traffic lights and if you have to travel from the suburbs to the city, you're gonna stop-and-go on 10, 290, 59, 610, or 45. The only escape from traffic is to live way out and never travel inside the loop, or, in other words, not live in Houston.

Its pretty easy to get around inside the loop. And there is a huge advantage over some of the suburbs during non-rush hour and weekends. Its not like Nasa 1, Highway 6 in First Colony or 1960 between Willowbrook and I45.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by bu2

Its pretty easy to get around inside the loop. And there is a huge advantage over some of the suburbs during non-rush hour and weekends. Its not like Nasa 1, Highway 6 in First Colony or 1960 between Willowbrook and I45.

Inside the Loop, and frankly the suburban parts of the City of Houston too, unless there's a major event, there's not whole stretches of thoroughfares that you have to avoid on Saturdays, whereas the opposite is true in a number of suburban areas.

The suburbs generally have inadequate street networks so all traffic gets focused on a small set of thoroughfares, ensuring that they become congested as frequently and as early in their existence as possible, even in low-density areas. Then locals start screaming "widen, more lanes, more lanes" which of course doesn't help much, and they're not owed such investment anyway. What they need to do is allow low-speed collector streets to connect through neighborhoods instead of trying to be isolated pods.

[77030]

Originally Posted by MikeTheMan9

Can anyone tell me why homes in Bellaire, Kirby, River Oaks, Memorial are so expensive? There are so many homes there selling for 1-3million+ dollars. Why are they so expensive compared to the rest of Houston and who are the people who can afford these and live in these areas? Are the people who live in these neighborhoods all doctors, lawyers, CEO's, business owners, etc.?

Why do you care?

[DejaBlue]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

2) While the super-wealthy are willing to pay a big premium to minimize their commute, this doesn't carry over to the moderately wealthy as much as you'd think. I work in the Energy Corridor, most of my colleagues make well into the six figures, but very few live within 20 minutes of the office, even though there is lots of affordable housing zoned to excellent schools right here. Most of my childless colleagues live inside the loop (30-45 minute commute), and then when they start families they move out to Katy or Cypress (45-60+ minute commute and getting worse every year). I personally I find it bizarre that folks making very decent money are willing to waste 1-2 hours a day commuting when they really don't have to.

Not bizarre. It's what you want. I like space and for the space I want without breaking the bank seriously the suburbs is where it's at. I'd rather pay all at once for everything I could want in my room than spending more money going out to get it. People making good money tend to have at least 2-4 children. They factor in 15 years down the line Abby and Hayden are in every activity at school and bringing friends over, want to host things, etc.


Living close to work is nice. You CAN get nice homes in the areas OP mentioned but for me and I again say me, I go when I see a sub 2500sq ft home for a mil. Even if it's decked down with every upgrade.


I like space. I'm an only child and God willing I will be a DINK and I plan on getting a large suburb house and hosting. I have no problem with 3500sq ft with just me, a husband and 2 dogs. I have a lot of family so the house will be busy. Home is my comfort and I'd rather have my own theater, pool, etc and lots of space then living close, spending more for less space.


I imagine some of these people are of the same mind....only with children. And if I ever do have children, my mindset is the same. I will be in a 3000+ house in the suburbs.

[jerbear30]

Originally Posted by DejaBlue

Not bizarre. It's what you want. I like space and for the space I want without breaking the bank seriously the suburbs is where it's at. I'd rather pay all at once for everything I could want in my room than spending more money going out to get it. People making good money tend to have at least 2-4 children. They factor in 15 years down the line Abby and Hayden are in every activity at school and bringing friends over, want to host things, etc.


Living close to work is nice. You CAN get nice homes in the areas OP mentioned but for me and I again say me, I go when I see a sub 2500sq ft home for a mil. Even if it's decked down with every upgrade.


I like space. I'm an only child and God willing I will be a DINK and I plan on getting a large suburb house and hosting. I have no problem with 3500sq ft with just me, a husband and 2 dogs. I have a lot of family so the house will be busy. Home is my comfort and I'd rather have my own theater, pool, etc and lots of space then living close, spending more for less space.


I imagine some of these people are of the same mind....only with children. And if I ever do have children, my mindset is the same. I will be in a 3000+ house in the suburbs.

I like space, too. Right now I live an 1800 square foot ranch house, and it's ok but I'd like another room--an office--so I don't have to do my evening work sitting at the kitchen table or on the couch. But there is a case to be made that we need to reconcile our desire for larger spaces with what is sustainable for the whole of the society. I think we saw some of the effects of this with the flooding from the Harvey rains. I'm not saying that it was all the fault of poor suburban planning, but that definitely factored in, from everything I read. 3500 square foot homes should, even in the suburbs, come at a premium and should not be available for very many people, imho, because the more of them we make, the more unsustainable we become. I realize it's an argument between the absolute value of "what I want" vs "the society's needs," but I think it's an important thing to consider. My hope is that living in smaller spaces becomes more desirable as we move into the future so that we can reduce the use of space overall.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by DejaBlue

Not bizarre. It's what you want. I like space and for the space I want without breaking the bank seriously the suburbs is where it's at. I'd rather pay all at once for everything I could want in my room than spending more money going out to get it. People making good money tend to have at least 2-4 children. They factor in 15 years down the line Abby and Hayden are in every activity at school and bringing friends over, want to host things, etc.


Living close to work is nice. You CAN get nice homes in the areas OP mentioned but for me and I again say me, I go when I see a sub 2500sq ft home for a mil. Even if it's decked down with every upgrade.


I like space. I'm an only child and God willing I will be a DINK and I plan on getting a large suburb house and hosting. I have no problem with 3500sq ft with just me, a husband and 2 dogs. I have a lot of family so the house will be busy. Home is my comfort and I'd rather have my own theater, pool, etc and lots of space then living close, spending more for less space.


I imagine some of these people are of the same mind....only with children. And if I ever do have children, my mindset is the same. I will be in a 3000+ house in the suburbs.

But you can build such a home in the inner / middle suburbs with a shorter commute, since the lots are equally or more spacious than those in the outer suburbs. Why do the extra commute?

[predatorprey]

Long commutes are thousands of hours wasted each year that can be used for other things.

Vehicles is a major family expense that is cut significantly by shortening your commute significantly.

Example: My household has 2, 11 year old cars that is used almost daily for everything. Both cars are under 90k miles.

[katygirl68]

Originally Posted by bu2

Your timing is off even if your general point isn't. In the 70s, there was a slight negative to being in West U. That very rapidly changed in the 80s. 20-30 years ago, Bellaire and West U. were at good premiums. By 20 years ago, West U. was probably already 2nd behind River Oaks in price per sq. ft.

What negative? It was always a nice neighborhood, close to downtown. I lived in West U in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s. That’s when the tear downs started happening, but there was always a nicer side with big homes, and always wealthy people living there. My side was the old ranch 2-3 bedroom houses near Academy Street. But even there the people were doing pretty well. The house we lived in (renting) sold for almost $100,000, which was a lot in those days of high interest, and the new owners tore the house down and built a huge house in its place. The neighborhood is nearly unrecognizable to me now. The elementary school was good, but my mom wanted to move so I didn’t go to Pershing, which was pretty bad back then. Most of my friends went there and they did fine, but it didn’t matter anyway because the owners’ kids wanted to sell the house since the parents were in a nursing home.

I know people that still live there and have resisted selling, so there are still people there with houses they bought for under $100,000.