From Phoenix to Houston (the dream is dying) (mortgage, good credit)

[jimmy914]

The hurricane is old news now. Except for Galveston and places right on the coast, things have been back to normal in Houston for what, probably 6 months now????

We've been affected some by the economic meltdown, but NOTHING like most other parts of the country. Here's an interesting comparison: I was in Phoenix/Scottsdale 2 months ago, and hit some of the shopping areas.... was like a ghost town. Empty parking lots, going out of business signs everywhere, huge stores with literally NO customers inside, office buildings that were completed a year ago and still yet to get a single tenant.... it was pretty shocking to me, since I've been hearing it on the news but not really seeing it here in Houston. To compare, here in Houston I went to the mall the other day.... this was mid-morning on a Monday. Parking lots were near full, stores full of people, ridiculous. And a friend of mine went to the Galleria a couple of weeks ago (again on a weekday) and said he found it hard to believe we're really in a recession judging from the number people shopping high end stores. Just a difference I noticed between the two cities.

[Zeta09]

Dude!

Hurricane Ike was in Sept 2008 and I am imagining that if you were from or in Galveston you might have a different perspective but if you say so I don't live there and I don't know, that's why I'm asking.

[jimmy914]

Originally Posted by Zeta09

Sorry Guys

The Hurricaine.

I was thinking that is all that on everyone's mind in Central and Eastern Houston but I guess not.

Thanks for the info LizzySWW. I had heard from the national news that the economic meltdown didn't affect you all much at all but is this incorrect?

Also still curious about your state legislature and it's bed fellows.

Thanks again for the responses.

I still have no idea what you're talking about as far as the state legislature/Texas Housing Authority etc. Have never even heard of the Texas Housing Authority. Maybe this is something that was in the news in AZ but not in TX LOL. Maybe I'm just ignorant on the subject, but it seems like it might be a pretty insignificant story in comparison to some of the other things going on in politics right now.

[John C H]

Sugarland is Sugarland. It's one of the most STABLE areas of Houston. North Cypress is awesome too. Woodlands, nice also. And it's not like we live in Galveston. Aftermath of Ike you mean? All is back to normal! Good luck with your house. And what does some lawmaker have to do with you moving to Houston? Don't get it. Use google for that info. Life is good in Houston, sorry can't say the same for AZ.

[Sampaguita]

Originally Posted by jimmy914

The hurricane is old news now. Except for Galveston and places right on the coast, things have been back to normal in Houston for what, probably 6 months now????

We've been affected some by the economic meltdown, but NOTHING like most other parts of the country. Here's an interesting comparison: I was in Phoenix/Scottsdale 2 months ago, and hit some of the shopping areas.... was like a ghost town. Empty parking lots, going out of business signs everywhere, huge stores with literally NO customers inside, office buildings that were completed a year ago and still yet to get a single tenant.... it was pretty shocking to me, since I've been hearing it on the news but not really seeing it here in Houston. To compare, here in Houston I went to the mall the other day.... this was mid-morning on a Monday. Parking lots were near full, stores full of people, ridiculous. And a friend of mine went to the Galleria a couple of weeks ago (again on a weekday) and said he found it hard to believe we're really in a recession judging from the number people shopping high end stores. Just a difference I noticed between the two cities.

I don't know - I see an awful lot of empty store fronts and empty strip malls - from Spring up into Magnolia, especially.

As far as shoppers at the malls, we were at the mall on Sunday evening - about 2 hrs before closing - and I couldn't believe how packed it was. We noted that the parking lot looked like it was around the Christmas holiday season. But no one seemed to really be shopping - lots of people walking around but no lines at cash registers & people weren't toting a lot of bags/purchases.

Mid-morning at almost any mall that I know of is full because of all the mommy play groups.

As for people shopping at high-end stores, there are a lot of people living off of credit cards these days.

I do think that Houston has fared better than other cities though, hence, the continued influx of people to the Houston area.

Compared to Phoenix? I don't know - I haven't been for a couple of years but I know the symphony has been affected and in my industry, that's a pretty good indication of what's going on in the economy. Bad economy translates into less ticket sales and less donor money coming in.

I do hope that you find yourself in a better position to realize your dream, Zeta09!

[jimmy914]

Originally Posted by Zeta09

Dude!

Hurricane Ike was in Sept 2008 and I am imagining that if you were from or in Galveston you might have a different perspective but if you say so I don't live there and I don't know, that's why I'm asking.

Right, that's why I said "except for Galveston and places right on the coast". Galveston is about 55,000 people, the Houston metro is about 5.5 million, so all in all, I think it's pretty fair to use the general statement that "Houston has recovered from Ike". Probably all the destruction you saw on the news was within blocks of the beach. For the rest of the city it was like cleaning up from a very severe thunderstorm that lasted 8 hours. Some people were without power for WEEKS. But things got back to normal pretty quick once the power was back on. I did have friends and family out of town calling to see if we were alive, since the national news apparently led them to believe the whole Houston area looked like the Bolivar Peninsula.

[jimmy914]

Originally Posted by John C H

Sugarland is Sugarland. It's one of the most STABLE areas of Houston. North Cypress is awesome too. Woodlands, nice also. And it's not like we live in Galveston. Aftermath of Ike you mean? All is back to normal! Good luck with your house. And what does some lawmaker have to do with you moving to Houston? Don't get it. Use google for that info. Life is good in Houston, sorry can't say the same for AZ.

Yeah, that's what I would say... if you're looking to move to a place without any corruption in the government, you're going to have to leave Earth, or at least move to Antarctica.

[Zeta09]

Sorry for all the confusion guys.

I was inquiring about the Texas Residental Construction Commission and here is an article about what I had mainly heard on NPR. Although the article is old (last year) the story I heard was from last month thus prompting the inquiry.

I remember reading and learning more about the TRCC when I was vigourously searching and learning about Houston Real Estate 2+ years ago (when the dream started) and the TRCC was "controversial" then. It seems now that their future has been called into question at least and they seem to be sweating a bit and begging the state legislature for help. Seems they'll get it too but when you have the Gov appointing a top exec from Perry Homes (I know him and Bob aren't related) to the TRRC what can you expect.

Yeah I know corruption is everywhere I just wanted to get honest opinions from Texas residents since so much of what the national press reports (and people react to) is the secession "story", George Bush, and 'Don't Mess w/Texas'.

People from other states (and forums) tend to either love or hate Texas since they only choose to view it through these prisms and I was just curious about how actual Houston Residents view their TRRC

again sorry for the confusion and thanks for the responses

As far as the Phoenix/Scottsdale Malls go I have no idea what could be said about the empty stores you saw. Gotta be more specific about which Mall you visited jimmy914 and I can tell you, but as far as I have seen there is no shortage of people meandering around malls to shop for junk. We are no Detroit by any means but WalMart's and Targets are still packed so perhaps they are going there instead.

[jimmy914]

Originally Posted by Zeta09

Sorry for all the confusion guys.

I was inquiring about the Texas Residental Construction Commission and here is an article about what I had mainly heard on NPR. Although the article is old (last year) the story I heard was from last month thus prompting the inquiry.

I remember reading and learning more about the TRCC when I was vigourously searching and learning about Houston Real Estate 2+ years ago (when the dream started) and the TRCC was "controversial" then. It seems now that their future has been called into question at least and they seem to be sweating a bit and begging the state legislature for help. Seems they'll get it too but when you have the Gov appointing a top exec from Perry Homes (I know him and Bob aren't related) to the TRRC what can you expect.

Yeah I know corruption is everywhere I just wanted to get honest opinions from Texas residents since so much of what the national press reports (and people react to) is the secession "story", George Bush, and 'Don't Mess w/Texas'.

People from other states (and forums) tend to either love or hate Texas since they only choose to view it through these prisms and I was just curious about how actual Houston Residents view their TRRC

again sorry for the confusion and thanks for the responses

As far as the Phoenix/Scottsdale Malls go I have no idea what could be said about the empty stores you saw. Gotta be more specific about which Mall you visited jimmy914 and I can tell you, but as far as I have seen there is no shortage of people meandering around malls to shop for junk. We are no Detroit by any means but WalMart's and Targets are still packed so perhaps they are going there instead.

OK, I read the article. I had never heard of the TRCC.... and my dad's an architect. The processes listed in the article for going after a shoddy builder are foreign to me too. A good friend of mine is currently dealing with a poor quality new construction home they bought here. There is no paper work/reporting/filing, or anything of the nature described in the article. They simply call the builder, raise hades, and a contractor shows up in a day or so to fix it. I believe this was all laid out in paper work before they bought the house.
So are you actually considering not moving here because of this? This is a story that you will only find buried deep in an online news source.... or on NPR, which makes perfect sense to me. Hopefully somebody else will speak up on this, but I think you may be the only poster on city-data that has ever heard of this story. Trust me, there is no panic in the streets here over this. It's safe, so come on over.

[jimmy914]

Oh, and you're right, the one place that was packed with people in Phoenix was Costco! Wish I could tell you where else I was.... we did a lot of driving around, have family in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, etc. Also, forgot to mention all the vacant car dealerships. And I thought we had a lot of those here!