How is Houston's economy doing? (San Antonio, Texas City: sales, credit, home sales)

[Zhang Fei]

Are there any signs of green shoots? Or were there never any issues in the first place? Does anyone have a telling anecdote one way or another?

[chris_ut]

Here is my anecdote. I am a contractor in the oil business. I work in a team of 20 people. In January our client cut 3 people. All 3 are now back to work on other projects. In July 2 more people were cut but were immediately rehired for a project in a different area. All in all I would say things are not terrible and are looking up.

[Chickrae]

I can only reply to this from the perspective of my son who just moved from Houston to San Antonio. Cut backs happened in his particular job, also in the oil field, but there were several other job opportunities after that. As far as housing, I don't think that was affected as much, as many of the other states. He tells me homes sell, maybe not as fast but they are still selling. As far as other economy issues....not sure.

[crbcrbrgv]

Well, I have 6 years experience teaching middle school math and science and have EC-12 special education certification. I had to take last year off to move to Minnesota for family reasons and have since returned. Currently, I work for a major retailer. I go from mall to mall and fix drawer bases, change light bulbs, clean steamers etc. There are many more like me here in Houston. I'd say we have a long way to go.

[Supermac34]

After working for a high tech company on the Northwest side of Houston for 9 years, I decided to make a change. I started looking very hard for a new job in about March of this year. Since I had a decent job already, I could afford to be picky. After turning down 2 good offers from good companies due to a couple different reasons (long commute, industry I didn't want to move into, etc) I received a very generous offer from one of the oil majors in July.

I just started at my new job and love it. They are hiring in lots of people to the organization right now as the build this particular team up. So while things were slow here and there, I was able to get interviews and a few offers before I found the perfect fit.

[Visitor2007]

Originally Posted by Zhang Fei

Are there any signs of green shoots? Or were there never any issues in the first place? Does anyone have a telling anecdote one way or another?

What do you do for a living?

[jfre81]

Could be better, but could be a lot worse. We could be in California or Florida.

Oil's at sustainable price levels but the O&G companies aren't throwing around money like there's no tomorrow like they were when crude was trading at $100-something.

Houston largely escaped the initial housing bust but the resulting bloodbath in the financial markets and the tight credit market has put a pinch on everything, Houston included. I feel like that's had more to do with the ill effects here than oil crashing a year ago, but that was brought on partly by a sharp slump in the economy around the same time. It's a good thing the bubble burst if it did, because the higher you get the harder you fall. It also doesn't hurt that the economy has diversified since the last time oil went bust.

[desertsun41]

Anyone even remotely related to the construction industry are either currently unemployed or have changed trades all together if they were able to find work some place else. The unemployment rate among construction tradesmen is over 70%. When I say construction industry I am referring to home building and/or remodeling.

Realtors say things are improving but they lie what the HAR tells them to lie. Down in Texas City on 146 there is a man who sits on a lawn chair next to his van every day. He made a large billboard the size of the side of his van. It says: "Expert Carpenter, 25 yrs experience, I need work and I am damn good". I feel for the guy. There are many many more like him without the brass balls to do what he is doing. All the rest we dont know about. They fell through the cracks. Since most of them were self employed they are not counted in unemployment numbers because they are not eligable for it.

Me personally? Gross sales were just under a million and a half at a rising high point in 2004. It has died down to less then $100K. That's gross. That means I make nothing but am living off the fat of the good times. Despite this I opened another new showroom in the Galleria this summer. Things seem a bit better because I am now dealing with people who are feeling no pain in this economic depression.

Oh yea. In July and August, Texas has lost more jobs then any other state except one. the news article did not say what state that was. That is NOT good news.

[sbhubbell]

Home sales in Katy are still booming...not as fast as they were a year or two ago, but I have seen resale houses moving pretty fast and for reasonable prices in my area. Even a house on my street that was WAY overpriced and sat on the market for months finally sold.

[travelguy_73]

Most of my friends are professionals with certifications (CPAs, JDs, MDs, etc.), and for a while we were IMO completely unaffected. However, now each of us knows at least one person who has been affected (OK, not the doctors, they seem to be immune to everything). Not that we know a lot of people who have been laid off (though I have three friends who are living on their severance right now), rather we know many who are employed but either unhappy or just generally underemployed. For instance, my partner hates where he is now, and has been looking for about a year (accounting field) with little luck. So employed, but not "gainfully."

There are some good jobs out there, but there are a ton of people in the market at all levels, and the competition is fierce. Networking only gets you so far, especially if you haven't found a good base of associates and friends who can get your resume to the top of the list. My company has gone through selective layoffs, but nothing major *yet*. However, the type of work that makes us lots of money isn't as plentiful as before, and I suspect more layoffs (and fewer bonuses, which are a large part of compensation for many) are coming. Houston won't be hit as hard as many of the bubble cities, but our time is here and it will get worse before it gets better.