Commute times?

[tstone]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Epu, I know several people in the O&G industry that have seen well over a 20% bump, not to mention 3 times salary bonus' after the +100 run we just had...and will probably have again this summer. It doesn't mean they are buying, but it does mean they can.

Either way..only time will tell.

^^^
This.

Once the fat was trimmed about 1 year ago, the money was still flowing among those who survived. And this will continue... I'd put it into next summer as well as most of 2011. After that, it is anyone's guess, but I doubt it will be hurting.

Because of this, the most desirable areas around town will continue to go up in value and outpace the rest, making them only more and more unreachable, and of course more & more White relative to the metro/region. Don't underestimate what consanguinity & endogamy within this business can do for prime Houston real estate.
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As far as Clear Lake not appreciating as much as Sugar Land, I've heard this line for 5+ years now and we're still on par with desirable parts of SL when it comes to $/sq ft, in our desirable northern/eastern areas. Lots of engineering companies are still around here, still plenty of that inbreed/endogamy type stuff in the million $ areas, NASA is still a big driving force (hopefully will stay that way), and the O/G/C plants are a 15-30 min commute. Those plants pay educated people very well, who are insane enough to work in them. But we are in a more fragile position than SL... take any of our +'s away and prices may plummet while SL keeps on rollin', nipping at Memorial's heels.

[Epularis]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Epu, I know several people in the O&G industry that have seen well over a 20% bump, not to mention 3 times salary bonus' after the +100 run we just had...and will probably have again this summer. It doesn't mean they are buying, but it does mean they can.

Either way..only time will tell.

Totally off topic from this thread, so I apologize to the OP.

Those huge bonuses and salary increases were all part of the oil bubble and you won't see them again any time soon. The O&G companies are having to produce twice what they did last year just to make less money than last year. Not many people will get the big bonuses in a year of declining or negative profits.

The oil bubble only shortly followed the housing bubble, and they have both burst not to return any time soon. Just like my internet stocks. The Houston impact is muted by good fundamentals fortunately. But don't expect to see 7% appreciation on your homes any time soon unless inflation hits. If it does, you would do well to even keep up with it.

We are not going to see oil over 100 in the near future. What happened last year was due to a derivatives bubble - it collapsed and the traders who got burned wised up. It won't come back.

There was and is no supply/demand to drive prices up that high, it was all inflated by futures. Prices will hover where they are now for this summer or go lower. If there is a price increase it will be due to a weakening dollar. Not exactly the kind of price increase we want to see.

What the poster above said are some good points as well. If the overall economy for the country is crappy, maybe Houston will be insulated by people coming in to were the getting is still good and prices are reasonable. That's why I moved here! But I still don't see a boom when the rest of the country is busting.

[Oildog]

Interesting conversations, but were getting off topic...

[theSUBlime]

Originally Posted by modster

Thank you for your opinion, however, I don't agree with it either. Not by a long shot. In this downturn as well as the bust of the 80's (which I was here for), the close in inner loop areas held values better than most and continue to.

The projections for population growth in Houston over the next 10 - 20 years is staggering. This will have a huge impact as there will continue to be more people moving in who do not want to live an hour from work. What you consider "couldn't possible go any higher" prices are probably ones many people moving here from other parts of the country find normal, in some cases even cheap depending upon where they are coming from.

I totally agree with all of this. This is where the story of Houston being cheap comes from (people new to Houston), just in case you were wondering. $400,000 might get you something in the loop, and certainly something within Houston city limits. However, people here might laugh their heads off at you if you're looking to buy a house in the $400,000 range.

[xyz310]

Hey! Thanks for all the suggestions! We will sift through those areas and see if we find anything we like!