If Texas is soo great, why is it so cheap? (Houston: zoning, jobs)

[KewGee]

Originally Posted by i_catch_tree_bass

A little over half those that have responded have actually been helpful, the rest are spreading info they know nothing about...

Crime rates in a given city or area overall are similar to any other place you'd find in the country with a similar population.

Most jobs pay less here than other places, but that's because cost living and salary rates go hand in hand. A company knows what it has to pay someone to "lure" them somewhere or to provide a reasonable living where that job is based. Otherwise, the employee will leave and the company will be out the time and effort it spent training, moving, etc. that employee.

No work in Texas? That's a joke.

I'd be hard pressed to call Texas a less desirable place to live. Population growth strongly suggests otherwise.

The primary reason Texas remains "cheap" is, just as many before me have said, availability of land. This sole factor drives down the price for virtually everything else.

For a quick primer on supply and demand when it comes to real estate, check prices for land in the Hill Country (as referenced by a previous post) as opposed to acreage in rural west Texas or in the Panhandle.

Yes, that is a joke. Jobs are plentiful, but so many rather live off the government or just be plain lazy and try to take advantage of the company of which they're employed.

There is also the problem of simple intelligence. When I managed a retail store, we gave applicants the easiest math test, three questions. Literally, only a few people could answer every one correct and the greatest majority would miss one. Therefore, the pickings were slim for any one with the slightest bit of math knowledge.

The problem that most of them missed which I always found funny as did my employees was something to the effect of, what percent is $500 of $1,000? Most answered, "10%." Yes, it was a really tricky word problem, NOT. Therefore, when the customers came in and of course, couldn't do math, I wanted to make sure the employees would be able to tell them when asked, "What's 35% off $64.99?", etc.

Those days were unforgettable. I should write a book.

Anyway, one of these days, I'm going to find that perfect land at an inexpensive price; my frugality won't let me pay too much.

[TCK]

Have looked into moving to TX because you can get a big house square-foot wise pretty cheap in comparison to most places. HOWEVER, property tax for example in Austin is 3.5% All I could think of was when I pay off the house and am retired I will be basically making a payment almost as big as a mortgage payment. Too expensive for this 1% property tax gal in NM.
Arkansas was .8% property tax.

[KewGee]

Originally Posted by TCK

Have looked into moving to TX because you can get a big house square-foot wise pretty cheap in comparison to most places. HOWEVER, property tax for example in Austin is 3.5% All I could think of was when I pay off the house and am retired I will be basically making a payment almost as big as a mortgage payment. Too expensive for this 1% property tax gal in NM.
Arkansas was .8% property tax.

That's good thinking, for sure. Good luck to you.

[Tesla]

One of the most important differences between Texas and high cost areas are real estate development laws. On the whole it's a lot cheaper to build in Texas than in, say, California or Massachusetts due to a more friendly regulatory climate. Many towns in MA strictly limit the construction of 3 br, 2 bath houses as they don't want families with children moving in (the horror!). So all that gets built are mcmansions and senior living communities, and the price of family housing soars as a result. I've never heard of any such things happening in Texas.

Sometimes it seems as though you can't build anything anywhere in New England without some group taking things to court and trying to block it. Eventually I think this will have very negative consequences.

[Aggie01]

Land, my darlin'. Lots and lots of LAND. Not necessarily desirable land, but nevertheless land.

Of course, as a result of this overflow of land, Texans generally fail at any attempt of Urban Planning. Sprawl is the name of the game. Density (like liberalism) is a dirty, dirty word in this state

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Sooo to sum it up:


LARGE supply.
LOW demand.

=cheap Texas. ??????????

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by Aggie01

Land, my darlin'. Lots and lots of LAND. Not necessarily desirable land, but nevertheless land.

Of course, as a result of this overflow of land, Texans generally fail at any attempt of Urban Planning. Sprawl is the name of the game. Density (like liberalism) is a dirty, dirty word in this state

Speak for your town and your town only. The City of Houston does not fit your above description of Texas.

[Turk]

Originally Posted by mpope409

Speak for your town and your town only. The City of Houston does not fit your above description of Texas.

I disagree, Houston is a very spread out city. Sprawl is houston, and Houston sucks in the way of urban planning. To expand freeways, theys always are displacing more people. Houston for the most part is not dense. Some areas are, some areas are not, but I view it as a spread out city...

Originally Posted by irwin

Texas is cheaper for several reasons but I think two of the biggest are:

1.) Residential Tax Rates: The property taxes in Texas are some of the highest in the country. This has a negative affect on real estate because many people can't afford to pay the yearly tax bills on the property they would buy in another state. This decreases demand and there ya go.

2.) Land: There is more land in Texas and almost all of it is owned in private hands. The zoning laws in the state are extremely lax and thus you get sprawling, low density places where housing is cheap. Of course, those cheap houses come with other costs (commute, drive everywhere, environmental problems, boredom, etc) but many people in Texas seem to be willing to make those trade offs. Main reason is that some of the costs (namely the environmental ones) are not priced into the costs that the individual feels, at least not in the short term.

Exactly, but with the negative of Property tax, along with a sales tax, gives the great thing of no State Income tax. Thank god...

and #2 backs the point I made above...

[mpope409]

Originally Posted by Turk

I disagree, Houston is a very spread out city. Sprawl is houston, and Houston sucks in the way of urban planning. To expand freeways, theys always are displacing more people. Houston for the most part is not dense. Some areas are, some areas are not, but I view it as a spread out city...


Exactly, but with the negative of Property tax, along with a sales tax, gives the great thing of no State Income tax. Thank god...

and #2 backs the point I made above...

I was mostly referring to her comment about liberalism and "unwanted land," but Houston is not that sprawled out. It goes up in many places all over the metro area and several parts of it are walking areas. If Houston sucked in urban planning, then everybody would have to drive 90% of all the places they went in the city, and that's not the case.

Yes Houston is indeed spread out, but I'm sick and tired of people looking at that as a flaw. I get the idea that people want Houston to copy-cat and adopt the east coast lifestyle and that just isn't necessary. Houstonians have something different, something that works for them, and for those that don't like it then they can live in the areas of the city currently under a makeover to become more "urban."

I think the city's developers had a master plan in mind when they were making it. To me, because it's so wide it feels like little contrasting cities within a world of its own. The only other city I felt that with was NY. Bottom line, Houston is a craft, no matter who doesn't like navigating its land.

[Guerilla]

Originally Posted by hamiltonpl

Texas has the second most Fortune 500 companies in America. There is plenty of work.

But the land is cheap because there is lots of it.

And more than half of them are in Houston.