Aging Houston suburbs (150-250K). Perspectives? (Sugar Land, Mission: low income, new home, construction)

[Jamaraa]

Originally Posted by jd433

In Houston there was a boom in the mid 70;s to about 1982. during that ti,e a large amount of homes were build in the suburbs. Many of those homes are much better that the composite siding and hardy plank hell holes they threw up in the 90's and early 2000's. At lease those 70's homes were built with decent sized yards and many with detached garages. . They are usually closer in too. Most of those older homes were built on corridors like the 1960 or beltway 8. Today those locations are decent locations. Meadows place, most of Alief, the energy corridor, much of spring, actually much of the Houston area in general.

One thing that makes a BIG DIFFERENCE is weather or not you are surrounded with apartment complexes that were also built in the 1970's. That makes a big difference.

The things I like are the detached garages, Mature landscapes, central locations usually right off of the freeways etc. Lower Taxes,
The things I don't like are that some have foundation problems. Many of the bricks were made in Mexico and are not very god quality. Windows were thin single pane storm windows.Outdated kitchens and bathrooms. IF you have one you need to update the bathrooms and kitchens. replace the windows, replace the driveway, change flooring etc. They just need to be updated. That's all.
IF they are updated then they are a very good option. THE TAXES ARE MUCH LOWER ON THOSE OLDER HOUSES. That is a big benefit. Plus they are usually much more centrally located. The population is usually older in those neighborhoods also.

Taxes are based off the the value of the property, not the age.

Most of Alief and spring are decent locations??

You can’t be serious, right?

There were a lot of low quality houses built between the 1970s-1982 too. They are called starter homes and there’s plenty of them in areas like Alief.

[gwarnecke]

Outlying new-build communities often have high MUD taxes that you don't see in closer-in established communities. Also - not sure how other school districts compare, but on the west side of Houston, KISD has significantly higher tax rates than HISD and SBISD.

There were definitely plenty of cheap homes built in the 1970s and 1980s, but lots of mid-range and middle-upper-end homes from this time period have features that today are only found on high-end or custom new builds. Detached garages, REAL hardwood floors, custom wood-paneled living rooms and studys, big backyards, etc.

[jd433]

Taxes are based off of the value of the property but the TAX RATE is generally much higher for new homes than it is for homes built in the 1970's. I have given this much thought as I live in a 1977 home and have thought many times about moving and getting a newer home. It does wear on you when you don't like the way your house looks or you don;t like the way your neighborhood looks.
The sidewalks are cracked and uneven, the driveways are also. There are people who have not updated their house and so their house looks dated and ugly. So I have thought abut it but I have not done it because
I don't think it is a good decision. For one thing the tax rate on new homes can easily be 3.5%. Also the HOA's are all like 800-1100/yr. The other problem is that the new homes are much further out and will significantly increase your commute.
When you compare these 1970's homes to the housing stock in much more expensive cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C. Boston, etc. In those places most people live in PRE-WORLD WAR II houses and they seem to be just fine like that. They even pay 500K+ for one of them WW2 bungalos. I don't hear them asking about how millions of people think about living in 1940's and 50's houses. They just live in them and deal with it. I seriously doub't that in NYC someone would look down on you because your house is from the 1970's. I doubt they would rather be in a new home It must be a cultural thing.

Originally Posted by Jamaraa

Taxes are based off the the value of the property, not the age.

Most of Alief and spring are decent locations??

You can’t be serious, right?

There were a lot of low quality houses built between the 1970s-1982 too. They are called starter homes and there’s plenty of them in areas like Alief.

[Jamaraa]

Originally Posted by jd433

Taxes are based off of the value of the property but the TAX RATE is generally much higher for new homes than it is for homes built in the 1970's. I have given this much thought as I live in a 1977 home and have thought many times about moving and getting a newer home. It does wear on you when you don't like the way your house looks or you don;t like the way your neighborhood looks.
The sidewalks are cracked and uneven, the driveways are also. There are people who have not updated their house and so their house looks dated and ugly. So I have thought abut it but I have not done it because
I don't think it is a good decision. For one thing the tax rate on new homes can easily be 3.5%. Also the HOA's are all like 800-1100/yr. The other problem is that the new homes are much further out and will significantly increase your commute.
When you compare these 1970's homes to the housing stock in much more expensive cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C. Boston, etc. In those places most people live in PRE-WORLD WAR II houses and they seem to be just fine like that. They even pay 500K+ for one of them WW2 bungalos. I don't hear them asking about how millions of people think about living in 1940's and 50's houses. They just live in them and deal with it. I seriously doub't that in NYC someone would look down on you because your house is from the 1970's. I doubt they would rather be in a new home It must be a cultural thing.

People living in 1950s-60s era houses in desirable closer-in Houston neighborhoods are paying $25,000+ in property taxes.

My 1980s house near the energy corridor has only a slightly higher tax rate than a 1950s ranch style house located in the Galleria, yet my taxes are MUCH lower. The tax rate is insignificant. If your property is in a desirable location your going to pay a load in property taxes.

Or if your located WAYYY out in fort bend county or Katy ISD your paying high taxes solely because of the “acclaimed schools”...

[timtemtym]

Actually, Alief was built to be a solid, middle and upper income area.

When I started teaching there in 03, there were still lots of teachers around from when it was a white, suburban district. Apparently from 1985-1990 there was a mass switch over in the socio-economic status of the majority of students. They had some crazy stories from those days! A lot of them had lived in the area for decades but sold their homes and left in the late 80s when it quickly slid from a quiet suburban area to a much different population.

I grew up in Clear Lake and there were quite a few unfinished neighborhoods around. Bay Colony, for example, where 646 hits I-45. They had streets laid out and several homes built, but it came to a halt with the crash. I'm not sure if those old houses are still there. I know the new developers redid the streets in the 2000s when it was redeveloped. Meadowgreen in Clear Lake was the last neighborhood built before the crash and then all the Bay neighborhoods came in with the resurgence in the 90s. Lots of Katy, Bear Creek, Copperfield, have similar areas that ground to a halt then came back later.

Alief had golf courses and lots of amenities. One of the golf courses turned into a landfill which pretty much exemplifies the area. I don't know if it will ever really come back. Los Angeles has lots of areas like this that boomed in the 50's-60's and have been left to rot for decades. Lots of the San Fernando Valley is like this along with south side cities like Paramount/Bellflower/Carson.

[Jamaraa]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Actually, Alief was built to be a solid, middle and upper income area.

Trust me when I say that’s highly inaccurate.

There are much more starter homes in Alief than mid-level/luxury houses and the build quality of these houses are extremely low. Alief was built out in a very unorganized unplanned manner. The only desirable parts of Alief are the areas north of Westpark Tollroad east of highway 6 and that’s lower middle class at best.

[hbcu]

Yep - just drive down kirkwood, Wilcrest or the areas off Keegan’s Bayou, etc. as there are plenty of starter homes, etc. Condos smack dab in the middle of the area.

The apartments didn’t help either

[resonator]

There's lots of quality houses with detached garages in Sharpstown built in the early/mid-60's and sitting on decent lots.



Unfortunately the neighborhood is not a place to be after dark.


Moved my cousins out of there a few years ago after they had been there in the same house 50+ years and more than a dozen burglaries.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by Jamaraa

Trust me when I say that’s highly inaccurate.

There are much more starter homes in Alief than mid-level/luxury houses and the build quality of these houses are extremely low. Alief was built out in a very unorganized unplanned manner. The only desirable parts of Alief are the areas north of Westpark Tollroad east of highway 6 and that’s lower middle class at best.

Most Houston suburbs of that era were starter homes. Most of Clear Lake City is starter homes. That doesn't mean they weren't solid, nice areas. I grew up in Clear Lake in the 80's-90's when those starter homes had lots of middle income solidly middle class families. Alief was no different. A lot of the older teachers I worked with who had been there since the 60's-70's were solidly middle class people. They were teachers and usually married to business people. They were your average Houstonians.

So yes, Alief was a nice, safe area. I still remember being out there when Fame City waterworks was the place to go. Before they built that indoor part and it went downhill quickly in the 90's, it used to be a nice place.

Look at Mission Bend (Still in Alief ISD). Those homes are huge and were built for upper income families. Now, not so much. But that neighborhood held out as a nice place well into the late 90's.

Just because an area isn't all that great right now doesn't mean it was planned to be or was never nice. Huntington Village and Pheasant Run neighborhoods were very nice into the 90's as well.

[Jamaraa]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Most Houston suburbs of that era were starter homes. Most of Clear Lake City is starter homes. That doesn't mean they weren't solid, nice areas. I grew up in Clear Lake in the 80's-90's when those starter homes had lots of middle income solidly middle class families. Alief was no different. A lot of the older teachers I worked with who had been there since the 60's-70's were solidly middle class people. They were teachers and usually married to business people. They were your average Houstonians.

So yes, Alief was a nice, safe area. I still remember being out there when Fame City waterworks was the place to go. Before they built that indoor part and it went downhill quickly in the 90's, it used to be a nice place.

Look at Mission Bend (Still in Alief ISD). Those homes are huge and were built for upper income families. Now, not so much. But that neighborhood held out as a nice place well into the late 90's.

Just because an area isn't all that great right now doesn't mean it was planned to be or was never nice. Huntington Village and Pheasant Run neighborhoods were very nice into the 90's as well.

I never said Alief was always a bad area. It was just planned out in an unorganized manner.

Alief was a quaint suburb well into the early 90s until the area gradually declined sometime in the mid-1990s and became much worse especially during the years after Hurricane Katrina.

Funplex was still decent during the 90s and very early 2000s

Considering Mission Bend was built out farthest west from the core of Alief it’s not surprising to have declined last. Several parts of MB are in Fort Bend county as well.