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In 1978 I purchased a house in North Texas for $48K, sold it in 1982 for $126K. The same house was on the market 4 months ago for $275K and sold within one week.
New construction in this TX community start at $400K or above and like many communities in California it is driven by supply and demand. We are out of space for much new construction, but families want to live here because of great schools, parks, safety and city amenity’s.
I see no difference in the built quality of houses in Modesto or Riverbank, CA to starter houses in the Houston area.
Cities like Houston are sprawling huge land. There isn't any land form to block development for quite a distance so it can keep sprawling. Flat land as far as the eye can see.
Supply of workers is huge. I would bet in cali many of the undocumented work in farming. There is a massive amount of undocumented people in the Houston area and they often work construction, lawns, house keeping and child care...things that are easy to pay under the table.
Also, it isn't hard or expensive to get supplies to Houston. There is a large shipping channel right there.
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Demand is going up, but it isn't high enough to drive up prices anywhere near what people pay in places like San Fran or Seattle.
Also though, if you know the neighborhoods, the cost of houses is much more the 150k if you want to live close to the city center (inner loop) and even more if you want to live in places like the heights or montrose.
I think you've underestimated the ability of illegals to be used in construction. They aren't solely relegated to moving furniture or gardening
Unless it's one of the few who happens to be skilled in carpentry (that person is usually a guy who's been here for a long time and was an apprentice under a skilled carpenter), no respectable contractor is going to use an illegal who doesn't know the trade.
On the job site, you can't afford to have some yahoo messing things up. Carpentry is a skill like sports, someone needs hundreds to thousands of hours of practice to be able to do a good job. It can be very costly to fix someone's mistake. Imaging having to rip something out and start over because the inspector failed the work, or the novice damaged an expensive item; whatever money is saved can easily be eaten up by the fix and then some. An experienced team of carpenter can frame a wall in ten minutes. A team of inexperienced yahoo can easily take hours. You may pay the experienced guys more money per hour, but they can finish all the walls in one day. The yahoos will need two weeks. Your experienced crew already have all the framing done and inspection passed while the yahoos are not even 1/4 done. You may pay them less money per hour but you end up with cost overrun and behind schedule. Do the math, no respectable contractor would ever take that risk of having those inexperienced guys mess up his job.
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There are tons of new construction homes in Houston, so supply and demand plays a big role. Labor costs here are really cheap. No unions and a lot of immigrants willing to work for dirt cheap. Also, I will say that I think, generally speaking, the quality of some of these really cheap houses are crap. Some of that is due to the fact that these houses go up in weeks, so no real attention to detail, and cheap labor that doesn't really have the expertise.
Unless it's one of the few who happens to be skilled in carpentry (that person is usually a guy who's been here for a long time and was an apprentice under a skilled carpenter), no respectable contractor is going to use an illegal who doesn't know the trade.
On the job site, you can't afford to have some yahoo messing things up. Carpentry is a skill like sports, someone needs hundreds to thousands of hours of practice to be able to do a good job. It can be very costly to fix someone's mistake. Imaging having to rip something out and start over because the inspector failed the work, or the novice damaged an expensive item; whatever money is saved can easily be eaten up by the fix and then some. An experienced team of carpenter can frame a wall in ten minutes. A team of inexperienced yahoo can easily take hours. You may pay the experienced guys more money per hour, but they can finish all the walls in one day. The yahoos will need two weeks. Your experienced crew already have all the framing done and inspection passed while the yahoos are not even 1/4 done. You may pay them less money per hour but you end up with cost overrun and behind schedule. Do the math, no respectable contractor would ever take that risk of having those inexperienced guys mess up his job.
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I don't have to do the math. Your fairy tale that illegals aren't skilled and only do yard work or moving furniture is bogus. Plenty of immigrants illegal or not are skilled in various construction trades
I don't know if you've ever owned in Texas but there is a year to year maximum increase of 10% for those who have the residential homestead exemption
Not exactly true. The valuation can increase by whatever but the 10% cap is on how much the owners tax can increase every year. If the market remains stagnant and the valuation does not increase in subsequent years, the taxing authority can always increase your taxes to 'catch up'.
As far as the pricing disparity for the OP, the neighborhoods linked to above are not very good areas to live in with burglaries and sex offenders nearby if you do a quick search on the reported crime map.
There are also far fewer regulations when it comes to Houston construction than Orange County. We don't have seismic requirements and maybe not even hurricane code requirements depending upon the district.
I don't have to do the math. Your fairy tale that illegals aren't skilled and only do yard work or moving furniture is bogus. Plenty of immigrants illegal or not are skilled in various construction trades
Some are, but those are not the average illegal. Some for illegals with college degrees; sure, some have them but most don't.
Also, there are no shortage of local skilled carpenters who couldn't pass (or don't want to study for) the license exams. These are the guys employed by the license contractors to do the heavy lifting, they are skilled but they don't get paid a lot.
If illegals can do construction, why are they out in the fields picking strawberries?
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Some are, but those are not the average illegal. Some for illegals with college degrees; sure, some have them but most don't.
Also, there are no shortage of local skilled carpenters who couldn't pass (or don't want to study for) the license exams. These are the guys employed by the license contractors to do the heavy lifting, they are skilled but they don't get paid a lot.
If illegals can do construction, why are they out in the fields picking strawberries?
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You do know there are millions and millions of illegals right? You are simply off base on the assumptions illegals are only doing landscaping and moving. It's simply absurd and completly off base
Not exactly true. The valuation can increase by whatever but the 10% cap is on how much the owners tax can increase every year. If the market remains stagnant and the valuation does not increase in subsequent years, the taxing authority can always increase your taxes to 'catch up'.
As far as the pricing disparity for the OP, the neighborhoods linked to above are not very good areas to live in with burglaries and sex offenders nearby if you do a quick search on the reported crime map.
There are also far fewer regulations when it comes to Houston construction than Orange County. We don't have seismic requirements and maybe not even hurricane code requirements depending upon the district.
Actually what I said is exactly true. I was responding to a comment about real estate taxes not values
Quoted for your reference
Quote:
but check out the property taxes (which have no year-to-year ceiling BTW)
You do know there are millions and millions of illegals right? You are simply off base on the assumptions illegals are only doing landscaping and moving. It's simply absurd and completly off base
You keep saying that without any evidence whatsoever.
I'll make it simple for you. Name me one job in a construction that an unskilled laborer can do.
Just one.
Go.
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