What Gives? Why is it so difficult to rent a house in the Midland/Odessa area? (Houston: apartment complex, leasing agent)

[RetroSarah]

The house on Cuthbert is gorgeous!!!

[SVTRay]

Originally Posted by RetroSarah

Thank you for the link Rapunzll.

SVTRay, you're funny about the yards. We only have dirt or rocks here in Tucson.

I'd quote you guys but when I try on this thing it doesn't show up. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

You just press the quote button.

Anyhow, Midland maybe in a desert but we go through great lengths to grow our own plot of green grass lol

As for the Cuthbert house, I would have to double check but I believe it's walking distance from Midland High.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by RetroSarah

The house on Cuthbert is gorgeous!!!

And inexpensive as well at 119K. I'd bet you could get it for 110K. Heck, given that rentals are scarce, it would even qualify as an investment/rental property.

[debzkidz]

Originally Posted by SVTRay

Umm...the only two areas that come to mind is the Museum area and the Duck pond area.

Museum of the Southwest is is on Missouri Ave new down town. Don't go any further than Garfield going West and no further than College ST going South.

Duck Pond area is at the intersection of Cuthbert and A ST. I would keep to the set of A ST ( Duck Pond side) and you can kind go as far as you want North, South, and West...going west can be pricey.

I believe these homes are in the 79705 zip code...and real close to Midland High School.

Example home ads:

721 W Cuthbert Ave, Midland, TX 79701 MLS# 87492 - Zillow

2612 Storey Ave, Midland, TX 79701 MLS# 84232 - Zillow

Keep in mind, Midland is currently under water restrictions and some yards make look like crud.



Faudree Rd, that brings back memories. While people where off watching football, me and my friends was lining up our cars on Faudree Rd Now it's been transformed into a high end suburb.

That area of town, around Wadley Barron Park, also referred to as the Duck Pond, is in an area of town also referred to as Old Midland. It's in zip code 79701. We lived in that area of town the first time we lived there. The second time we moved to Midland, we tried to move back to that part of town, but there was just nothing for sale in our price range that didn't need to be gutted. It's a really cool area. Some of the homes are huge and gorgeous, while others are cute little bungalows. On our block there were huge homes with like 5-6 bedrooms, pools etc, and then there were cute little houses with only 2 bedrooms. If I moved back to Midland now, I would definitely try to be in that area. Your only problem would be trying to find something for rent in that area. There are rentals in the area, but finding one available might be hard.

I agree with the homes around the Museum of the Southwest. You probably don't want to so any further south than College St. There are some really cool houses in that area as well.

[debzkidz]

I just went back and looked at the 2 listings posted. I just realized some of our best friends used to live only a couple of houses away from the one on Storey. Wow, that was a flashback!

[RetroSarah]

I've been checking out a lot of houses in those neighborhoods. They're all quirky & retro. I Love it! Thanks goodness! I was getting a bit bummed out seeing all of these apartments and new developments. I love houses with character!

I also noticed that some houses have basements. That brings me to another question. Tornadoes. You guys get them there, right? Where do you go when you don't have a basement?

[Cathy4017]

A very few older (and occasionally a new) homes do have basements. They are not common at all.

I lived there for 30 years, and was never directly affected by a tornado. But high winds can tear off roofs and cause quite a bit of damage otherwise. You have both high winds and hail....and homeowner's insurance is high in Texas because of this. Having said that, I never had anything worse than marble-size at my house.

For a tornado watch/warning, you can go into an interior closet or bathroom--I never had to do this, even though we were under tornado watches from time to time.

[debzkidz]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

A very few older (and occasionally a new) homes do have basements. They are not common at all.

I lived there for 30 years, and was never directly affected by a tornado. But high winds can tear off roofs and cause quite a bit of damage otherwise. You have both high winds and hail....and homeowner's insurance is high in Texas because of this. Having said that, I never had anything worse than marble-size at my house.

For a tornado watch/warning, you can go into an interior closet or bathroom--I never had to do this, even though we were under tornado watches from time to time.

We saw one tornado while living in Midland. Come to think of it, it's the only one I've ever actually seen, even living in Oklahoma, although I've been in buildings hit by them on 2 different occasions (neither in Midland). It was a small one, off of the loop, back behind Lowe's. It was still pretty empty back there then. I think it did a tiny bit of damage but nothing major.

Now hail is another story. In the mid-late 80's (can't remember the year) we were living over near the duck pond, and we got some of the biggest hail I've ever seen. Like the size of baseballs. It was so scary. We got a new roof out of the deal. We were surprised because we had a gravel roof, so we didn't think it could be damaged, but sure enough, it was totaled. I also had a car almost totaled by hail sometime around 2002. Not nearly as big as the storm which got us the new roof, but it did a number on my car.

[SVTRay]

Originally Posted by RetroSarah

I've been checking out a lot of houses in those neighborhoods. They're all quirky & retro. I Love it! Thanks goodness! I was getting a bit bummed out seeing all of these apartments and new developments. I love houses with character!

I also noticed that some houses have basements. That brings me to another question. Tornadoes. You guys get them there, right? Where do you go when you don't have a basement?

I thought of you and Tucson when I posted that Cuthbert home Anyhow, we have several neighbor hoods with character. That Cuthbert and Ast area was actually Midlands original Country Club like back in the 50's. The tennis courts stood for decades until recently when they turned it into a row condo type houses...it was all falling apart though.

As for Tornados and basements. Those two areas have a lot of basements and probably more than the rest of town combined. Anyhow, I'll have been in Midland 37 yrs next month and have seen three funnel clouds and have heard of about 2-3 Tornadoes actually touching down in the area...generally miles out side of town and in cotton fields. Now we do get a lot of wind and when it actually rains, thunder storms. Last year before the drought, Midland received one of the worst floods killing one person...first time I heard of such a thing but I think it was driver error. That same storm produced funnel clouds and a Tornado...miles North of town. We also get snow every once and a great while...generally once or twice a season and 1-3 inches and 9-10 inches something like every other 3-5 years.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by debzkidz

We saw one tornado while living in Midland. Come to think of it, it's the only one I've ever actually seen, even living in Oklahoma, although I've been in buildings hit by them on 2 different occasions (neither in Midland). It was a small one, off of the loop, back behind Lowe's. It was still pretty empty back there then. I think it did a tiny bit of damage but nothing major.

Now hail is another story. In the mid-late 80's (can't remember the year) we were living over near the duck pond, and we got some of the biggest hail I've ever seen. Like the size of baseballs. It was so scary. We got a new roof out of the deal. We were surprised because we had a gravel roof, so we didn't think it could be damaged, but sure enough, it was totaled. I also had a car almost totaled by hail sometime around 2002. Not nearly as big as the storm which got us the new roof, but it did a number on my car.

I knew that some parts of town got far larger hail--and that was just weird! I got a new roof, too, due to hail damage, but it was cumulative, and the roof was 20 years old, composition shingles.

The south part of town seemed to get a lot more wind damage than the NW did, for some reason, too.