Thinking of Moving to Houston....

Houston is a great place to make money, particularly if you are doing a start up. We are a wide open town that puts more emphasis on who you are instead of what you are or where you are from.

That said, it is flat, hot, and awful traffic.

29 years ago, I came here with a plan. I was going to stay one year and haul butt. Like I said, that was 29 years ago.

Of the schools you mentioned, A&M is probably your best bet. However, don't discount U of H. It is all about what YOU make of it and not the name on the piece of paper.

Dale

 

What are property taxes like in SF? People like to say that you can get more house for the money here, but I have to ask can you afford it?

A typical $300k home will have a annual property tax of close to $11,000. Depending on location of course. Closer to the city it's less, but the schools suck. Further out it's more, but the schools are much better.

I went to A&M. Loved it. Can't imagine having gone anywhere else. I was in Engineering though, not med. school. Know this, it is a very conservative campus with a lot of good traditions. I think I saw a survey once that the cons. vs lib ratio was 3:1. Football games are something to experience (although the team has sucked lately) as is yell practice.

Are you going to be a full time student? If so, you may consider actually living in College Station vs. Houston. The 60-90-minute drive could get old real fast and there's more available women on campus than you'll find in the burbs.

 

Houston is cheap. That's about the only good thing. You might want to look at Austin. A little more expensive, but stiil cheap compared to SF. It's scenic, better weather, less traffic, good school.

 

Houston is not a cheap place to live, I paid higher rent, auto insurance, & utilities when I lived from 2002 to 2004. If your looking for a more cost effective place to live, try the Dallas / Ft. Worth area. The area is going fast with so many business opportunities. As for schools, have you considered the University of North Texas, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas Christian University, Southern Methodist University, or Northwood?

 

College Park off 242 would be my choice, great area to live and work....New hospital too that I am sure could put you to work

 

Not to put you off, but just a caution. If you buy in the right part of town, you will pay more, but you won't lose anything. Buy in the wrong place and you will have a nice house, but you will not make any money on it, if that's important.

Other Houston folks, chime in.

Places that should do well

Any of the villages east of downtown (Piney Point, Hunter's, etc), in fact, almost anything within two miles of Memorial Drive.

Rice University area (south of hwy 59, west of Main, east of Kirby (maybe a bit farther west). This is also very close to Med Center.

Hot spots in The Heights and Montrose (a bit more risk here, I would say)

and, of course, River Oaks and, by extension, anything close to Westheimer and inside the West 610 Loop.

As to cost of living, Texas has no state income tax, but very high property taxes (say 3-4% of appraised value, spread acreosso several differnt governmental jurisdictions, e.g. school districts, city, county, etc). You can write off state sales tax under new laws (for now), but not the property tax. What this means is that, depending upon mortgage, etc, your income tax costs may be close to your mortgage costs.

 

If you want to work at MD Anderson do not move up on the NW side of town. I live there, and work at MDA and the commute absolutely sucks during "normal" hours. I leave my house at 5:50AM and go home at 3:30 PM to avoid traffic. 10-minutes on either side of that add's 15-minutes to my commute.

Consider BCS if you want to go to A&M or the South side of town if you want to go to UH.

?? What are you talking about? You can write of property taxes on your Federal income taxes.

 

I don't know what I'm talking about! I'm still in shock over paying property taxes.

Sorry for mis-statement.

 

http://www.uh.edu/admissions/ResidencyRequirements.htm

Houston and surroundings areas are struggling with having the first or second poorest air quality, as far as ozone, in the country. We trade back and forth with LA as to a dubious #1.

However, if your car is over 25 years old, then there is only the annual safety check, no smog check. Otherwise, the state sticks the probe up your tailpipe every year. The test is done at idle and at speed on a dyno, not at idle in neutral.

 

I assuming that the location for the apartments and your home will be different. I'm also assuming that you'll do a 1031 exchange on the apartments.

That said, the Houston apartment market is upside down right now. It was trending down before Katrina. Then it went to 100% occupancy. Now the Fed money is gone, and it will be a mess. Good luck on that one.

Regarding your house, you need to first decide between UH and A&M. They are about 100 miles apart. Moreover, prices are also about 100 years different. A&M is in College Station with is rural central Texas. UH used to have a meat packing plant on one side and funky town on the other. (I know because I went there for about 8 years.) But UH is near the Med Ctr and West U, which is very nice, but pricey.

Regarding car testing, it goes by county. UH is in Harris County, which has the strictest in the state. A&M is in EBF County where they think that you are talking about cow farts when you mention emissions.

My advice is to decide which school you plan on going to before laying out money for a house.

Dale

 

If you go from your airconditioned house to an airconditioned car to your airconditioned job , Houston will be tolerable.

 

I recently graduated from A&M and love the school. College Station is great and like was said earlier, the commute to and from everyday would grow old. So if you're not tied down to having to work in Houston, I'd live there. UofH is a great school as well, and you can get just as much out of it. The one thing A&M has over other schools around the state (or country) is that Aggies help Aggies. Either way, Houston is a great city. It has traffic and it's share of problems, but every city does. Austin's traffic is horrible and Dallas is full of a bunch of snobs (what I've witnessed the numerous times I've been there).

 

Next time your girlfriend is using a hair dryer, take it from her and jam it in your mouth. That's what it feels like here in August.

Now, as you stand there with the hair dryer in your mouth, blazing heat piercing your lungs, and your girlfriend starts screaming at you "What the hell are you doing *******!" That's what it feels like in traffic on I-45 in August.

Any questions?

 

Adams response to the humidity is close but possibly a little understated, yes it really does get that bad....And Dallas is full of pretentious snobs, a few nice women but most are strippers

And Bone Daddy's over Hooters any day of the week

 

You'll NEVER adjust to it. Trust us. You just learn to live with it.

 

Actually, as we say around here. "It's not the heat, it's the humidity"