Texas Realty Blog

Houston Builders Moving Away from Starter Homes

By Maria Scinto and DeeinAustin™ (editor)

Houston real estate developers are turning away from entry-level housing. "Starter homes" are typically priced below $150,000.

New home starts in the area are down to about 9,725 single-family homes for third quarter 2007. The Houston Chronicle reported the recent data, which had been gathered MetroStudy. and they say that this number is 28% below the number of new home starts for third quarter 2006. Turns out, though, home starts in the $225,000+ range were actually up 6.5%.

This was balanced by the fact that housing starts for homes priced $150,000 or below were down 36%.

DEMAND FOR ENTRY LEVEL HOUSING

Community Spotlight: Tuscan Lakes in Galveston County

By Maria Scinto

Tuscan Lakes, a new Galveston County development (located right on League City Parkway, approximately 3 miles west of I-45), promises a simpler life in beautiful surroundings reminiscent of the Italian countryside. Tuscan Lakes has 870 acres of rolling hills (it isn't all flat like East Texas), flowering gardens and, of course, beautiful lakes.

When you feel like doing something a little more active than just admiring the gorgeous scenery, Tuscan Lakes offers a recreation center with a resort-style swimming complex and splash pad water park and a large play area with all the latest greatest play equipment.

There are hiking and biking trails connecting all of the Tuscan lakes neighborhoods, so you can easily get around even when you don't want to drive.

TUSCAN LAKES COMMUNITY FEATURES

'New Urbanism' a New Wave on Texas Coast

By Maria Scinto and DeeinAustin™

New Urbanism - just what is this? It's a way of planning cities and new developments so they have more of that traditional neighborhood feel.

Walking and biking is big in New Urban development. Instead of the old suburban car culture, where we all drive everywhere, even down the block, a "new urban" neighborhood is one where you're tempted to leave the car in the driveway since you can easily walk to shops, restaurants, and schools.

This sounds better and better, the higher the gas prices set in!

But anyway, what's this got to do with the Texas Coast? Quite a bit, it turns out. Developer Tofigh Sherazi is currently underway with plans for Beachtown Galveston, a 260 acre community meant to reflect Galveston's past.

Houston Real Estate to Develop Underground in the Next Decade

-by Maria Scinto

A report predicted that Houston be Underground in the next few decades.

What does this mean? Is it going to fall into a giant sinkhole? Well, I certainly hope not.

Actually, I'm talking about Forbes reporter Matt Woolsey's prediction that by 2017 Houston will enclose a major portion of its downtown. This isn't too far-fetched, seeing as how there's already the 7-mile-long Tunnel under Houston's downtown streets that connects offices, banks, hotels, restaurants, stores, theaters, etc. Perhaps Matt is envisioning something more along the line of Montreal in Canada.

See the picture from Quebec Tourism, which shows current underground shops in Montreal.

Gulf Coast Owners Fight Texas Act that will Take Their Homes

In Texas, we like our land and our property rights just as much as steak and BBQ.

While the Surfside Beach houses themselves aren't floating in the Gulf (yet), the prime beachfront on which they sit is slipping away. Due to the 1959 Texas Open Beaches Act, some of the homeowners in the town of Surfside Beach (about an hour south of Houston) are told that they must move their houses since they are now blocking public beach land.

The pictures shows an example of beachfront erosion of Riggings Condos at Kure Beach along the Pacific Ocean.

Builder Spotlight: Taylor Woodrow Homes

By Maria Scinto

Our builder spotlight focuses on Taylor Woodrow, in business for over 85 years constructing upscale "lifestyle communities". A lifestyle community will integrate shopping, schools and recreation. Dee likes Taylor Woodrow because they're one of the best high-end home builders in Texas, but they also have a some affordable communities.

Taylor Woodrow builds in Austin and Houston, Texas. They also have communities in California, Arizona, Florida, Spain, and Ontario, Canada.

Taylor Woodrow prices range from the affordable MarBella in the Galveston Bay area, where just $160,000 will buy you a single family home in a community that has its own recreation center with pool and water park, nature preserve, miles of hiking and bike trails, and acres of lakes.

Affordable housing planned on Galveston's West End

The Texas Gulf Coast is fast becoming a mecca for retirees and second home owners interested in "affordable" beach living. As Texas real estate prices and population growth increase, affordability is a key issue throughout our state.

According to KHOU.com, "Bruce and Debbie Reinhart, whose company, Kahala Development, is also responsible for Beachside Village, are working with national builder David Weekly Homes to finish developing one of the area’s oldest subdivisions". Looks like 23 homes will be completed.

You may remember that David Weekley created the affordable homes at the Mueller Austin redevelopment in East Austin that looked the same as the market-rate homes on the outside. They seem to be onto something, so perhaps other builders will follow suit.

Here's a question for you...As the Gulf Coast becomes a popular retirement and second home buyers, is it bound to become similar to the East and West Coasts?

Houston Real Estate Market Holds Steady

The Houston Association of REALTORS released their market stats, noting a small decrease in home sales, but increased average sales prices as well as units sold in the luxury home market. I thought this was interesting because Houston, like other areas of Texas, are becoming getaways for affordable luxury homes.

Click on the the chart to view all of the latest Houston market statistics. The number of homes sold decreased 1.2% from last year, which isn't detrimental to the real estate market there. This shows that, although the market slowed, we're not seeing the huge deflations that California, Florida and Arizona experienced.

In fact, like Austin and most of the large cities in Texas, Houston home values are on the rise. Read the full report: Houston Real Estate Market Information. Read about affordable luxury homes in Texas.

Austin Agents Rally..."Buy Here!"

The real estate industry is making a backlash against the national news media for "overblown" hype around the supposed "real estate bust" for 2007. Texas REALTORS® have especially been trying to make it clear that, while the national market has cooled, Texas has always been considered one of the best places to buy.

Austin, Dallas, and Houston are particularly great real estate markets and were reported among the Top 10 U.S cities to boom in 2008. Here's some of the recent acclaims for Austin:

Seniors Get $93M in Upgrades in Houston, Dallas Projects

There's a lot of investors and commercial construction experts looking for senior housing projects in Texas. The Baby Boomer Generation has started to retire. Many look to Texas for affordable living space in a warm climate.

Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio are some of the most popular Texas cities for second homes or retirement besides the coast. i read today that a Dallas-based company refinanced a 649-unit portfolio for three upscale senior housing projects.

Due for completion in late 2007, the Class A portfolio includes a senior housing community and two traditional multi-family properties. Amenities at the properties include clubhouses, fitness centers, 40-seat movie theatres, business centers, game rooms, pools and libraries.

Among the properties are the 237-unit Conservatory at Alden Bridge, located in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands; the 190-unit Conservatory at Champion Forest, in the Houston suburb of Spring; and the 222-unit Conservatory at Plano in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

Link: $93M Financing Upgrades 3 Texas Seniors Projects.

Read about the Baby Boomer Generation's impact on real estate. See the previous story...Retirees flock to Texas.