Everyday Real Estate

P1010307

2010-07-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

P1010305

2010-07-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

Top Elementary Schools in Houston Area

2010-05-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Houston-based nonprofit Children at Risk ranked 3,126 public elementary schools in Texas based on the following criteria:

1- Percentage of fifth-graders scoring at the commended level on the TAKS reading, math and science and the percentage of the 4h graders reaching that level on TAKS reading.

2- Percentage of 5th graders scoring commended on all sections of TAKS.

3- Overall student attendance rate for the school year.

4- Average class size in grades 1-3.

5- Retention rates for 4th and 5th grades.

6- Percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch and are economically disadvantaged.

Based on these criteria here are the top 5 elementary schools in Houston area which are all rated exemplary.

1- T H Rogers Elementary ( Houston ISD at 5840 SAN FELIPE ST, HOUSTON , 77057 )
2- Barbara Bush Elementary (Houston ISD at 13800 WESTERLOCH DR, HOUSTON , 77077)
3- Walker Station Elementary (Fort Bend ISD at 6200 HOMEWARD WAY BLVD, SUGAR LAND , 77479 )
4- Henderson J Elementary ( Houston ISD at 1800 DISMUKE, HOUSTON , 77023 )
5- Hamilton Elementary (CyFair ISD at 12050 KLUGE, CYPRESS , 77429 )

Spring Is In the Air For Houston Housing Market

2010-05-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

Here are the promising March figures for Houston housing market:

•Single-family home sales rose 10.8 percent;

•Total property sales increased 14.5 percent;

•The average price of a single-family home appreciated for a sixth straight month by 10.2 percent to $212,403 — the highest pricing level for a March in Houston;

•The median price of a single-family home rose for the 11th consecutive month, by 6.4 percent, to $154,250 — the highest dollar figure for a March in Houston;

•6.7 months inventory of single-family homes compares favorably to the national average of 8.6 months;

•Townhouse/condominium sales increased 30.4 percent;

•Total dollar volume climbed 24.2 percent, reaching $1.2 billion.

P1010164.MOV

2010-05-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

TEXAS CITIES BEST PLACES FOR JOBS

2010-05-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

Aren't you glad and proud to be Texan? For the second year in a row, Texas cities took half of the top ten spots in Newgeography.com's annual ranking of the best cities in the nation in which to find a job.

Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos ranked first (ironically Round Rock also ranks high on number of foreclosed properties), San Antonio–New Braunfels second, our own Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown third, Dallas-Plano-Irving fifth and Fort Worth–Arlington seventh. I think this is some amazing statistics!

Among the medium-sized cities that Newgeography.com ranked, El Paso was fifth, McAllen-Mission-Edinburg was sixth and Corpus Christi was seventh.

College Station–Bryan was the third best smallest city in which to find a job. Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood was fourth.

The rankings are based on three-month rolling averages of monthly employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from November 1999 to January 2010. For more information you can visit the website.

Garden Oaks Home Tour

2010-04-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

I was able to spare the past Sunday for Garden Oaks Home Tour 2010. Garden Oaks is a neighborhood with lots of history. It was established in 1937 by Edward L.Crain just north of Houston Heights. Comprised of 5 sections, all sections have seen an abundance of renovations and newly constructed homes built on over-sized yards.

Yesterday's home tour comprised of 6 wonderful homes of which five were renovated homes and one was a new construction home built faithful to the Garden Oaks architecture. The new construction home at 802 W.31st was unique not only because of the homeowners' dedication to conservation of the "old" but also because it offered something truly new. This wonderful home has a wine cellar in the basement (yes a basement in Houston!) where you feel like you have taken a quick trip to Tuscany.

Another home worth mentioning was 1075 Lamonte Ln. Nestled on a quiet alley the home was tastefully renovated and decorated by it's local celebrity owners photographer Ralph Smith (culinary photographer) and author of romantic novels Barbara Smith (a.k.a Olivia Drake). The home was full of with Mr. Smith's beautiful photography taken at the couples' trips. Their cheerful garden is also worth mentioning where herbs and vegetables were generously used everywhere in the landscaping.

Another favorite was 1023 W.43rd St. Homeowner and interior designer Blake Woods created a playful, cozy, modern living space, and has not even moved one wall in this home built in the 1940's. The custom furniture Mr. Woods designed for the kitchen were fantastic small space solutions. His bold color choices, his lamp and glass collections and of course his whimsical art displays made this home a true Garden Oaks gem.

My favorite home of the tour was 1019 W. 43.rd. Artistic and creative homeowners Mr. and Mrs. Hoye used the 1008 sq.ft so successfully, as a realtor I was impressed by the utilization of the space. The creativity of the homeowners are visible throughout the house from the materials they used to build some decorative furniture, the art work and the garden oasis they created. Homeowner Mr. Hoye, a landscape designer truly is a local talent. The unique design which incorporated containers and flower beds, the playful accessory selection (some self-made I suppose) and even the technical solution (rain chimes!) he introduced instead of plain boring rain gutters made this home special. One of my favorite touches was the Ella Fitzgerald playing in the background. Sound is a dimension often ignored in design and what design is complete without the sound of music?

I fell in love with Garden Oaks all over again...such a wonderful community and the home and garden designs were so refreshing. If you visit the area, also check out the home design shop named Cavallini's on N. Shepherd at the corner of Garden Oaks Blvd. They sell some really neat items and the shop owner is very friendly.

Aliana the New Master Planned Community Had a Grand Opening Today

2009-05-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

Today I attended the Grand Opening of the new master-planned community "ALIANA" located on FM 1464 just a little bit west of Sugar Land and east side of Grand Parkway. I was suprised by the proximity of the community to Westpark Toll Road after the major expansion of FM 1464. The construction is not over yet, but it is almost complete and the commute was quite easy.

What's different about Aliana? My first impressions were quite positive. To start with the developer SWI has given more emphasis to create a green environment. A few projects worth mentioning are the reforestation efforts of replanting 1000 trees in public parkways, recycling the rainwater to be utilized for the irrigation of public landscaping, using native landscaping to use less water and implementation of the county's dark sky ordinance. There will also be lakes, miles of landcsaped bike and hike trails. The Amenity Center sounds like it will be one of a kind with a ball room, kitchens, fitness center as well as a resort style pool area which will be completed by fall 2009.

Aliana will be the one an only community in Houston area that will have a Polo Club with night time play amenties which will be complete around 2010 and the developer has already strated planning public events to promote the Club.

The builders in the community are Coventery Homes, Meritage Homes, Mercedes Homes, Newmark and J. Patrick Homes. There will also be a section developed only for Custom Homes over 700K. The developer also projects a section with acreages for the next phase. The home prices vary between lower 180's to 500's depending on the lot size, square footage and of course the builder.

The 1st section is already under construction and I was pleased to see some new and fresh ideas of design and floor plans. Coventary homes has given more emphasis to outdoor living by creating very stylish patios with kitchens as well as introducing user friendly floor plans. I am sure Houstonians will enjoy seeing such amenities.

I was impressed by J.Patrick's model home which welcomes the guests with a grand entrance. I particularly liked the small gym area next to the master bedroom which directly opens to the master bath (and that bathroom was to die for....)which I find very user friendly. If this will not inspire you to work out, what will? The home was a successful combination of East Coast meets modern Tuscany. J.Patrick builders accomodates semi-custom changes that the clients could request.

Please don't hesitate to contact me to find about the builders in detail, closing cost assistance you could qualify and so much more...

Spring is in the Air for Houston Real Estate Market

2009-05-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Recently announced March home sales numbers are promising for Houston real estate market which took a big dip in winter months. From February to March of this year, overall property sales volume increased 26.1 percent while sales of single-family home rose 27.8 percent as we enter the spring and summer seasons, a period that traditionally produces higher sales volume than the fall and winter months.

In March 2009, foreclosures made up 24.5 percent of all single-family home sales in the Houston area compared to 34.0 percent in January and 28.0 percent in February. This continuous drop is also another indicator of a market that is bouncing back. We are finally seeing some neighborhoods that are now foreclosure free....

Some experts expect a price increase on all price levels as we enter active summer months and as there is less supply of homes due to the slow new home constructions. So, with historic low interest rates still available, spring could bring some very good opportunities of home ownership.

Pathfinder Moving to Katy

2009-04-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

More growth is on the way for Katy despite the KBR project has been put on hold because of economic reasons.

PathFinder Energy Services Inc. has begun work on a new corporate facility in spite of the recession, the sale of the firm and recent layoffs at the new parent company.

PathFinder, which specializes in logging-while-drilling products and services, is constructing the PathFinder Technology Center on 25 acres of a 34-acre site it owns near Katy. The firm is expected to spend more than $20 million on a two-story main building and a number of separate facilities that will have a total of 225,000 square feet of space.

The center will be located near the northwest corner of Colonial Parkway and the Grand Parkway, next to the highly visible, 800,000-square-foot 99 Cents Only warehouse along Interstate 10. PathFinder’s site is across I-10 from where Houston-based KBR Inc. planned to build 900,000 square feet of office space to house most of its 4,500 local employees. The much expected KBR project has been temporarily postponed for several months.

Million Trees+Houston Initiative Kicks Off in February

2009-02-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

The Houston Parks and Recreation Department will plant approximately 20,000 trees in select areas across the city as part of Mayor Bill White's Million Trees + Houston initiative as announced in October 2008. The campaign aims to plant more than a million new trees in the city within five years through corporate and private donations. The first round of trees to be planted is scheduled for February 2009. At the same time certain esplanades have been scheduled to be planted in response to Super Neighborhood Action Plan (SNAP) requests. All trees will be planted by a contractor working for the Houston Parks and Recreation Department in the following order:

District A - 4,089 bald cypress trees will be planted on 9 esplanades on Clay Road between Eldridge and Addicks Dam.

District G - A total of 1,792 trees, including 598 bur oaks, 597 winged elms and 597 crepe myrtles, will be planted on 10 esplanades on S. Dairy Ashford Road between Whittington and Westheimer. (As an Ashford Hollow resident I am very excited about this part of the project)

Once District A and G tree plantings are completed, the contractor will begin to plant SNAP tree requests in the following order:

District A - A total of 150 trees will be planted on the railroad track right of way between Kansas and Rawls street.

District D - A total of 30 live oaks will be planted on the West Gray right of way between Montrose and Taft.

District F - A total of 100 Bur Oaks will be planted at Burnett Bayland Park.

District C - A total of 100 trees, including bur oaks, crepe myrtles, and cedar elms will be planted at Hagar Park. A total of 50 trees, including bur oaks, crepe myrtles, and winged elms will be planted at Westbury Park. A total of 500 trees will be planted at Willowbend Park.

District I - A total of 2,334 trees, including 467 bur oaks, 467 cedar elms, 467 crepe myrtles, 467 bald cypress and 466 green ash will be planted on 14 esplanades on Bellfort Boulevard between Mykawa and Telephone.

The second round of the Mayor's Million Trees + Houston initiative will begin after the SNAP trees are planted on Wayside beginning at Little York and going south.

Updates on types of trees and scheduled planting dates will be sent out before the planting begins.

Great time to invest in real estate in Houston

2009-02-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

HAR has just released the monthly press release for January residential sales. The sales are down, but the numbers indicate that there are a lot of smart investors out there. In January 2009, foreclosures made up 34.0 percent of all single-family home sales in the Houston area compared to 25.0 percent one year earlier. Also, the demand for single-family and townhouse/condominium rentals increased again in January. Single-family home rentals rose 4.8 percent in January compared to a year earlier, while year-over-year townhouse/condominium rentals were up 17.0 percent. The numbers speak for itself...it is a great time to invest in real estate in Houston.