COMMENT OF THE DAY: MOVIN’ ON UP! “The Upper East Side of Manhattan was once all single family mansions and townhouses (after it was farmland). Most of them are now gone, replaced with highrises; some of the most expensive on Earth. I’m sure most people in West U, Southampton, Broad Acres, etc . can’t imagine Bissonnet, North, South, or Sunset being lined with highrises some day, but I’m equally sure that the residents of Fifth, Park, and Madison didn’t imagine it either.” [John, commenting on Ashby Highrise: The 9th Is the Time for Charm]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: DEPOSIT NO RETURN “Security deposits are dangerous things in Texas and they should only be provided along with the first month’s rent when you pick up the keys. Otherwise you may be spending a long time in our court system and even then may not get it back. Of course in this case you would have to sue to get the rent and the deposit back and even then you might not. It would depend on whether the landlord’s attorney convinced the court that you and the ‘other tenants’ had agreed to live in a commune. If you thnk that is impossible you obviously have not ‘enjoyed the pleasure’ of our court system in Texas. He who has the most convincing attorney wins. And the sleaziest landlords usually have the sleaziest attorneys who are in the courtrooms every day and so they have some ‘standing’ that you don’t. Not to mention that they, or their law firm PAC, have usually written a nice check or two to the judge’s campaign fund. Texas has always been a ‘buyer beware’ state. As well as a ‘renter beware’ state.” [Matt, commenting on Serial Renter Meets His Match]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE LANDLORD RACKET “I commented to my wife the other day that, in light of foreclosures on rentals, if we decide to rent a house instead of an apartment we will have to demand the right to a credit report on the landlord. I guess we’ll want a criminal background check also :)” [MikeRG, commenting on Serial Renter Meets His Match]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SULTRY, SCENTED HOUSTON SUMMER SCENE “Love the big cushy sofa in the Armature Works backyard. Imagine reclining there on a sultry Houston summer evening, cold beer in hand, brownfield perfume transporting the senses, viewing the sunset while the humid dusk lights the multicolored drums in a scene worthy of a Thiebaud.” [Miz Brooke Smith, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Broken Armature; photos]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FORMER WEST OAKS MALL OWNER TO RETIRE IN NEW HOME “[Edward H. Okun] has been in jail since he was arrested by the Feds March 17, 2008. This week he was convicted in a Richmond, Va. Federal Court of 23 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, bulk cash smuggling and perjury the maximum sentence for which is 400 years so ‘Fast Eddie’ will die in a federal prison. All those charges related to his having ‘borrowed’ $126 million in 1031 exchange funds he was holding in escrow for 350 clients across the country. His cohorts and co-conspirators had previously pleaded guilty 10 years (Lara Coleman) and 5 years (David Field and Richard Simring) — all former employees (CCO, CFO and Counsel to) IPofA, Okun’s supposed real estate investment company. His defense tried to describe him as a business man with a plan that failed. West Oaks Mall would be just one example of Okun’s brilliant investment acumen. More indictments likely to follow.” [E. H. Callanan, commenting on JCPenney at West Oaks Mall: To the Bank]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE NEW KIRBY TREES “. . . the stretch of Kirby south of Rice Village to Brays Bayou is finished. It now has a center median. The tree planting is identical to the Kirby project from Westheimer to Richmond. Tree plantings on both sides of the road and in the median. The bonus of the Westheimer to Richmond section is that all the power lines will be underground. So the trees will be able to grow freely unlike the ones that were removed!” [kjb434, commenting on West Ave School of Loud but Muffled Knocks]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE GREAT WEST HOUSTON DIVORCéE BELT “It basically runs in between Beltway 8 and 610 and is crossed by the likes of Westheimer, Woodway, Richmond, Bissonnet et al. Basically these people met in drunken stupors along the Richmond strip in the early 80s at those cheesy night clubs; tried to make lasting marriages but eventually divorced; and then bought homes and patio homes close but not too close to their old stomping grounds. Incidentally, many of them work non-descript office jobs at middle market companies in the Westchase district and raaaaaave about the tres leches cake at the Churrasco’s out there on Westheimer. Yay Divorcee Belt!” [Bobby Hadley, commenting on Neighborhood Guessing Game: Blue Check]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHITE OAK DECO STRIP “Per HAIF, the tower rendering on this sign has been replaced by a rendering of a renovated version of the current retail center.” [ArlingtonSt, commenting on White Oak Tower: It Was All Just a Bad Drawing]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: RELEASING THE WILSHIRE VILLAGE INSURANCE HOLD “. . . Why keep residents there? Insurance for an occupied commercial exposure is MUCH cheaper than a vacant one. Vacant buildings or sites have to be secured to prevent problems with the city and attractive nuisance lawsuits. Rent was coming in, even if it was minimal. All roads lead to the fact that it was financially advantageous to not change anything until time to do something else with the property.” [Hellsing, commenting on Wilshire Village Moving Day: They Shall Be Released]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DOWNTOWN HILTON GARDEN INN FURNITURE PLAN “Financing? WEDGE’s principal can find the money for this project in his couch cushions. According to ArabianBusiness.com, Issam Fares is currently the 32nd richest Arab on the planet with a net worth of $2.4 Billion.” [Bernard, commenting on Downtown Wallflower: A New Hilton Garden Inn?]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: MODERN LIBRARY EDITION “The mid-century Oak Forest Library IS NOT being demolished. Houston Public Library is working very diligently to save, restore, renovate and add-on to the existing building. The rendering that you show is of the addition to the west side of the original building facing the newish elementary school across the street. When the work is complete, the “new†Oak Forest will have dedicated areas for Children, Teens, and Adults, a new Meeting Room, Conference Room, and expanded services. It will be fully ADA compliant and should also acquire L.E.E.D certification.” [John, commenting on The New Oak Forest Neighborhood Library]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WEST UNIVERSITY HOMES FOR SALE “You can see the collapse happening in West U. Noticed what I thought were an unusually high number of for sale/for rent signs there in late January, so started keeping an eye on the number of listings. (There’s an easy link on the chron.com site and then you can click on a neighborhood.) At the beginning of Feb. there were 297 residences listed. It has climbed more or less steadily over the past 6 weeks and stood at 353 today. A drive down Edloe from Westpark towards Holcombe is almost scary. There is a combination of developers finishing the last of the giant McMansions for this cycle and likely reseting of adjustable rate mortgages and job losses. There will probably be a cascading effect as very expensive places that can’t be sold get reduced and put pressure on prices of smaller places that have to be cut in turn. . . .” [MikeRG, commenting on Those Wet and Wild Houston Mortgages: 18 Percent Now Underwater, 7 Percent More Still Paddling for Air]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE CUSHION DEFLATES “Houston’s economy has diversified since the 80’s, but we’re still largely an oil & gas town. High energy prices ($145/barrel last summer) kept a lot of cash pumping into the Houston economy and cushioned us from much of the RE downturn faced by the rest of the country. At the same time, plant expansions and engineering contracts (refineries, chem plants, etc) were also experiencing record upswings and that boom has dropped significantly over the last 6 mos. The big cushion factors to our local RE market, oil/gas/petrochem have all dwindled down significantly, and that drop has occurred only recently. I seriously doubt the impact of those downturns underpinning our local economy has been priced into the Houston RE market to any significant extent. RE problems will not be limited to subprime loans by any stretch IMO.” [Mook, commenting on Those Wet and Wild Houston Mortgages: 18 Percent Now Underwater, 7 Percent More Still Paddling for Air]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WELCOME TO WESTWOOD GARDENS “The neighbors are starting to join together to remove the graffiti. Not many kids are on the blocks but they do range in age from babies to happy teens. You can see them outside at times with their parents, riding scooters, riding bikes or just playing around. The neighbors even have indoor small pups, not those that you see on the news that maul on people or those that are seen used to fight. They are small well cared for happy dogs. Never without being on a leash when they are outside. A few neighbors have been seen flying small model airplanes. Everyone is friendly. Try it, if you see any one of the neighbors outside just wave and you will get a smile and a wave back. Hopefully one day we see you, if so Welcome to Westwood Gardens where you are Not just a Neighbor, Your Family!” [We Are Family!, commenting on Westwood Gardens Still Life: A Photo Tour of Half-Built Houston Homes]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: GREAT CHALLAH DROUGHT “Yay, welcome back 3 Bros! Hopefully this will prevent a repeat of the great challah drought of the ‘08 Rosh Hashannah season, when I almost had to knock down a little old lady at the Rice Epicurean on Post Oak for the last loaf of raisin.” [lildebbi, commenting on Openings and Closings: Super Happy Baking Brothers]