COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE KINDS OF CRAP DEVELOPERS DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH “It is in the developers best interests to retain historic structures whenever possible. They know that if you remove them all, you lose the sales value of the area. They aren’t stupid. They are just realistic about what people are going to live in and what is structural worth saving. Would you live in a home that’s had a hundred different animals [defecating] on the walls and floors for years? It looks structurally sound, but would you live there, where the pee has soaked into everything including the shiplap?” [Heights Weirdo, commenting on Proposed Historic District Changes: No Will Mean No, 67 Percent Will Mean Yes]
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: SAVES YOU MONEY!! “Harness/Lanyard runs about 400 dollars total. They must be replaced too. In addition there is significant overhead for training. Including time to train, and productivity losses. These Productivity losses amount to regulations that call for your tie off point be able to withstand a load of 5 kips (5000 lbs). So In the image where the dude is standing on a wood beam, laborers would have to construct a system for him to be tied off to. How do laborers know what can take 5000 lbs? well Scaffold builders do that a lot… how do scaffold builders do that? With an engineer who designs the scaffold? And all the time, and money trickles down to the homeowner. Finally, in the housing industry there is a large illegal immigrant workforce. They are working at lower wages [than] US citizens. If they get injured the cost vs productivity/exploitation of that illegal still falls in the companies[’] advantage.” [Enginerd, commenting on Comment of the Day: Extreme Homebuilding Makeover, Oil and Gas Edition]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: EXTREME HOMEBUILDING MAKEOVER, OIL AND GAS EDITION “i understand that safety regulations are lax and/or nonexistent in the housing industry but those people standing on beams/heights without safety harnesses would be kicked off the job in the oil and gas biz. people underneath that manlift is questionable too. it’d be nice and safer to see other industries held to the same standards as oil and gas.” [joel, commenting on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Meets Extreme Mud: Houston Edition]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SPILL! “I’m looking forward to the dedicated thread on Swamplot about the Renew Houston proposal. Until then, I’ll keep my comments to myself . . .” [Random Poster, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: Too Many Bumps]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE VERY SPECIAL SECRET BEHIND THAT “NEW HOME” SMELL “After having worked for two major local homebuilders, I was shocked to discover that most subcontractors leave an organic surprise for every new homeowner in the form of a bowel movement, hidden somewhere in the home…closets, attic, pantry, fireplace, you name it. And I’m talking about ALL homebuilders. I was told by upper management that it’s a ’statement’ from the have-nots to the haves. Charming.” [marketingwiz, commenting on Comment of the Day: Someone Was Sleeping in My Room!]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: SOMEONE WAS SLEEPING IN MY ROOM! “Never mind houses that have experienced murder-suicide or even natural death. A lot of today’s Houston area buyers seem to be creeped out by the thought of buying a house that someone else has LIVED in.” [GoogleMaster, commenting on Comment of the Day: Deal Killers]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILSHIRE VILLAGE PARK CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE GREAT UNWASHED “This seems like a potentially great corporate/community partnership. It’s not chump change, but it can be done. I hope the Montrose land Defense Coalition can get it together and do the fund-raising. I, for one, am willing to forgo my soap and patchouli budget for a month and instead dedicate those funds to this cause.” [RWB, commenting on H-E-B Looking for $2 to $3 Million for a 2-Acre Montrose Park]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE LURE OF THE EMPTY PARKING LOT “If I am driving around town and need to stop to buy some bars of soap, and I see a store on the left with a crowded parking lot and the store on the right with a spacious parking lot, which one do you think that I would normally choose to go to? I don’t want to spend 5 minutes looking for one of the 50 remaining parking spaces. Do you? Plus, if the parking lot looks crowded, don’t you think that a driver is going to say, ‘ummm..that store looks really busy. It might take a while to get in and out of there. I think I’ll pass and go to the store across the street.’†[Random Poster, commenting on On Top of Old 1,1-Dichloroethene: The New Silber Rd. Walmart]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DEAL KILLERS “. . . the fact of someone breathing their last at a property holds no ick factor for me. Once, at a Closing, in that long interval where you are waiting for copies, the little old lady Seller told me about her boyfriend dying at the house I had just bought. Didn’t creep me out at all– just a sweet sad tale. But . . . I am really curious as to what house history would be a deal breaker for you all. [Death] by natural causes? By violence? Creepy perpetrators of off-site crimes?” [Harold Mandell, commenting on A Swank Modern Meyerland Home with a Record]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY THE BANK WON’T FINISH BUILDING THOSE TOWNHOUSES “. . . the bank would rather take the loss than become builders. The law in Texas puts certain long term responsibilities on the builder and the banks don’t want to get into it. I’ve talked to a few banks about finishing, or at least drying in, some of them and for them it’s cheaper to let them rot and write them off than to prolong the process and get financially deeper into a project that will probably never turn a profit. That money is making them +5.5% profit now if they invest it elsewhere, which over a very short amount of time, more than makes up for the loss. Bankers care about money not urban blight.” [SCD, commenting on Swamplot Price Adjuster: Some Unfinished EaDo Business]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ROOM TO GROW IN THE HEIGHTS “Driving past the site on 25th St over the weekend, it looks like the entire block (bounded by 24th, 25th, Ashland and Rutland) has been vacated. Platted at 33-ft frontage, this would mean space for about 40 new home single family residences. There also appears to be demo activity on the north side of 25th street on the same block. Add this to the warehouses on the 500 block of W 22nd and 23rd (part of the Sullivan Bros. project) and there’s probably potential for 60 new houses in a pretty small area. The price points on similar houses has been $450 to $550k, which means about $30M total. I’m not sure how quickly this area can absorb that much supply.” [Angostura, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Do Adair]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DESIGN EYE FOR THE CEO GUY “Being a visionary for your business doesn’t mean you’re a visionary for interior design.” [Carol, commenting on Helping CEOs with That Vision Thing]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: DISCOVERING YET ANOTHER NEW HOUSTON WALMART “. . . in my search for Wal-Mart to see if anything is going on at Yale, I found that a license is out for Wally at I-10 and Silber behind the Marq-E. $9 mil, starting 04/10 and finishing 1/11. Wally wants to be at every I-10 exit, I suppose. That seems more than gossip, right, if there’s a license and review completed? Who knew all of Wally’s 2010/2011 new stores would be in a ten mile radius in Houston, TX? Awesome growth plan, guys!” [brandyc, commenting on Swamplot Street Sleuths: Chances Are]
COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: IN HOUSTON, DESIGN INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE “As a nearby property owner, I must say I’m glad to see something replacing the burned-out building, but I just can’t help but feel this apartment house came out of someone’s Happy Meal.” [kilray, commenting on The Norman’s Replacement Price]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOUSTON’S METHANE-POWERED TSUNAMI APOCALYPSE WON’T CHANGE A THING, REALLY “People will still drive their cars into the high water.” [Matt, commenting on And Now a Tall Blast of Hot Air from the Gulf]