23 Comment

• j June 22, 2015 at 10:11 am

  OK, thought there was going to be a story saying condos were going in and Ragin was sold. “Gumbo Enclave” anyone?
• Angostura June 22, 2015 at 10:45 am

  Hey Houston Chronicle,
  How about not waiting until the 9th paragraph to tell us WHICH section of 290 the defaulted contractor is responsible for. (It’s Pinemont to W. Little York, BTW.)
• lhd June 22, 2015 at 10:58 am

  I was hoping for a Ragin Cajun story too. The shopping center with the Bayou City Seafood restaurant down the street from Ragin Cajun is getting bulldozed.
• NotCommonsense June 22, 2015 at 12:03 pm

  Yarn-Bombers at buffalo bayou park? These sewing-terrorists have pulled the last string. We have to find these terrorist threads and needle them out of existence with precision strikes. No more shall we have vandalism bursting the seams of our gorgeous parks. Don’t be spoolish, these people, like veggie-terrorist are trying to unravel the American way. These jerks are on the cutting edge of bomb making, and if were not careful, we’ll be stitching together our parks for the next decade.
• MrEction June 22, 2015 at 12:30 pm

  Really happy to hear about more medial clinics being opened. I find they really help me stay centered.
• Needle nose June 22, 2015 at 12:37 pm

  NotCommonsense – Only a knit-wit would come-up with such a yarn….
• HouCynic June 22, 2015 at 12:54 pm

  @NotCommonsense… Hysterical!!!! But still love the Yarn Bombs when and wherever they land.
• commonsense June 22, 2015 at 1:03 pm

  Woodlands based Mexican construction business. I guess if you’ve never lived in the Woodlands, you don’t get the joke. Every local (I lived there for 4 years) knows exactly who these Mexican businessmen are, they’re a blurred conglomeration of old Mexican family money, corrupt politicians, and street pharmaceutical entrepreneurs stashing their wife and kids from the short arm of the law. You’d be surprised how many requests there are to purchase property in cash, as in green bills wrapped in rubber bands cash.
• cm June 22, 2015 at 1:16 pm

  I like everyone who lives along 290 (oak forest) am completely fed up with these delays on 290. This company should be responsible for paying for the daily inconveniences and dangerous as all hades freeway entrances that are 50-75 feet and merge directly into main lanes of freeway speed traffic.
• Swamplot June 22, 2015 at 1:28 pm

  @MrEction: Ha! Fixed our typo.
• Cody June 22, 2015 at 3:21 pm

  commonsense: Sadly even if you wanted to sell cash, you can’t. At least not at a title company (I’ve tried). And if you sold outside of a title company, god forbid you try to spend that money or deposit it. If you put more than $10k cash into the bank account, then you = money laundering terrorist according to our government.
  .
  Better not use cash, citizen!
• commonsense June 22, 2015 at 4:03 pm

  @Cody, it’s not as difficult as it may seem. You can still go to closing but make the contract price something nominal like $10,000 which is paid via a cashier’s check, then you accept the cash on the side (still in the title co office without the agent being in the room). Then we used the cash to pay our subcontractors who had no problems taking it. I’ve also deposited and withdrawn tens of thousands of dollars in cash from a local small bank and yes they make you fill out a “Large Cash Transaction” form but all they do is file it, I’ve never gotten any followup questions or phone calls from anybody EVER.
• Txcon June 22, 2015 at 8:42 pm

  @Notcommonsense

  I appreciate you getting to the point of the matter.
• IRS June 23, 2015 at 11:28 am

  Commonsense, may we have a “talk”?
• commonsense June 23, 2015 at 1:34 pm

  @IRS, you jest, but you obviously don’t know how IRS really works. If the cash is shown on your books just like any other transaction it’s perfectly legal. The cash transaction itself is never illegal, it’s the failure to show it on your books that is.
• MrEction June 23, 2015 at 2:43 pm

  I should have been clearer, Amazon pays sales tax in Texas. I think they are still skirting it in other places but not a lot. Most of the bigger states have already nailed it down.
• MrEction June 23, 2015 at 2:47 pm

  Whoops, that was meant for another thread. Also am I the only one not surprised to find out that commonsense does incredibly shady real estate deals?
• Cody June 23, 2015 at 4:19 pm

  commonsense: Interesting, thanks… It is frustrating though that spending/depositing cash has to be such a big f’ing deal. I can take a $500k cashiers check out to buy something, or deposit one, no problem. But cash? Sound the alarm.
• MrEction June 24, 2015 at 8:54 am

  That’s because a cashiers check is traceable and cash isn’t. I can not think of a single honest reason that you would want 500k in cash. It’s dangerous as hell to carry or use. It’s heavy/bulky. It requires a machine to count it. The only advantage is that it isn’t easily traceable which means you can use it to dodge taxes or other things. No surprise banks raise a huge eyebrow when that happens.
• commonsense June 24, 2015 at 11:17 am

  US Currency is legal tender for all debts public and private (it says that right on it). There’s a lot of misinformation from movies and scare tactics by the news on using cash which is simply not true. There are some major wallstreet deals that are done with palettes of cash, according to a documentary, apparently that has some tax advantages in certain states.
  There are also some practical reasons to use large amounts of cash, you can get discounts from vendors, and although it’s technically same amount as a check would be, it has some emotional incentives to people. It is also safer from civil legal action, can’t be frozen like a bank account, etc.
• MrEction June 24, 2015 at 12:13 pm

  How in the world did you get someone to accept a 10k cost basis on a 500+ house? That is a HUGE disadvantage for the buyer. I’m sorry but your story just doesn’t make much sense. The only reason someone would do an under the table deal like you’re describing, which would substantially hurt the buyer, would be if they had money they were trying to hide from the police/government. So basically money laundering. And it’s not even clever money laundering. Seeing a house to for 5% of it’s assessed value is going to raise some red flags somewhere. My guess is that most upstanding title companies wouldn’t even touch a deal like that simply to avoid all the headaches it could cause down the line.
• j June 24, 2015 at 1:39 pm

  I’m with Erection. Not to mention your subs mouthing off about how much cash you have locked up in your office or on you. Be careful man. You’ll get rolled or worse.
• commonsense June 24, 2015 at 2:14 pm

  @MrEction, you’re overthinking the issue. There’s no disadvantage to the buyer since they’re paying for the property in full, they presumably already paid the taxes while earning it. And if they didn’t pay the taxes, they just as easily could have not paid the taxes on funds brought with a cashier’s check. Nobody has to see what the house actually sold for, buy/sell contracts are a private matter, HAR reporting of private sale is strictly optional and most very high end homes are sold and never reported, only deed change filed with the county. There are no red flags for anyone to look at, and most importantly there’s no-one looking for the red flags, the governments monitoring of everyday business transactions is extremely exaggerated by the folklore.