11 Comment

• Carpetbagger July 14, 2016 at 8:54 am

  The HAR continues aping the oil industry by peppering its PR releases with optimistic phrases like “best ever sales,” “boosting supply,” “second highest level of all time,” and “solid buying activity.”

  Then you look at the actual data and things may not be so rosy http://www.har.com/content/newsroom
• Carpetbagger July 14, 2016 at 8:58 am

  I mean, seriously: “The brisk pace of sales has come even as Houston’s economy has slowed” could be translated as “people are dumping their houses as they lose their jobs.”
• Bocepheus July 14, 2016 at 9:09 am

  I laugh at the Elan Heights (apartment complex pictured) project built 100% in the flood every time I drive by it. They need a sign that reads “no leasing to people that dont know how much this site floods”.
• joel July 14, 2016 at 9:14 am

  Considering home sales are staying strong in spite of slowly eroding regional business conditions I think we should all be happy with this report. But yes, I think this is clearly a case of increasing supply hitting flat demand and previously pent-up buyers jumping on the lower listing prices. Average home prices will continue to set records as the low end of the market/inventory disappears, but no doubt that these record prices are buying more sqft than they were just 2 years ago.
  .
  Considering 2017 will be the hardest year yet for the energy industry I’ve definitely put myself on the sidelines for now. Hoping there’s a growing percentage of energy folks in the same bucket as myself to get prices back in line with historical trendlines based on wages and not speculation.
• JJ July 14, 2016 at 9:34 am

  @Bocepheus Don’t know if you have ever noticed but…
  http://swamplot.com/elan-heights-shows-off-its-4-floors-of-apartment-flooding-insurance/2015-05-26/
  .
  These apartments were built basically on concrete stilts. There is minimal damage done from floods, even with the last few major floods. You can keep laughing though, they say its good for you.
• roadchick July 14, 2016 at 10:12 am

  Someone needs to take away HAR’s rose-colored glasses.
• Heightsresident July 14, 2016 at 10:26 am

  @Bocephus. That’s why the first 3 levels are garage. Just make sure you have good comprehensive coverage on your car insurance!
• commonsense July 14, 2016 at 10:50 am

  HAR PR people are pretty slick, they would make Joseph Goebbels blush. It’s like calling a catastrophic nuclear reactor explosion an unscheduled exploratory disassembly.
• bocephus July 14, 2016 at 12:55 pm

  I get that the living units are out of the flood, being that they are on stilts. Not even addressing all of the cars that will flood, and the environmental damage, what happens when the hundreds of residents are literally stranded in the midrise. Is there a generator for power, or a boat food delivery system, onsite HPD and paramedics? I see kind of a superdome after Katrina atmosphere in the event of a major flood :)
• Kokatat July 14, 2016 at 2:18 pm

  @ Bocephus – The north side of the structure is not in the 100-Yr floodplain… The building should be fully accessible during extreme storm events.

  The south side appears to be 6-8 ft inundated. My guess is they set the first level of parking garage 1-ft above the 100-yr floodplain (I think the COH FMO requires this). So there should be no car damage\environmental impacts.
• Bocepheus July 14, 2016 at 4:59 pm

  Ha, yea its not in the 100 but its in the 500 (and we all know how accurate those flood maps have been)

  I will leave this here.

  http://swamplot.com/white-oak-dr-bus-stop-sign-still-valiantly-flagging-down-passengers-despite-full-metro-service-halt/2016-04-18/