Manson Floyd has a few things to say about that trailer park on 9th St., just west of Studewood in the Heights:
That park belongs to my Mother. She is 80 and on a respirator and has diabetes and the park is more an act of charity than an act of business. The renters do not pay on time, the City taxes the park more than the adjacent homes and yet she keeps it open. The Park represents what is very right and what is wrong with this country. . . .
SECOND-TO-LAST OF THE GREAT HEIGHTS TRAILER PARKS One of the last two trailer parks left in the Heights may not last much longer. Marian Floyd, owner of the Floyd Trailer Park — camped on a double-wide lot a couple properties west of Studewood on 9th St. since 1972 — has been having a tough time keeping up with rising property taxes. “Floyd said she needs to make a living, and she’s not willing to kick out her residents. She knows they don’t have much money, so she’s kept rent low over the years. But as property values — and the taxes she has to pay — have soared, Floyd has struggled to make ends meet. Between 2004 and 2008, the value of the park’s land soared from about $155,000 to $362,600, according to county records. . . . When Floyd threatened to close the park last month, the residents offered to pay more rent. Gloria Aguilar who lives in a nearby trailer with her husband and three children said she’d pay $300 per month instead of $200. Carlos Salgado, who lives with three friends, offered $300 instead of $225. Gutierrez, too, said she’d pay more. The landlord relented. But the trailer park’s residents worry for the future.” [Houston Chronicle]
HCAD APPRAISALS: THE $500K DIVIDE 45 percent of the 860,000 single-family-home appraisals completed by HCAD so far this year show a lower market value than last year; 39 percent are the same, and 16 percent have gone up. “‘Appraisal value is down about 2.5 percent (overall),’ said Assistant Chief Appraiser Gus Griscom of the completed figures. . . . Homes valued at $500,000 or more received the highest percentage of actual value increases. Homes valued at $250,000 or less were given the highest percentage of value reductions. Overall, of the statements currently being mailed, homes valued at more than $500,000 saw their market values increase on the average anywhere from 5.17 percent at the lower end to 5.81 percent for homes valued at $1 million or more. The above-$500,000 valuation group accounts for a little more than 3 percent of the appraisals being mailed.” [River Oaks Examiner]
PROPERTY TAX PROTESTS: DIFFERENT COUNTIES, DIFFERENT RULES Bring up the number of foreclosures and the amount of time properties have been sitting on the market in your neighborhood when you protest your property taxes, and the Harris County Appraisal District will take that evidence into account. But the Fort Bend County Appraisal District won’t. [Houston Press]
