Soaring home prices put a dent in Houston's reputation for affordability (Spring: apartment complex, how much)

[fnh]

Originally Posted by DejaBlue

Not completely. It's not like those schoools are only one people. The magnets are still majority Hispanic but with the test numbers and prestege parents ignore that and are getting a little Wanda Holloway like wanting their kids in the magnets or the vanguard or whatever. Not everyone can get in and people get crazy when desperate and parents sound on the beginning of desperate.

I hear you. The point is the selection bias, whether it is economic or academic, that is hard to tease apart from actual school quality (which is a squishy metric anyway) when comparing with more broad-based, 'normal' schools. At least the magnets alleviate some of the real estate/income barriers for entry.

And to your previous point, it isn't only HISD that struggles with tremendous disparity between the "have" and "have not" schools. This is where I think the farther suburban districts have an advantage in that the population is more evenly distributed, not as segregated as the districts closer in.

[diggity101]

(Stratford was indeed only a two star "acceptable" school just two or three years ago. I didn't say it was ghetto, here or before. It is curious to me that similarly rated schools elicit warnings and concern, while certain schools get a pass. People clearly did overlook far west Houston in favor of Katy until just the last decade when it started to fill back in toward Houston. That is simply history, why does it offend you so much?)

quit while you're behind. Anyone that presumes to know that area would know that Stratford has always been considered a good school. It has had ups and downs like any school but nothing like the schools you compared it to. The idea that it has somehow "turned around" recently is silly.

[Neo45]

Good. Out of staters usually get on my nerves because Houston is such a different city than most in the country. Oh well!!! These people won't dare move into the hoods where you can get an extremely cheap house and be 10-15 minutes away from downtown

[Neo45]

Originally Posted by tstone

Lots of housing available <$199k "inside loop 610." Really half of it by area. The problem is "Casey" and "Caitlyn" wouldn't dare set foot over there unless it's to go to Ninfa's.

Lmao amen tstone!! I could care less about this because ill be dead before any of these areas get gentrified and their houses prices shoot up.

[HLS14]

As one of the people you guys complain about (a soon to be Houston transplant) I think the houses are dirt cheap. I only want to spend about 400K and the amount of house I can get for that is astounding. I worked in London and 400K gets you a small apartment near the outskirts of town. I'll be coming from Boston where my 1 bdrm, 720 sqft apartment is $1825 a month, that's with old appliances and no dishwasher. The houses i'm looking at have all new appliances, 3000+ sqft, gated communities, with huge back yards. The only thing I don't like is the super high property taxes but it's a tradeoff I can take for warmer weather. Graduation can't come fast enough, see you guys in a month.

P.s. traffic would be so much better if you guys had a semblance of public transportation. I'd prefer to commute on the subway or train but it doesn't seem like that's possible so I'll be contributing to the terrible traffic .

[Neo45]

Hls just drop the Boston accent and remember the left freeway lane is for hauling ass or passing people up!!

[HLS14]

Originally Posted by Neo45

Hls just drop the Boston accent and remember the left freeway lane is for hauling ass or passing people up!!

Haha fortunately I'm from the midwest (Chicago) so I speak English and not Boston. I really hope you guys drive better than the drivers up here. Can you turn right on red in Houston?

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by HLS14

P.s. traffic would be so much better if you guys had a semblance of public transportation. I'd prefer to commute on the subway or train but it doesn't seem like that's possible so I'll be contributing to the terrible traffic .

You get what you pay for.

And really, you get less value now than you did just six or seven years ago.

[Vicman]

I wonder if people with less money can get in a group and band to "take over" struggling neighborhoods in the loop - if there is a depressed neighborhood with five or so houses for sale, a group can buy the houses and move in en masse.

If criminals threaten them, they can say "Don't try us. Do it, and you will be on Worldstar."

[fnh]

I'll bet Casey and Caitlyn didn't look here:
Houston neighborhoods see skyrocketing home values - Houston Chronicle

Probably because some are zoned to a 'bad' two-star school vs. a 'good' two-star school.
Houston Schools - Most Viewed Schools By Grade Type - HAR.com

(I can't tell if it is racism or inferiority complex to deny that certain schools are deemed 'good' while others are unfairly labeled 'bad' with similar performance. It isn't binary, people, though clearly some posters here think that way.)

Vicman, it's already happened, is happening, in neighborhoods once shunned. I just lunched with a friend who bought a fourth home in Sharpstown. (Provided as example, I know not ITL proper.) I wonder if in a few years people will be attacked for suggesting that buyers once overlooked Sharpstown for Sugar Land. I'd like to see Sharpstown improve, too.

Thank you, HSLR, for some perspective. I know people who have never left Houston are struggling with the run up in housing prices, but Houston is still a tremendous bargain compared to other major cities.