> (That whole business of no zoning laws also leads to some weird stuff, > compared to other cities, but Houston is kind of unique that way .. lol)
Actually, it wasn't Houston the second time, it was the Woodlands. This is important because it was a planned community that is now at 100k in size and transitioning from being an unincorporated area with a deed covenant to a town. Houses here are cheap for several reasons: 1) There aren't rules/laws that artificially inflate housing prices. 2) Land is plentiful and fairly inexpensive. 3) Labor costs building houses are low (illegal labor is probably involved here) What is really interesting is that there's been tremendous demand for housing here. In the 16 years we were here, the Woodlands grew by a factor of 3. Yet, prices have only gone up slowly. After adjusting for inflation, and the investment I made in the house (by investment I mean something new that improves the house, not maintenance like replacing the roof), I broke even selling the house. And that was after the housing _increased_ in value over the last year by about 5%. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
