-ITL lifer

**First**

As background, I am an Inside-the-Loop homeowner, and I have family-members who have lived/worked in the Clarendon and Ballston areas for years (in Arlington, VA). Your two comparisons here are inadequate.

Here are the 2 properties you use to describe Houston ITL homes:
$549,000 / $485,000
3,131 sq.ft.; 2005 construction; 4BR/3.5BA; 2,500 sq.ft. lot; modern townhome
2,809 sq.ft.; 2003 construction; 3BR/3.5BA; 1,715 sq.ft. lot; modern townhome

Here are the 2 properties you use to describe Arlington / D.C. homes:
$599,000 / $449,000
1,050 sq.ft.; 1925 construction; 2BR/2BA; 7,840 sq.ft. lot; 84-year-old bungalow
1,244 sq.ft.; 1912 construction; 3BR/1.5BA; 870 sq.ft. lot; 97-year-old rowhome

They roughly cost the same amount. And that’s supposed to establish that the housing costs are roughly commensurate?!? It’s a poor comparison.

There are plenty of places Inside the Loop where you could find a *much, much* more comparable property to the ones you referenced in D.C. Off the top of my head, here is a property—which is located near Lovett and Montrose, one of the most interesting and prettiest areas inside the loop—that is much more comparable:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/birds-eye-view-map/28197679_zpid/#street-view

$193,000 (granted it’s Zillow, but they’re usually in the right ballpark)
1,386 sq.ft., 1972 construction, 2BR/2BA, [very small lot], 37-year-old rowhome

Here are the VA/D.C. comparisons again:

$599,000 / $449,000
1,050 sq.ft.; 1925 construction; 2BR/2BA; 7,840 sq.ft. lot; 84-year-old bungalow
1,244 sq.ft.; 1912 construction; 3BR/1.5BA; 870 sq.ft. lot; 97-year-old rowhome

The Lovett street rowhome is on a pretty, oak-lined street; within walking distance of many of the best restaurants / most interesting establishments in Houston; is within 1 mile (Downtown); 1 mile (TMC); and 4 miles (Uptown); of 3 of the largest 20 Business Districts in the United States; and is only a 3 minute longer walk to our future Light Rail stop than the Ballston bungalow. To be clear, this is NOT comparable to the experience you would get in Arlington or D.C. (which I’ll discuss in a second).

My point, however, is that this is one of the best areas in Houston to make a comparison (one of the most comparable areas we have to offer). And using this as a comparison, the Houston rowhome is roughly 50% the price of the D.C. rowhome, despite being 60 years younger and having otherwise comparable measurables. I use this only as an example, as I believe it is generally indicative of many other properties in the ITL market.

**Second**

You mention throughout the post all of the ways in which the VA/D.C. areas provide better public services than the comparable Inside the Loop areas. **This is absolutely true.** Arlington is a beautiful area that is well-planned, has great transit, is very pedestrian friendly, and is home to one of the most educated populations in the world. There are many reasons why someone would want to live in an Arlington neighborhood rather than Inside the Loop in Houston.

My proposition, for the sake of clarity, is to keep housing costs comparisons and quality of life comparisons separate. People knowingly accept a different (in most viewpoints, less desirable) experience when moving to Houston instead of D.C., Manhattan, SF, Chicago, etc.

My argument though is that housing Inside the Loop is much more affordable than housing of similar construction, square footage, age, quality, etc. in Arlington or comparable areas. I think that thorough market research will resoundingly prove that point. Based upon my research looking into both markets heavily over the last 1+ years (on behalf of my family and myself), I’ve concluded that Houston Inside the Loop is notably cheaper.

Final Point: As you mentioned, Arlington has a huge leg up on Houston with regard to many land use issues. That said, Houston ITL has the potential to become a truly special urban area over the few decades. I hope this blog will be a part of that because our city really needs more community discussion about how to get from Point A to Point B. The exciting part is that there’s a lot of untapped potential here. The frustrating part is that little has been done about it in many years. I hope you guys will play a part in helping us turn that around.

No doubt Houston lacks by comparison for urban neighborhoods. I would argue that Houston, even inside the loop, is primarily suburban in nature. It’s just the age of the subdivisions and the trends in place when they were built that differs.

I don’t personally know anyone who is particularly proud of the suburban, car dependent lifestyle or really disdains urban living. The typical answers I get when I ask why someone bought in one of the far flung master planned communities is that the schools are better, or they once had an old house and they don’t want to deal with the repairs/remodeling needed, or they feel safer away from the urban core, or the amenities they are looking for are more readily available (usually this is an avid golfer who wants to be in a golf course community), or most typically they get more house for the price and/or they can’t even afford to live inside the loop at their income level.

Finally, the perceived hostility goes both ways. Living on the west side past the beltway I get the impression that many inner-loopers believe everything outside the loop is a zombie wasteland. I’ve visited many of the almost ex-urban master planned communities that form the edge of the metro area and I agree that they are way too car dependent for my taste but much of the city inside the highway 6/fm 1960 loop dates from the 50′ through the early 80′s. These areas have a plethora of shopping and dining options nearby due to the length of time they have been there and the subsequent commercial development and redevelopment that has occurred. Metro also serves these areas in a reasonable manner and the cultural diversity is widespread. If you want to defend Houston to outsiders then you need to explain the other great things about living here. If all you compare are expensive urban neighborhoods then not only are you missing an opportunity to let others know about the great diversity, food and quality of life here but you will also lose the debate.

Is this really people in Houston that you hear this from, or the vested interests? We have a lot of powerful people and interest groups in Houston that have a monetary interest in promoting a suburban culture, but I don’t think the average person scorns the types of things you’ve promoted on this blog like more mixed-use, walkable, urban environments – I think they actually enjoy these things just like you do. Many people may not be able to afford to live in that type of environment here in Houston, but that’s a separate issue.

What ARP is saying is the same thing my wife and I have run into living here: if you WANT an urban neighborhood and you DON’T WANT to spend all your life in traffic, then you’re not likely to save any money over other parts of the country, AND you won’t get as nice of a neighborhood.

When it comes to urban neighborhood, frankly, Houston is lacking. There are many nice ‘spots’ where you’ve got a block or two that’s really cool (Midtown Square, for instance), but there aren’t large thriving districts here where one can really enjoy an urban life. Even Dallas with its Downtown / Uptown district is light years ahead of what’s available today in Houston if you want a nice urban life.

But even worse than the lack of available product is the disdain for urbanity that Houstonians so often express. People in Houston are often very proud of their suburban, car-dependent lifestyle, and very scornful of anyone who might like something different. The hostility of the suburbanites here, and the limited supply of quality urban neighborhoods are significant contributors to the perception – especially among young professionals – that Houston isn’t a desirable place to live.

It’s frustrating that when I travel I always find myself defending Houston as a place to live. Things are getting better, and I think Houston’s economic success is paving the way for it to emerge as a world class city in the next generation, but the sooner we can get over the hostility between suburban and urban the better. I’m content to let the suburbanites live out on the edge, it would be nice if they wouldn’t be so hostile to us living in the center.

Even so, two houses do not a market make. If you want to do a real survey you’re going to need to do a comparison across the spectrum of available housing. These two properties are quite a bit above the mean and out of reach for most Houston residents. Houston’s strength in this regard is very much in the outside-the-loop areas, not in the inner core, and any good comparisons need to include those properties as well. The point of many of the house price comparisons I have seen is that the average family can get more for their money in the Houston metro area than they can in other large metro areas. I think you will find that while there are some areas where the house prices are similar enough to argue that the difference in tax rates tips the scales away from Houston, that you will also find many more areas where there is still a real difference in prices.

Once I get a little more time, I will look a little more into other comparisons but here is a link to a 3-2 bungalow in Woodland Heights on a smaller lot listed at $545,000. The home itself has more square feet though which plays into your point about the difference in mindset.
Link

Again, my overall point is that unless you are looking to buy way out, the prices are not as cheap here as often advertised.

Fair enough point. Perhaps my next experiment will look at the cities you recommend.

As far as the Washington area benefiting from the federal government, that is true. But couldn’t the same be said for, say the Clear Lake area? What would that are be without NASA? I think you will find that every city and every area of the country benefits from federal dollars.

As far as Metro, while most other cities (like Houston) have subsidized sprawl growth through federal highway subsidies, Washington lacks the same extensive highway system. You have to remember that Metro was initially proposed in the 1970’s as an alternative to a massive highway system crisscrossing the Washington DC area. Residents and city leaders where concerned that such a system would destroy the urban neighborhoods in the city and, in looking at what happened to many other cities in the country, I believe they were correct. While other cities, like Houston, have numerous highways entering, crisscrossing and encircling the inner portions of the city, Washington does not. Washington has one loop (the Beltway) and essentially only two highways that actually enter the city as such and traverse the city itself (I-395 and I-295). Both eventually connect back to the Beltway in a rather convoluted manner through the Anacostia Freeway, which is something more akin to the Allen Parkway rather an actual highway. I-66, which runs through Arlington, is all HOV during rush hours and ends in a stop light on Independence Avenue once you cross into Washington from Virginia.