News from the front

The war continues between me and the Houston housing market, but even in the mud and noise of war, a flower blooms.

We're still battling to find a house to buy or rent. You'll recall from the last blog that we'd found a house only to discover that a petroleum pipeline ran near the house. THAT turned out not to be the problem; the problem was that the builder had operated under more than one company name in the last several years, had been to court and lost concerning shoddy workmanship, and was in some financial straights. Cross another house off our list.

We decided to punt and find something to rent: a townhouse close to work maybe. We enlisted another agent who specializes in rentals. We toured maybe ten places and found two that fit the bill. After debating over night we called the agent to pull the trigger on one. She told us that both had been rented -- one for more than its asking price. Two things are at work here: the refugees from Hurricane Ike all need to rent places until their houses are rebuilt and people whose houses are foreclosed all need to rent somewhere to live. The Houston rental market, particularly for upscale places in nice parts of town, has sky rocketed.

So, we go back to realtor #1 telling her to boost the ceiling price we're willing to pay and to show us houses built after 2003. She finds us three: in a country club, on a golf course, beautiful layout, brand new, and not over budget ... and directly under the landing pattern for Bush Intercontinental Airport. The planes come over the house at about 3000-feet. The noise is perhaps not as bad as we experienced in UK. The people we talked with who live there say, "Oh, yeah. The airplanes. What ever." We love the houses, love the location (the country club has the right feel, isn't expensive, has 27-hole golf course), it's only 35 minutes from work.

What to do, what to do?

The bright spots are more like candles in a cave, but we're taking our happiness where we can:

I passed my Texas driving test.

Wife has a new iPhone ... which I should say is really cool and fun and over priced and carries a hefty monthly fee. Did I mention it's really cool?

We're going to get a refund on our sofa that the moving company lost ... when I moved TO the UK seven years ago.

Good Buddy Bruce was here on his way back from Venzeuela with news that he's NOT retiring because he's been promoted to a great new job.

Work is good and I'm starting to find direction there. No promotion in sight or hearing, but, hey, in these times -- a job's a job.

My mom's doing well and having her 88th (I think) birthday ... or maybe she already had it ... I can never remember whether it's Oct 13 or Oct 17.

My daughter's and her husband are doing well. She teaching and acting.

And ... oh, darn ... that's it.

Will I NEVER learn?

At last post we'd just backed out of a contract for a house we loved in Sugar Land, Texas. We'd also just started looking at houses north of the city and I'd said we'd found "quite a few possibles".

The part I left out was that one of the possibles was an absolutely gorgeous custom built home on a lake in the Senterra subdivision of Spring, Texas. It's unfinished, but even in that state it's impressive:




o Sits on a natural, not canal-like, lake.
o Has 3300 sq ft of floor space
o Three bedrooms including a master that looks out on the lake.



o Study with wood wainscoting (I think that's what you call it) and a computer nook just off of it. Full bath too so it could be a third guest room.


o Beautiful kitchen that opens onto the family room, breakfast area, and views of the lake.


o Formal living room that you see directly across the foyer as you walk in and a view of the lake through the picture window.
o Huge diningroom with butler's pantry.

o Two covered patios looking out on the lake with access from family room and master bedroom.
o Three car garage (no more wondering where to put my windsurfing equipment).
o Table for folding clothes and a sink in the utility room.
o Corner lot with a second lake (retainment pond actually) across the street.
o The not-yet-completed community swimming pool is across the lake.
o There's a public golf course within 15 minute drive.
o AND it's at least $200,000 more than we were planning on spending.
o AND it's a 55 minute commute to my office ... on good days.

We drove out there on Sunday. We walked through it again, and frankly just fell completely in love with it. We asked ourselves, "Why are we not just taking this? It's the perfect house for us and who cares how much it costs if we've got the money? Why are we even debating this?" We walked around the lake and saw a few minnows swimming plus signs people have been fishing. We had mild concerns about where the lake's outlet is; how does it keep from flooding the houses? But still. I could see taking this house and never moving again.

Then Lara sees a pipe sticking up out of the ground just on the property line: "Warning - Petroleum Product Pipeline -- call 1-888-555-You're-F-ked to report explosions, fires and other destruction. Sorry about that." Well, I'm kidding about what the sign said, but not about there being a 10 inch gasoline pipeline running next to the property. It carries as much as 1500 barrels (60,000 gallons!) of gasoline an hour and can run at 500 psi. It was laid in 1948.

I can hear god in his arm chair saying, "I TOLD you not to buy a house. Why won't you listen?"

Then why does he keep putting houses we like in our way and then jerking them out from under us.

Truthfully, we like it so much, we may buy it anyway.

Today though, we're off to look at townhouses to rent ... again. Maybe we'll find something we love that we don't have to buy.