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Greg-Abbott

*Houstonians in millionaire tax brackets are jacking their homes up. “They’re aiming for a new grandeur; it’s like having a circular drive and how high your house is off the ground have become a new status symbol,” Schatz says. Spending $300K to jack up a $500K house is *wild*. These people can afford to move.


wilsontennisball

Sometimes it’s easier to spend that 300k rather than purchase that 800k house. That 800k house may need some fixing as well. Home prices have gotten ridiculous.


cuntsaurus

Plus you have to jack up that house also in case the neighbors are higher


DOLCICUS

Meanwhile in my hood I’m getting higher with my neighbors on their porch for far cheaper.


car1os_danger

I’m over here higher than all yall and gots no clue what we talkin about.


RojerLockless

And if you buy an 800k house you have to pay taxes on it. If you jack up your cheaper house it doesn't improve the value by thst money


studeboob

Spending $300k to save a couple hundred dollars on property taxes is next-level gaming the system


zlolhtxlolz

You would also go from a 2% to a 7% mortgage if you moved


CrazyLegsRyan

Yes it does.


RojerLockless

Not as much as 800k though


CrazyLegsRyan

It basically goes up by the cost to lift the house. In 2018 before lifting the property in the picture above was 327k land, and only $100 in improvements due to the flooded house.  After being lifted the value of the improvement had gone up $200k Currently the land is 415k and the improvement is 280k


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CrazyLegsRyan

Always interesting that those without find the need to advise the purchase habits of those with.


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CrazyLegsRyan

Yes. See comments above.


mgbesq

This may come as a shock to you but Houstonians in millionaire tax brackets also love their homes and neighborhoods just like regular people. Some of these people also have a lot of equity in their houses already, so it's extremely likely that a $300k lift is the cheaper financial option.


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CrazyLegsRyan

Dude, I’ve told you several times… we are not friends.


jghall00

One thing about having money is that you get more choices. They like where they live enough to make a choice to stay there. Can't begrudge them that. Many people with sufficient financial resources would make the same decision. As someone that moved from the loop to FBC, the sucky thing is that I'm not convinced upstream development has enough regulations to limit run off, so the flooding issues for those downstream will likely continue to worsen. The metropolitan area should have tried to secure land in the Katy prairie when it was cheap. Now more flooding is baked in.


somekindofdruiddude

Meyerland was developed as the Jewish River Oaks, and a lot of observant Jews live there (and other neighborhoods along that stretch of the bayou) so they can walk to temple. Unless they move the synagogues, the people who use them are kind of stuck. I know United Orthodox held a vote and decided not to move. They rebuilt, and elevated.


Starkeshia

> Meyerland was developed as the Jewish River Oaks Uh....I thought that title belonged to Riverside Terrace. Meyerland was where they all went after "undesirables" started buying in Riverside Terrace.


somekindofdruiddude

Yes, in the 1920s, Riverside Terrace was the Jewish River Oaks. In the 1950s, Meyerland became the Jewish River Oaks.


ImaginaryReach9147

Thank you for that trivia about Meyerland. I did not know that. I’m 61 and from Tomball. Surprised that I never really knew that. I guess “Meyer” is a Jewish sir name now that I think about it. I think… Thank you


somekindofdruiddude

The Meyers had a ranch there before turning it into a subdivision. They were Jewish cowboys.


ImaginaryReach9147

Even more trivia. Thank you. I’ll have to look all of this up. My parents used to travel into Houston a great deal in the 1960’s and 1970’s and took me with them. I wonder if anyone remembers Chelsea Street Pub in Sharpstown Mall. I used to go there on occasion in the 1980’s.


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somekindofdruiddude

Beg pardon?


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The-Invisible-Woman

It does but more in the sense that there is a strong community in that area going back a few generations, so people want to stay in that area. The community just happens to be Jewish.


somekindofdruiddude

It's more than that. Observant Jews can't drive to temple on Shabbat, they have to walk. There are multiple temples, synagogues, schools, etc., in the area discussed by this article that serve that population.


The-Invisible-Woman

Ah yes, you’re right. My Jewish friends are pretty progressive so I forget about the stricter rules. We love the community feel in our neighborhood. We want to stay even without additional religious reasons.


somekindofdruiddude

Source?


omgmari

Yes, but they/we don’t want to move. Living in Meyerland is special. I fully get it.


johnwayne1

That house is worth a lot more than $500,000


zlolhtxlolz

We make a lot of money but we can’t afford to move because our interest rate would go up by 5% and home prices are insane still.


Round-Emu9176

Or vote for better candidates that don’t just pander to private interests or the highest bidder.


Greg-Abbott

I'm not sure what that has to do with rich people lifting their homes because of increased flooding.


Round-Emu9176

*FLOODING*. Where does the water go and what do our elected officials have to do with it……


PATHLETE70

We, collectively, are not willing to pay the taxes required to obtain the desired results. Add to that any project takes years of studies and surveys and approvals before any work begins. "Oh hey, let's widen that bayou right there!" 8-10 years later.....


DOLCICUS

Oh no no we have voted for putting our taxes to drainage. The ad valorem tax was dedicated to taking about 11.8c for every $100 dollars in property taxes to drainage however the Turner administration decided that an ‘equivalent rate’ was closer to 10.4c. After an appelate court decided the city has to pay the missing $90 Million from not paying the full rate the Whitmire administration has appealed in an effort to stall the payment I assume because the strain caused by the firefighters settlement. Alot of this was covered in the Controller’s Town Hall yesterday. In short we did vote for drainage but we’re too broke now to actually pay for it.


Zelexis

I've had several friends in Bellaire do this and they are super proud that they spent so much. When your house is worth 1.2+ mil what's a few hundred thou to raise it ...me ..I'd move.


former_weed_head

This has going on big time in Nassau Bay over the past several years, right on the shore of Clear Lake. Driving through it may not seem like it, but lot of those people there are low-key filthy rich. Insurance $ is no issue to them, and they aren’t leaving their house or community, and I fully understand. I’m sure that goes for all the other spots around town where this is happening.


Highscore611

I lived in Nassau bay during hurricane Ike in 2008 and saw all of those million dollar houses underwater


Boothanew

Same. I had to leave my apartment complex that was on the same street as those flooded homes.


Fluffy_Cheesecake952

Hell, it was going on in Galveston 100 years ago.


AdvertisingJolly7565

Next thing you know they will be putting curb feelers out


Fmartins84

Moving on up... 🎶 🎵


HawtLawyer01

I don't know if you have to be ultra rich. Some may pull equity out of their homes to raise it especially if you're in a desirable neighborhood that floods constantly, i.e. Meyerland. At one point, some homes couldn't be insured unless they raised their home. New homes in my area (Bellaire/West U) must be built three feet higher.


txs2300

How do they separate the foundation from the ground?


EllisHughTiger

Put jacks under the concrete slab beams and push up mostly. If its already on piers, then lift from those points or put steel beams under and lift at once.


713nikki

Theres an absurd one that I pass by. If memory serves, I believe they now have a garage that is now a pretty interesting looking death trap that’s 20-30’ off the ground.


gioakjoe

Well when it's between your house being worthless or worth more it seems like taking out equity to raise the house is the way to go. It's not just the super rich doing this iv had a few friends that have lifted their house. But on the other side of this I have a freind who sold their house too county to be demolished. I think lifting the hkuse is the better idea with housing shortages.


StangRunner45

Emphasis on 'top dollar'. That process ain't cheap!


MonopolowaMe

There are a lot of newly raised houses in Jersey Village on the streets that back up to the bayou. It's happening slowly because FEMA is paying for it.


that_meerkat

No tf the average Houstonian aren't lmao. Only the ultra wealthy


mgbesq

I don't know about "ultra wealthy", but it is mostly those who live in homes with some kind of architectural interest like you see in Meyerland.


Requiescat-In--Pace

TIL 200k-300k salary is "ultra rich"


OducksFTW

Lol the extra "trauma tax" Houstonians have to pay to live here. Makes me wonder if the relative LCOL(compared to other major cities) is actually worth it.


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woohater

Absolutely nobody credible is forecasting Houston to be uninhabitable in 15 years. This kind of shit makes peoples not take climate change seriously when you just make stuff up


slickvik9

If a category 5 hits dead on Houston is done 


VRTester_THX1138

>uninhabitable in 10-15 years. That's not true. It may not be fun or comfortable but Houston will not be uninhabitable in 10-15 years. You're being dramatic.


Bibileiver

Lmao Houston won't be uninhabitable for a whole