It seems only right that my blog for the first week of places in Texas should start with Houston. After all it is my home town and really a great place to live. I know, I grew up in Tomball and it was a small town, nothing like the big city of Houston but I also have come to know, that little town would not be what it is today without Houston being close by and providing jobs for most of the people in town. Sure the commuting gets to be a drag but Hey, most folks I know will do what they need to do, to provide for their family. I remember one job I had with Conn's Appliance Stores where I drove twice a day from Spring Texas in the Woodlands area to the South side of Houston out on the Gulf freeway. That was about a two hour haul both ways. But like I said we all do what we gotta do. I mean, come on Y'all what's not to like about having plenty of JOBS available, LOW cost Housing compared to most states in the country, Loads of great ENTERTAINMENT like the Texans, the Rodeo, the Astros, the Opera, the Houston Museum, etc. etc. I could go on and on with that list as I think you probably get the idea that there is plenty to do around here. And Oh yes, did I mention some of the close in areas like Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico, Clear Lake, Lake Houston, Lake Livingston, Lake Sommerville, Sam Houston National forest and the Brazos River, and the Trinity river to name a few.
My current work, of course doesn't take me to all those fun places all the time, but this is a great area to work in and the freeways have come along ways since my early days of commuting from Tomball or spring. My work this week took me to the Houston permit office located off Washington Avenue near downtown. When modifications are made to the existing cell towers like changing antennas or cabinets, the tower company hires contract companies like I work for to do the work. Powder River Development Services is contracted through a company like Ericsson or General Dynamics to build and repair cell towers. Houston is home to over 29 Fortune 500 companies and 16 fortune 100 companies. Our city is the fourth largest city in the nation and has over 600 square miles off land. That's alot land for anybody to cover and room for alot of growth. In fact I checked this out on the Houston Texaplex video. Houston has a 30% growth rate and is home to over 5.7 million of us. For those of you that like all that sort of thing, please take time to click of the Houston Texaplex video posted at the bottom of this blog. It is very well done and tells the story about our city in an interesting short film. starting with the first words heard from the moon "Houston" and covering the entire aspect of the city in size, growth, entertainment, sports, housing, education, job market and my favorite golf. Did you know we have over 165 golf courses in our area and the weather allows us to play all year round. The average freezing days in Houston is less than 19 so there is no reason you can't chase the little white ball around in any month of the year. Now that's what I call living in paradise! Ha, But seriously another good Web site to check out our fair city and all it's opportunity is the City of Houston. That Web site is of course linked to the State Web site and for property information there is HCAD at the Harris County Appraisal district. I have posted these Web sites at the bottom of this blog as well.
Since starting this blog I am wanting to learn more about building the blog page so it is more interesting and hopefully I can also post some pictures or have a video or two from my travel around the State. Out side of Houston this week, I also went to Sealy, Wharton, Columbus and La Grange. These are all small towns around Houston and they like Tomball, benefit from Houston and it's ever expanding population. Remember that part about Houston have a 30% growth rate!?! Well all these towns benefit from that growth rate and there are plenty of people looking for that perfect little piece of heaven on an acre or two outside the city. I can certainly say I have seen alot of benefits from that growth over the years. In fact my job is mostly attributable to that growth rate and the need to expand the cell phone service. I say grow baby grow ! As a licensed Real Estate Broker that growth rate has also spelled lots of opportunity in land. Property is like gold around here, it just seems to keep on going up! Oh, yes there have been some down turns but the property values always seem to come back and keep going up. I certainly have seen land go from both ways but I also know that over the long haul land in definitely higher and values are up. The cost of housing in Houston is 26% below the national average and the cost of living in Houston is 12% below the national average. Those are some more stats courtesy of the Houston Texaplex video posted at the end of my blog here. So whether your living in a small town like Sealy or Tomball or you live in Downtown Houston like my good buddy Cleve Williams. Houston has alot to offer and most folks I know are happy they are here. But like I said to start with, I wish I had photos of some of the places I went through this week. The old courthouse in La Grange is a beautiful building and there is an oak tree on the courthouse lawn that just blows me away. It is huge! That tree must be 300 years old or more. Wow what a site! I will try to get better at this blogging and make my travel bring more interesting places into your view.
Thanks for looking in on me this week and Y'all and come back any time!
Charles L Mahan
PS: Those links I promised are
http://en.wikipedia.org/ Reference link
http://www.houstontx.gov/
http://www.hcad.org/
http://www.texaplex.com/ (you can view the Houston Texaplex video here or click on this U-tube link)
Very good second post. The more you wright the easier it will become. I checked out the texaplex site and I am impressed at the number of informational videos that you can view. Keep up the good work.
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