What's New in West U? - Roger Martin's Blog

We Texans may not have a great deal of experience at winter weather -- but give us a brief snow flurry, and we can figure out what to do with it!

Even if Mr. Snowman is only fifteen inches tall!

Roger Martin

www.rogermartin.com

With the holidays fast approaching, home sellers sometimes wonder whether they should take their properties off the market and wait until the season is over.

But wait…  The holidays can actually be your best time to sell!  

Here’s why…

·        During the holidays, only serious buyers are out there shopping for homes. Casual lookers are in the malls hunting for other things.

·        Corporate transfers often choose to move at the winter break, to minimize the disruption in their kids’ schooling.  So expect to see out-of-town buyers hunting for homes at this time of year.

·        Your home will never look better nor feel more welcoming. You’ve decorated and freshened in anticipation of visiting friends and family.  That wreath on your door?  In real estate lingo, we call that curb appeal.  Everyday clutter has been cleared away and replaced with holiday decorations.  Hey!  Your home is staged!

·        And how about them cookies! With all the baking going on, your home simply smells its “homiest” during the holidays.

With the hubbub of holiday preparations, showing your home can be inconvenient. We usually recommend that a homeowner leave home for showings. (The buyer is more comfortable talking to their agent if you are not there.) However, if you are preparing for a dinner party, most people are very understanding. Just wish them the seasons greetings, hand them a cookie, and ignore them while you do what needs doing!

This week’s hint: If you have a Christmas tree, putting an inexpensive $5 battery powered smoke detector in that room is a good idea.

Roger Martin

www.rogermartin.com

I have always appreciated double-duty gifting and practice it whenever possible.  For example, if I am serving cookies at a real estate open house – they might as well be Girl Scout cookies, right? 

The same principles apply when shopping for gifts, jewelry, housewares, toys and stocking stuffers -- there is no better choice than Ten Thousand Villages at 2424A Rice Blvd.  Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit retail store, carrying Fair Trade items from more than 130 artisan co-ops in 38 countries.  Men and women around the world all share the same simple dream – to earn an honest living, to provide for their children and to be gainfully employed in a job that brings dignity and joy. Ten Thousand Villages improves our world by partnering with thousands of talented artisans in long-term, healthy business relationships. So go to www.villageshouston.org to check out their baskets, ornaments, scarves, stationary and other reasonably-priced gift items.

Happy Holidays!

Roger Martin

www.rogermartin.com

For twenty years now, the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of West U has sponsored a Halloween haunted house… but there’s more behind this neighborhood event than just a peek at your classic horror flick monsters!

The Haunted House Spooktacular was originally created by Debbie Ellis (a popular dance instructor when my son was in grade school).  Ticket sales are donated to West U’s Park Fund and are used to re-develop green space in our city.  When they are not covered in fluorescent face paint and artificial gore, the high school actors may be found in Bellaire’s Honor Society and Lamar’s drama classes.  The scary props are recycled from year-to-year and are stored in big closets upstairs at the Scout House.

The Haunted House is designed for children 7 and up.  One City employee described it as “scary – in a tasteful way!”  (Huh?)  For younger and more sensitive audiences, the City also sponsors a Pup Parade (but more on that later).

One last word of warning… just when you think you’re safely out of the spook house – beware!  This photo shows Leigh Ylanan, a Recreation Specialist with the City’s Parks Department and the organizer of this event.  Once a year, Leigh’s job requires her to lurk in the bushes with a noisy (but blade-less) chain saw.  Obviously, Leigh really loves her work!

Roger Martin

www.rogermartin.com

Is compromise now a dirty word?  Are we a nation divided against ourselves?  And if we are, what can we do to heal the widening breaches?  This week, I attended a lecture at the Rotary Club of West U (www.westurotary.org) that addressed exactly these issues. 

Cassandra Dahnke, of the Institute for Civility in Government, believes that there are two key threats to a nation’s political health:

.       Apathy – evidenced by a lack of participation at all levels of government, for our neighborhoods to our Capitol, and

.       Polarization – the fragmentation of our society along lines of race, socioeconomic groups, religion, age, politics and special interests.

Any nation experiencing both polarization and citizen apathy is a nation seriously at risk.

Cassandra and the Institute for Civility in Government do not endorse any political candidate or position.  Instead, they promote the process of civil discourse by teaching civility training workshops, organizing congressional student forums, and taking groups of high school student to Washington DC to experience government first hand.  Through their activities, they promote listening and communication skills, the importance of teamwork, resources for building civility, and a respect for other belief systems.

So there is something we can all do!  For more information (or to join the non-profit, 501 (c)3 Institute for Civility in Government) go to their website at www.instituteforcivility.org.

Roger Martin
www.rogermartin.com

We have all celebrated birthdays at Palace Lanes on Bellaire (see www.palacebowlinglanes.com), but this party was unusual -- the birthday girl was absent!   This annual gathering of 70 giggling girls was hosted by Evergreen Service Unit in honor of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouting.

Juliette, nicknamed “Daisy”, was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1860.  It is easy for kids to remember her birthday, because it always falls on Halloween!  When Juliette was 26, she married a wealthy Englishman.  It was in England that she met Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouting.  When Juliette returned to Savannah, she started a similar program for American girls. Her niece was the first registered Girl Scout.

Juliette died of breast cancer in 1927.  She never had any children of her own, but the movement she founded continues to this day.  Girl Scouting has influenced over fifty million young women worldwide.

Thank you, Juliette... and happy birthday!

P.S.  The chocolate fudge birthday cake from the new HEB Buffalo Market was absolutely awesome!  I highly recommend it.

Roger Martin

www.rogermartin.com

Please don’t mistake the green dots on this map for trees – they are foreclosures.  The Center for Public Policy at U of H has released the map above from a study on Inner Loop homes.  It is hard to see, so you might want to look at the original at http://www.uh.edu/cpp/Houston_Area_Foreclosures_Map.pdf.  It is worth noting how very, very few green dots (i.e. foreclosures) there are in the City of West University Place (red outline, mine). 

The lesson learned is that quality residential real estate may cost you more to acquire in the first place – but it appreciates more in a good market, recovers more quickly after a market shock, and looses value less in a downturn.  Thus, you are less likely to find yourself under water with respect to your mortgage, and more likely to have good choices and the time to implement them if you need it. 

This principle is what experienced real estate agents are referring to when they say a property does (or does not) have good resale value.  Listen to them!  In the long run, a modestly-priced quality property is usually a better investment than the bargain-basement, price-is-my-only-consideration “deal”.

Traditionally, West U has tended to rise strongly, followed by a plateau.  That is exactly what we are seeing now.  Our prices are flat or up a couple of percent relative to last year.

So, flat – it’s the new up!  And that sounds pretty good to me, at least by comparison to some of the national news.

Roger Martin

www.rogermartin.com

The City of West University Place is making GREAT progress on our new Recreation Center, located on the site of the former YMCA on Bellaire at Westpoint. The concrete parking lot is cured, and the new building is framed and covered with damp-proofing material (that neon green stuff in this photo).  The contractor began to sheath the building with stone in mid-October.  This project is really moving along – and is scheduled for completion next spring!

For sketches, floor plans, conceptual drawings and detailed progress reports, there is a wealth of information provided on the City’s website.  To read up, click here: http://www.westu.org/default.asp?menuid=10395&sub1menuid=12615&sub2menuid=12596

Well done, West U!

Roger Martin

www.rogermartin.com

The West U Rotary Club is currently challenging its members to raise funds to fight polio.  I decided to raise the ante a little bit, because I know how generous the citizens of West University Place and Texas can be!

I ran the names of our Rotary members through the Unclaimed Property website of the State of Texas at http://www.window.state.tx.us/up/.  I found a surprising amount of missing money, ranging from 27 cents on up to $1,100.00, maybe more!  I personally found over $100.

The challenge!!! Go to the website and see if you are there. Or your relatives. Or your friends. If anything comes of the search, send a tax deductible “finders fee” to: West U Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 272727, Houston, TX  77277-2727. The “finders fee” is whatever you want it to be. But “pinky swear” before you search that you will send a portion of what you find because this is money you forgot you had. And have your friends and relatives do the same.

A few hints. Be bold. If you lived anywhere in Texas, put that city in and search. I have found funds going back so far I still had hair. There is a link to other states that also retain funds…where did your parents or other relatives live?

Final warning, searching can be addictive! I’m sending out emails to friends from college. Not only are they going to donate, they buy lunch next time I see them.

And final note, search for West U Rotary on the Web. A whole lot of good is done there. You might even want to join.

Roger Martin

Many thanks to our friend Paul Martin for a ticket to the Rice Design Alliance’s recent Freight Rail Tour.  This trip gave a fascinating look at the industry that helped grow Houston into today’s economic powerhouse.

Freight railroads were once thought to be fading away -- but current traffic is rebounding, thanks largely to international container shipping.  Freight trains move cargo just as quickly as eighteen-wheelers, but they do it more safely, cheaply and efficiently.  A train is one of the “greenest” choices among the various transportation modes.  Each train can keep as many as 200-300 truck off our highways, while expending a tenth of the fuel and reducing smog-producing pollution by two-thirds.  And with 2,200 trains moving through Houston each week, that’s a huge savings in labor, fuel and pollution.  Now imagine what will happen when the newly-widened Panama Canal re-opens in 2014.  The Port of Houston (and its connecting railroads) can expect to be busier than ever!

So what is being shipped on these increasingly numerous freight trains?  And why should we care?  Trains carry the stuff of our American Dream – the concrete and lumber to build Houston’s houses; the energy to heat and cool them; the TV’s and VCR’s to furnish them; the grain to bake our daily bread; the t-shirts we wear; and the plastics for our children’s toys.

Freight trains are an essential component of our global supply chain – but as our city grows, the co-mingling of railroads and residential neighborhoods causes increasing problems.  Overpasses or underpasses can keep train and auto traffic separate, but they are expensive and disruptive to build.  Safety and noise can be a divisive issue as well.  In 2006, a three-way effort by the City of Houston, the City of Bellaire, and the City of West University Place created a “quiet zone” inside the West Loop.  Throughout this zone, the three cities provided advanced safety features at each street crossing.  In return, the railroads silenced the whistles that warn of oncoming trains.  But none of these solutions is simple, cheap or quick.

Which means we need to be a whole lot smarter about an issue that is critical to our city’s economic future.  For more information, see…

.       Citizens’ Transportation Coalition -- www.ctchouston.org

.       Houston Region Freight Rail Study -- www.houstonrailplan.com

.       “Economic Crossroads”, by Carolyn Feible, Houston Chronicle, September 1, 2009.

Ann Martin