<p>My relative is planning to go to Houston to purchase a place near Baylor Medical School. He’ll be a student there for the next four years and they want any recommendations on good realtors. Thanks for any suggestions and referrals.</p>
<p>Have sent an email to realtor friend in HI. She has offered to refer relative to contact in Houston or at least Texas (forwarded the email to relative). The med school also has a list of realtors they recommend.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that no one has posted about any good realtors that they might recommend. Anyone?</p>
<p>I am not sure we should be posting realtor recommendations in CC. </p>
<p>[Houston</a> Real estate, Houston homes, Houston Realtors - HAR.com](<a href=“http://www.har.com%5DHouston”>http://www.har.com) has listings. [Harris</a> County Appraisal District](<a href=“http://www.hcad.org%5DHarris”>http://www.hcad.org) has current appraisals tax assessments.</p>
<p>So if you like a condo in HAR, you can look at the appraisal to see if it is worth it.</p>
<p>Make sure your relative understands the dynamics of Houston real estate market. In Atlanta, 4 years would most likely be to short of a window to guarantee ROI. Texas has no state income tax so property taxes are high (relative to the South, perhaps not the country).</p>
<p>Ok. Thanks for these tips. Relative is pretty sophisticated investor with a lot of capital. I’m sure he’ll do his due diligence.</p>
<p>Houston’s real estate does not appreciate but by the same token it does not depreciate much either. We spent 12 years starting in a brand new home in the suburbs and sold it for about what we paid for it with zero appreciation. </p>
<p>Medical school area has condos available for anywhere between 100k to 300k or more depending how posh one needs to be. Lot of the Baylor students (and may be some UT-h non residents but not many to go around) buy one in order to get in state tuition after year 1. However, the rents are reasonably high in that area (1000+ a month) and so occupying a 100k condo for 4 years practically pays for itself.</p>
<p>realtor referral would be considered solicitation and I was reprimanded on a similar subject.</p>
<p>Don’t expect Houston real estate be appreciate much, unless you are in the extreme selective neighborhood. My friend’s house did not appreciate for the last 30 years and he is in the good neighborhood. Consider the condos you bought as “better than dorm”.</p>
<p>Sorry. Don’t want to violate TOS. Thanks for these helpful insights. Am sharing them.</p>
<p>If he is buying near the medical school, his condo may have future rental potential. Worth considering, but that said, I know nothing of the Houston market.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that the Houston real estate market is really hot right now. The inventory is low and houses are being sold quickly and at above listed prices. And texaspg, I don’t know about the suburbs, but I live a few miles away from the Medical Center/Rice U area and our house’s value has almost tripled in the 20 years we’ve owned it. Condo values might be a different story, though.</p>
<p>blakeyedsusan, that is great about your values. DH and I made a huge profit off our 15 year old house in Dallas last fall (not as good as yours, my goodness, but happy with it all the same). Same situation-there was very very little inventory in our neighborhood, which is considered a desirable one, and we had a buyer who was moving from out of state and literally HAD to find a place fast. He literally flew in one weekend and went to open houses, found our house, and we were out of there in 12 days! :eek:</p>
<p>Hope the market continues to improve. :)</p>
<p>Update: they purchased a place and it’s on the bus line, so the med student can bus to school. They’re all happy and now trying to figure the best way to get the car from HI to Texas. Sent them an old thread about transporting cars, as well as a link I found about a company that advertises transporting cars HI to TX. Thanks to everyone for your help.</p>