Here we go again - IKE

[riverrat]

Could be the alligator wasn't quite itself. They can't live in salt water and more than likely that water had a high salt content. They absorb through their skin so even if it wasn't actually drinking the water it still would have been suffering from the effects of dehydration. The nutria could have been as well. That storm wreaked havoc not only on the human population but the wildlife as well.

[RichardM]

Here's an album of post-Ike pics mostly taken from a boat cruising around Clear Lake after Ike:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ehmorrell/HurricaneIke

This one may look familiar to some of you:

[SHANEA]

This one may look familiar to some of you:

The site of the Houston bender a few years ago.

[Al]

BK, I haven't been able to find anything on how Nassau Bay fared.  Our family home for over 30 years, was near the end of Barbuda Lane at the lake.  We sold it about 10 years ago.  It was at ~14 - 15 msl. It never flooded the house although we did end up with motor boats in the front yard at least once.  Have you heard anything?

Al 

I want to thank RichardM for driving by our old place in Nassau Bay today at lunch.  Looks like it weathered yet another mighty storm pretty well.

Thanks again Richard,
Al

[RichardM]

BK, I haven't been able to find anything on how Nassau Bay fared.  Our family home for over 30 years, was near the end of Barbuda Lane at the lake.  We sold it about 10 years ago.  It was at ~14 - 15 msl. It never flooded the house although we did end up with motor boats in the front yard at least once.  Have you heard anything?

I want to thank RichardM for driving by our old place in Nassau Bay today at lunch.  Looks like it weathered yet another mighty storm pretty well.

Thanks again Richard,
Al

I thought about taking some pics of the flooded homes, but it seemed too disrespectful to take pictures of entire housefull's of people's belongings spread out on their front yards and driveways. I'm not sure if they've gotten power and water back yet either. Parts of the neighborhood look like a war zone.

[Al]

Yup, my parents chose the lot wisely all those many years ago.  Other parts of Nassau Bay are another thing.  The thing that strikes me is how much the Tax Assessor has increased property appraisals the last couple of years.  Bet he will have to back way off next year.  Look out Texas with property values dropping due to the "credit crisis" I bet the upcoming legislative session will not be pretty or nice . . . to us.

Al

[RichardM]

Yup, my parents chose the lot wisely all those many years ago.  Other parts of Nassau Bay are another thing.  The thing that strikes me is how much the Tax Assessor has increased property appraisals the last couple of years.  Bet he will have to back way off next year.  Look out Texas with property values dropping due to the "credit crisis" I bet the upcoming legislative session will not be pretty or nice . . . to us.

If you're looking for a logical response from the property tax assessor for Harris County you might be disappointed. Last year eighteen houses in my neighborhood (mine included) had their flood zone designation changed to 100 year floodway (which is the worst designation they have as far as I know). It's the zone where you're not allowed to build new properties, etc. Anyway, I expected an across the board significant reduction in tax values, right? Well, ours went down about 2%. The neighbors on either side had theirs go up by 8.7% and 3.4%. The rest of the houses ranged between -10.5% and +16.2%. Total for all the affected houses was +2.8%. No clue on how the flood zone designation will affect resale values, but it can't be good.

[Undertaker]

Common belief, as a real estate appraiser by profession, there is NO value differential between flood zone and no flood zone properties. Tax appraisals are based on AVM's with no real inspection of dwellings. While values may lower for a while as they did in Angelton following the floods years ago, folks have a short on no memory of the past. 

[cjacob]

Yup, my parents chose the lot wisely all those many years ago.  Other parts of Nassau Bay are another thing.  The thing that strikes me is how much the Tax Assessor has increased property appraisals the last couple of years.  Bet he will have to back way off next year.  Look out Texas with property values dropping due to the "credit crisis" I bet the upcoming legislative session will not be pretty or nice . . . to us.

If you're looking for a logical response from the property tax assessor for Harris County you might be disappointed. Last year eighteen houses in my neighborhood (mine included) had their flood zone designation changed to 100 year floodway (which is the worst designation they have as far as I know). It's the zone where you're not allowed to build new properties, etc. Anyway, I expected an across the board significant reduction in tax values, right? Well, ours went down about 2%. The neighbors on either side had theirs go up by 8.7% and 3.4%. The rest of the houses ranged between -10.5% and +16.2%. Total for all the affected houses was +2.8%. No clue on how the flood zone designation will affect resale values, but it can't be good.

Which FEMA Flood plan are you in.  I belive AE is the worst that you can be in.  I will not write an offer for a home in AE with out review by a trusted insureance advisor.  I would hate to sell someone a home that carries a $1400 a year flood ryder on a home with out the client knowing exactly what they are getting into.  For most clients I let them know its like making 13 payments a year due to just the flood ryder.  I have never had a client by a home in a Fema high risk flood plane. 

[RichardM]

Yup, my parents chose the lot wisely all those many years ago.  Other parts of Nassau Bay are another thing.  The thing that strikes me is how much the Tax Assessor has increased property appraisals the last couple of years.  Bet he will have to back way off next year.  Look out Texas with property values dropping due to the "credit crisis" I bet the upcoming legislative session will not be pretty or nice . . . to us.

If you're looking for a logical response from the property tax assessor for Harris County you might be disappointed. Last year eighteen houses in my neighborhood (mine included) had their flood zone designation changed to 100 year floodway (which is the worst designation they have as far as I know). It's the zone where you're not allowed to build new properties, etc. Anyway, I expected an across the board significant reduction in tax values, right? Well, ours went down about 2%. The neighbors on either side had theirs go up by 8.7% and 3.4%. The rest of the houses ranged between -10.5% and +16.2%. Total for all the affected houses was +2.8%. No clue on how the flood zone designation will affect resale values, but it can't be good.

Which FEMA Flood plan are you in.  I belive AE is the worst that you can be in.  I will not write an offer for a home in AE with out review by a trusted insureance advisor.  I would hate to sell someone a home that carries a $1400 a year flood ryder on a home with out the client knowing exactly what they are getting into.  For most clients I let them know its like making 13 payments a year due to just the flood ryder.  I have never had a client by a home in a Fema high risk flood plane. 

Um, yeah...we're now in AE. However, most of our front yard is still in X. Our yearly flood insurance policy only went up from around $340 to $385 or so. One of the houses that got re-zoned has been on the market for a while, but it's ridiculously over-priced so it's no surprise it hasn't sold.

[Al]

I've never looked at the FEMA FIRM map so I don't know the flood zone type.  The house was built in 1965 and was located using anecdotal knowledge which by luck, if nothing else worked out all these years, despite its location across the street from Clear Creek.  

Al

[RichardM]

I've never looked at the FEMA FIRM map so I don't know the flood zone type.  The house was built in 1965 and was located using anecdotal knowledge which by luck, if nothing else worked out all these years, despite its location across the street from Clear Creek.  

For Harris County properties, go here:
http://maps2.tsarp.org/tsarp/

[cjacob]

Yup, my parents chose the lot wisely all those many years ago.  Other parts of Nassau Bay are another thing.  The thing that strikes me is how much the Tax Assessor has increased property appraisals the last couple of years.  Bet he will have to back way off next year.  Look out Texas with property values dropping due to the "credit crisis" I bet the upcoming legislative session will not be pretty or nice . . . to us.

If you're looking for a logical response from the property tax assessor for Harris County you might be disappointed. Last year eighteen houses in my neighborhood (mine included) had their flood zone designation changed to 100 year floodway (which is the worst designation they have as far as I know). It's the zone where you're not allowed to build new properties, etc. Anyway, I expected an across the board significant reduction in tax values, right? Well, ours went down about 2%. The neighbors on either side had theirs go up by 8.7% and 3.4%. The rest of the houses ranged between -10.5% and +16.2%. Total for all the affected houses was +2.8%. No clue on how the flood zone designation will affect resale values, but it can't be good.

Which FEMA Flood plan are you in.  I belive AE is the worst that you can be in.  I will not write an offer for a home in AE with out review by a trusted insureance advisor.  I would hate to sell someone a home that carries a $1400 a year flood ryder on a home with out the client knowing exactly what they are getting into.  For most clients I let them know its like making 13 payments a year due to just the flood ryder.  I have never had a client by a home in a Fema high risk flood plane. 

Um, yeah...we're now in AE. However, most of our front yard is still in X. Our yearly flood insurance policy only went up from around $340 to $385 or so. One of the houses that got re-zoned has been on the market for a while, but it's ridiculously over-priced so it's no surprise it hasn't sold.

That is pretty cheap for insurance.  The last one we looked at was in a creek flood plan that we being reviewed to have all the homes bought and torn down.  The Insurance quote was $1400.  The agent wanted and elevation survey done to see if he could get the home's insurance rates dropped. 

[Ray52]

I thought about taking some pics of the flooded homes, but it seemed too disrespectful to take pictures of entire housefull's of people's belongings spread out on their front yards and driveways

I agree with you completely on that point Richard.  I took many pictures of my parent's home for insurance purposes but couldn't imagine photographing the same thing at every house on their street and in Bridge City.  It is a sad sight that I'll never forget and as impersonal as those countless piles of debris look, they represent a tragic loss for someone.  My office is less than a mile and on the same street as the cemetery in Orange where the coffins floated out of the ground and received much press.  I drove by once on the first day back in town but since then have found a different route to the interstate.

[RichardM]

I spent most of the day down at my mother-in-law's house at Pirate's Beach in Galveston. Her house needs a lot of repairs, but fared better than expected. They were getting power restored as we were leaving. It will be very interesting seeing where the beach ends up. Lots of houses down there are serious candidates for becoming state property.

Anybody care to buy a beachhouse? These two are a couple of blocks away down by the beach (or what's left of it):

The one on the left is listed for sale. Couldn't find a listing for the one on the right but the for sale sign is still out front. Here's a view of the beach side:


Looks like my mother-in-law will be putting a new roof on her house:

At least the pelican weather vane survived. We had heard that just about all of the birds on the island had left, but we actually saw a pelican or two flying around. A few gulls and pidgeons as well, here and there. Of course, the ones we saw represent about 5% of what you'd normally see down there.