"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 4 Nov 2010 08:23:26 -0500, "Leon"
wrote:


"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
. ..


I get my 3 car shop, my wife gets her large sewing studio. Yeah!

Jeeze, what is that, 3,000 s/f? Looks big.

2257 + approx 600 garage

Perfectly insulated, I hope. Big!

Better than Energy Star rated.





Looked into that extensively many years ago, bought the land and never
wrnt
past that point due to job relocations. It is still appealing but this
hose
was literally the right price, about 25% less that what we would have had
to
pay about 6 months ago.

Too bad about the old land. RE the new lot: steenkin' HOA, tract, and
flat area probably all go together to reduce the value.

Actually this house is the same I was refering to but in a different and
IMHO better location. That along with slow new home sales, except in this
area apparently. The builder has been in this particular location since
late August. They have completed 4 spec homes and sold 2 of them, is
building and sold 2 made to order homes. Currently there 8 spec homes under
construction. They plan to build 50 or so homes to finish the community
IIRC.




Do you live in Kansas? That's some flatland there, ain't it?
Oh, Sugarland, TX. Same/same.

Was the Sugar Land area, now the North Richmond TX area, just west of
Sugar
Land and just south of Katy, Tx.

Fort Stinkin' Desert! No, wait, that was Phoenix.


Hurricane-proof house? I don't see as -any- ties or shear walls. I
thought I'd see tons for that dangerous kind of area. Your tubasixes
are casually toenailed to the sill. Scary. Tie that puppy down, boy!

Actully this area only sees a hurricane on average about once every 25
years, we had one 2 years ago previous to that in 1983 and 1962. The new
house is rated for 125 mile per hour winds and even with a Cat 4 hurricane

Surprising.

Houston is in a very unique location along the gulf coast, It is a rare
event to have a hurricane strike directly and or get much wind if any from a
close hitting storm. Five years ago about a month after Katrina hurricane
Rita was aimed for Houston and there was a mass exodus. The storm ended up
hitting about 60-80 miles to our east and IIRC it only got a little windy,
it was basically a non event.
I grew up in Corpus Christi, about 200 miles south and literally on the
water. While I lived there and during the period from 1962 to 1971 I went
through 3 major hurricanes. Only 1 of those storms was a direct hit, the
other two were at least 100 miles away and those storms delt a major blow in
Corpus Christi. I think because Houston is inland about 60 miles and is
sort of in a bend along the coast line the winds deminish quite rapidly when
the storms hit land.


Good, but I'd have spent the extra few hundred to tie that puppy down
were it my new pride and joy. YMOV


You have to draw the line some where and those things don't help when a
tornato hits the house. Typically most damage during a hurricane is not
caused directly by the hurricane winds rather from the debris that is flying
arouned and as swingman will attest to, rising water is the biggest threat.
Again hurricane straps don't help in that instance. Additionally hurricanes
in this region typically spawn multiple tornatos and again the straps are
not going to do much good against those winds and or micro bursts. If I
lived closer to he water, I would opt for the straps.