My journey to Houston Texas in Nov 2019

Texas has been on my bucket list for a long time, I have heard many different versions of Texas from various sources, what all of them have in common is that Texas is where everything is cheap (specially gas) and it is famous for steaks.

This November, i got invited by my friend and previous business partner to visit Texas, specially Houston and Austin and to check out some real estate opportunities there, without hesitation, i am going!

First stop is in Houston. We are only staying there for 1 night, therefore we are only visiting the downtown, Sugarland and Rice University Area.

-- City of Houston--

The Galleria is a newly developed shopping center near downtown Houston, it has some of the most trendy stores and food scenes. (Sorry about the photos)

From what i was told, Houston's economy is based on large oil corps and medical. MD Anderson is world's largest and most advance cancer research center, it's huge. It is also near Rice University, most of the best universities in the country.

-- Houston Properties --

However, this time we were focusing on checking out some rental properties in Sugarland, Katy area. These areas have become the new chinatown and Asian communities in Houston Area, the SFH homes there are around $300K, 2700 + SQFT and said to be able to rent out for $2200 per month.

These are some of the homes i saw there ( sorry about the quality of the photos) :

The agent there said that Houston's housing market is very different from the rest of the country, when the rest of the country is going well, Houston would be slow; and when the rest of the country is getting slow, Houston is hot. According to the agent, Houston market bottomed out in 2014 and now is the right time to buy... Is it really the case? Well, i have to do some research... The property tax in Sugarland, Katy areas are about 2.7% to 3.1%, with no state income tax, i would imagine a lot of people would prefer to rent, making the rental market always in demand.

Another thing the agent mentions about Houston houses is that there could be flood just about anywhere, regardless how it is being disclosed. If you see a house that is old, yet the baseboard and kitchen cabin are brand new, chances are they have been flooded recently.. Go to know :)

--Food in Houston--

Coming from the Bay Area, i know what good food looks like.. But both Houston and Austin have some of the best food scenes i have ever had.. If you are into Asian (including Indian and middle eastern), Sugarland is where it's at!

Bellaire BLVD stretches several miles long, connecting hundreds of Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian restaurants and supermarkets. Bellaire food street is one of the must visits. We had great BBQ there :)

Another great place for some Asian style hot pot:

For western options, RISE N 2 in the Galleria Mall is one of the kind, great French cuisine and deserts, i don't think we have anything like that in the Bay Area Yet!

Of course, for the famous Texas steak, you have to try Taste of Texas , well, the wait is usually about 2 hours, we decided not to go there this time, but it shows how popular that place is. Unfortunately, no photos about it this time, just google it, you won't be disappointed :)

Since I have only staying in Houston for 2 short days, I couldn't explore this city that I would like to, but it definitely is a place i would like to come back to again! People are awesome and traffic is (traffic? what is that?).

Stay tuned for Austin adventure :)