Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM August 2018 | Page 35

Post Harvey Report Hurricane Harvey devastated the area almost a year ago. At the time it was hard to imagine day to day life getting back to normal, much less business. But after a few weeks of ripping out sheetrock and hauling trash to the curb, slowly but surely, we did. The houses were gutted. The dump trucks were on every street trying to keep up with all the debris. The drop stations across town were full of flooded vehicles, disgusting refrigerators and every other appliance known to man. Being a real estate broker, my first thoughts were: 1. There will be a bunch of distressed real estate: will people want to fix up and stay or will they want to sell? 2. Will people want to buy and rent remodeled flood houses as they get fixed up? The Answer to the first question was about 50/50. I manage a branch of NetWorth Realty (A Real Estate Investment Firm) and we have purchased 152 properties since the flood in Galveston County and southern Harris County. Of which, upwards of 70-75% of those were flooded during Harvey. A lot of people that first contacted us where anxious to sell their homes quickly and move on whether they had insurance money coming their way or not. But surprisingly, a lot of people ended up just wanting to rehab the properties themselves and move back in because that was their home. I say surprising because my house flooded as well and we thought about selling as-is, but the damage was minimal and we were able to put it back together rather quickly; but most of the people we spoke with in the area didn’t have inches of water in their homes, they had FEET of water engulf their residences. The answer to the 2nd question is emphatically YES!!! I did a quick case study on 2 neighborhoods in the area, both of them had 75-90% of the houses in the subdivision flood, and both have had a lot of activity to show us a more accurate result: 34 MOMENTUM / August 2018 By: Ricky Sparks Networth Realty [email protected] Bay Ridge subdivision in League City off of 96. Pre Harvey the average sales price was $155,918 with the average price/sqft being $102.24 Post Harvey the average sale price was $168,353 with the average price/sqft being $118.95 That’s a 7.9% increase in average sales price post Harvey Rents in bay ridge pre-Harvey were $1489/mo Rents in Bay Ridge post Harvey are $1562/mo Wedgewood Village in Friendswood off Blackhawk between El Dorado and FM 2351 Pre Harvey the average sales price was $177,788 with the average price/sqft being $95.94 Post Harvey the average sales price is $186,841 with the average price/sqft being $108.88 That’s a 5.1% increase in average sales price Rents in Wedgewood Village pre-harvey were $1585 Rents in Wedgewood Village post Harvey are also $1585 This is all pretty astounding because the average appreciation rate in greater Houston is 3-5%/year and that is on stable subdivisions, not ones that have had a complete face lift after 2-4 feet of flood waters! All in all, the area has had a strong resurgence post flood and will continue to see increases in value and rent rates because of the remodels and complete face lifts these neighborhoods and others just like them undergo. That, and because this area is AMAZING! Great Schools, minimal unemployment, commercial growth and a lot of other grown up reasons. But when it comes down to it this is just a great community with people helping people, the will to get back to normal life, and plus where else would you want to live???