With Thanksgiving holiday last week, all the Annoura boys returned home and we were a family of 5 for the first time since May. It was especially exciting to see Ty, who flew home from Annapolis on leave for 4.5 days. Thank you to Stephen Yeager for picking him up at the Naval Academy and bringing him to Baltimore Airport for us! Ty arrived in uniform and was excited to change into ‘civies’ which is a word that means normal clothes for civilians. He is allowed to wear his own clothes only when he is ‘on leave’ and this Thanksgiving break was his first time to have leave. He met up with his best friends and ran around Clear Lake every day (and night) until he went back to Maryland yesterday morning. Joe returned from University of Texas last Saturday and immediately jumped on the golf course with Susan and her Kuraray friends. He spend his one week golfing almost everyday until he left on Friday night for the UT vs. A&M game in College Station. The Annouras enjoyed a few meals with Susan’s parents and the family of five also took a one day trip to Lake Livingston and hiked around the state park on Thanksgiving Day. Susan was probably the happiest of all to have all the boys home!
The Japan trip for Susan had some super awesome experiences. First, Donna Cole is personal friends with the Governor of Japan, Ms. Yuriko Koike. We were able to have a short meeting with the Governor last Tuesday in her office! When we couldn’t get into the famous teamLAB in Azabudai Hills, Governor Koike san put a call in and suddenly we had special passes! Another neat experience was getting to meet many Japanese CEO’s and Chairmen of major companies such as the Chairman of TAITO games (inventors of Space Invaders) and the Chairman of Tokyu Hotels. After Donna praised and complimented our room at the Cerulean Tower, we suddenly had delivered to our room a beautiful bottle of wine and several Japanese gifts! On a personal note, Susan was able to visit Karuizawa on November 1, exactly the same day 21 years ago that she visited Karuizawa for the first time. She was 32 at that time, pregnant with Joe, and was in Tokyo on a business trip for Love FM to interview the U.K. artist Dido, who had just come out with a new album called White Flag. Incredible memory that was! A weekend in Fukuoka was also super special. Susan got to visit with Koh’s parents, see some friends, and to check the status of the new family home currently being built on the Annoura family land in Narayamachi. Such a great trip to Japan, and so productive too! In addition to attending the powerful USJC Annual Conference, Susan also met Yamada san, Mitsuzawa san, Watanabe san, and Shimizu san. All of these folks are Japanese investors with houses in Houston that Annoura Realty manages! It was so, so fun to catch up with everyone, update them on their houses, and to talk to them face to face. Can’t believe so much was done in just 8 days! Susan’s amazing Japan trip ended today, when she arrived back to Houston this morning (and rushed immediately to Kemah for a new client’s builder orientation). Life goes on!
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina attracted the highest number of workers in the third quarter of 2023.
These states appeal to incoming workers due to their strong job markets, relatively low living costs, and favorable business environments.
In contrast, states like California experienced significant net migration losses, with a deficit of 18,485 workers—the highest in the nation—followed by Illinois with a loss of 4,598 workers.
High-cost states such as California and New York are seeing more people leave, as workers seek affordable living options without compromising career growth opportunities.
Economic benefits in states like Texas and Florida, including lower living expenses, competitive wages, fewer regulations, and expanding job markets, make them attractive destinations for job migrants.
Texas ranks close to Virginia, with a net influx of 7,036 job migrants in the third quarter of 2023.
California serves as the largest origin of outbound workers, accounting for 12 percent of the movers seeking affordability elsewhere, followed by Florida (8 percent), Louisiana (8 percent), and Oklahoma (5 percent).
Many major companies have partially or fully relocated to Texas, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Apple.
In August, Chevron Corporation also announced plans to move from California to Texas, citing policies in California that increase costs, discourage investment, and negatively impact consumers and the state’s economy, according to CEO Mike Wirth in a Wall Street Journal interview.
Even with Susan in three different countries this past two weeks, Annoura Realty was extremely busy. The day after returning from Mexico, Susan helped Ayumi san close on her first home. It’s always so exciting to have someone buy their first home and I am honored to have been a part of the process! Funny side story- At the final walk through, both of us were too short to close the heavy attic door so we had to call her best friend to borrow her step ladder. Her friend was busy so she sent her husband and all of a sudden we had the head chef of Kata Robata at our walk through helping us shut the attic door! Special thanks to Chef Manabu Horiuchi. On the topic of sales, one of our Japanese investors got lucky this week, getting two of his homes under contract. One is the house on Sun Harbor and one is the house on Castle. Fingers crossed as they all go through their inspection periods. We had a third house also go under contract last week, a referral from a past client, Paul Kajiwara. His co-worker at Landry’s is moving to work at Kemah and together we found the perfect home for him zoned to the Education Village in League City. Super excited for Tim and his family, who will be moving from California in November. In leasing news, Chestnut Springs found a new tenant, so congratulations to owner James! Additionally, Mariko found a nice home in Bay Glen for our newest Kuraray expat family, The Ueno’s. Our third family in the process of house hunting is the Suwa Family of JAXA… good luck with the hunt! In the past two weeks, we had three new apartment move ins: our first Toray client chose a townhome up in the Woodlands, our newest Mitsui expat chose an apartment closer to the Galleria, and our newest Japanese doctor moved into a Med Center unit after choosing it virtually. We are super excited for these five new families as they start their new life in Houston. Congratulations to the Ishihara family, repeat clients who Mariko helped find a different rental home and to the Kitaoka family, also repeat clients who Susan helped many years ago. As we enter into a new month, we are hopeful the election will result in a favorable swing to the home buying market. And in the meantime, we will continue to help all of the newcomers leasing in Houston. Don’t forget, we appreciate all of your referrals! If you know anyone moving in or out of Houston, please refer them to Annoura Realty Group. We have a running list of all the people we need to thank and have a special gift for every one of you. We know who you are, we just need time to deliver your Thank You Surprise!
In the past two weeks, Susan was home in Houston for one full week, before leaving to Tokyo for the second week. During her week home, it was almost all work and no play, besides her birthday, which was Monday October 21. Koh took her to Galveston for a couple of hours of R&R, sitting on lawn chairs mindlessly watching the waves roll in and out with a cold Asahi Beer in hand. The two also went to Gaido’s Seafood for her birthday dinner. The next day, Susan’s two best friends Chris and Janet took her out to celebrate her birthday locally, hitting their favorite burger spot and two local bars. In the days to follow, Susan helped Ayumi san close on her townhome, picked up a new lease listing, put two houses under contract, and helped two expats find their new apartment homes. She also went to Austin for two days for a Texas Realtors Leadership Conference! Meanwhile, back at the house, Zach started musical rehearsals. He was cast as Lucas in the musical Adams Family. His choir team also sang the National Anthem at a high school football game, so we were excited to see him do that. Ty sent us some pictures of him at the Naval Academy, shooting a gun and riding in a tank-like vehicle. He did not make the traveling wrestling team for the first tournaments but will continue to try hard to get there. As for Joe in Austin, he is interviewing for various jobs for next summer’s internship. So far, he has secured an offer working for Walmart in their corporate finance department. Proud of him! Last Sunday, Susan left for Japan to attend the U.S. Japan Council Annual Conference. She returned today and leaves tomorrow for the NAR’s Annual Conference in Boston. Wednesday is a big day for her, as her group presents their Capstone Projects and hopefully graduates from the NAR Leadership Academy!
