The JBAH Golf Tournament (第576回テキサス会ゴルフ「商工会会長杯」) was held yesterday at the Oakhurst Golf Club in Porter, TX. Joe came home from Austin to participate and for the first, time, the pairings put him together with Susan! They played with Mr. Takahashi from Tokyo Gas and Mr. Wakabayashi from KDDI. The weather was incredibly perfect and Joe’s girlfriend Sana followed along in her cart. In the end, Joe shot a 81 even with 4 birdies and 7 pars. Susan shot a 91 with 2 birdies and 5 pars. Joe won one of the near pin contests and Susan on one of the long drive contests. As always, it was a lot of fun to see many of our friends and clients. Thank you to the organizers and sponsors. Next year if the tournament is around the same timing, I have to remember to donate some rodeo concert tickets. I think that would make great gifts!
Feb 23 was the birthday of the Emperor of Japan, His Majesty Naruhito. Did you know that in Japan, the birthday of the Emperor is a public holiday? There is always a big ceremony open to the public at the Emperial Palace in Tokyo. Here in Houston, the Government of Japan had their own celebration, which took place at the Consul General of Japan’s private residence in River Oaks. It was so nice to see Mr. and Mrs. Murabayashi along with many of our Government of Japan clients who we helped find housing for in the past year. Wives were dressed in formal kimonos and the Japanese national anthem was played as the Consul General raised the Japanese flag. There was a delicious spread of Japanese food and desserts and it was fun to see many friends and colleagues in attendance. On a side note, Consul General Murabayashi announced his retirement from public service, adding that he would be leaving his Houston post in March. We are so sad to see him go and really appreciate the chance he gave Annoura Realty Group to sell the Japanese Government’s former official residence. He mentioned it was one of his biggest accomplishments while serving in Houston and that really made me feel happy. Good luck, Mr. Murabayashi and Aurora san on the next chapter of your lives!
The annual BBQ Cookoff took place over this past weekend. For the first time in maybe 10 years, Susan did not go volunteer at the International Village because the team from Japan, BBQ Shogun, was not invited this time. Instead, we went as regular people to actually ENJOY the BBQ Cookoff! Susan went on two days, Friday and Saturday, and brought along many friends to experience the super fun atmosphere. Having many friends and colleagues with private tents, they were able to bounce around from place to place and enjoy the BBQ, music, and dancing. They were also able to stop by the International Village and say hello to the many different countries participating this year.
This event is touted as the World’s Largest BBQ competition and the cooks are SERIOUS! They compete in several categories including brisket, chicken, ribs, and dessert. Here is a complete list of the winners:
Overall Grand Champion: Taste of South Texas Bar-B-Que Team Reserve Champion: Rancho Cerveza
Brisket Champion: Taste of South Texas Bar-B-Que Team 2nd: Telstar Cookers 3rd: Texas Lonestar Cookers
Ribs Champion: Pitmaker – BBQ Addiction 2nd: Victoria County Go Texan 3rd: Calhoun County Go Texan
Chicken Champion: San Antonio Winner – Chicken Fried 2nd: S&S Club, Inc. 3rd: RIVS Smoke & Grill (YAY! The only top 3 international finisher)
Go Texan Grand Champion: Victoria County Go Texan Reserve Champion: Metro Go Texan 4/Chase-N-Moore Smoke
案浦家のニュースでは昨年の夏、丈は福岡外国語大学で日本語を勉強していた日本で、サナという女の子に出会いました。二人は交際することになり、現在彼女は丈に会うためにテキサスに来ています！泰はテキサス州総体で高校レスリング選手としてのキャリアを終えました。初日はエルパソ出身の選手とダラス出身の選手に2勝し、完璧な結果となリマした。 2日目は1日目と比べて困難なものとなり、泰は一戦目敗北、その後向きを変え、同じ地域からの選手に敗北。これらの敗北により、彼は 5 位決定戦に出場することになりましたが、それはとても痛ましい結果となり、3 回の延長戦に突入しました。結局、土壇場で勝利する結果となり、昨年より一つ上の表彰台に立つことができました。私たちは泰の努力とスポーツへの献身をとても誇りに思っています。彼が高校生活最後のレスリングの試合に取り組むのを見るのは、ほろ苦い瞬間でした。まださまざまな大学からの返答を待っているところですが、彼が最終的にどこに行くのか、大学でレスリングをするかどうかはわかりません。これまでのところ、彼には Colorado School of Mines, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,、そして最近ではRochester Institute of Technologyでレスリングをする機会があります。彼の第一志望校からは合否を発表されていないですが、彼が合格することを祈っています。これからのニュースレターにて発表を乞うご期待！
In Annoura Family news, it’s a toss up on who gets the first news coverage. Maybe Joe this time! While in Japan last summer studying Japanese at the Fukuoka Foreign Language College, he met a girl named Sana. The two of them dated, and now she is in Texas visiting Joe! In other Annoura son news, Ty completed his high school wrestling career at the Texas State tournament. Day 1 went perfectly with two wins over a guy from El Paso and a guy from Dallas. Day 2 was not as easy. Ty hit a strong match with another El Paso guy and lost, then turned around and was upset by a guy in his region. These losses put him in the match for 5th place, which turned out to be a real nail biter, going into triple overtime! In the end, he won at the very last second and was able to stand on the podium, one spot better than last year. We are so proud of Ty’s efforts and his dedication to his sport. It was a bitter sweet moment to watch him wrestle his last wrestling match of his high school career. We are still waiting on answers from different universities and don’t know where he might end up or whether he will wrestling in college. So far, he has the opportunity to wrestle for Colorado School of Mines, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and most recently Rochester Institute of Technology. His #1 choice has not announced yay or nay yet, so we are still holding our breath and praying that he gets it. Check back to the newsletter for updates!
On the horizon for Koh and Susan is a lot of travel. Conventions in DC and Scottsdale, leadership overnight in Galveston for Susan. Koh’s is way more interesting with trips to Belgium and Italy coming up for competitions for his Japanese paracyclist client.
There is a new trend in the real estate market. It is called BTR, Built to Rent. Bascially, home builders will buy and develop an entire subdivision but will not sell each house retail to the general public. Instead, they build with the intent to rent ONLY. Once all the homes are rented, they often sell the entire subdivision to institutional investors or funds. With home prices rising and rising and interest rates also high, buyers are turning into renters. The latest news pertaining to BTRs in Texas was summarized by The Real Deal news source. Dallas Fort Worth is the second best market in the USA. Here are some other findings:
Built-to-rent (BTR) trend is becoming increasingly prominent in real estate, particularly in Texas.
Dallas-Fort Worth ranks as the second-largest BTR market in the US, with Houston at third and Austin at sixth.
Majority of single-family built-to-rent starts in 2023 were concentrated in the South, with 61 percent of them.
D.R. Horton, a major homebuilder, has heavily invested in the BTR market, selling over 4,000 rental homes to Pretium Partners for approximately $1.5 billion.
Lennar, another significant player, launched a $4 billion BTR investment platform in 2021.
Financially, BTR units make sense due to lower costs compared to mortgages. The monthly rent for single-family BTR units ranges from $2,000 to $2,500, with a significant difference from mortgage payments.
