A quick recommendation for you if you are looking for a weekend road trip! While on our family bluebonnet hunt, we stumbled upon a beautiful vineyard and winery near Marble Falls called Perissos (https://www.perissosvineyards.com/). Perissos is a Greek word found in the Bible (Ephesians 3:20) meaning “exceeding abundantly, beyond what is expected, imagined, or hoped for.” What a great meaning! The grounds were beautiful and there was a tasting option that for $24, you can have a pour of 6 of their current wines. No reservations were needed. There was a big tasting room (beautiful) or you could opt to sit outdoors at one of their many picnic tables. The weather was nice so we decided to sit outside overlooking the vineyard. There is also a nice menu where you can order charcuterie, salads, or sandwiches. We went for a small charcuterie! It was a nice little afternoon and highly recommended if you want to just get away for a day!
Have two weeks gone by since our last newsletter? Since our last talk, Van and Chase did close on their Conroe home on Tuesday! The super cute couple was ready and signing before I could even get there, and had their truck full of stuff to go straight to the house as soon as they finished. So happy for this newlywed couple starting off their new life with a new home! On the same day of the closing, Susan whipped back down I-45 to meet with some South Korean developers in town to present information about their project on Cheju Island to AREAA Houston and HAR Global members. The event took place at a delicious Korean restaurant called Bori. Not only was the information interesting, but the food was great and the company was unbeatable! Wednesday was a FULL day of apartment locating with our newest Mitsui expat who asked to see EIGHT highrises throughout Houston. Although we found our favorite building, it was too early for them to see JULY availabilty so now we are in the watch and wait stage until he returns for good. In other leasing news, Mariko wrapped up her Nippon Pillar client, touring and applying at an apartment in Memorial. Our newest Kuraray newcomer will take over the current house of his predecessor in Clear Lake, so that process is being handled for a May move in. Our newest Oak Chase tenant moved in while our Quiet Green tenant is above to move in. Our Cavendish tenant will be renewing for one year, so our lucky La Jolla landlord is scoring a third year for the same tenant! On the purchase front, Maika and Tareek were safely assigned a home near Cypress last week, after sucessfully waiting for their CD to mature. Their transaction had a delay from the HOA certificate not being ready in time, moving their closing from last Friday to tomorrow (Tuesday) if all goes well. In other exciting sales news, our German expat Peter finally found the house of his dreams in Bay Oaks and it paid to go view on day 1 and to know the listing agent! We successfully got his house under contract and made it through option period last week, and are now shooting for an end of April close. The adventures of our listing on Baltic never end, with our third buyer just making it out of option period. Their FHA loan feels a tiny bit shaky but we have our eye on the prize and fingers crossed tightly for the upcoming appraisal and their final loan approval. And finally, praise the Lord for an incredible happy ending for our Japanese investor, Mr. Watarai. We closed on Misty Meadows last Tuesday, netting him out at +22% price appreciation. He sucessfully cash flowed for 5.5 years under our management, depreciated his improvement over 4.5 years under a special tax law in Japan, then dodged FIRPTA because the sales price was under $300k and his buyer was an owner occupant. It was a win-win-win-win for him and we could not be happier for how this whole transaction went. OMEDETOU!
So many more things to report, but suffice it to say, there’s never a dull moment here at Annoura Realty. We bid and lost to a heart breaking result for Ayumi san, so we are back to the drawing board. Robert has his eyes on a beauty in Royal Oaks that we may be trying for. Coming soon for lease will be an executive home in Clear Lake that we will be bringing to the market today. And, right around the corner is a amazing home for sale that we will list in Cinco Ranch Southwest. Updates on all these stories and more (KDDI, Mitsui, Hitachi, Mitsubishi expats) will come in the next newsletter so stay tuned!
Easter holiday gave our family a chance to get together. The Annouras usually have a big Easter egg hunt at the house with our 3 boys sprinting and diving for eggs, but with Joe not coming home for the holidays, we decided to nix our egg hunt for the first time ever and go to Austin to find Joe. The season was perfect for Texas bluebonnets so it was a great time to hit some of the Texas backroads so soak up some beautiful nature. Heading to Austin, we dropped Koh off at Hobby Airport so he could fly there, while Susan, Ty, and Zach raced him in the car. If we wouldn’t have hit heavy traffic in Bastrop, we probably would have tied him, but Koh beat us! Readers probably think this is crazy but it was part of the Southwest Airlines special to get a promotional companion pass. Koh will need to get one more one way in by May to qualify so the challenge continues… The family went up to Marble Falls to see the famous farmhouse, then drove out to Inks Lake and on the way there, found a very cool vineyard called Perissos where we stopped for an afternoon of wine tasting! At time of writing, we are STILL waiting on Ty’s college decisions. His #1 choice (The Naval Academy) has not answered yet, but we did hear from NYU, who admitted him for their Shanghai (China) campus. We have visits scheduled for Case Western and WPI for this weekend. This is definitely a stressful time for all of us, as we wait to see what the final choices will be, and to see which path Ty chooses to go.
In other big news, Koh left for Korea and Japan on Saturday. There is a new world wide KEIRIN league starting called Derby Wheel that he will be trying out for. At age 57, one would have thought he was done with competitive keirin racing, but he still loves the sport and wants to compete. If he makes it, his races will be in Manchester England although everything is still very tentative. We shall see if he makes the cut first and go from there! Gambare, Koh!
Attention ramen lovers!! There is a new ramen restaurant in Houston called Tsujita Artisan Noodle and it just grand opened on the west side of Houston. Tsujita has five (almost 6) locations: three locations in California (with one more coming in May), one in New Jersey, and now one in Houston! Tsujita originated in Tokyo in 2003 and has 18 locations in Japan. Taking a look at their menu, they have Tsukemen (noodles where you dipped them in tasty soup) as well as Ramen (Hakata Tonkotsu, chicken, miso, or veggie). They also have various rice bowls (katsu curry or chashu bowl) and a nice appetizer menu with everything from takoyaki to gyoza to karaage. Tsujita Ramen Retaurant is located at 12230 Westheimer Rd, A-160, Houston, TX 77077. We are excited to go check it out!
In major real estate industry news, NAR (National Association of Realtors) settled a commissions lawsuit last week, shaking up the realtor community and associations across the United States. The problem is that the media has twisted the story and has put out incorrect information which is causing lots of confusion to the public. Because of this, there are several good websites to visit to get correct information. NAR has a dedicated website with very good information here: https://www.nar.realtor/competition-in-real-estate. And, to help local realtors in Houston, HAR has created a very helpful Q&A link for realtors and consumers to understand the possible impact and implications of the recent settlement. Please see here: https://cms.har.com/lawsuits/.
