The Houston Rodeo’s international committee is already busy recruiting our new rookie class for 2025. Applications were taken a few months ago and on Monday August 19, these applicants attended a Rookie Meet and Greet, which is a kind of interview process with the management team. There are a limited number of open spots so it is a bit competitive to join the international committee. Successful candidates will be announced in the next couple of months and then training will soon begin. Next year’s Houston Rodeo is slated for March 4-23 with the first 8 days or so “international days”, the days we have special programs and events for our international guests.
HAR が企画した 2 つ目のイベントは、TREPAC Havana Nights イベントでした。ハリケーン・ベリルの影響で少し延期されていました。 TREPAC は、住宅所有の促進、不動産権の保護、政治的意識の向上を信じる寄付者から資金を集めています。素晴らしいパーティーで、友達みんなに会えて楽しかったです！
Last week the Houston Association of Realtors had TWO events that both Susan and Mariko attended. One was a round table event put on by the Young Professional Network committee, of which Mariko is a member. They invited 10 speakers to come in and talk on a particular topic of specialtise. One talked about the power of social media, one talked about how to get into leadership at your local association, one talked about how to get listings from builders. Susan was invited to lead a discussion on how to invest in real estate for your retirement. The event was very well attended and many people were interested in how to invest for their future. It is so common that realtors help their clients invest, but very few actually invest for themselves. It takes discipline and save up as well as a good knowledge of numbers and demographics to pick the right properties that will both perform well and appreciate. The other key is not to sell, however tempting it may be. Hold on to the properties, keep them leased, and let the renter pay you rent so that you can turn around and pay your loan and expenses. Over time, the loan will be paid off using the renter’s money. Try to buy one house per year and accumulate 10 houses in your portfolio. For young people under 40, by the time they are in their 60’s, the houses should be paid off and they can then use their rental income for retirement. That’s the goal!
A second event HAR put on was their TREPAC Havana Nights event. It had been postponed because of Hurricane Beryl to this new date. TREPAC raises money from donors who believe in promoting home ownership, protecting real property rights, and increasing political awareness. It was a great party and it was fun seeing all our friends!
案浦家の最新ニュースでは、スーザンは丸 2 週間、家族なしの1人での生活をしました。攻とザックはまだ福岡にいて、泰はもちろんまだ海軍兵学校におり、そして丈はまだロサンゼルスにいます。スーザンにとって、普段は時間がなくてできないことをする素晴らしい時間でした。冷蔵庫を掃除したり（笑！）、マスタークローゼットを掃除し一度も着なくなった古着を寄付したり、息子の部屋を片付けたりしました。彼女はついに、紹介キャンペーン用の「サンキューボックス」の作成も完了しました。これは彼女の 2024 年の大きな目標の 1 つであり、過去 2 週間で達成されました。スーザンはまた、土曜の夜を見つけて友人たちとダウンタウンに踊りに行き、元 HIT パートナーズのビジネス パートナーと 3 日間過ごし、AMPI/メトロテックス イベントに参加する町にいる友人に会うためにパイアスと一緒にダラスまでロードトリップしました。今日から出張三昧の日々が続きます。スーザンは今日、インマンと呼ばれる大きな不動産カンファレンスに参加するためラスベガスに飛びました。彼女は今週、ヒューストン不動産協会の執行委員会とともにこのイベントに出席し、不動産業界の最新情報、トレンド、テクノロジーについて学ぶ予定です。その後、テキサス・リアルターズ幹部会議のためのバストロップへの2日間の旅行、そしてNARLA（全米不動産リーダーシップ・アカデミー）のためのシカゴへ、その直後に泰に会うためのアナポリスへの4日間の旅行が予定されています。海軍兵学校の両親の週末！色々な事が起こってます！！丈は、金曜日にロサンゼルスでの10週間の夏季インターンシップを終えました。彼はおそらくあと数週間、ビンテージ T シャツを売買するために LA に滞在する予定です (笑!)。攻は競輪場でトレーニングをしたり、福岡での新しく家の建設を計画している日本人建築家と面会したりしています。建築許可が承認され、来月着工する予定のようです。すべて順調に行けば、年末までに家が完成するはずです。順調に建築が進むことを願っています!ザックは、かつて私たちの通りに住んでいた友人のユウトくんに会うために、一人で東京に旅立ちました。二人は東京の有名観光スポットをすべて巡るバスツアーに参加しました。ユウトくんのお母さん、ジュンコさんは二人のためにたくさんの楽しいことを計画してくれているので、色々な話を聞くのが待ちきれません！
In Annoura Family news, Susan just experienced two full weeks of having no one in the family at the house! Koh and Zach are still in Fukuoka, Ty of course is still at the Naval Academy, and Joe is still in Los Angeles. It was a great time for Susan to do things that she normally does not have time to do: clean out the refrigerator (haha!), go through the master closet and donate old clothes that are never worn, tidy up the boys’ rooms. She also finally got around to making her ‘Thank You Boxes’ for her Referral Campaign. This has been one of her big goals for 2024 and this was accomplished over the past two weeks! Susan also found a Saturday night to go dancing downtown with friends, spent 3 days with her former HIT Partners business partners, and went on a road trip with Pius to Dallas to see a friend in town for the AMPI/MetroTex event. Starting today, travel is intense, though. Susan flew to Las Vegas today for a big real estate conference called Inman. She is attending it with her Houston of Association of Realtors executive committee this week and will hear all about the newest updates, trends, and technology in the real estate world. Following that will be a two day trip to Bastrop for the Texas Realtors executive meeting retreat, then a trip to Chicago for NARLA (National Association of Realtors Leadership Academy), then directly after that, a 4 day trip to Annapolis to see Ty for the Naval Academy’s parents weekeend! Lots and lots of things going on!! As for Joe, he wrapped up his 10 week summer internship in Los Angeles on Friday. He will stay in L.A. maybe for a couple more weeks to buy and sell a few more vintage t-shirts (haha!). Koh has been working out at the keirin race track and meeting with our Japanese architect as we plan the construction of our new family home in Fukuoka. Sounds like the building permits have been approved and that they should be breaking ground next month. If all goes well, they say the house should be done by the end of the year! I hope that’s accurate! As for Zach, lucky Zach flew solo to Tokyo to meet up with his buddy Yuto who used to live on our street. The two of them did a bus tour of Tokyo to catch all the major sightseeing spots. Yuto’s mom Junko san has a lot of fun things planned for the two of them and we can’t wait to hear all his stories!
Houston was directly hit by a hurricane on Monday July 8. Most people though Hurricane Beryl would not be so destructive because by the time it came to Texas, it had ‘weakened’ to a Category 1 rating. (In contrast, Hurricane Harvey was a Category 5.) Beryl traveled through the Atlantic Ocean and peaked at a Cat 5, leaving much destruction as it traveled past Grenada, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Tulum. Texas could see it coming to our shores but did not expect it to make a sudden sharp right turn and go straight up through Houston. But it did!
Beryl made landfall near Matagorda with the east side of the eyewall impacting Brazoria County. It produced wind gusts over 60–70 mph (97–113 km/h) with a peak gust of 97 mph (156 km/h) in Brazoria. Significant impacts from Beryl took place in Surfside Beach, where siding was completely ripped off from the second story of a house. Multiple A frame homes along the beach were mostly destroyed as a result of Beryl’s winds. Numerous other structures suffered extensive damage within the town. In Lake Jackson, Beryl’s winds peeled back roofs, knocked down chimneys, and destroyed exterior brick facades.
As Beryl tracked into Texas, Houston was directly impacted by Beryl’s eyewall. More than 2.7 million lost power. Over 8 in (200 mm) of rain fell in and around Houston, but that was enough to make several bayous fill up, overflow, and flood the streets downtown. It was quite the disaster and many went days and days without electricity, while many have to deal with massive clean up from downed fences and trees. School and work was all canceled, as were all scheduled meetings and events. It was time to take off from work and go around to all our rental properties and help everyone clean up. It’s scary to think that this is just the BEGINNING of hurricane season.
The past two weeks had the Annoura Family all over everywhere! Zach is still in Japan (since June 3) and will stay there all the way until August 7. His big news is that he participated in Kodomo Yamakasa, a huge festival in Fukuoka that dates back 770+ years. Wow, very old traditional festival! The peak of the festival takes place on July 15 at 4:59am but all the preparations and practice begin on July 1. The kids version of the festival happens in early July. Zach was very excited to be a leader in his class and he got a good spot carrying the ‘yama’. Meanwhile, Koh flew to Japan on July 3 and will stay in Fukuoka with Zach until they both return together. Koh also participated in Yamakasa and one special thing about this time, is that he got to ride at the top of the ‘yama’ on one of the practice rounds with his family friend Kuchiishi san and Zach! For some extra info on the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival, see here: https://www.fukuoka-now.com/en/yamakasa/
Joe is still on the west coast, staying at Susan’s cousin’s house in Thousand Oaks and doing his internship with Eugene’s investment banking company. He has made new friends and enjoys his side hustle of buying and selling unique treasurers he finds at thrift stores. He has become quite the specialist for vintage t-shirts, it seems! On the other side of the United States, Ty has made it through his first two weeks of ‘plebe summer’ at the U.S. Naval Academy. Susan was super happy to receive one letter from him and one phone call on July 7 for 30 minutes. Ty spoke of his rigid schedule, the abundant food, and several of the ups and downs he has endured. We are so proud of his dedication and motivation to hang in there and give it his best. In exciting news, Ty spoke to the wrestling coach, who said he could walk on to the wrestling team! We know this make Ty happiest of all.
