Pearland - Friendswood Edition | July 2024

Real estate

BY HALEY VELASCO

BY RACHEL LELAND

With more than 7,000 additional students expected to be added over the next decade, Alvin ISD officials believe much of the district’s anticipated growth can be attributed to incoming residential projects. The number of new houses being built in AISD dating back to 2020 has eclipsed more than 1,400 each year, according to Zonda Demographics. Despite a slowdown in 2022 and 2023, AISD ranked No. 9 in the Greater Houston area for new housing starts, or builds, in the first quarter of 2024. As of the first quarter of 2024, there has been 382 annual starts, which is an increase of 100 compared to the same time in 2023, which had 282 annual starts, according to Zonda. Housing growth boosts Alvin ISD

Q&A: Why insurance premiums are rising; filing claims after a storm This season’s storms are expected to affect much of Houston, including Pearland and Friendswood. Community Impact spoke with Rick Tinker, owner of Rick Tinker Insurance in Pearland, about what resi- dents should do and what questions they should ask their insurance companies to keep their homeowners insurance premiums low amid statewide trends. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Are home insurance premiums rising, particularly in Pearland and Friendswood? And if so, why? The premiums in our area have been, in many cases, going up 50% to pushing 100%. ... This area down here on the coast has become so heavily populated that if a [Category 5 hurricane] came up the Gulf Freeway and the insurance companies had

to buy every roof south of I-10, that’s a lot of roofs. So, the population has been a concern. Obviously, inflation has been going up on goods, services and labor almost faster than they can raise rates. What can homeowners do to keep their premiums down? If they’re buying a house, the newer the roof, the better the rate. The roof is the single most signifi- cant factor. ... [Another factor is] when we insure a house, we insure for its replacement costs. Over the last 20 years, a lot of our houses’ replacement costs have almost tripled. ... While the value to rebuild their house has gone up fast, the value of their contents [inside the house] has not. So lowering the value [of contents] is a good idea. What do homeowners need to know about submitting claims for flood, wind or hail damage? You want your contractor to look at the damage and decide ... is there damage and is it going to exceed their deductible? Because ... a zero-paid claim [from insurance] goes against your claim record. ... You want to be sure that you’ve got a claim before you invite the insurance agency out.

Diving in deeper

AISD’s growth in context AISD is adding more homes and has the fifth most future lots in the Greater Houston area.

Several neighborhoods within AISD are under construction, with each potentially adding thousands of homes, which will result in more students, data shows. In addition to single-family homes, six multifamily projects, which will add more than 1,300 units, are also in the works.

New home builds started

Homes sold

2.5K 2K 1.5K 500 1K 0

1,620

1,358

1,488

1,203

2018

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Development in AISD

Annual housing starts in the Greater Houston area

18,300 future lots

Lamar Consolidated ISD

4,859

Cy-Fair ISD

2,817

5th highest future lot total in Greater Houston Area

Houston ISD

2,603

COURTESY RICK TINKER

Tomball ISD: 1,161 Alvin ISD: 1,583 Dickson ISD: 959

0.53 students per new household

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For a longer version, visit communityimpact.com .

Clear Creek ISD: 587

32 future subdivisions within AISD

NOTE: AS OF FIRST QUARTER OF 2024

SOURCES: ALVIN ISD, ZONDA DEMOGRAPHICS/COMMUNITY IMPACT

SHADOW CREEK 11023 Shadow Creek Pkwy (281) 977-1027

PEARLAND 10555 Pearland Pkwy (713) 987-9205

ALMEDA 11130 Gulf Fwy (713) 910-3941

FRIENDSWOOD 3126 FM 528 (281) 648-5473