Cliff Notes

Real Estate Confidential: CultureMap's month-long search for the perfect home(and office)

June is traditionally the start of the summer vacation season — a time when everyone slows down. But in the world of real estate, it's all business.

For those looking to buy or sell a house, the early summer months are one of the busiest times of the year. There's no holiday rush to contend with, the kids are out of school, and many times, if someone is transferred for work, it's the perfect opportunity to get everyone moved and settled before school starts up in August.

So, here at CultureMap, we decided to make our June theme, "Real Estate Confidential." Over the next month, we plan to tell you just about everything you need to know to buy or sell a house — while taking a look at what's happening in the world of Houston real estate, from suburban ranch-style homes to in-town high-rise condos.

We'll ask the experts to explain the Houston housing market and offer tips on things like how to "stage" a home for maximum impact and ways to survive the closing, where something invariably will go wrong at the last minute.

And we'll look at some of the most interesting homes on the market now, examine what's going to happen to the great wealth of mid-century modern homes and offices in Houston, decipher the joys of vertical living, and weigh the pro's and con's of renting vs. buying.

I've played the buying-and-selling game several times, and, frankly, I'd rather have a root canal than go through it again. I abhor the process so much that the last time we were in the market for a house I refused to go on the search until my partner and our real estate friend had seen everything worthwhile in our price range in our target area — Montrose and the Heights — and whittled the list down to the best two or three available. We chose a 1920 Montrose bungalow with a lot of potential in our price range. (That was in 1997; we couldn't afford the neighborhood in 2010.)

However, now I love watching House Hunters on HGTV, so I must be coming around. (Hey HGTV: Why don't you feature more homes in Houston?)

As Houstonians, we are lucky. Even through the recession, homes have, more or less, held their value — unlike Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami and much of California, where home prices have dropped dramatically. And Houston home prices consistently remain below the national average for major cities, a great selling point in luring new business to the Bayou City.

While the market has been sluggish the last couple of years, CultureMap real estate expert Ralph Bivins notes several signs that the Houston real estate market is perking up. Residential sales and building permits in the spring have increased over the same period last year and the market for multi-million-dollar mansions is flourishing. Ralph is organizing the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Austin later this week and I'll be a panelist there, so I hope to learn more about how residential real estate works and report back with my "Dummy's Guide to Real Estate."

Lately, I've learned a lot about commercial real estate, too. CultureMap is growing so fast that we left our cramped Rice Village office for a really large, really cool loft space facing Buffalo Bayou just north of downtown in the warehouse district near the University of Houston-Downtown campus. It's one area of Houston I don't know much about. Some of the city's oldest buildings are here — with eclectic tenants ranging from Houston Studios to the nation's best looking jail (at least from the outside) — so there's a real sense of history here that's missing in other parts of town.

Our upstairs neighbors, who live in residential lofts, walk to work in downtown Houston or ride the light rail from the UH-D station. We're within walking distance of the iconic Last Concert Cafe and Ray's, which serves some of the best burgers and hot dogs in town. I really like the edgy urban space. It mirrors what CultureMap aspires to be.

Drop by and see us sometime.

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housing news

Houston ranks among top 10 U.S. cities for mobile home living

Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash

Manufactured homes have come a long way from the "trailers" of the past, according to StorageCafe.

As Houston residents navigate the city's fluctuating real estate market, manufactured homes – also known as mobile homes – are gaining traction among potential buyers seeking an affordable path to homeownership.

A recent housing study found Houston ranks among the top 10 U.S. cities with the largest mobile home inventory. Texas, as a whole, has the second-highest share of manufactured housing in the nation.

StorageCafe's housing insights report analyzed the supply of manufactured housing inventory, average sales prices of new manufactured homes, and compared pricing trends against the median value of all housing units (regardless of construction date) across all 50 states and 100 U.S. cities.

The report's author hails manufactured housing as "a cornerstone of affordability" in the country, with just under 8 million mobile homes representing about 5.4 percent of the U.S. housing supply.

There are 776,232 manufactured homes in Texas, the report found, which is 6.2 percent of the state's entire housing stock. Houston is home to the 8th highest number of mobile homes in the nation, at 10,953 units.

Here's how the rest of the top 10 shakes out:

No. 1 – Mesa, Arizona (29,335 units)
No. 2 – Phoenix, Arizona (20,564 units)
No. 3 – Jacksonville, Florida (15,393 units)
No. 4 – Largo, Florida (14,131 units)
No. 5 – Tuscon, Arizona (14,128 units)
No. 6 – San Jose, California (11,668 units)
No. 7 – San Antonio, Texas (11,208 units)
No. 8 – Houston, Texas (10,953 units)
No. 9 – Los Angeles, California (10,622 units)
No. 10 – Sunrise Manor, Nevada (9,952 units)

Why manufactured home living is gaining popularity
Affordability is of the main reasons Texas residents are turning to manufactured home living. The average sale price for a mobile home in Texas was $112,500 in 2024, or less than half of the median sale price for all Texas homes ($313,200).

The report specifies that the cost for a manufactured home does not include the cost of land in the same way that a conventional home does. Depending on zoning and local laws, residents who own a mobile home either lease the lot their home sits on, or they have to purchase a lot outright.

"Most manufactured homes sit either in parks (land rent, higher exposure to rent hikes or park closures) or subdivisions (you own the land)," the report said. "In some communities, resident-owned cooperatives (co-ops) allow homeowners to collectively purchase the land beneath their homes. This setup provides stability and protection against rising lot rents, which can otherwise affect those living in privately owned parks."

Nevertheless, StorageCafe maintains that the generally lower cost of a manufactured home still makes it a viable path to homeownership. Affordability is especially crucial for younger adults like Gen Zers and Millennials who also don't want to "compromise on quality or independence."

"Today’s younger buyers value flexibility, efficiency, and minimal maintenance, and many are drawn to simpler lifestyles that align with financial freedom and mobility," the report said. "With the rise of remote work, more Millennials and Gen Zers are exploring the idea of living affordably in smaller, well-designed spaces, often in communities with shared amenities or scenic settings that were once thought to appeal only to retirees."

Manufactured homes have also experienced a "glow up" in recent years, the report added. Most manufactured homes have open floor plans, "stylish interiors," and come equipped with modern amenities like smart-home technology and energy efficient features.

"As a result, they’re no longer viewed as a fallback option, but rather as a savvy, forward-thinking path to homeownership for cost-conscious Americans of all ages," the report said.

Mobile home living elsewhere in Texas
Other than San Antonio in Houston in the top 10, there were 12 more Texas cities that ranked among the top 100. El Paso came in at No. 16 with 7,089 mobile homes in the city, and Laredo ranked two spots behind with 6,785 units.

Here's how other Texas cities fared in the report:

No. 20 – Dallas (6,195 units)
No. 21 – Austin (6,184 units)
No. 22 – Fort Worth (6,069 units)
No. 29 – Corpus Christi (4,823 units)
No. 34 – Pharr (4,409 units)
No. 48 – Arlington (3,818 units)
No. 60 – Mission (3,207 units)
No. 65 – Bryan (3,063 units)
No. 67 – Edinburg (3,407 units)
No. 98 – Denton (2,441 units)

housing market housing report storagecafe texas manufactured housing houston