Why are native Houstonians so freaky about the Heights?

At Home in the Heights

For those of us who live relatively “close in”, I think we can all agree that probably the single most polarizing question one can pose when it comes to where we live is whether or not we’re ITL (that’s inside the loop).  For those of us born and bred, and who currently live, ITL, it’s definitely a much bigger deal than to those who are OTL.  It’s the difference between those who know and know they know and those who know not and know not that they know not (according to someone who lives ITL).

Once you get past the whole ITL / OTL thing, I would say the next most divisive idea, for native Houstonians at least, is whether or not they would live in the Heights.  I remember driving around the Heights with my mother – I think I was in 8^th grade; she was dropping something off at someone’s house.  As we were looking for the house – as the Heights was completely unfamiliar territory – she said (in her Texas southern genteel way of saying things) “I don’t know why anyone would live over here – no curbs or gutters”.  Now this was 1989, but she definitely still feels this way.

And I don’t think that that’s just a generational thing.  I got a referral (I’m a realtor) from an old friend from school – she’s an energy trader and one of her coworkers had just moved here from New Orleans and was looking to buy a house.  Everything she had recommended to this guy was spot on – best sandwich, best cleaners, in general, the best of Houston (including referring me).   The only thing that he disagreed with her on was the Heights.  He had been driving around all of the neighborhoods and the Heights just felt like home to him – especially the Victorians around Oxford.  She told him that no native Houstonian would ever live in the Heights, and this caused him great inner turmoil as he met with me to tell me what it was that he was looking for.  He ended up buying an incredible house on 7 ½.

If I wasn’t working in real estate, I think I would be aligned with my mother and my friend – I don’t think I would have any attraction to living in the Heights.  But because of my job, the fact that I work with so many buyers who want to buy in the Heights – it’s really changed my perspective.  I see value there, and it’s only going up.  It’s one of the few neighborhoods that’s both charming and non-Stepford – you can be whoever you want to be and you are welcomed in the Heights.  Once they put in a decent grocery store – the one major limiting factor that keeps a lot of people from buying there – who knows the turn this fabulous little neighborhood will take.

WITT+HORNE