As it was in the beginning…. And still is!

A succinct history of Houston is given in the 17 books written by George Fuerman the feature editor for the Houston Post.

“Houston took on the personality of the rodeo crowd, the oil crowd, by men and women known as the Big Rich.   The name itself Houston has become a symbol of Southern Hospitality.”   George Fuerman wrote these words 35 years ago.

Nothing has changed since he wrote these words about our city’s personality.   It is still a place where millionaires are made overnight and people are judged by what they do today and not where they came from.   The rodeo is still an event so big that everyone in the city services on a committee or attends the rodeo.  The rodeo tickets are still priced cheap so that all Houstonians can enjoy their rodeo.   The oil industry is still being run by people who are bigger than life.   We love to talk about their exploits and how much money they have made.  Yes we still have our Big Rich who have donated millions to charity and the arts.

What does this all mean?   According to Dr. Stephen Klineberg of the Kinder Institute has been doing an annual survey tracking the changes in Houston.  He found in 2015 that “Houstonians are feeling better about Houston than ever before.”  Houston is the city of opportunity for all in America.   There are no class barriers to success in Houston.    Houston loves a winner and the fact the winner came from  Central America, Asia, or Europe makes no difference.

As an Inner loop Houston Realtor I cannot tell you the amount of times neighbors have come up to the car to greet buyers.   You can see the pride in their faces as they try to convince whoever is with me that their neighborhood is best.  My clients are as diverse as the city.   Maybe even more so.  Yet they receive the same welcome throughout the different neighborhoods of Houston.

The biggest problem you may have with Houston being The friendly city is who holds the door open.  Everybody wants to hold the door open for others.  It is not uncommon to see four people holding double doors open for two people to walk in.   In the words of a song,”Heaven is a lot like Houston and Houston is a lot like Heaven.”