You read the good. You read the bad. You asked for the ugly. Here it is.

I want to be clear about something before we get into this.

I have lived in Houston for twenty years. I have been through three hurricanes, a historic winter storm, multiple floods, and more love bug seasons than I care to count. I am still here. Still building. Still choosing this city every single day.

But you asked for honest and I told you that is exactly what you would get.

So. The ugly.

Already read the rest of the series? The good is here. The bad is here. Hurricane season specifically — read this before June 1st.

The Heat. Oh, The Heat.

Let me describe a Houston summer for you.

You walk outside in June and the air hits you like a warm wet towel that someone left in a parked car. It is not just hot. It is hot and heavy and personal. The humidity wraps around you immediately and does not let go. You are sweating before you reach your car. You are reconsidering your life choices before you reach the mailbox.

July and August are worse.

The heat index — which is what it actually feels like on your body — regularly hits 105 to 110 degrees during peak summer. The sun in Houston is not the same sun you know from wherever you came from. It is blinding. It is relentless. It sits on top of you from about 9am until 7pm and it means business.

Outdoor activities between June and September require a full risk assessment. Early morning or after sunset only. Everything in between is a personal decision that I will not judge but also will not participate in.

If you are moving here from a northern state and you think you know what hot means — you do not know yet. You will learn. And you will own more fans than you ever thought necessary.

The Bugs. All of Them.

We need to have a real conversation about the bugs in Houston.

Not because they are dangerous — most of them are not. But because nobody fully prepares you for the volume and the variety and the sheer audacity of the insects in this city.

The cockroaches. Houston has cockroaches. This is not a reflection of cleanliness. This is a reflection of geography. The Gulf Coast climate is ideal for them and they have been here longer than any of us. The ones that will make you question your decision to move here are the ones that fly. Yes. They fly. They are called American cockroaches and Houstonians have lovingly nicknamed them palmetto bugs as if that makes them more acceptable. It does not. The first time one flies at your face you will understand why I am telling you this now.

Pest control is not optional in Houston. It is a monthly subscription to your sanity.

The mosquitoes. Step outside after rain. Step outside near any standing water. Step outside at dusk. Actually step outside at any point between April and October and the mosquitoes will find you. Houston’s warm wet climate is a mosquito paradise. DEET is a lifestyle here not an occasional precaution.

The love bugs. Twice a year — spring and fall — love bugs descend on Houston in numbers that defy explanation. They fly in mating pairs attached to each other which is why they are called love bugs. They are anything but loving. They coat your car. They coat your windshield. They die on your hood and their remains are acidic enough to damage your paint if you do not wash them off quickly. They are slow and they are everywhere and they serve no apparent purpose except to make you question the design of the natural world.

There is nothing you can do about love bug season except accept it and wash your car frequently.

The Storms. The Real Ones.

We talked about hurricane season in its own post and I am going to link that here because it deserves more than a paragraph.

But for the ugly post I want to tell you what the storms actually feel like from inside them.

Hurricane Ike — 2008 I was not prepared. My job did not give us time. The storm hit and then the silence after was almost worse than the storm itself. Days without power in Houston summer heat. The city on pause. The uncertainty of when it would end. I learned from Ike that the storm is one thing. The aftermath is another thing entirely.

Hurricane Harvey — 2017 Harvey broke something in Houston’s collective psyche that has never fully healed. It was not wind. It was water. It rained for days. It flooded neighborhoods that had never flooded. It flooded neighborhoods that were not supposed to be able to flood. I took photos from in front of my house in August 2017 — my street underwater, homes glowing in the dark behind the flood. Weeks later George Bush Park was still completely submerged. I drove past it on September 27th and took a photo because I could not believe what I was seeing. Trees standing in what looked like a lake. A speed limit sign barely visible above the waterline.

Harvey taught this city something. And most of Houston carries that knowledge quietly now every time the rain starts and does not stop.

Hurricane Beryl — 2024 Beryl moved fast. Faster than anyone expected. It knocked out power for over two million Houston customers. The biggest problem was not the storm — it was what came after. Heat. Darkness. Days without power in July in Houston. That combination is not uncomfortable. It is dangerous. Beryl reminded everyone that being prepared is not paranoia. It is just living on the Gulf Coast.

Winter Storm Uri — The Great Blackout of 2021

Nobody saw this coming. Not really.

Texas is hot. Everyone knows Texas is hot. Nobody built the Texas power grid for what happened in February 2021 when Winter Storm Uri hit and temperatures dropped to historic lows across the state.

ERCOT — the Electric Reliability Council of Texas — failed. The grid was not winterized. Pipes froze. Power went out across the state. Millions of Texans were without heat in temperatures that had no business being in Texas. People died. Pipes burst. Homes flooded from the inside out when the pipes thawed.

I was here. I was one of the lucky ones who got through it without catastrophic damage. But I watched my neighborhood go dark and I understood in a way I had not before that Texas infrastructure was built for heat — not cold. And when cold comes with no warning and no preparation the consequences are real.

If you are moving here — know this. Buy a generator before winter. Not because it happens every year. Because when it does happen it happens fast and the stores sell out of everything within hours.

Look up Winter Storm Uri 2021 before you move here. Not to scare you. To prepare you.

Are Fireplaces Necessary in Houston?

One thing that changed permanently after Winter Storm Uri that you will not read anywhere else — the fireplace conversation in Houston real estate.

Before 2021 most Houston buyers did not want a fireplace. It is hot here. Who needs it. It was considered a design feature at best and wasted square footage at worst.

After Uri — buyers started adding fireplaces to their must have list. I have had multiple clients specifically request them since 2021. Not for ambiance. For backup heat when the grid fails again. That is a real shift in how Houston buyers think about their homes now and it is worth knowing before you start your search.

If you are buying in Houston — a fireplace is no longer just decorative. It is a contingency plan.

The Tornadoes

Houston is not Tornado Alley. That is true.

But Houston is not immune either.

Last year tornadoes caused significant damage across parts of the Houston metro — shutting down sections of the city, knocking out power, and reminding everyone that the Gulf Coast weather menu has more items on it than just hurricanes.

Spring storm season in April and May brings the risk. It is not a daily concern the way it is in Oklahoma or North Texas. But it is real and it is worth having a plan for where you go in your home if one comes through.

The Crime

Houston’s crime rate is higher than the national average. That is publicly available data and I am sharing it because you deserve the full picture.

What I cannot do as a licensed real estate agent is tell you which neighborhoods are safe or unsafe — that crosses into fair housing territory that I take seriously and you should too. What I can do is point you to the tools that will help you research it yourself.

NeighborhoodScout.com and CrimeMapping.com both allow you to search crime statistics by address and zip code. The Houston Police Department also publishes public crime data at houstontx.gov. Put any address you are seriously considering into those tools before you make an offer.

And ask your agent about the neighborhood. A good agent will not steer you but they will make sure you have the resources to make an informed decision for your family.

If you want to have that conversation before you start looking — reach out and let’s talk about it.

The Road Rage

Do not act froggy in Houston traffic.

I mean this sincerely. Road rage in this city is real and it has escalated to levels that are genuinely alarming. People have been shot over lane changes. Over brake checks. Over perceived slights that would not register as notable in any other city.

I have been driving in Houston for twenty years and my rule is simple — I do not engage. Someone cuts me off. Someone rides my bumper. Someone does something that would make a reasonable person react. I do not react. I keep my eyes forward and I keep moving.

This is not me being dramatic. This is me telling you that Houston traffic combined with Houston heat combined with a city full of people who are already running late creates an energy on the roads that you should take seriously.

Drive defensively. Keep your road rage in the car. And whatever you do — do not make eye contact with someone who is already upset.

Pasadena. Or as We Call It — Stinkadina.

Pasadena Texas sits east of Houston along the Ship Channel. It is home to a significant concentration of petrochemical plants and refineries that are part of what makes Houston’s economy run.

It also has an air quality situation that you will understand the first time the wind shifts in that direction.

On a bad wind day you will smell Pasadena before you see it. It is a specific chemical smell that longtime Houstonians recognize immediately and new residents find alarming the first time they encounter it. It is not everywhere. It is not every day. But it is real and it is one of those things nobody puts in the relocation brochure.

If you are sensitive to air quality or have respiratory issues — pay attention to which direction the wind is coming from and how close your potential new home sits to the Ship Channel corridor.

So Why Are We Still Here

Twenty years.

Three hurricanes. One historic winter storm. Multiple floods. Love bug seasons I have lost count of. Cockroaches I refuse to discuss further. Heat that made me question my relationship with the outdoors.

And I am still here.

Because the ugly is real but it is not the whole story. It is the price of admission for everything the good post described — the diversity, the food, the opportunity, the community, the schools, the town squares, the people who show up for each other when things get hard.

Every city has an ugly. Houston is just honest about hers.

And after twenty years — I would not trade it.

Read the full series: The good. The bad. Hurricane season specifically.

Crystal Plummer Spruill is a licensed real estate agent serving Katy, Richmond, Fulshear, Sugar Land, and the greater Houston TX area. Brokered by Real Broker LLC. TREC #0688471. Twenty years in Houston and still here.