Podcast Guest John S. Moody Jr.: The Ralph Bivins Project

In Houston, Houston lawyer John S. Moody, Jr. who has been involved in hundreds of Texas real estate transactions, offered insights on today’s realty market and the impact of Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall near Matagorda, Texas on July 8, 2024.

RALPH BIVINS: This is Ralph Bivins with the Ralph Bivins Project. We are here today with John S. Moody, Jr. of the Moody Law Group. He’s an attorney who specializes in commercial real estate. John has deep experience in the Texas real estate market.

JOHN S. MOODY JR.: Thank you for having me. I am a big fan of your newsletter and your podcast, and I am really excited to be here.

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RALPH BIVINS: Let’s address what just happened in Houston. Hurricane Beryl, a Category 1 hurricane, came through a few days ago and disrupted things a lot more than expected. Even though it was not the most powerful storm, it caused a lot of wind damage and knocked out a lot of utilities, power lines. What are you hearing from your folks, your clients, your colleagues, about the storm’s impact?

JOHN S. MOODY JR.: It’s all over the board. You have businesses that are still closed and unable to operate; restaurants right down the street from my office that are still closed because they have no power. I’ve been talking to attorneys working off cell phones and I talked with a woman who was working off a laptop that was plugged into her car and she was trying to make a deal. Homes are, well, my assistant had a water leak and the roof fell to the floor. It’s a mess. As to my firm, I have 11 people here and six are still without power at their homes. It impacts us. People are still trying to figure out repairs and businesses are unable to operate due to a lack of power. And then there are insurance claims and damages and all that kind of stuff. We had three closings that were supposed to happen on Monday. One client was trying to buy property from an out-of-state seller. He was frustrated that we weren’t closing. It’s why we have force majeure clauses in our contracts for stuff like this. The title company was closed, the banks were closed, offices were closed. It’s just going to roll for a couple of days, and we’ll get it closed. But most people are pretty accommodating, especially people from Houston. They understand this kind of stuff and in the real estate community, most of us give each other extensions and work through it.

RALPH BIVINS: This storm brought a lot of rain and it downed trees which took down wires and led to power outages which exacerbated the situation. There has been talk of burying power lines. Why don’t we hear more about this? Is it cost prohibitive? What do you think?

JOHN S. MOODY JR.: That’s what you hear, that it’s cost prohibitive. If you look at where my office is located, on West Alabama between Kirby and Buffalo Speedway. The Upper Kirby District, which may be a TIRZ or a management district, they spent some extra money when they rebuilt Kirby and buried the power lines. I believe it’s going to be done in front of my office on West Alabama in the near future. If you have a TIRZ or a management district, burying the power lines will incur additional costs. I don’t know if CenterPoint will do it.

I know that some of the large-scale planned communities do spend the money to bury the utilities. I think doing so is smart. I know that in West U where I live, I wish they had buried the power lines when they re-did the streets about 10 years ago. We still have poles and power lines running through the back yards. It just takes a gust of wind to blow over a tree or a branch and bring down a line that cuts off power that could last a couple of days.

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John S. Moody Jr. biography

John S. Moody, Jr. is board certified in commercial real estate by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has extensive experience in real estate development, leasing, acquisitions, sales and financing. The Houston attorney, who leads the Moody Law Group, represents developers, owners, families, financial institutions, investors, retailers and private equity funds in acquisitions, sales, development, leasing, financing and construction of all types of real estate.