Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Ron Powers gave an emotional speech about his family’s struggles with mental illness at the Hope and Healing Center & Institute’s Chrysalis Award luncheon. … Career and Recovery Resources’ Barrier Breaker Award lunch, honoring Ed and Gwen Emmett and Philamena and Arthur Baird, raised more than $250K. … A lively Sunday brunch at the Four Seasons doubled as a fundraiser for the Great Age Movement, which promotes learning and socialization among seniors. Jazz performances and ballroom dancing dazzled the crowd of 200. … Designer David Peck and his wife chaired the Judy’s Mission Possible lunch at the Houstonian, raising funds for early-detection and ovarian cancer research at MD Anderson. … The Latin Women’s Initiative’s annual fashion show lunch was as festive as ever, featuring designs by Andrés Otálora — and tequila shots. … At River Oaks Country Club, the Mayor’s Literacy Breakfast honored the Houston Dynamo and Dash teams.
Exclusive Furniture’s Sam Zavary Credits Luck, Hard Work and ‘Mom’s Prayers’ for His Success
How did you get to where you are today? I am a firm believer that hard work and having dreams that you strive to achieve will motivate and inspire people to achieve their potential. Working hard, dreaming, and making sure to take advantage of every opportunity is something I learned at a young age. I credit God and God’s grace firstly, but I know that success is a direct result of hard work. I tell my podcast subscribers and followers to continue setting goals, evolving, improving, and planning, and I practice what I preach. I am proud to have started my business in the fastest growing major city in the United States, and I attribute a lot of the success of Exclusive Furniture to the family culture we create in the best city — Houston’s diversity, philanthropy, and innovation have helped me achieve a lot of the milestones in the furniture business (and the “low prices”) you see today!
Whom do you credit? I credit my mom’s prayers. And, to his credit, in the words of Snoop Dog, “I want to thank me; For showing up every day with a plan. Me for caring about my employees. Me for caring about my customers; Me for caring about my community.”
I am truly thankful to have my siblings work with me. I surround myself with great people and therefore great things happen. I want to credit luck, hard work, dedication, good planning, prayers, and believing and having faith in the vision of Exclusive Furniture — “Where Low Prices Live!”
What lessons have you learned that might enlighten and inspire others? I am constantly learning. You should be learning something new every day as there are new lessons. Some more advice: Don’t take things lightly and don’t underestimate or overestimate people. Judge people on their performance. This includes employees, vendors, and contracted people. Make sure you do your due diligence. “You can only expect what you inspect, or something will fall through the cracks.” Don’t dwell on your setbacks, instead use your setbacks as a learning session so as not to repeat pitfalls again. And, don’t worry, you will always have setbacks to learn from; you will just have fewer if you learn from the past.
It seems to me that luck has a lot to do with success, and the harder I work the luckier I get.
What’s new in your life or work that you’re excited about? I am excited to open the new Exclusive Furniture Spring location in June! This will be my 8th location. Not bad for a guy who started out in 1998 with one 2,000-square-foot store. Proud to be where I am today. Now my smallest store is 12,000 square feet. Our 8th location is 61,000 square feet! I am excited about expanding into more Texas locations and continue the brand and culture of Exclusive Furniture.
With First-Pitch Opp and Playoff Tickets Up for Grabs, HelpCureHD Gala Knocks It Out of the Park
FORMER ASTROS PITCHER and current coach Joe Smith, along with his sportscaster wife Allie LaForce, hosted a gala at Minute Maid Park's Union Station in an effort to raise funds and awareness of Huntington’s Disease, which took the life of Smith’s mother in 2020.
Smith and LaForce established their nonprofit HelpCureHD, which provides support for those suffering from the progressive brain disease. Huntington’s Disease hereditary, and there’s a 50 percent chance of passing the gene along to offspring. However, going through IVF and screening embryos before implantation is one way to eliminate the risk, and HelpCureHD has committed to help couples cover the cost of that process. More than 60 babies have been brought into the world HD-free thanks to the nonprofit’s grant program, and there are many more on the way!
As has become tradition at this annual event, the raffle and live auction touted truly covetable prizes: Presenting sponsor Shaftel Diamonds donated a stunning diamond necklace created in collaboration with LaForce, and there was Astros swag aplenty — autographed items, an opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a home game (and sit in Jim Crane's personal seats!), and tickets to all of the playoff games at Minute Maid Park.
Among those raising a glass for the cause were Adrienne and Jared Crane, Kat Pressly, Sue Rogers, Reagan Bregman, Sam Tucker and Jordan Seff.
Sydnee Hilburn Davis and Jared Davis
Alexander Kelly and Kristin Foteh Kelly
Bobby Dees, Hallie Vanderhider, Fady Armanious and Bill Baldwin
Sue Rogers, Kat Pressly, Tory Graveman, Kim Seitler
Carrie and Austin Stanton
Danny and Iris Shaftel, Allie LaForce and Joe Smith
Reggie Jackson and Johnny Bravo
Kevin and Brooke Lee
Emily Carruth and Ashton Bremer
Michael and Ileana Trevino
Jo Furr, Erin Furr Stimming, Erin Goldman
Maxx Chewning and Taylor Kessler
Joan Purcell, Dorothy Roach, Darcy Morgan, Jennifer Browining
Matthew and Katherine Kardesch and Erin and Brian Goldman
Jody Merritt, Angela Hernandez
Emily Carruth and Ashton Bremer
Jamie and Chris Garner
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MORTGAGE RATES ARE high. So is the cost of living. Life milestones are coming later. The reasons that millennials are, according to society, "behind" previous generations when it comes to home ownership are finally crystal clear (and they have nothing to do with avocado toast, thankyouverymuch). But what do the statistics say about home-buying in Houston?
The millennial generation, defined as individuals born between 1981 and 1996, has reached a point in life in which buying a home is cited as a top priority. Thanks to the brutal combination of high interest rates and low inventory, though, it's become a daunting task. But a recently released report details this generation's level of participation in real estate markets across the country.
Construction Coverage, which covers building, insurance and real estate news, says that millennials accounted for the majority of home purchase loans in Houston last year — 61.5 percent, compared to 56.9 percent nationally. States with the highest percentage of millennial homebuyers were California, Texas, and a majority of the midwest and northeast. States at the bottom of the list included, in a post-Covid plot twist, Arizona and Florida.
The median loan amount for mortgages taken out by applicants ages 25-34 in the Houston-Woodlands-Sugar Land metro was $315K, and shot up to $365K for those ages 35-44 — higher than any other age group. The median interest rate for the nearly 30,000 combined transactions was 6.5 percent.
The loan-to-value ratio, defined as the amount of the mortgage compared to the sale price of the home, was a whopping 87 percent for the 25-to-34-year-olds, and 80 percent for 35-to-44-year-olds. A contributing factor may be that many are first-time homebuyers, and have less equity to apply to new mortgages; in addition, many already have young and growing families, and need more space than previous generations' "starter homes" would have.
So what does this mean? In order to cope with rising home prices, millennials are taking out larger home loans than ever before, nationwide and here in Houston.
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