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It seems like a steal. House after house and then a lot that looks as if it is ready for a home.

"It’s a beautiful piece of land,” said Realtor Marisa Talty.

And that's just what one of her client’s thought. Twenty thousand dollars later, he had his lot, but now his steal feels more like a robbery.

"This piece of land that he bought with his life savings. It is worthless,” said Talty.

He's not alone.

The Floodway Coalition of Houston didn't even exist before October of 2006. But they've been busy since the city of Houston passed Ordinance Chapter 19.

Its no-build provision for structures in a floodway overnight made thousands of properties virtually worthless.

"There is nobody (who) can buy it. That is the bottom line,” said Talty.

The Floodway Coalition commissioned a study by an appraisal company to try to put a number on the loss of value to both property owners and the city through loss taxable value.

What did it find?

That the city would lose $1.9 to $3.5 billion in property tax value.

On the low end, that would be like totally removing the City of La Porte from the tax rolls or the City of Bellaire's $2.5 billion tax base.

In fact, the loss to Houston could be bigger than the entire tax base of any city in Harris County except Pasadena.

It is an impact that means $38 to $70 million dollars in annual city tax revenue will be gone.

What's that mean? Or what would you have to cut to make up that kind of loss?

•$33.4 million is the entire library budget for Houston.

•$59.9 million dollars is the entire parks budget.

•$71.5 million dollars is the entire solid waste budget.

The city isn't the only one losing money. So is the owner of the lot. All his money is gone.

"(He) works 13 hours a day, sometimes seven days a week,” said Talty. “This is just wrong. It is really wrong."