rps324

After the Chron article, I had an e-mail from Rob Griffith, of Trellis Properties -- a company that he says restores older homes. He said he and his life partnerhave signed a contract on the place. And his business partner, Rebecca Perez, is even now getting bids to restore the house "to its former glory."

I sent him contact info for Houston Mod. And I can't wait to see the place.

Did I read something on Rebecca Perez living in that log cabin house in Park Place?

Here is one Toulouse took:

Did anybody take any pics?

A lot of people came out, seems there is always something to see in Glenbrook, like the various flag displays.

It all sounds great!!! I will be there! I may have missed it, but what are the hours on this special event? With so much to see I hope we have all afternoon! Fortified on Mimosas, this should really be a treat. The weather is going to be dry and clear too. Thanks...see you tomorrow.

2 to 4, but they usually go on a little longer.

Swamplot article

That house on Arletta sure is cool-looking--should attract a good crowd!

The people that own it originally bought it with the intent of tearing it down. So I would really like to see it get sold. The photos really don't capture it, it is a lot better in person. The owners have recently been using it for storage, so I am still pressing them to get it cleaned out before this weekend, otherwise I may be slingin' stuff into the garage myself later this week.

It is not a "mod" house but the Ben F. Greenwood designed Tudor (He designed that mod church right on Broadway at Sims I think), is also going to be open as well. It is an interesting house too, on a nice lot backing up to Sims Bayou.

7707 Lakewind

That will make a total of 6 houses open next Sunday in the area.

It was rough then. A lot of stores closed down. I remember whole shopping centers being pretty much empty. The big apartment districts like Fondren SW, Broadway and Greenspoint all really took a hard hit and never did recover. Inner city areas like the Heights and Montrose that had started gentrifying just sort of stopped. Subdivisions out in suburbia had blocks and blocks of streets with no houses. In some of the tract home subdivisions you can still see the jump where all of the sudden you go from 70's style tract homes to 90's era red brick, (when building started to resume) right in the same subdivision.

Rents were unbelievably cheap. You could get a decent one bedroom apartment in the suburbs for $175 a month.

On Sunday the 13th there will be a mod of the month open house in Glenbrook Valley at 8015 Arletta.

The motm choice is a roman brick mod with vaulted ceilings in all the rooms. It features formals with clerestory windows, large kitchen, den with fireplace, cedar closets, vintage tile baths, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths in the main house and a half bath in the garage. It is located on a great cul de sac street.

Houston Mod

At the same time a number of other homes will be held open, so it creates an opportunity to see a lot of different Glenbrook Valley home styles. There is a large Tudor style home backing up to Sims at 7707 Lakewind that was designed by Ben F. Greenwood that may be open, I still need to confirm with the agent. It is priced at $325,000. Others that will be open in addition to the Arletta house include:

7831 Santa Elena at Broadway - A one-owner very original colonial with extensive poured terrazzo flooring, formals, den, triple masters, and a detached 2 room home office suite, second mini-kitchen off the breakfast room. $239,900

8119 Stony Dell - boom a rang shaped roman brick ranch on a very hilly lot. Formals, den, open kitchen concept, 2 full baths. $199,900

8206 Glencrest - corner lot ranch over 3,300 sq ft per appraisal. Formals, den, bonus room, 3 br/2.5 baths. $245,000

8211 Colgate - Clean lined mid-century ranch with 20' square main living area, beautiful sunroom, 3 br/3 ba. $239,900

If you like older houses and neighborhoods, this is a good chance to get out and tour this area.

We have been trying to find out more information about the flooding history of this house. Our realtor is at a stalemate. I do know that the west side of Rice that it sits on has traditionally sat higher than the other side of the street and the houses further back on the west side have not flooded in years past. Does anyone know anything about it or know of another resource to look up the info besides the useless FEMA site?

Well, this is all very unofficial, but I was showing the house at one time last year. When we were in there we heard the garage door go up. There was a very young lady parked in the driveway and she had used a code on some keypad to the garage door to open it. She told us her family had lived in the house, (that is how she knew the garage door code) how much she liked it, etc., and just wanted to stop and look at it. We asked her about flooding in Allison. She told us yes, the house got a little bit of water that came in, then flowed back out quickly. It did not stay in the house long but they got a "few inches."

So according to her, yes, the house did get some water in Allison. How much weight you want to put behind that exchange is up to you. I do believe there is some warping on some of the formica panels down low that indicate the house had water.

I am in the market to buy a condo right now. After shopping around on har.com, I came across the condos at 2400 McCue. At first I was pretty excited but after looking further into it I had my reservations. It seems like there are a lot of listings for foreclosure and previously it had lots of complaints about the make and quality of the condos.

I would love some insight into these condos. Please help!!! Thank you!

I don't know about construction issues, the maintenance and condition looked good when I was in them. Well priced foreclosures in there are being snapped up like mad. I had a few reservations about the place when a client wanted to look at places there. I was concerned initially at the number of foreclosures and quite frankly, I thought of it as just a glorified apartment complex. Apparently there are plenty of people wanting them though. We bid on 4 different foreclosures and never did make a deal, even offering above asking. In some cases by several thousand. Long story.

I don't know how it is on one bedrooms, but on the 2 bedrooms the well priced foreclosures are truly getting multiple offers. That location is very desirable.

Generally apartment complexes will not negotiate prices. They are too afraid of fair housing problems created by offering one person a special they did not offer to another. What they offer to one, they have to offer to all.

You are not going to live in the club house, or the model, but those things will be used to..."create a sense of value" or in other words, make you pay more. I would be cautious about being "taken in" by amenities you won't use.

The leasing agents are trained to "close" on you. They will ask you to fill out an application and leave a deposit at least two or three times. They will if they have been trained anyway, and they will use assumptive phrases and other subtle closing techniques, it's their job. While this may sound like a put-off, I would be more concerned if they didn't. If they don't do that part of their job, where usually a leasing bonus is involved, how eager are they to do the rest of their job?

aptratings.com is usually just bitter people who are mad because they wanted to break their lease & the management wouldn't let them. People who barely ran a vacuum over the carpet when they left and wonder why their $150 deposit won't cover extensive sheet rock repairs and a whole apartment worth of carpet their puppy ruined. Stuff like that. Of course their are legitimate complaints too. I would look for patterns on their. On the flip side the positive comments are often times the Manager or leasing agents going on their and giving themselves glowing remarks.

Check different locations, not just the latest and greatest, although properties in the "lease up" stage may offer good initial deals, but they will hit you at renewal time.

No one wants the formica house. Dropped to 305k today.

flipper

I had a client that put an offer in on it for $325,000 when it first came out, and the bank wouldn't talk about it.

I have a plat of Hare & Hare's original plan for Glenbrook Valley, which unfortunately is quite different from the one they ended up building.

It had a street facing Sims Bayou, much like MacGregor/Braeswood, and much more space dedicated to parks. The intersection of Bellfort and Broadway had two churches planned at the northwest and northeast corners, with the southeast and southwest corners having semi-circular retail much like the original River Oaks shopping center. Behind this was one row of apartment buildings, and the rest of Broadway was single-family residential with homes cornering Broadway all the way down.

There are several families in Glenbrook that send their kids there. It is not particularly expensive. Those that can get into Carnegie Vanguard though. I still tend to think there is a need and market for a good, reasonably priced private school in this area.

An east end institution appears to be on the verge of closing.

Mt. Carmel

Ugh! What I don't get is why bother promoting the mid-century modern aspect? Clearly anything even remotely resembling that has been stripped out in favor of garish Tuscan fixtures, slate, crown molding, gilt mirrors and other features that have zero appeal to anyone who has even a passing interest in mid-century modern design.

Another "Frankenhouse."

I don't doubt it will sell though.

There is a weird little block or two stretch on the west side of Afton Oaks that is not officially Afton Oaks and doesn't have deed-restrictions (apparently). I think it may be called Greenwood or something like that.

It's odd because it appears to be Afton Oaks and looks like they have allowed commercial encroachment into their neighborhood. I am surprised Afton Oaks did not create some sort of marker to indicate where their western border is to sort of disassociate themselves with that other area.

There's definetly potential for upside in RT, but if I was going to risk my money over there it would be on a single family or multi family property with a fair bit of land underneath it. I just don't see enough appreciation potential in those townhouses and their tiny little squares of land to justify the risk.

The "square of land" on this particular one ain't that tiny Sunshine.

Is this your listing?

Yes.

A great town home that has an usually large private green space, great for someone who prefers a town house but needs a little more yard for a pet. $224,900

2605 Calumet

They just built a Starbucks at Winkler/Monroe & 45. It's not like that area is more affluent or has a higher housing density than around Eastwood or Idylwood. At least I don't think it does.

I bet if ORR or whoever it is builds that new center there at Wayside & 45, one goes in there. That would be at the southern tip of the previously stated "boundaries." I'm sort of surprised that they haven't put one some where right around Lockwood - Cullen service road area to feed off of people coming and going from the university.

At one time there was a rumor that old art-deco building on McKinney, the one that houses a bakery, was going to remodel and expand into a coffee house of some sort. I don't know how valid that tale is though.

it's all about the buck.

If I had any sense it would be, I'd be selling townhouses in Rice-Military or something where its a whole lot easier. But I haven't been accused of having any sense in a long time.

It was the August 2007 Mod of the Month at 4987 Dumfries in Meyerland, by architect William F. Wortham, that suffered the above mentioned desecration.

I have not heard about any changes at 3611 North Braeswood.

Grandpa over here got his x-motm's mixed up. The dementia comes and goes...

I think it was spaceage that told me that, specifically mentioning bad window replacements and the kitchen getting gutted.