HoustonRealtor

12thManFan, I think you are referring to Rodeo Palms, which has a custom section with dozens of (poorly maintained) lots, but only about 4 homes. A new one was recently started, which is odd considering that the section almost looks abandoned. When it finally builds out, it may be nice, but I wouldn't invest $500k+ in what appears to be a dud right now. However, that is not where the 2 ridiculously large homes are. Both are on County Road 59. One is currently on the market at $3.7M (reduced from $5M)for 31,696 square feet. That will get you 13 bedrooms, 15 full bath + 6 half-baths, and a 7-car garage (all according to the listing). For the curious, it can be seen at www.har.com/7531757. Take note of the drop ceiling throughout. How fancy!!! HA HA HA! The home is owned by Dr. Ulysses Watkins. The property next door is owned by Family Care Medical Clinic, which Dr. Watkins is affiliated with and likely owns. This home is over 60,000 square feet. It is said to have 20 bedrooms and a 13-car garage.

I can get from Shadow Creek Ranch to 59 & Highway 6 in about 20 - 25 min at 6:30 to 7:00 a.m. The reverse trip at 5:00 p.m. is more like 45 minutes. The tollway seems to back up at some of the entrances and merging points, but does clear up and start moving again. I agree with Chamo that you are looking at an additional 10-15 minutes to/from Lakes at Highland Glen.

$334,433

I had a listing on Link Valley that closed about 3 hours ago. It was on the market for 7 days and had multiple good offers. Obviously there are people that want to live there.

None of the MDGi homes on Knox have closed in MLS. Some builders will negotiate the BTSA, others will not. Builders get a lot of sales through Realtors so it's a double edged sword for them. Many are reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them, while others don't care as long as they sell a home.

Sprinkles is a Beverly Hills, California company. I'm not certain about the LA area, but I know that Craigslist is *the* place to advertise in San Francisco (and many other cities around the country). Many companies have stopped newspaper advertising altogther, and don't spend much with the likes of monster.com or careerbuilder.com either. I have friends and acquaintances that got very good, professional jobs from Craigslist ads. While some Houstonians look at Craigslist as a glorified Greensheet, it is really much more than that in other locales.

On average, there is not much negotiating room and their townhomes sell for close to asking price. However, that's not to say that there aren't deals to be had from time to time. Unless there has already been a decent price reduction, you can probably strike a better deal on a unit that has been completed and sitting for a while. Looking in MLS, 1014 Wichman had an estimated completion date of 10/2006. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I know that they have been around for a while. There's probably more negotiating room on that one than the ones on Knox, which have an estimated completion date of 5/2007.

I am currently working with a buyer that was looking in the lower end range of Autumn Lake. His concern was the high tax rate (not quite as high as SCR, but higher than many other neighborhoods at 3.620405%). He ended finding a house for the same money, but with a lower tax rate.

Ikonos, I PM'ed you the other day based on your previous post to let you know that I am a Realtor and a resident of Pearland. Let me tell you about my story... I found that Newmark had sold a large number of homes to investors in one section they are building in. I backed out of a deal to build my own home with Newmark in Shadow Creek Ranch because over 25% of the homes on one of their streets were sold to investors and used as rentals. They gave all kinds of excuses - ranging from not knowing about, to flat out denying it, to blaming a former salesperson that had "connections to investors". I've done my research in MLS and I know the exact addresses that are rentals, so there is no denying what has happened. They tried to tell me that it wouldn't be happening in the section that I was building in, and then a few days later, a brand new home was for lease...before the first resident had even moved in to that section! Since then, another home was also put up for lease. Only a few homes in there are owner occupied at this time. There are several still under construction and at least two that had buyers back out (one being mine, the other being the salesman's daughter!). I understand that not everyone can buy a home, or even wants to buy one, but I can tell you that it was not my desire to spend my hard earned money to buy a home in a "rental community". I found another builder, got a bigger/better house AND worked a better deal...without ending up as a homeowner amongst a sea of renters. As for the quality of Newmark's homes, I can't speak to that since I haven't lived in one. However, I was willing to have them build my home based on what I saw of their inventory homes, so I don't think they are a bad builder. I just think they spend too much time watching their pocketbooks and not enough time looking out for their community and their past/present/future homeowners.

The Brazoria County rate has decreased from 4.02% to 3.86%. The Fort Bend part of SCR is 3.73%.

I have a new home under construction in Shadow Creek Ranch. The tax rate in Brazoria County (the largest part of SCR), has decreased from 4.02% to 3.86%. This is still a high tax rate, but reductions are always welcome! The Fort Bend section is 3.73%. I am not sure if this is different than previous years, but I don't think it is. We picked SCR because we wanted a new, master planned community. We currently live inside the loop, so the proximity to town is an added benefit to us. We can go from our current home to the new one, with no traffic, in just 15 minutes.