rbarz
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Posts posted by rbarz
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On 6/11/2016 at 6:00 AM, UtterlyUrban said:
I am actually surprised to see gold-tone faucets in the bathroom. Those have been "out" for a long time now, I think. I wonder if the design trend is reversing?
The trend was said to be reversed a couple of years ago in the upper end of the market, but there are still a ton of polished stainless and stainless fixtures and silver tones must still be the most popular.
All good fixtures are brass on the inside. It is highly unlikely that these are not coated in something... raw and polished brass is still not on trend although they are still produced.
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You barely need plans if you're doing a renovation. Basically Any plans you submit are good enough if you're the homeowner. I've hand drawn plans on a sheet of paper in front of the planning guy before.
It's a bit different if it's a big addition....
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I used Bambusa "Ventricosa" or Buddha's Belly Bamboo.
It is not invasive. The foot print is about 12' in diameter. Grows to 50' tall and has a weeping canopy so you need very few specimens to cover a huge area. I used 6 to block 250 feet of neighbors!
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Check out the Acres Homes area of Houston... an excellent investment if you can tough it out for another 10 years.
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I am pretty sure this "advertising" is getting rid of everyone that would buy this home.
I know I would be extremely afraid of attempting a flip on a home that now has a video out there showing what it looked like. After it is flipped, any buyer coming across it would be uninterested immediately and I wouldn't be surprised if it invited unwanted consequences from a buyer that saw the video after closing.
Every home I have flipped, I have wanted to put before and after photos out there, which I have done, but never with the really scary ones... This one is a close call. But I still wouldn't want to close without all advertising being scrubbed from the net.
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Both good points! $1440/mo extra does look easy to squeeze out of a budget, and thirty years later everything does look extremely cheap... I guess you just have to worry about making ends meet for 30 years to get there!
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Apparently if you are Oscar Renda, then you also don't have to worry about flood zones. He has brought in mountains of dirt into the 100 yr flood zone and even the floodway near TC Jester and I10.
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I have been by, I think $1.25M is the average price because they have units priced lower.
The floor plans are pretty good, but it is not a surprise they haven't sold many. They were not really finished with what details were being offered when I visited about three weeks ago. For example, the sales office did not know what cabinets where being offered or if the fixtures were going to match the ones in the renderings. I did speak with an architect whose firm is involved in the project and she did know what was being selected and it was quite a surprise at the level of finishes included for the price (Eggersman Level 5). We will have to wait and see if that officially makes it to the sales office.
A Conceirge seems like a waste to me. The buildings I have had units in that had only one person working no matter what you called them were always a waste of money. The only time a staff seemed to benefit the residents is when there is Valet and porters. A guarantee this building will not have a 24 hour Conceirge and if it does to start like all the older Randal Davis properties then it will change once the residents take over the HOA.
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Let me throw in my two cents:
Arche_757 might work in the industry, but he obviously isn't running things at his company, because he is not privy to the actual cost of construction (in 2014 or 2015). No offense, but it looks like where he works charges $225, and no one knows the difference. I have friends that are architects and they are unaware of what a "regular" home costs and only know what their builders are charging.
You can expect to pay $135/sf for a non-custom cookie cutter type home (with ok finishes you see everywhere) and upwards of $350/sf for you to sit down with an architecture firm and get a supremely built full custom home with great finishes. There is room on both sides of those numbers. You can be your own GC and skimp and plan everywhere and get close to $105/ft or you can go crazy and get the highest end finishes with outrageous things like hand forged cabinet pulls, automation, solar, quad-pane windows etc etc for $1000/sf.
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There has to be some more updates to this post... Anyone have any new architects to add?
I would add:
Dillon Kyle
http://www.dkarc.com/wordpress/
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It is still the same 7 years later!
Check out the Zillow Mortgage App, which happens to be a good, quick calculator to figure out mortgage/tax/insurance payments. It has an affordability calculator and its default setting is shocking to me...
For example:
Income: $80,000/yr
Down Payment: $60,000
Interest Rate: 3.125%
"You can afford a home up to $405,710. This home should fit comfortably within your budget"
You can add monthly debt to the calculator to bring the price down, but it seems out of touch. Maybe it is on purpose, because it is to Zillow's advantage to have people looking for homes or maybe all of the U.S. is out of touch...
When I entered all of my information in to the calculator to determine what price home it thought I should budget, the "affordability" was 40% higher than a price I would even consider looking at!
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So it was a victim of the recent floods?
Yes.
But the front was a victim of the sledge hammer. It was a horrible mistake in my opinion to destroy the brick lattice.
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I use to office out of a building right off of the freeway. During the evening and night when the traffic speed picked up the sound was a nightmare!
Half price would not convince me to live in a unit with windows facing the freeway.
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There has been a lot more interest in mid-century modern in the last few years. This building must be trying to capitalize on that movement.
From the Realtor: "Referencing the simplicity & functionality of the Bauhaus movement... "
What worries me is that renderings normally look better than the real thing... What if this rendering looks better!?!
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Does anyone know the official website for this building?
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How has the building been selling? Is it worth nearly double the price to be in a "new" remodeled building instead of the 3 older ones right down the street? WIllowick, Inwood and I forget the name of the other, but they all have "remodeled" lobbies.
There are just four generalized listings on HAR ranging from $1.4M to $4.4M. Does anyone know how many have been "sold" so far?
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For the square footage offered, this building is cheaper than all of the other ones currently planned or under construction. Please correct me if I am wrong!
1400 California is $500/sf for penthouse and around $300/sf for the other units. Everyone else seems to be $450 to $500 or more per square foot for non-penthouse units.
Not that I think it is worth it, but here is a $300/sf unit probably on the 3rd floor.
http://www.har.com/1400-california--3ne/sale_77976441
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So where can I get more information?
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How can central heat only cost $15,000 while central air and heat should be $10,000 or less. Your 3/1 is less than 2000 SF right? PM me if you want a quote from my (licensed but reasonable) HVAC guy.
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I met up with a developer, who is building a home in the flood zone A. I asked about the flood insurance and what kind of premiums i would expect. He said the slab of the home was above the 100yr BFE and with the home came a certificate of elevation stating so. I looked up an elevation certificate from the FEMA website, (this is where i am confused) it asks for the Flood zones in section B8. What Flood Zones are applicable when building in Zone A with the home above the BFE? Zone A and X? Has any one had an elevation certificate done with this specific situation?
If your BFE is above the 100 year than it is either in the 500 year or out of the floodplain all together.
Flood Insurance will not be required by your mortgage if your BFE is above the 100year and FEMA (I believe) only offers insurance to those within the 100yr Floodplain or floodway. Your normal insurance carrier can offer you flood when above the 100yr and the rates are much much lower. (I.E. for $200k inside 100yr its about $1000/yr through FEMA compared to $200/yr outside the 100yr through Nationwide).
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I met up with a developer, who is building a home in the flood zone A. I asked about the flood insurance and what kind of premiums i would expect. He said the slab of the home was above the 100yr BFE and with the home came a certificate of elevation stating so. I looked up an elevation certificate from the FEMA website, (this is where i am confused) it asks for the Flood zones in section B8. What Flood Zones are applicable when building in Zone A with the home above the BFE? Zone A and X? Has any one had an elevation certificate done with this specific situation?
If your BFE is above the 100 year than it is either in the 500 year or out of the floodplain all together.
Flood Insurance will not be required by your mortgage if your BFE is above the 100year and FEMA (I believe) only offers insurance to those within the 100yr Floodplain or floodway. Your normal insurance carrier can offer you flood when above the 100yr and the rates are much much lower. (I.E. for $200k inside 100yr its about $1000/yr through FEMA compared to $200/yr outside the 100yr through Nationwide).
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Hello
Save the sawdust that doesn't contain paint. Dig out some of the bondo. Mix the sawdust with carpenters glue (clear) and fill the hole. It will match very well. Note that it doesn't stain well but it is great for natural finishes.
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I say No Paint...
I know the house too... Roof line always hinted Japanese to me. Hope the remodel is going well, It looks worlds better than it did!
Lawndale vs. Broadmoor
in Houston Real Estate
Posted
This is the same thing that I looked at and debated 15 years ago! It turned out to be not much different then and I think it is the same now. Each time the area has a "resurgence" it gets stalled by another area. Freedman' Town, 1st ward, Washington corridor, and now 3rd ward will stall it. If you're looking long term it won't matter in my opinion... If one takes off the others will be dragged up with it.