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Cottage Grove Information & Developments


N8TIV

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Any thoughts to this area? It is north of I-10 around TC Jester. There seems to be a lot of chatter among builders as it is in close proximity to both uptown and downtown and memorial park.

This would be a good thread for kjb to reply to as I believe he lives in Cottage Grove now.

However he seems to have dropped off HAIF's radar. I still see his posts on Houston Strategies so I know he's still around.

As far as accessability goes, it's another great area for getting into downtown and uptown without ever having to get on a freeway. We've been kicking around the idea of selling our home and Cottage is on our list of neighborhoods we've looked into.

B)

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I think Cottage Grove has huge potential upside. While some would consider these knocks, I think the fact that it's sheletered to the south by the freeway, and to the west and north by very large rail ROW's means that once the area has completely gentrified it's going to be an oasis, and much like Shady Acres there's not much historical architecture so there won't be much love lost if the entire area goes upscale.

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I know there are a lot of skeptics when it comes to building in an area like Cottage Grove, but I think this area is just asking to be gentrified. Like heightsguy said, there aren't too many homes in the area that are worth keeping as historical gems.

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I used to live in Cottage Grove.... on the south side of I-10 though.... the wife and I loved the relative area so much we moved into Timbergrove just down TC Jester... got sick of being in a townhouse..

at any rate.. there will be no stopping the gentrification in Cottage Grove... lots/homes are being sold to developers quickly... 3 1/2 yrs ago when we bought our place there, the north side of I-10 had very little going on... now you see signs everywhere.... prices are still nice in the area with some appreciation to occur in the next 3-4 years.... if you're willing to live in a gardenhome/townhome it would be a good move...

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  • 1 year later...

This is definitely a great area. We've lived there for about 18 months and absolutely love the ease of access to downtown, the galleria and the 290 corridor.

Beware of townhomes with no street access (this applies everywhere, I suppose.) Just make sure you either have street access or a big alley. Or ride a motorcycle. ;)

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I drive through there almost every day on my way home from work - about the only thing that neighborhood has going for it is the proximity to downtown and to the freeways. As mentioned, the south side is nicer than the north side.

Problem #1 is the railroads - you have lots of train noise from the existing tracks and the empty ROW's are constantly being proposed and reproposed for use as bike trails, commuter rail, and the infamous Heights toll road. Something is going to get built through there and my guess is that it's going to be something loud.

Problem #2 is the infrastructure - especially on the north side of the freeway the streets are very narrow and with open ditches on either side. As stated, none of the houses in there are architectural gems, but the lots are small and the existing structures have almost no setback from the ditch. The area could be gentrified, but since it's being done piecemeal by individual developers they are cramming three-story townhouses onto the individual lots without rebuilding the streets or improving the stormwater drainage. I know this isn't a huge problem for development in the Heights, but the lots are smaller than the Heights from what I can gather and those ditches really need to be improved and covered so the streets can be covered. It's ugly.

Problem #3 is the freeway itself - TXDOT really REALLY wants to connect the access roads between TC Jester and Washington and last year proposed building really tall overpasses over the railroad tracks on either side of the freeway, so tall that they would have towered over the neighborhood park and added a lot of traffic noise to the neighborhood. There was a lot of opposition from the neighborhood group and those plans were dropped, but I would not be so sure that TXDOT won't try again someday in the future.

I think the area could really benefit from some wholesale redevelopment - the location is OUTSTANDING - but as it is the streets are tiny and cramped and it's full of undesirables. Someone needs to buy out the neighborhood en masse and dedicate a lot of resources to fixing the infrastructure before anything gets built. I don't know if the piecemeal townhouse development that's going on is really the right way to do it.

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  • 1 month later...

Good Afternoon All,

Will someone please confirm and clarify which Heights neighborhoods are

deed restricted ,which are Historical, and finally which neighborhood do they want to make Historical ?

NorHill Heights, Woodland , Proctor Plaza , Shady Acres ????

Thank You

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GHPA has a list of National Register and city historic districts, and the city site has some additional information. Individual neighborhoods' websites are probably the best place online to get additional information. For example, HoustonHeights.org has some detailed information about the Houston Heights' application.
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as far as deed restrictions go,

there are many smaller subdivision designations within the heights area.

stude comes to mind as one. of course there are the big ones like houston heights, woodland heights, sunset heights, norhill etc.

when you closed on your home, you should have received a copy of your deed restrictions from the title company (or at the very least a notice of whether your property had any).

why don't you post the subdivision that is on your property's legal description.

there is probably someone on haif that lives there too or knows if it has deed restrictions.

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  • 1 month later...
Any thoughts to this area? It is north of I-10 around TC Jester. There seems to be a lot of chatter among builders as it is in close proximity to both uptown and downtown and memorial park.

I think Cottage Grove's location is ideal with easy access to I-10, 610, and 290 but you must spend some time in the area before buying and get to experience how annoying the trains can be.

We used to live in Rice Military before we moved to the "Upper East Side" by Clinton and Waco. The only thing we hated about the area was the loud train noise every night enough to wake us all up.

There is a reason why you can buy the same townhouse in Cottage Grove - built by the same developer- for a fraction of the cost of those in Rice Military.

Here in the East Side, we sleep better and still enjoy proximity to Downtown and the convenience to all major freeways.

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  • 1 month later...

I am considering purchasing a 3/2 TH in cottage grove from InTown Homes. I have read a thread (may be old) that gave the builder bad reviews.

I wanted to see how people's experience are these days with InTown Homes and what people think about the Cottage Grove development.

Can anyone living there give me their thoughts on the home they purchased, how the area is, does the train bother you, any construction noise, etc. Any information would be helpful, this is a major purchase and I would like to know as much as possible.

Thanks in advance

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  • 10 months later...
I am considering purchasing a 3/2 TH in cottage grove from InTown Homes. I have read a thread (may be old) that gave the builder bad reviews.

I wanted to see how people's experience are these days with InTown Homes and what people think about the Cottage Grove development.

Can anyone living there give me their thoughts on the home they purchased, how the area is, does the train bother you, any construction noise, etc. Any information would be helpful, this is a major purchase and I would like to know as much as possible.

Thanks in advance

Bump as I am currently having the same questions.

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Looking over there too, check out the flood zones as well since that flood insurance will boost your payment. There are still a ton of shacks mixed in there and some are downright sad to pass by. Several foreclosures as well

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  • 3 months later...
Bump as I am currently having the same questions.

I hope I am not too late. I would avoid Intown Homes, as it is a Frank Liu company. I have some friends who own an InTown home and their experiences was not good. You can read about my experience with another one of his companies in another thread. Just do a search on Lovett Homes. Outward quality of these homes may appear good, but once a problem develops you are out of luck. Customer service in a Frank Liu company is non-existent. Please private message me if you have further questions.

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Unfortunately, you are too late. I have it on good authority that LyleTx bought an InTown home at the beginning of the summer.

He had some complaints about the trim job so Frank Liu snuck into the house a few nights later and ate his brain.

If only you had posted earlier! :(

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Dealing with In-Town during the build process was not a fun experience. However I must say once its all said and done, the quality is quite good. I have heard from other that their builders were easier to work with, but they also complained about corners being cut. With the exception of some shady plumbing work by the plumber they contracted, the quality has been good so far (~3.5yrs).

I know people who own in 2 different In-Town communities, this seems to hold true for them too.

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Cottage Grove is completely covered by the "100 year" flood plain. Whatever that means, but it didn't sound too good to me. That was one of the main deterrents from going across I-10. Prices are getting so high, that it's more worth it to me to stay south of I-10 (closer to River Oaks/Memorial Park/Washington Ave).

Google Tropical Storm Allison Recovery Project and they have pretty cool interactive flood plain maps that are supposedly made with NASA satellites.

On the other hand, I've got plenty of friends that live in Cottage Grove and love it. It seems to be more well kept than some areas south of I-10/North of Washington.

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  • 1 year later...

Good Morning to all of you, new member here, landed in the forum after a google search about Intown Homes.

We moved 3 years ago from Miami to Houston and bought an house in Humble ( Eagle Spring ), mainly coz it's very close to my place of work.

2 months ago our daughter move out and after that we realized that we have half of the house unused ( even if it's not that big ) so we start thinking on moving to the city, on the budget side Cottage Grove is just fine for us, to me looks like a fine area, close enough to the hot spots of the city and not that far away from IAH, what is yout opinion about Cottage Grove:

safe enough?

home value gonna rise during the next 3/5 years?

flooding?

nice people?

any input will be appreciated

Thks

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We really looked into In-Town's Cottage Grove. Here's what we found:

Decent building, GREAT use of interior space in most models.

No guest parking.

Smack dab in an area tht lawys low and floods a lot.

Not 100% sure, but if I remember it was kind of a pain getting and and from TC Jester due to that big ramp/bridge over the RR yard.

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This is my first post, but I have been lurking for a long time.

I bought in Cottage Grove last year and had a lot of the same questions. We were originally looking at Intown homes, but bought another one down the street. We are extremely glad that we bought in Cottage Grove!

It has been perfectly safe the entire year and seems to only be getting safer (not saying you don't need an alarm system, but I would suggest that anywhere)

It is in the newly drawn flood plan, but it did not flood during Ike and has not flooded near my house in the year.

The location is perfect for us. The access to I-10 and the ability to quickly go in any direction, too or from the city, is a HUGE benefit to us.

We are right near the Washington Ave. area, but not a part of the noise and crowds.

Intown homes seem like great houses, and everyone I have ever talked to about them said that they are well built. I do really like the insides.

Considering the economy, I have no idea what is going to happen as far as if the prices will go up. But my guess is that as the rest of the neighborhood fills in and renews (seems like close to 50% has renewed) that the prices will only go up because of its location. For where Cottage Grove is located compared to the surroundings, it is cheap.

As a person that lived in Chicago the parking does not bother me. There is tons of parking, it's just on the streets, which is what most other close to a large city dwellers deal with. However, it is something that should be considered.

Love this site!

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We really looked into In-Town's Cottage Grove. Here's what we found:

Decent building, GREAT use of interior space in most models.

No guest parking.

Smack dab in an area tht lawys low and floods a lot.

Not 100% sure, but if I remember it was kind of a pain getting and and from TC Jester due to that big ramp/bridge over the RR yard.

I have a buddy who bought one of those townhomes and when it comes to parking there is zero and I mean really ZERO guest parking, in fact the whole area is hard to navigate because of all the street parking (on both sides) is crammed. He hasnt had a problem with flooding but is in the flood plain. He seems to enjoy it but I don't think I would want to fight the crowds and not have any yard... just my .02

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guys thks so far fr the answer.

parking space space on the street fr me is not a problen i grew up in Milan and lived a lot of years in Caracas, for us before Miami space was a 'relative word" ..... good to know that CG was not flooded during Ike and is a safe place.... pretty sure also that it will be a good investment ..... not sure about the comments " fighting the crowds w/out yard " but if its what I think is it ...let me say that I have a lot of "instruments" at home to discourage people to come univited to my house.

I have spent the last 2 w/end around CG and honestly to me seems quite fine for what we are looking for, but in any case I like to have different opinion from people that live there or peolpe that chose not to live there.

thks again

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