Disappointments

[Heights2Bastrop]

Have you ever admired or even fell in love with a particular house or building, then had your spirits dashed when you saw it up close or saw the inside?

That happened to me two Christmases ago on the Heights tour. CityKid did not identify his photos on a recent post, but I do believe the house below is the one that I was wild about. It is on W16th not far off Yale.

I was ecstatic when I saw that it was going to be on the 2003 Christmas home tour in the Heights. But when I saw the house from the inside, I couldn

[RedScare]

H2B, my experience is frighteningly similar, in that the house you just posted is ACROSS THE STREET from me. It is in the 900 block of Columbia. There are numerous issues I have with it, one of them that they ruined the bungalow that used to sit in the middle of the oversized lot, by moving it to one side to build this one, and destroying the stone facade in the process.

I don't think this is the one you saw on the Xmas tour, as it was just completed this spring. It is on the market for a cool $699K if you want to be my neighbor.

[Guest danax]

Have you ever admired or even fell in love with a particular house or building, then had your spirits dashed when you saw it up close or saw the inside?

One thing I cannot abide is shoddy workmanship, especially in an obviously expensive house.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have been disappointed many times and sometimes I even get disgusted. A calm eye can tell if a house has been worked on with love or with profit in mind, it's the latter than disappoints. It doesn't have to be either or but almost always is as carpentry labor is expensive and, as I've learned from working on my own house, to do a good job requires patience, skill and often lots of extra time to get things to fit as, in old houses in general, walls aren't plumb, corners aren't square and floors aren't level. A simple job can take weeks and weeks to do right. You really need to approach it as an artist, which is impractical unless you're doing it yourself, and even then, who's got the patience for that? And if you see something like nail holes in trim left exposed, it's almost as if they hate the house. When I bought my house, it was full of the seller's contemptous work, just stuff thrown up with white paint splashed sloppily on it. And he even said " I hate old houses, I grew up in an old house". I think the house itself vomited him out before he had the chance to destroy it even more.

My neighborhood is full of homes from the 30s & 40s and it's hard for me to stomach some of the remodeling that I see. The cheapest materials and most tasteless work. Investors are the worst. You have to assume that any opportunity to cut corners or hide defects is taken.

And Redscare, that home across the street from you is obviously nothing but a money-making venture. They somehow got away with townhousing the lotsize and the style is completely inappropriate. Yeah, it could be worse. Hard to imagine this thing was approved by the archtectural committee.

[RedScare]

danax, you are correct about the money. Since they were neighbors, I talked to them often. They split the lot to add the big house, then put both up for sale. Interestingly, the bungalow sold, but the monster still sits. Maybe the price.

They split the lot before the prevailing lot size ordinance hit my street. In fact, the signs went up during construction. Maybe they caused it. I just checked har.com and it is reduced to $680K. A steal!

[rps324]

This one would have to be mine. It had this promising facade of a classic mid-century modern, then had been butchered inside with cancerous additions spread across the back. The former sliding glass door wall now looked, not to the outside world as intended, but into a tacky addition.

[kjb434]

I made sure before I closed on my house to be extremely anal about everything.

I visited often during the finishing. Sad, but many homeowner don't have the time to do this and in the end they don't always catch. Some may not even notice the flaws.

I understand your dissappoint when going inside.

I have a friend who decided to ribbon his walls (a Martha Stewart technique to add stripes to a wall). The concept looked awesome. The only thing he found out when putting the strips on the wall the wall wasn't perfectly flat. I knew not assume that walls are perfect but it hit him hard in his new house.

[Heights2Bastrop]

This is the house on W 16th in the Heights that I was referring to in my original post. It is the one I loved - until I saw it on the inside.

On my photo trip around town today, I went down W 14th where I grew up. There are a number of new houses going up or are already occupied from Beall down to the dead end. The two houses below are two of the new ones, both built by Riverwood Homes and listed by Citihomes.

The one on the right is listed at $440,400. The one on the left is listed for $474,900, and there was an open house on it today, so we went inside. This house was beautiful, and the design was wonderful throughout. But, upon closer inspection, I saw what a truly crappy job was done on parts of it.

These are the back doors. Notice they don

[travelguy_73]

I am still amazed that this run-down old neighborhood of mine is now sporting half million dollar homes. But what is shocking is the shoddy workmanship you can find in some of those homes. This really makes me furious!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have some good friends who recently bought a new townhouse in a high end area of urban Chicago, I think for around $650k. The first time I walked into the place, I was shocked at the shoddy finish work: primered doors and walls (painted finishes are extra cost), amateur finish of the hardwoods on the main level, and apartment grade carpet upstairs (couldn't even feel the pad). The AC is so poorly engineered that it roars louder than a jet when both units are running. They have easily spent $30k more just finishing what the builder missed. It is enough to make me appreciate what we have here.

No, the grass isn't always greener on the other side!

[abarr2001]

I have two things I dislike. One is where the entire front of the house is a garage. You can barely see the front door. This isn't a residence, but a warehouse. The second is the homogeneity of subdivisions. Thousands of houses built using 4 blueprints. It drives me crazy. I prefer older homes and/or those inside the loop. Diverse forms and rarely a garage in front of the house unless it is a townhome.

[sevfiv]

Thousands of houses built using 4 blueprints.

gotta love it - "build your very own custom home - here, pick from this list"

[HeightsGuy]

I am still amazed that this run-down old neighborhood of mine is now sporting half million dollar homes. But what is shocking is the shoddy workmanship you can find in some of those homes. This really makes me furious!

14th street between Beall and the dead-end is fast turning into wackyland. Next to the two faux-stuccos shown above is a large faux-victorian painted baby blue. Next to that is a large house with stone siding, and next to that is a row of additional stucco free-standing townhomes. Adding insult to injury is the fact that none of them share the same setback. Each of the new monstrosities by itself is not that offensive, but added up makes for a surreal looking neighborhood.