retromodernjeff

And the Realtor gushes about an "incredible remodel". Of course, most folks don't care about maintaining architectural integrity. Some friends did some work on their mod, put tile down over the terrazzo, took out a wall, redid the kitchen generically. Their basic thought was "it's our house, this is what we want".

They were trying to match the McMansion across the street I guess. Another example of a clueless realtor with a listing price picked out of thin air. Too stupid to price it at sold comps. Any chance it may have had was as an original mod at a reasonable price. Look at the prices of homes that have been sitting aroun in there for a long time on the market, like that one on Gershwin for $795,000 with the perpetual for sale sign in front.

Not to hijack the thread, but this one across the street has been on the market over a year now I think:har listing . I think being on Memorial Drive is a hardsell to someone wanting a bit more peace and quiet. The 12943 house will never sell for that much as lot value I don't think.

I have been in that house, its very very bad as well. Walking through it was like a fun house at the carnival, it has serious foundation / structural products, with buckling floors, some dumb flip your house re-muddles, like a solid granite counter that is actually 3 remnents they tried to put together and it obvious, cheap laminate floors. It seems like it was a house flip gone bad. The guy who owns it could not have possible been inside that house before he bought it, the structual issues are way too obvious. I said to the realtor I would not take it for free.

This home: http://memorialbendarchitecture.com/12747mem.htm -- a potential William Floyd design -- is likely a goner given its state (pretty sad). Its current state would require a considerable budget to restore/renovate. Has been on the market for an extended period. There's something appealing to me about this property... perhaps its the 'diamond in the rough" aspect. More likely than not a knock-down.

This one has been addressed on this site parenthetically, so perhaps we should establish it's own topic: http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...20Memorial%20Dr

More here from "Memorial Bend" website: http://memorialbendarchitecture.com/12943mem.htm

Appears well maintained and is architecturally distinctive -- could certainly benefit from professional landscaping in keeping with the homes design. A little digging at the downtown library will likely yield information on both the home as well as former occupants should a potential buyer seek a landmark designation.

This one is really really bad inside, I don't think its worth saving

the following link is to a house in meyerland by the metropolitan design group. http://www.mdgi.net/details.cfm?PROP_ID=83&port=yes

many of you will be encouraged to know that the house at 12727 memorial in memorial bend will be a mod - -a site adaptation of the meyerland house by the same architect - rather than something of a more traditional architectural style.

Wow this guy was right on, it IS a mod variation

I think the answer about context of the house and neighborhood is, ME ME ME ME

Texasdago is correct, but I will go further, there are many new mcmansions in MB that are suitable for teardown lot only sales. Obviously no one is buying them. I have to laugh every time I drive by the Memorial and beltway feeder mcmansion, I hope they planned on owning that forever.

No home in Idylwood is worth over 185K, given what actually surrounds Idylwood.

Your day of reckoning has arrived.

Glad to hear that some sanity is slowing coming back into the home buying business. There is no better leverage for the buyer than hearing: "the property didn't appraise." Either A.) The seller comes down in price, and gets a fair deal or B.) The buyer is saved from making a terrible financial mistake - and walks away. Any buyer that brings money to the table to make up for the difference is a fool.

Some of the best deals, are deals that never happen.

You are correct BryanS, look at the economic situation and the banks insolvency, there is no way they are going back to high appraisals. It seems reality is still on its way to Houston.

This hood is so messed up (home value wise) besides the mcmansions that area has listed for hundreds of days and not selling. what's up with two other ranches on the same side 12930 hansel ln listed for $497,777

12911 traviata dr listed for $325,600

Seems to me agents don't know what to do and are just pulling numbers out of the air.

There is just something different about architects that had to use a pencil and slide rules instead of todays computers and CAD.

Oh great, its going to have a cheap townhouse look to it, that's much better.

I once read that the multi-angle roof lines came about due to efforts from roofing products manufacturers. Roofs on these homes would be very expensive to replace and repair. Don't know if that's true, but does make sense.

Anyone know what year residential real estate really got going with the mulitple bid scenario?

^

http://www.har.com/14442400

That house is a jumble of un-related styles. Stripped of their context, I actually do like some pieces of it...

The architecture is hardly Neoclassical. Post-Modern is probably a more accurate description.

Ya Neo Post Modern would be close. I love all the landscaping in the backyard photo

This is a great example of a mcmansion. Its like the home itself and interior "design" were basically the result of someone walking through a store and looking at magazine pages and saying "I like that, and that and really like that" then threw it all together, that resulted in the mish mash designless thing that you see.

Out of all that space, who puts a piano in a towering staircase ??

I believe a builder owns it, lets see how long they can hold on paying out money on it, the only thing they have going is that it still has a homestead tax exempt on it from the previous owner. Certainly another MB mcmansion will not sell either. Just add to that list of 6 plus empty lots. I am also waiting for the 417 Mignon owner to finally give up too, obvioulsy a year or so at $417,000 is not going to sell.

Yes those as well. I would really like any agents out there (you that like to sell lot only) Explain to me exactly the dividing line build date of a house that makes it "lot value only". Is it 1958? 1968? 1978? 1998?

Is it agents or builders that have given themselves the power to make that decision?

Memorial Bend seems to really have been a hotspot for spec mcmansion builders. The few homes they sold in the bubble years had driven prices up. But have a look at HAR and see how many are in there for sale now, and have been for sale for quite a while. I count 6 on HAR and not sure if there are more not yet on HAR. Will these homes now bring back down the prices in MB.

Flipper you get the call for that Cayton house yet?

There is no opening bid of $358k

That is probably from some foreclosure listing service that just has their computer fill in the blanks with what sometimes seems like random information.

The broker on HAR pulling a 'nice little trick' is hired by Compass Bank who is trying to get their money out of the property--and is not pulling off any trick at all. In Texas, if there is a surplus on a foreclosure sale, the bank must refund the surplus to the owner. The actual loan balance is most likely more than the $619,000 by a large margin.

The 'opening bid' of $358k should probably read 'second mortgage' of $358k. The HAR listing is now $550,000, Which means there is still no way to get this house for close to $358k (at least according to the 'experts')

Well RBARZ and CYKAT, looks like I was almost pretty close on the selling price. It sold for $399,900 Looks like I know what I am talking about.

I have two suggestions,

What you could do is buy one of those battery powered lawn mowers, then every time the battery needs recharging drive back and forth to where your curently living to recharge it. And shop at a regular grocery store that does not overcharge for products, that should give you some more money to put into the house.

Do they sell "green" kitchen cabinets at Whole Foods? Actually forget that, the most enviromental thing would be to re-use what you already have.

This house does sound like a job for Flipper.

Today's homes are comparable to the cars of the 70's - 80's Detroit.

The real estate bubble era thinking circa 2000-2007 and the greed factor it brought with it created the idea of a show of wealth = actual wealth, but in reality these people had very little if any of actual wealth and their perceived wealth was actually huge debt with trick financing. This is the incorrect line of thinking that guys like Dave Ramsey put forth as net worth.

Can't find it now, but I had a great article that mentioned the cost of building a house is the same now as it was in the 70's inflation adjusted. So the builders mass promoted and marketed the "show of wealth" mcmansions, that way they could make more money by building a larger home on the same lot as a properly scaled house would normally be built. The cities also love that because that means larger property taxes as well.

The average home size in the U.S is on the decline, happily. I think the future of these mcmansions will be pretty short, failing because no one wants them because of their conspicuous consumption look, very high energy costs. As well as structurally failing due to the popular EIFFS stucco system, OSB, the mold that always follows and nail guns combined with unskilled labor. The mcmansions and new homes in general will become major problems to society as the shoddy materials and shoddy construction will cause a majority of these to need either huge costly repairs to eradicate the mold and structural issues or will have to be demolished altogether because the costs do not make financial sense.

I think you will find the American ranch be it traditional or MCM will be around far into the future.

Does anyone really believe future generations will look back to the 1990's to today as a great event in the history of architecture, design and building. I don't think so. Most likely it will be best compared to the "greatness" of the cars that came out of Detroit in the 70's and 80's

no change, still pending and scheduled to close on 4/30. I'll buy everyone here a penny if it does.

flipper

How much does a penny cost in 2009?

A problem with this one was that it did not seem to make financial sense to begin with. Then you through in all those unknowns once you get into a project and it snowballs, then reality hits. Hopefully they did not get into some trick home loan and got burned. Maybe this is a job for flipper.

Makes me happy.

Well how can this be? was he not building his own house to be near his girlfriend?

Hey Granit builders, call for you on line one, its Ken Lewis.

Look for another new mcmansion that will never sell to be the stepchild of the corner Memorial and Sam feeder mcmansion with perpetual for sale sign. Both the first cousin of Memorial Dr new construction that now has reduced price on the sign, I guess you get a reduced price when you get a sheet of plywood for a front door with spray paint numbers.

Here's another from our area: 9007 Bonhomme Rd. in Bonham Acres

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y

Gorgeous inside. Not quite as great as the N. Braeswood house on the outside. If you had the outside of that house and the inside of this, you'd have something world class.

The previous owners of 9007 couldn't resist pastiche, but they did the right thing. They built a cheesy victorian looking guest house. They didn't bastardize the Mod. Amen to that.

Love this one, but it seems this size of house would be for a family, and the schools there look to be, well awful.

The facade analogy can also apply to the occupants of bubble-era architecture: flashy facade, but no cash or substance to back it up.

Yup that's true as well.