retromodernjeff

Sell quickly? good luck, I believe the inventory of homes in the $700,000+ price range is something like 18.8 months (har numbers). I think something like 6 months is a normal market.

Awesome, any info on this one? Was it really built in 1975? Of course it has the obligatory "amazing site for new construction" which really translates into "put up your fugly EFIS stucco mcmansion that will be mold infested before your mortgage is paid off" corrected link, thanks

Well not Chase Home Mortgage, they were smart and stopped (mcmansion) construction loans. No more loans

Yes, I don't know why people continue to say it didn't, when in fact it did. All the same economics and lending practices from the rest of the country were also done in Houston. Obvioulsy not 100% all areas. Look at some basic data for this house. You tell me an approx 80% run up in "value" in 4 years is not boom bubble numbers? Does not even matter if you look at inflation or not, still too high to be "normal". The fact that one could even flip homes shows the housing bubble was present, if it were traditional redlining type of mortgages, it really would not be possible. As in the same as other McMansion infected areas, these neighborhood bubbles were created by builders who artifically ramped up the home "values" by building the out of scale Mcmansions. They were able to sell them due to cheap bubble years money, thats over and prices have to come way back. What is even more puzzling is people that try and say that certain neigborhoods are basically excluded from basic economics. The people who live in Laguna Beach / Dana Point areas of SoCal also thought that, now they realize its not true.

Not a good deal at all, price still way to high. With 7611 River Point Dr down the street at $795,000 listing price, it starts to make this one a little more realistic. Its just taking a long time for people to realize the boom days are long gone and the prices need to come on way back.

I would like the photos of the house a whole lot more if the website they built for it was built 2009 instead of circa 1995, besides realtors not knowing how to take photos, you can also add resizing them for the web and building bad websites.

yes, for sure the agent started that. The McMansion next door is really a drag, the sense of scale there is way out of wack. One good thing to come out of a down, very down economy is it stops the McMansion builders in their tracks. That wave of commercial credit default is already happening and will devastate the builders, AND save some MCMs in the process. America like it or not will downsize back to our loved ranches. Hey Texasdago, how about a comment about your hood?

Priced way too high. Why is it that agents are pricing homes based on what another house has been listed for instead of what the actual solds have been.

Might very well be a lost decade just like Japan in the 90's. Once we get to 0% interest rates like they did and then borrowing becomes like pushing a string. Obama, please, its his type of views that started it all in Congress and Billy boy. They think they can solve everthing with the same ideas that brought it on.

With all the info available online regarding where we are going, I don't know why you would assume things are going to get better anytime soon. We are still at the beginning of it all. Rent rent rent for however long it takes. Wanting to buy and still buying when the time is wrong is bad business. Redscare is so correct, people need to wise up and play by the banks own rules and not by the rules they tell you to play by.

Saw the house today. Really nice original condition inside. Very symmetrical, felt more like a large loft really, party design house. Very large sliders and single glass doors. Quality contruction and materials for sure. Apparently the pink kitchen cabinets and other paint in the house are original too. The outside needs a good cleaning though. On a good note the listing agent mentioned it was not being sold as a tear down and reacted negatively to the idea. She did mention 307 Friar Tuck to us as well.

Those curvy wood chairs in the foyer are the same ones I saw in the dining room at the Steen mansion in Reno NV. I thought they were something new, but maybe they were popular high end back then. http://www.steenmansion.com/media/index.html

Has anyone been inside this house lately? The realtor seems to be a little confused in the HAR listing. It reads that it is 2 bed from 3, has 6 bathrooms, a garage and a manned gate?? well I guess the fence and gate was put in by a man. And its a "absolutely gorgeous must see" and also sold for "lot value". huh? My biggest question is what's with that front yard nursery plantings? Is the house re-muddled too far?

If one was smart and they are more than $100,000 backwards, you might just as well stop paying on it and stash that cash for whats heading toward us. Then let the foreclosure happen. You can't live as a slave to your FICO score. And the good part is that this is going to take 7 years at least to turn around anyway, so by that time your credit no longer shows the foreclosure. This ends up being your best choice.

I would take on that nightmare

That is not in the info you see. That is from another source, where all detailed pricing is given. That one would not have been bid on when it was at forclosure auction, 97% are not. Then technically it is "purchased" back by the lender. These REOs are the best deals and lenders will make deals to unload them. Foreclosure Information Status Bank Owned Recording Date 6/9/2008 Entered On 6/13/2008 Opening Bid $358,373 Property Information Property ID 19426817 County Harris County Type Single Family Residence Beds 4 Baths 3 Square Feet 2258 Lot Size 33130 Parcel Number 093-231-000-0001 Lot Number 1,2 Year Built 1965 Estimated Market Value $608,000 Estimated Market Value Range $581,000 - $611,000

Guys, exactly! I am happy Texasdago commented on MB. I have been looking at this for a while. What I believed happened is that a few builders saw an opportunity (or so they thought) to jump in there buy up some properties and tear down. Then build Faux Chateuxs that mulitplied up the $/sqft prices artifically with a couple of sales. That in turn made some feel that their properties were worth more than they really were. Some frenzied buyers have now overpaid. Now those McMansions will be the drivers of the prices back down. You just have to look at the current listings prices for homes and land and DOM to see the confusion now, they are all over the place. Look at the Chron real estate section and count how many pictures are new contruction, look at any weekend open houses and see how many are new construction, they are like a virus that no one wants or at least can't get trick finacing for anymore. I read an article that a new booming business is heavy equipment auctions from the bankrupt builders. A few McMansion builders were the cause. Man it always comes back to the new home builders, big or small. Objects of destruction

I thought about that too, was this project possible? Plus the fact you just know they screwed around with the electrical and that would be fun to find and fix properly. I guess it could be done, but that would take skilled craftsman and a whole lot of custom work. Would love to see that though. I have seen some SF Bay area Eichlers brought back. BTW, if anyone wants a foreclosure list, just go down to 1115 Congress, downstairs to the snack bar of all places. Auctions are the first Tuesday of every month. Not to be a downer here again, but did you all see the WSJ story on mortgage defaults to double in 2009 to be something like 7.7% ? The Lindsay house is not worth anything near $1M, the comps in no way support that. As I mentioned previously, this downturn will save a whole lot of homes that would have been torn down. I think the Lindsay house is one of those saved. Good thing too because that thing is built to last, what craftsmanship !

sdmarc and scott08 are correct. If one has been tracking properties for any length of time, its obvious. Realtors have a very big interest in spinning the market to something its not. And just because the property tax shows what hcad thinks its worth does not mean it actually is worth that, its only worth what someone will pay and it seems right now that is a lot less than sellers are willing to grasp. scott08, maybe you can end up with that Memorial area mod you have been after before the prices went out of control.

Wrong on tax rolls guess. There are various sources for info. There are terrific deals out there.

The story continues... This one is a REO now owned again by Compass Bank. Opening bid on this is $358,000, but could go lower easily. They hope to get $358,000. The interesting point in that price is that they can't even sell it for the lot price. And funny enough there is a broker on HAR still trying to sell it for $619,000. Nice little trick there. This one should be on Wikipedia under re-muddling.

yes, I know the office numbers NAR and HAR puts out, but its skewed to not allow foreclosures / pre-forclosures and REOs in the mix. I know HAR has a button for foreclosures but that is not even a small fraction of what is really out there.

Hopefully the re-muddlers have to now live in their Home Depot off the shelf dream. Would be just like actually living in the Home Depot aisles.

Not sure exactly, but there was one or two others listed as foreclosures and one was a McMansion.