HoustonRealtor

Not sure what's going on in this case, but it really is not uncommon for multiple parties to be interested in the same property at the same time. I have had a listing on the market since last September and at it's current asking price since January. We have had a fair amount of showings, but no offers up until last week, when we received four within a couple of days. Yes, FOUR offers. This is not in a hot location inside, or even near, the loop. Many people would consider this a less-than-desirable area, and it is mainly filled with first-time buyers. We had three offers in writing and one verbal/email. In the end, my seller accepted the verbal/email offer and the buyers agent put it in writing for signature. We did not use the multiple offers to try and solicit higher bids from anyone, but we did make everyone aware of the offers. In fact, no one submitted a new offer when they learned of the other offers. I'm actually not fond of multiple offers unless it is a HOT property. I think multiple offers scare many buyers away, and you might end up with an unsold property in the end. Now that I think about it, I had 3 offers on a Med Center listing last year. I wasn't surprised though. It was a great price for the area. A contract was accepted at full price, but the buyers backed out after about 3 weeks. They were soon to be wed, and I was told that they just got nervous about all of the decisions that they were having to make at one time. We ended up with another contract on the property within 2 hours. This one also at full price, and it closed as scheduled. The third offer was pretty much a joke, as that buyer was just looking for a bargain.

My understanding is that the house is owned, not surprisingly, by the Dean of the Hines School of Architecture at UH.

HHN has built alot of townhomes inside the loop, particularly in the Rice Military/Washington Corridor area. I haven't heard anything bad about them. Their products are popular and finishes are what alot of buyers are looking for. They offer some good incentives, so make sure that you aren't missing out on them if you buy.

In the end, you get what you pay for. I have a sofa/loveseat made by Ashley (not from the Ashley store or Star), and several pieces of furniture from Star (not made by Ashley). The furniture from Star is holding up much better than the Ashley furniture with comparable usage.

I think that I read that Fingers has the rights to all of them in the Houston area.

What's so mod about this thread?

The only thing that I can suggest is to write a letter to the Board c/o the manager. In the letter, tell them that you want/expect a response. This will make it more likely that the Board will see the letter, or at least hear about it. Tell them what you think and ask them why rules arent being enforced as written. You never know...they might just understand your point of view. I'm not saying they *will*, but stranger things have happened!

In the manager's defense, the developer does control the Board. In fact, the developer owned lots probably have more "weight" than resident owned lots. This is intentionally done so that the developer can maintain control of the Assoctiation through their votes while they are still developing and marketing the community. Regardless of how residents feel, it just makes good business sense. The developer has millions of dollars tied up in the community and most homeowners have less than $300,000 invested. The developer needs to make sure that they can sell the lots to builders, who in turn can sell to residents. If the community isn't maintained properly, there is a great deal of money to be lost.

They are victims of all of the foreclosures in the building. For many of them, the values have dropped considerably since they purchased.

Good point. Sometimes it's so easy to send an email, then we sit and wait for a response while the frustration builds!

Regardless of whether or not the restrictions address the issue, the signs are allowed. You can refer to Texas HB 873 for more information. Signs must be allowed 90 days before an election and up to 10 days after an election. There are other restrictions, but if the guidelines are followed, the signs must be allowed by the HOA/POA. It was passed in 2005 by a margin of 138-0 and signed by Gov. Perry.

This is customary with developer controlled Boards. They have so much on their plate that answering questions from homeowners often take low priority. I used to manage an HOA for a very large developer here in Houston. They were nice enough, but getting an answer out of them was darn near impossible.

Just looked at the Shadow Creek Ranch restrictions. Signs can go up 2 weeks prior to an election and must be removed the day after the election.

I used to manage HOA's. My recollection is that political signs are considered part of your freedom of speech and cannot be banned. However, there may be reasonable limits as to when they can be displayed, such as a certain number of days before an election. Otherwise, some clown would have his candidate's sign up forever.

I would venture to say that a fair number of them were poor investments. Many of them sold for considerably more than than what they are listed at today. Buyers were likely optimistic about making a profit based on the location. I feel sorry for those that actually bought them as a personal residence and are living there today.

Received this eFlyer for the Frame House. Just a reminder of the open house for those interested. Note that this says 2:00-5:00 PM, but HAR and Houston Mod say 3:00-5:00 PM. It might be wise to wait until 3:00 just in case this flyer has a typo.

It has happened once or twice, but typically it doesn't boot me until I actually reach 120 minutes of inactivity.

This property, designed by Stayton Nunn, has been listed at $2,995,000. There are no photos uploaded yet. http://www.har.com/2448842 EDIT: Some photos were uploaded. http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/31/hr2088231-1.jpg http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/31/hr2088231-2.jpg http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/31/hr2088231-3.jpg http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/31/hr2088231-4.jpg http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/31/hr2088231-7.jpg http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/31/hr2088231-8.jpg

Hiding the address does not keep the property from showing up on HAR. Look at http://www.har.com/5225745 for an example. You will notice that the address is not displayed. That is all that happens when an agent chooses not to display an address when entering a listing in MLS.

I believe that the first one is actually Tilman Fertitta's house.

The wooden fence that backs to CR 48 is down and the wrought iron has been removed from the brick wall. There were bricks being delivered before 7:00 a.m. today. I assume they are going to make solid brick walls for the houses that back up to the street. I liked the wrought iron look, but I think the brick will be better for homeowner privacy and will prevent more homeowners from "creating their own privacy".

I must be missing the point of your question. The Brazoria side of SCR has been in AISD for years, but I imagine that you knew that. Am I missing something?

Always considered to be an odd location. The developer used to tout its proximity to the Galleria. Somehow, people believed it. It's much closer to Sharpstown, but that never seemed to make it in any of their ads!

I have heard the same rumor, but I don't give it much credibility. I have always assumed it was the builder's way of trying to make more home sales where they know there is a concern that may cause buyers to walk away. Oddly enough, Ryland's website for the Concerto Series (Arbor Lakes) talks about the great Alvin schools and makes no mention of the fact that the section is in Fort Bend County. (http://www.ryland.com/find-your-new-home/1...tion.html?t=qmi) Quite misleading. I'm not saying a change can't be made, just like the one that put SCR into Alvin schools rather than Pearland schools. However, if the FBISD schools are a sticking point for you, I would suggest not buying based on a hope or a promise from a salesperson that is on the builders payroll. FYI...a trusted source told me that Ryland salespeople, on average, made roughly half the income in 2007 that they made in 2006. It was still a good living, but not if he or she was accustomed to making significantly more. There are likely some hungry salespeople out there.

The neighbors actually own the house. I believe that I read somewhere that they built both of them, but I can't recall where.