gingersiam

Of course anything you list for sale on this site must come with the obligatory 30% discount for fellow HAIFers.

LOL. 30% eh?

Bedrooms: 2

Bathrooms: 1 ½

Square Footage: 728 Appraisal District (original owner made additions that are not included on HCAD)

Year Built: 1940

School District: HISD

Garage Size: 3 car garage addition/ 1 car garage/ carport

Lot Size: 3850/Appraisal District

Washer/Dryer Connections: yes

Exterior Construction: Unknown

Roof: Composition

Foundation: Block & Beam

Seller’s Notes: House is sold as is. The house is in the middle of a remodel project will not be finished; no repairs will be made. This is a great project for someone to finish or an investor to plan new construction. Appliances will not be included with the sale.

1110 W 21 st, Houston, TX 77008

We would like to sell within the next 30-45 days

For more information, questions concerning the property or to request a viewing please email: heights_house@yahoo.com or call 832-297-5368

http://houston.craigslist.org/reo/1255941945.html

http://www.houstonar...hp?showforum=76

flipper

thank you so much!

A house thats for sale? The link would be to craigslist, which is where we have it listed. My ex and I bought a house in the heights/ shady acres on w 21st about 2 years ago, when we were together and now that we arent, we want to sell it. We are tyring to sell it ourselves.

Thanks!

I actually wanted to go to U of H, but I hate the big classes. ACU has very small class sizes, and the professors are really friendly and interact with every student. And thats what I was really looking for when I went to college, since I have horrible ADD. And I know I'll make new friends there, most everyone is friendly, and not everyone is hardcore christian. Alot of girls go there to meet rich guys that they will eventually marry & raise a family with, and vise versa. I think PlayBoy rated it the "3rd Hottest College"... not that it matters to me, but there are alot of... 'balanced' and intellegent people.

Thank you for your concern, Its nice to know theres alot of HAIF-ers that care.

Hi Montrose1100,

did you ever consider attending the University of St. Thomas? Although it is a Catholic university, it is full of diversity- an assortment of eclectic people, the classes are very small, the education and the classes that they offer are pretty decent, and it is of course located in Montrose. It might be something for you to consider since the fall semester is coming up soon. Good luck to you!

Hello Everyone,

This weekend we read the Near Northwest Banner's cover story for the month of July regarding Chapter 19, Revision #43. It affects many of those (floodway owners) who own property or land near a bayou which includes Timbergrove, Shady Acres, Cottage Grove and surrounding Heights. It is an ordinance which was apparently passed very quietly. The ordinance will use floodway property owner's land for conveyance without compensation. This ordinance not only affects property owners but builders as well. The ordinance prohibits all new construction, repairs and improvements of existing homes and businesses. Appraisers estimate that all floodway lots may lose up to 95% of their value. An owner of a vacant lot cannot build on it or sell it for development.

For more information please visit the Floodway Coalition of Houston at www.houstonfloodway.org.

The FCOH encourages everyone that this ordinance affects to contact Mayor Bill White to voice your concerns.

Mayor Bill White

City of Houston

P.O. Box 1562

Houston, TX 77251

Phone: 713.247.2200

Email: mayor@cityofhouston.net

i did the design myself. i ended up using a combination of gutters and an underground drainage system with yard drains and inputs for the gutter spouts to route water to the street.

i do recommend this. during the next rain, go outside and try and determine where the water is flowing. where is it going under the house, where the water from the roof(s) goes, etc. gutters are a great way to address the roof runoff as long as you figure out a way to get the water away from the house. i've seen so many people get gutters installed but yet the water drains right next to the house in a more concentrated area which is probably worse. i temporarily installed long pipes to drain it to the yard but long term the solution was the underground drainage pipe to get the water to the street. yall should PM me. you are more than welcome to stop by and look what i did. of course every situation is different but it may give you some ideas.

i will say this, with ditches you MAY have a little slope advantage because you have a lower point that you can drain to. sometimes curbs just don't allow enough drop particularly with older homes.

We are definitely going to do this. It is going to be the very next thing on our

many times streets with ditches.....and others with curbs coexist in the same neighborhood.

the homeowners can have the city put in curbs (and be assessed) in a relatively timely manner. you can also work with your councilmember and TRY to get your proposal on the CIP in the specific district you're in. this usually isn't timely because the city is paying for it.

LOL, Musicman you are awesome- you know everything! By the way what do you mean by

i'd only call a plumber if it is plumbing related. most likely with the weather we've been having it's rain water. i will stress this. attempting to do a leveling when there is water under the house is a bad idea. it would be best to resolve the drainage issues prior to the leveling. this may involve gutter installation, french drains, adding fill, most likely a combination of all. you cant really keep the piers on the exterior wall completely dry, but you sure can keep those under the house dry which would result in a more stable leveling.

i had flooding under my house (long story) but after my "improvements," it is bone dry, even though some of it is lower than the surrounding earth.

if anyone quotes you 5k, walk in the opposite direction. your house is too small to charge you that much.

Hi again Musicman,

thanks so much for your detailed replies. Who did you call to fix the drainage? Or were you able to do it yourself? My boyfriend and I have been trying to preform most- if not all- the work ourselves. But we have learned to call professionals when needed LOL.

For those of you who live on streets with curbs OR drain ditch what are your experiences during

heavy rain and flooding ?

Thank You

make it a great day

Hi Heightsfan,

I hope this answer helps a little. Here are my experiences:

The house we just bought has a drain ditch. We have not yet officially moved in yet, as we are working on the house before we do, so I can't tell you what its typically like or what it is like on days it rains heavily. But the days we that we have worked on the house and it was raining we have noticed that the water seems to collect in the ditch and for the most part the street didn't seem to flood too bad. I hope that is the norm!

It many just be a case of the draining on each street being a little different. Currently we live in Montrose and the street we live on (which is fully curbed) is fine even when we get really heavy rains but if we venture down certain streets like Mount Vernon or Graustark water seems to accumulate. Once I parked my car on Mount Vernon at UST (also curbed) and it was raining moderately, when I was getting ready to leave the water level where I was parked had reached the top of my tires

I would first look at the drainage situation around the rear of the house. If water is pooling under the house or around the piers, the expansion and contraction of the soil/clay as it swells with water and then dries out can cause a lot of the problems you describe.

Thank you for your reply.

hmmm we have noticed a lot of water around the house- well on the sides and near the house it always seems kinda muddy...there is an add on 3 car garage in the back that is somewhat attached to the house and we noticed some water seeping in from where some of the panels have rotted away...

I guess that means we should call a plumber first?

For my home, which is slab (unrelated) and with a square footage of 1200 on the foundation portion, it was sub $5K.

I don't know how much easier a pier and beam home would be, but I am sure you will not go above this figure.

Pumapayam and Musicman,

thank you both for your input. That really gives me a good idea of how much it could be if it is a foundation problem.

I was getting worried that it might somewhere in the five figure range. A friend of mine told me her neighbor paid somewhere around $35,000 for her foundation repair but I think her's was a slab foundation.

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering if someone give me a ballpark figure of how much it would cost to repair a pier and beam foundation for a house that is approximately 850 square feet. Like what is average price and what is the worst case scenario price? I am trying to brace and prepare myself for the worst case scenario price

Thank you for all of your replies.

It's not cheap, but other than the precautions needed to be taken it functions like normal siding. If it wasn't asbestos siding you wouldn't be taking it all off, so there's really no reason for you to have to do that now. If all you want to do is remove a small section in the back of the house it shouldn't be too expensive...and if I were you I might wait for a rainy day and do it then yourself. Most panels don't have to be cut, just pryed off and you can get stuff that matches perfectly to fill in the gaps once you've put the doors on.

You do have to be careful with it, but it's only dangerous if it's broken or cut and particles get into the air. Also, you talked about hanging pictures, etc., the inside walls have NOTHING to do with the asbestos siding. The siding goes on the outside after the house is put up. If you drive around and see some of the houses with the plastic sheeting on the sides, that's what yours would have been like before the siding was applied. The siding won't affect any living inside the house.

AJXterra,

thank you for your reply. Why on a rainy day? Does the weather affect the asbestos in some way?

Thanks for the replies. I wasn

Hello Everyone,

I am wondering if anyone here has worked with, purchased a home with, or is just able to give me some info about working with asbestos.

After spending a year and a half searching for a second property my boyfriend and I put a contract on a small house in Shady Acre

Does anyone know approx. how much it would cost to bury utility lines in Houston? My boyfriend and I have been looking at houses and several of the ones we are interested in have powerlines and cables running over the backyard. It looks pretty hideous.

Thanks!

Try looking for assets that produce immediate cash flow. I suggest becoming a slumlord and hiring a property management firm to handle the dirty work. Risk is high, but it can be quite lucrative. Alternatively, if you're hooked up with a lot of small businesses or entrepreneurial types, look at warehouses in the East End and similar other neighorhoods. If you can get even low-rent tenants in those things, the combined returns and appreciation can be pretty good.

Also remember to protest your taxes ever so often. In Texas, property taxes can eat you alive.

Niche-

I don

the best investments are the ones that you can make without being worried about. even if it is an empty lot you will be responsible for maintenance so that will cost you money as well. if you think you can make something of it, long term then do it. if this is impt money to you, then i wouldn't do it.

This is a good point too

I don't remember the combination of Section 8, Tax Credit, Bond, and other subsidized housing along Lyons, but nothing of relatively decent quality is market-rate.

The one that I'm talking about is a large complex south of Green and west of Gregg.

This is a valid concern. Illegal dumping on vacant lots is common, so unless you can take the time to drive by every now and then to check on things, I'd be hesitant to make that kind of an investment.

Thanks again for all the input. I am prepared for taxes upkeep etc., but the illegal dumping is something I did NOT take into consideration...that is a really good point...I guess I saw the price for land on Gillespie, which is just a few blocks away and thought that might be the future for the rest of 5th ward.

I had the option to basically be given land along Market Street a couple years back. The back taxes and City leins were the big turn-off. Title history was also sketchy IMO.

But it is within a few blocks of a big Section 8 apartment complex that is tucked into the armpit of I-10/US 59. That makes for some undesirable neighbors for most of the 5th Ward land that is closest to downtown Houston, and I'd be extremely hesitant to dabble in it. For appreciation potential, I'd go to Central Park/Magnolia Park before I went to that part of the 5th.

Thanks for the replies. I drove by the neighborhood and it was strangely quiet. It almost seemed like a ghost town. I was wondering about those large apartment complexes on Lyons

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forum. Reading the posts it seems like many of you have a good feel for what the future of Houston is going to be. I am thinking of purchasing some land in the 5th ward area. I am hoping that the property will go up in value in the next couple of years. Although the price of the land is very low, and I know that all investments are a gamble, I would hate to throw money away on something that might be used for a better investment. The land is very close to 59 and I-10. It is between Geen and Market street. I wonder if anyone can offer me their thoughts or opinions. I know that streets like Gillespie and Clinton on the other side of I-10 have started building some new homes that are in the $200's.

Thank you in advance!