Scott08

Going off on a tangent, I toured Fallingwater in June 2005. Truly a moving experience as you describe, the house is amazing now, to imagine how amazing it was 70 years ago is unfathomable. One of my favorite memories of it was the "imperfection" of the home. Although in very good condition for a 70 year old house, it was a bit rough around the edges as it should be. Like an old work of art with a bit of patina. There's some cool houses in Houston, but I doubt there's any that will be toured like museums 70 years from now.

I looked at a foreclosed townhouse yesterday. Per my realtor, it sold for $300K when new in 2005, the bank loaned $270K on it, and it is listed at $215K. It's got some really spooky looking water damage inside that suggests either the roof, stucco walls, window sealing, or plumbing has been leaking for a while. He told me to run from it. What happens to a place like this? My guess is no individual buyer is going to risk buying into it even at this amount. A builder might see it as a fixer upper, but it might not be worth his effort either in an already sluggish market. Just as a what if, let's say they give up and it goes to auction and ends up going for much less, then could it be worth it for a would be owner to fix up?

That is absolutely awesome, could be made into a stunning home. Way to far from my work and social lives though.

I'm in North Norhill. The house next door to me burned down in 2005 and the lot was cleared. About 3 months ago, a flipper moved a house set for demolition in the Woodland Heights area. Said it cost $10K to move it approximately 1 1/2 miles down Studewood, I'm guessing he got the house for free or a token amount. Spent the last couple of months fixing it up and it's been on the market now for a week. I would think taking one out to the country would be exponentially higher.

I really like the look but I think it's priced too high too. As a longtime Heights resident, I am baffled by the recent influx of way out of scale projects coming along. Within a mile of my home, I can point out at least six new houses/townhouses priced $400K+ that have been sitting empty for over a year. These are built in neighborhoods where the original cottages top out at $250K. A couple streets here (most noticeably the 1200-1300 block of Prince) are becoming concrete canyons like those in West End. Sad.

Okay, so this is a really broad question, but does new construction price per square foot vary by location? or just in the choice of materials? I would have thought that construction was construction and that the major factor in total cost would be the land value. As an example, a builder like Perry Homes sells townhouses out in the burbs for $150K, a similar product inside the loop costs $250K, wouldn't that just be the land value?

I decided to go Tempurpedic about a year ago (really does seem to help my back). Although their prices are supposed to be "fixed" Gallery Furniture was about $100 less on the model I wanted and they delivered it less than two hours after I bought it on a Sunday evening as advertised.

I sent an email to the broker two days ago asking about the general condition of the house, told him I might be interested in keeping the house. Got no reply yet.

The 50' X 100' lot next door to me in North Norhill went for $150K, ouch! I don't want to build a huge "modern McMansion," something in the 1200-1400 sq ft range would suit me fine. If I could find an innerloop lot, even oddly shaped, in the $80-100K range, I MIGHT be able to build and come out under $250K.

My two cents to this grand old thread: I grew up in Spring Branch but my lots of my father's friends and co-workers lived in Westbury so we visited them often. A trip to Rumpleheimers for a some rock candy was always a treat and I remember being in awe of the Square back then. Years later, late 80's or so, two friends of mine were roommates in one of the apartments there. The retail was mostly vacant, but I think most of the apartments were full so it still felt pretty lively (and very hip I thought living like that.) Haven't been there since they moved out by 1990, sad to see the pictures of today's decline.

I've wondered that myself. Will there come a time in the future when realtors will take their clients into a house, spot the granite countertops and say "of course these will need to be updated."

Thanks for all the info. I really hate to give up my inner loop location but have seen a few in the area. There's always that dilemma of selling first and then waiting to find the perfect house to buy, or jumping on one and having two mortgages or a contingency offer.

I have been aware for awhile of the "hotbed" mod neighborhoods of Memorial Bend and Glenbrook Valley. And of course the high-end mods in River Oaks and Memorial areas. Since I began to lurk on this forum, I have seen the concentrations is Meyerland/Westbury. Just the past few weeks became aware of a small number in Shepherd Plaza and nearby areas. My realtor buddy (who is learning more about this from me than anywhere else I think) tells me it's likely that most areas built up in the 50's-60's would have at least a few. So where else can I look for one in the $250K or less range? I grew up in one in Spring Branch but it was designed by my father and I don't remember there being others around. I've been living in a Craftsman style home in Norhill since the early 90's and am ready for a change. I think my dream would be to find an inner city lot and build my own new house, but price reality indicates a nice 50's MCM would be a better value.

I went with my realtor buddy to see this house Tuesday. When we got there another group of three was just leaving. The good news is it's kind of cool looking stylewise especially the exterior (front) and the living room inside. I suspect an elderly original owner recently left, the condition is overall pretty good but nothing looks changed since the 50's. The bad news is I'm pretty sure it flooded during Allison. We pulled up some of the carpet expecting hardwoods and instead found two layers of 3/4" plywood. I have a couple of friends in the area and they tell me it's very likely that all the houses on this street had water in them, and the realtor found out the next day it is in the 100 year flood plain. I'm intrigued by the possibilities of the house, the neighborhood seems pretty peaceful and a bit of tasteful interior updating could make it pretty cool. On the other hand, the spectre of flooding would always be in the back of my mind. The realtor is waiting on a callback from the listing agent with more disclosure on the property.

Been lurking for a year now, my first post. On a day off last week, I got nosy and tracked down the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Thaxton house. From articles in the NY Times circa 1991, the house was spared from demolition and to be restored. You can't really see much from the street but the gate numbers are in a familiar Wright font. The original house was supposed to be about 1800 sq ft, but HCAD shows a "rebuilt/new" house of over 10000 sq ft from 1995. Some pictures on the net circa 2000 suggest it was completely rebuilt and enlarged. Anyone know the whole scoop?