Scott08

Great work Ben, thanks for sharing. Having also only glimpsed through the gates, I eagerly await your picture session of the the Thaxton house.

A bit of a tangent, but does anyone know whatever happened to the container house built on Cordell Street? I went to an open house there by the builder when it was about 75% done in December of 2007, then work kind of stalled on it. I'm not sure if anyone is even living in it, but the redwood "shade" wall on the south side was never completed and the company that was building its website has vanished.

I had a weird occurence one day last week at my Norhill area home. Came home from work to find my driveway gate slightly ajar. My first concern was that my dog had run off but after calling him several times he came running from his "house" under the house. Several things might have happened...I could have just been remiss and left it open myself, part of my morning routine involves pulling the car out, grabbing the paper, etc. Another thought was that my large part-pitbull dog pushed it open in response to something, it was trash day, or mailman, or someone walking by. Lastly it could have been someone trying to get in, either a meter-reader, utility worker, or something more sinister. It's conceivable that someone opened the gate, walked in, and then the dog stirred and scared them into a hasty retreat. The only flaw in that theory is that you would think someone fleeing a big dog would shut the gate behind them. No other signs of anything so I don't really know what happened.

Sorry but no way you're going to find a lot that meets all your requirements for $40K. A year ago or so I was looking around and found a handful of $70K innerloop 5000 sq ft lots in areas that I would feel comfortable living in, but most were $85K+. I think you will have to go outside your time/distance boundaries to find anything that cheap.

The house next door to me in North Norhill came from the Woodland Heights. The previous house had burned down and the lot had been vacant for a couple of years. A flipper fixed it up and sold it, ran in to him the other night in a restaurant and he said "I hope the house I did makes the neighborhood look better than with the vacant lot." I think he succeeded.

I've been bringing this up for a while now in other real estate related threads. There are literally hundreds of unfinished townhouse projects right now in the Inner Loop in various stages. Waterhill Homes went bankrupt and left projects in the Heights (8th Street), Midtown, East End X two, etc. There are smaller projects left as frames on 8th and 18th streets for example. My builder type friends say that yes the framework may last a little while in the elements but coming back a year or more later to finish will be a recipe for disaster down the road. I think the root cause is builders working on a shoestring budget and easy credit got caught with their pants down when sales slowed. A year from now, neighborhoods will probably be calling on the city to demo them.

PS, I know a little bit about the condo across from CVS with the boarded up garage area. Apparently the first "owner" had a pack of dogs so he boarded up the garage to give them a room and then parked in the driveway. He was foreclosed on and the bank hasn't bothered to take down his additions.

Isn't Live Oak the building that comes with NO parking whatsover? If so, that would be enough to steer me clear of the place, even if you think you can live without a car, future resale might be tough because of it.

These people just lost their homes. The last thing they care about is the appliances or the condition they left it in. They have much larger problems. Ignoring a piece of paper stating "You must keep this house nice" is very easy when you're ignoring a piece of paper stating, "You must pay the bank $500,000."

I was thinking the same thing. Blood out of a turnip?

This house could sit there a while I think. Finding a buyer who would want to restore/maintain the mod is always a possibility....I think $1.3 million for "lot value" is a hard sell in present conditions.

We're getting off on a tangent here...but down in the central city, an alarming (to me) number of new construction townhouses are sitting in various unsold/unfinished stages of completion. There are at least four or five old Waterhill Homes complexes that I know of that just stopped building when they went bankrupt, I feel really sorry for the handful of folks who bought one of the finished units that are now surrounded by partially built hulks or weeds. Even well established builders like Urban Lofts have just stopped building on their projects and the finished units have been there for months. A year ago, people were still snapping these things up as soon as they broke ground. Single family homes may be doing a bit better, but here in the Heights there is hardly a street without at least one For Sale sign on it. It's a buyer's market but many potential buyers are just too scared to move right now.

Hi all,

It would be "too bad" if they tore that Hunter's Creek house down.......especially since it seems well maintained, at least in the pictures (older, smaller homes in Mc Mansion nabes don't look bad........ smaller, older, "UN-maintained" homes look bad in Mc Mansion nabes.......... because un-maintained homes look just plain bad anywhere )

Now, if there are foundation problems ( some are tough to fix, others are not) or serious mold issues---well, that would be one thing.....

With more aging baby boomers heading into retirement years, and not needing the "status Mc Mansion" anymore, homes like this offer a nice

option----close to city life with a lttle peace and quiet when you return home ( ahh, if the road noise from I-10 isn't a problem)

Plus it is one story--might be a little small for some folks--though ( only in Texas is 2K sq ft. considered a tiny home)

Close to the bayou though--is this area "prone" to flooding ?

I know some areas along the bayou are.........................

Plus one. That is a beautiful midcentury modern that has been tastefully updated and looks like it has nice grounds. I think the OP (or at least his wife) wants a McMansion so I would suggest looking for a cheaper lot and then building to your heart's content. I hope someone chooses to buy the Hunter's Creek home to live in.

Statistics...and damn statistics....an article in this week's Chronicle says that yes, average prices are up in Houston's market but that is likely skewed by the fact that higher priced home sales are remaining more steady while lower priced ones are still in the tank. A drive through most any Houston neighborhood will tell you it's a buyer's market right now. You can put any spin you want on it but the real estate market is flat here right now to say the least.

+1 for US Auto Connection. Had some work done there a couple years ago. Price was fair, work was great, and the best thing was it was done in just a couple of days.

Coincidentally, this is right around the corner from Houston's only Frank Lloyd Wright house. It is also on a big lot and was almost killed off back in the '90's.

For those budget minded but I do not want to have to do anything before I move in enthusiasts, this house dropped yesterday to $125,500.

www.har.com/3814258

What's the story on this one? I did a drive by a few months ago but it was already under contract then, I thought it was a done deal.

Looks nice. Too bad for me that Memorial Bend has now risen out of my price range. Just a few short years ago, could have picked up something for less than $250K but I hesitated. I hope whoever buys your house keeps it and doesn't McMansionize it.

The roofer is one of the ones mentioned in this thread and very reputable.

Well, do tell?

You may laugh, but I think there might be some substance to it. Some friends of mine had their 80's Feagan/Shepherd area townhome on the market for over a month before Ike with only a couple of showings and no real interest. The place never lost power at all during the storm and the vacant house became kind of a potluck meeting spot for a group of us during the following week(s). After the dust cleared, they had a spate of more showings and ended up selling after a bidding war! Coincidental, maybe, but I think it may have had some influence.

Ike battered my roof sufficiently for the insurance adjuster to recommend replacement. Any recommendations on roofing contractors?

I am thinking standing seam metal roof, so I am particularly interested in roofers who can install metal roofs -- but will be getting a composite shingle estimate as well.

Thanks in advance -

Craddock Roofing did a great job on my house about two years ago, completely intact after Ike. I don't think they do metal roofs though, although he could probably suggest someone if you go that route.

I use Starbucks because it's reliable and ubiquitous, it's also free since I have AT&T DSL.

Even if you don't have AT&T, for the casual user, $3.00/month isn't all that expensive for access to several hundred thousand wifi hot spots around the globe. Random Joe's Korner Kafe can't do that.

Hmm.I've had ATT DSL for years and was unaware of that benefit. How do you access it?

Craddock Roofing put a new one on my house about two years ago and it weathered the storm just fine. The estimate/installation and followup were all excellent. Sorry don't have their number handy but it's in the phone book.

This is just anecdotal and may not have anything to do with the particular project in question, but it would appear that some of the complexes built during that era were victims of various mortgage scams. One would be the "straw buyer" thing where a broker teams up with a mortgage company, creates a profile for a non existent buyer, secures the loan and takes their cut, then the house goes into foreclosure because it never had a real owner to begin with. With a lot of vacant houses around it, it becomes increasingly harder to secure decent buyers and the whole complex falls into disrepair. Kind of sad to see, but there's a number of probably good homes rotting away in the area because of this type of thing.

You missed the previous thread on this. Its original asking price was $595K I think so it's dropping rapidly.

I had a well respected member of this forum come out last Monday to access my home. His chief concerns (as far as why it didn't sell) were curb appeal/landscaping, the blue exterior color, and some dark paint colors in the house in some rooms. He felt like with about $2-3K sunk into it to freshen it up, I should easily get my asking price of $240ish. I've just got to decide now whether to do that now, or wait a bit.

Drove by the Menil House on the way to work, looks like lots of trees down in the yard fronting San Felipe but the house looks okay from what you can see. I would volunteer to clear debris to get a look inside it.