WAZ

Your thread title and post almost seem to suggest the City blew it, as usual, when in fact, the City's best efforts were thwarted by an angry HOA member, who has the misguided notion that she will live longer than it takes for rotten wood to collapse. I have to say, it sounds like Ms. Collum is getting what she deserves.

I have to agree with you. Ms. Collum should have supported the efforts to renovate the Woodlen Glen Apartments.

But as I see it, her fears are a symptom of the conditions in Houston's apartments. Slums have given low-cost housing a bad name - and that's why efforts to build low-cost housing in Houston faces such a backlash.

It's a shame, because the professionals who build subsidized housing know the reputation and do everything they can to avoid problems. And when they're renovating rather than building on open land - in my view they're doing the right thing. The effort at Woodlen Glen would have done all of that.

The Gulfton submarket presently has has only 9.25% vacancy and has year-to-date positive absorption of 647 units. It's doing quite well.

I must confess, I am a little shocked that you would say that the "Gulfton Ghetto" is "doing quite well." If looked at solely from an occupancy rate, Gulfton might seem to be doing well. But the area has VERY serious crime problems, concentrated poverty, poor infrastructure, a horrible reputation, and lagging property values compared to neighboring areas.

Gulfton's problems are especially troubling, to me, given the prime location of the neighborhood.

Let's turn it around. For every ten honest, law abiding, and hard working poor people, there is one thug. Who wants an extra eleven people from Gulfton living near them?

Throw the thug in jail, and leave him there. Give the other ten better apartments - with services to help them get their lives on track, and with a safe environment for their kids. It CAN be done. I've seen it.

Knock down 2,000 apartments and where do all 2,000 people go? Knock down 200 apartments and where do all 200 people go? The argument is scalable.

If you do build back new housing, first of all, subsidized housing programs support workforce housing. They aren't designed for the desperately poor. A new element will be introduced; the old element will be permanently displaced. And second of all, the spirit of the subsidized housing programs (as codified by law) is that the lower-middle-class can enjoy the same opportunities (schools, jobs, etc.) as do more affluent households; how does sticking such housing in the middle of the ghetto achieve that purpose?

So you don't want better housing for the poor? On the one hand, you seem to be saying that subsidized housing is bad because it doesn't support the desperately poor. On the other hand, you're implying that it has to be built in wealthy neighborhoods in order to work. (Which is often impossible due to neighborhood concerns).

You want to maintain the status quo?

I don't. I want Houston to redirect attention to older apartment complexes, and use those as quality housing for the working poor. The City of Houston started to do it in Fondren Southwest - and it was a huge success. There's money in the TDHCA's coffers to do more of it - if only we could convince them to renovate instead of building new apartments in neighborhoods that don't want them. This could be an integral part to cleaning up neighborhoods like Gulfton.

In closing, I will apologize here for suggesting that the City of Houston fix Gulfton by redirecting funds from other sources. Gulfton is our City's largest, densest ghetto. It's certainly not Houston's only ghetto. They all need attention.

I would still say, though, that I see Gulfton as an indicator of Houston's city-wide urban policy. If the policy is good, Gulfton will get better.

The first sentence already occurs, so not much tearing apart to do, except to point out that an HPD sergeant that I know who is part of the 'hot spot' squad that swarms areas with high crime told me that there were so many cops out in Gulfton that they were running into each other. He told me this anecdote about a year and a half ago, so I do not know if they are still there. From time to time I read about them in other parts of town. They are deployed in conjunction with HPD's computer analysis of crime trends.

I have no idea what the last sentence means. EVERY person who is arrested for a crime is prosecuted, not just the 'serious criminals'. If your suggestion is that those with a long rap sheet should be arrested without having committed a crime first, but merely because they have a criminal record, I would question why you even live in the US. There are numerous countries that have the draconian laws that you espouse. It would be much easier for you to move to one of them than for us to get rid of the US and Texas Constitutions and institute a crime of being a 'person of poor character'. If your suggestion is more along the lines of setting higher bonds and bigger sentences to those who commit crimes in Gulfton than elsewhere, that is much easier said than done. However, there is no reason that the DA's office could not assign a task force to creating a coordinated prosecution of Gulfton's most wanted, though I would submit that they have too many task forces already. And there are many policies in place to handle 'revolving door' criminals, such as no bond for a person who commits a new felony while on bond for another felony. That is already done countywide.

Much of the Gulfton apartment problem comes from the design of the apartments, allowing crime to occur in the courtyards, out of sight of the police. It is very labor intensive to inspect each of these courtyards, and drug dealers not being as stupid as one might think, post sentries at the gates to warn of approaching officers. Perhaps, rather than spend tax money to fix all of these problems, we should fine the architects who designed these crime traps for engaging in negligent design. That way, we could force architects to consider the societal costs of their ill-thought out designs. The fines collected could go toward salaries for the extra police required to patrol poorly designed apartments, and for razing of bad apartments and building of schools in their place.

Your point is very well taken.

My first statement was that the most serious criminals - gang leaders, murderers, rapists - need to be permanently locked up. Too often, in Gulfton, it seems they aren't.

Regarding apartments. I'd be interested to hear how you'd like to sue a bunch of crochety old architects who've long since died of liver cancer. But you're right about the stuff they did. Apartment designs from the 1970s have very serious drawbacks that all but invite crime to occur. The saddest thing is that my apartment-designing peers don't seem to have learned from these mistakes. They're STILL making them! You wouldn't believe how angry it makes me.

I must say, however, I am viewing it from a construction standpoint because of my profession. But you and TheNiche are right. There are lots of factors that are dragging down Gulfton; not just the apartments.

Whenever the evil Republican suburbanite Limbaugh-listening FoxNews-watching mobs complain about crime in low-income apartment complexes out in the burbs, the right-thinking progressive inner-loopers ask them, "Where are you going to put them? Where are the poor people supposed to live?" It's one of the most popular petards to lob on HAIF.

So if we demolish thousands of units in Gulfton, where are those people supposed to go. I suppose the right-thinking progressive answer is "Sugar Land."

I would have said that it's actually a slum lord asking "where are you going to put them?"

The slum lord's statement would go something like this:

"I perform a service. I provide housing to people who can't live anywhere else....

They have to live somewhere. Do you want them near you?....

No?....

Alright then, leave me alone to run the Casa del Miseria the way I want to!"

On a more serious note, I knew someone would ask the question "where are you going to put them?" The question really is bogus, because it makes three huge, wrong assumptions.

First, the question assumes that all poor people are undesirable criminals. They aren't. For every thug in a bad apartment complex, there are ten people who are as honest, law abiding, and hard working as you and me. (In many complexes they're afraid to speak out - because they could be evicted, or killed for doing so - but they are there.)

Second, it assumes an all-or-nothing argument. Knock down ALL the apartments and where will THEY ALL go? Of course it's impossible to knock down ALL the apartments and you wouldn't want to. The key is to be strategic about it, and of course build back new housing as appropriate.

Third, it assumes that if you demolish 200 units, you displace 200 families. Not true if those 200 units are vacant - and slums often have a big proportion of vacant units. Local markets could easily absorb the loss, and that'd be to their benefit.

KHOU ran a bigl article today on the gang-wars that are gripping Gulfton.

As an architect, Gulfton has always fascinated me. Gulfton abuts some of the most desirable parts of our metropolis - Uptown; Bellaire; West U - but it is referred to as the "Gulfton Ghetto." Crime rates are much higher than the norm. Poverty abounds.

This post will be unlike my previous post about the Sharpstown Mall. That was more about architecture and design. This is more about urban policy and tactics that could be used to turn Gulfton around.

First we need to understand why Gulfton is a ghetto. Common wisdom is that the reason is apartments. It's not that apartments are bad. It's not that renters are bad. The problem in Gulfton is that the apartments there are basically all wrong.

- Gulfton's apartment complexes are too big. 200 units seems to be the limit for a good, older complex. Many of Gulfton's complexes have ten times that many.

- There's not much diversity in Gulfton's real estate. There are no offices or employment centers in Gulfton.

- Gulfton was developed very fast in the 1970s, infrastructure never caught up.

- Gulfton was overbuilt with apartments in the 1970s, and has never recovered from the ensuing collapse of the 1980s.

So what can we do now?

1: First we need to go apartment by apartment and make an honest evaluation of the properties. Complexes should be ranked based on crime rates, number of code violations, and anonymous tenant surveys.

2: The lowest ranked apartments (maybe 10% of the total units in Gulfton) should be demolished, and replaced with non-apartment development. (Retail, offices, schools, libraries, etc.)

3: The next lowest ranked apartments (the next 15%) should be gutted and renovated into new apartments.

4: HPD needs to swarm Gulfton while all of this is happening. While the worst 10% of apartments in Gulfton are demolished, the 10% of Gulfton residents that are serious criminals should be rounded up and jailed.

There is money to do this - but it needs to be re-directed from other functions. The City of Houston actively works with developers and State and Federal funding sources to improve apartments. Those efforts could be concentrated in Gulfton. The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs sits on huge coffers of money. If they stopped building new apartments in Houston, and started using funds to repair apartments it would go a very long way in Gulfton.

I've started to believe that Gulfton will be a measure of Houston's next mayor. If his or her urban and police policies are good - Gulfton will turn. If they are a failure, Gulfton will continue to languish. These are only one architect's ideas of how to fix the "Gulfton Ghetto."

The mall's owner and others have been floating proposals to redevelop the property with the help of public funds. One idea is to tear down the mall and build an open-air shopping center in its place.

But the core of the mall and its anchors have separate owners, which makes a large-scale redevelopment challenging.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6500196.html

There might be hope for the Sharpstown Mall yet.

If the owners concentrate on the Jewelry Exchange Building first, they can use the profit from that building to help fund the renovations of the mall itself.

So before even getting into my dream for the Mall itself - a renovation and expansion of the Jewelry Exchange Building is in order. Top priority: make sure the budgeting works and leaves enough profit to fund the renovation of the mall.

From the posts in this thread, you'd have to say no. On the other hand, I find that many of the City's most vocal critics do not even live in the City. It is a favorite pastime for them to take potshots at the City, its residents, and its government and service providers. Certainly, there are those residents who have an unrealistic view of what a city government should provide for the taxes it collects, but, by and large, I find most reasonable residents do not have an unfavorable view when talking of SPECIFIC services, and when speaking from an INFORMED point of view. And, certainly, the City has not always done a good job of running things, and there are areas where they could definitely improve.

As an example, here are some departments where I think the City does a bang up job...

.....

I agree with you.

The City of Houston has great people. Most of the problems come up when people think the City is responsible for things its not.

But I'd like to add one thing to my suggestions from before.

We need a moratorium on the construction of subsidized apartments on open land. Any money we get for low-cost housing in Houston should be used to improve the low-cost housing we already have.

The idea came to me when I looked into the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. This State department gives grants to developers to build low cost housing. The trouble is, they never give money to renovate low-cost housing. It's only to build new, and always on open land. The approach might work in Austin or Dallas, but it misses the point in Houston. Our next mayor needs to DEMAND that they change it up for Houston.

I think even the Mayor's critics would agree that they are already doing those things.

Yes, I apologize. I managed to post prematurely.

What should our next Mayor concentrate on?

Lots of things. In order of importance (and I've put exclamation points after the most important ones.)

1: FIGHT CRIME! We need better policing. A few things I wish they'd do in HPD:

- If they can't afford the $12k signing bonuses, they should:

- Recruit experienced cops from other big cities by matching salaries, advertising Houston's low-cost of living and stronger-than-most economy, and offering job placement for officers spouses.

- Offer free rent in low-cost apartment complexes for young rookie cops.

- Establish 'micro-beats' that cover only one or two subdivisions - where cops and residents really get to know each other.

2: IMPROVE EDUCATION! We need to fix all the schools here in Houston.

- The Mayor needs to work with HISD and other districts to get them to improve. If the districts won't cooperate, he should play hardball (like New York mayor Bloomberg did).

- The Mayor should push for a big, alternative school for kids who cause trouble in mainstream schools, but aren't so criminal that they need to be in TYC lockup.

3: IMPROVE TRANSIT!

- The Mayor has to take the same approach with METRO and TXDoT that he takes with the schools. Work with them is the first option. If they won't cooperate, play hardball.

4: GO AFTER NUISANCE PROPERTIES and replace them.

- Unlicensed SOBs, "Pain Clinics", and Hot Sheet Motels don't serve this City. Parks do. It's time to crank up the legal department, fire up the bulldozers, and plant some trees!

- Houston also has a surplus of crimeridden slum apartments, and a shortage of safe, accessible housing for law abiding poor people. Our next Mayor needs to pull strings and get developers to replace slums with good low-cost housing. (To his credit, Bill White started to do this in his last term - but it took him 4 years to wake up to reality on it).

5: STREAMLINE CITY DEPARTMENTS AND ORDINANCES.

- There are at least half a dozen City departments that send inspectors out to buildings, for example. There should be just one.

- Our City code is frought with stupid laws like the one that required bicycles to be registered. They should all suffer the same fate as the bicycle ordinance.

6: ESTABLISH SENSITIVE GROWTH; NOT ZONING for the City of Houston.

- Listen more to neighborhoods. Require public hearings as part of the permit process for certain buildings. (I'd include any building that qualifies as a high-rise or has an H (Hazardous) occupancy under the Building Code).

What should our next Mayor concentrate on?

Lots of things.

1: CRIME! We need better policing. A few things I wish they'd do:

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The pictures definitely don't do it justice (except picture number 4). And the map location makes me shudder. But this thing is awesome. And a duplex for under $80k. Can't beat that.

I can imagine buying it, turning one unit into an office (for an architect, erm, me) and moving into the other...... If it didn't front on Fondren.

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...%20Fondren%20Rd

Sorry to reply to my own post, but I just looked at the aerials on Bing (aka Live Search Maps).

The house is backwards. The carports and drive are off Croton Rd; not Fondren. It'd be really easy to build a thick, concrete and brick wall along Fondren. Plant more trees. And turn this into a modernist urban oasis.

You'd still get some noise off Fondren though.

The pictures definitely don't do it justice (except picture number 4). And the map location makes me shudder. But this thing is awesome. And a duplex for under $80k. Can't beat that.

I can imagine buying it, turning one unit into an office (for an architect, erm, me) and moving into the other...... If it didn't front on Fondren.

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...%20Fondren%20Rd

Maybe the best rental Mod ever to be on the market - in Sharpstown - for less than $1k a month....

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...20Bellaire%20Bl

If I had the dough and if it weren't fronting on Bellaire Blvd, I'd give them a call and offer to buy the place instead of renting!

Since this thread is revived, I'll go ahead and post updates.

The downtown hearing in April had a huge showing. Thanks Sugar Land!

There is now a new community organization created in opposition of the proposed Goldshire Townhomes. Big thanks to all the area HOA leaders who have worked hard on this

http://www.united77498.org

As well as a twitter page

http://twitter.com/United77498

And a facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=93063828560

Everyone in Sugar Land has until June 15th to contact TDHCA with their complaints if they haven't yet already. Details on how to do that can be found on the above pages. The decision by TDHCA will be made the following month.

Thanks for the update! I looked at those and contacted TDHCA with my own concerns on the matter.

As I said before, I live in Southwest Houston. The State funding of the project in Sugarland will steal money away from my area.

We've got apartment after apartment here, and too many of them are dumps. We need MONEY to FIX these existing apartments. But developers want to and use that money to impose low-cost housing on neighborhoods that don't want it.

Another thing, is it me or does the "Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs" neglect the "Community" part? I've been to their hearings, and I've seen the low cost housing proposals. I've yet to see a TDHCA hearing on a library, school, park, or other community asset.

As a long time resident of Village of Oak Lake, which is the subdivision in the midst of which this developer is proposing to put this complex, I have a right, if not an obligation, to oppose it. A few of the relevant facts;

- the developer will make about $2MM off of the deal, other than that, he has no underlying moral purpose of putting it 2 blocks from my home, instead of near his home on the fairway in the Sweetwater Country Club golf course

- the entrance to the 150 unit complex will be on a two lane blacktop road, 100yards from a curve, with ditches on each side, it will be accidents waiting to happen with an estimated 150-200 vehicles entering/exiting

- there is absolutley NO public transportation near here, the closest being Park and Ride lots on the SW Freeway, or the bus lines on Westheimer, 50% of the units will be rented to persons earning <50% of the AMGI (Area Median Gross Income), if they do not own a car they are in the middle of nowhere basically

- the schools near here already using portable units, adding 300-500 kids will not improve that problem

If you are a resident and want to take the time to read the 355 page application it is here; "http://www1.tdhca.state.tx.us/htc/2009apps/index.htm" it is number 09166.

This is not about race, my African American neighbor across the street has been my friend since 1995, I have Columbian and Chinese neighbors. All of us have invested our money in paying the martgage on our loans, we dont want to see our home values decline for the benefit of this developer.

As a resident of Southwest Houston I also have an obligation to oppose the Goldshire Townhomes project in Sugarland.

We have plenty of low-cost housing in my area. A lot of it is falling apart. And some developer wants government funds to build brand new apartments on virgin land in Sugarland?

This is beyond stupid. We should be FIXING problem properties and turning them into safe, convenient places for working people to live. We should NOT randomly build new low-cost housing on virgin land.

Alas though, money talks. It's easier and quicker for developers to close on raw land and throw up garbage. I heard one say as much when there was a hearing on the Costa Del Rey apartment project last year. They stand to make more money that way.

Love this one, but it seems this size of house would be for a family, and the schools there look to be, well awful.

The catch is that if there were good schools around Bonhomme Rd, and no slum apartments - the house might not be there.

Someone would have bought the place, torn it down, and thrown up a McMansion.

It's perverse to see it this way, but the awful schools and bad apartments have done more to preserve this area's Mods than any law or preservation group. (No offense intended to the guys in Memorial Bend or the Houston Mod).

Great to see another Mod fan in the Robindell area. I am west of there, in a subdivision called Larkwood - same Super Neighborhood.

Gorgeous Mods abound around here, and the cool part is that the area has yet to be discovered by the McMansion set. The mods are all intact, or at least standing, and they're cheap. You don't have to be a millionaire to have a house designed by William Floyd, or Harwood Taylor, or William Jenkins.

Anyway it's good to see you here, and let me second your call to have someone like us move into the house on N. Braeswood!

Here's another from our area: 9007 Bonhomme Rd. in Bonham Acres

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y

Gorgeous inside. Not quite as great as the N. Braeswood house on the outside. If you had the outside of that house and the inside of this, you'd have something world class.

The previous owners of 9007 couldn't resist pastiche, but they did the right thing. They built a cheesy victorian looking guest house. They didn't bastardize the Mod. Amen to that.

Pretty Cool, no? The pics are lame, but the virtual tour shows the outside, which is cool. It sits across Braeswood from the bayou, so there's that.

Great to see another Mod fan in the Robindell area. I am west of there, in a subdivision called Larkwood - same Super Neighborhood.

Gorgeous Mods abound around here, and the cool part is that the area has yet to be discovered by the McMansion set. The mods are all intact, or at least standing, and they're cheap. You don't have to be a millionaire to have a house designed by William Floyd, or Harwood Taylor, or William Jenkins.

Anyway it's good to see you here, and let me second your call to have someone like us move into the house on N. Braeswood!

I can't believe they're still building the damn things. Who has that kind of money to build spec?

In my book, that sort of garbage is almost as distasteful as the slum apartments near my Mod in SW Houston. It's a horrible shame that a Mod is about to fall to a "French" monstrosity.

Hello,

I am moving from Ottawa, Canada to Houston for my Ph.D in Economics at University of Houston.

I have a wife and kid and my top priority is safety. However, living on university funding, I also cannot pay more than 700 bucks for rent. 600 would be more manageable but willing to go up to 700.

I read this:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...?showtopic=6863

and found out that many neighbourhoods are dangerous.

Can you make some suggestions regarding which neighbourhoods to look into?

Also, if I buy a car, is commuting from Sugarland or Pearland feasible in the long run?

Finally, how worried should I be about the hurricane season?

My general advice - find a luxury apartment complex somewhere, and look for cheap apartments next door. From 2003 until 2007, I lived in a tiny apartment complex across the street from the Maroneal in Old Braeswood. I used to chuckle at the people who payed $1200 a month to live there when I was paying $675 a month for a 2 bedroom townhome in the same neighborhood.

If it were me I'd look specifically at apartments along Brays Bayou. Then I could leave the car at home for the wife to use, and commute by bicycle along the Hike & Bike trail. Just beware of construction along Brays Bayou.

On the matter of hurricanes: in Galveston they can be really devastating. But in Houston they're really no worse than a major ice-storm up north.

Anyway, welcome to Houston, and good luck with the PhD!

OK so I've become a fan of Sir Peter Cook's writings in Architectural Review. Sometimes I wish I could write like he does. Now's one of those times - with the RDA's Small Houses x 9 tour coming this weekend.

I wish I could be as eloquent as Cook when I wonder how the RDA could think a 2000 square foot house is small. Many houses have 2000 square feet or less and it's not that hard to plan one. A really small house, say 1000 square feet or less, poses a real challenge to design. But that's not the subject of the RDA's tour.

If I were Peter Cook I might also ask - aside from being small and having bamboo floors, what's so green about these houses? They're new houses after all. Nothing's reused. They're not built on brownfields. They have the neighborhood connectivity, I'll hand them that, but what else?

And Sir Peter Cook wouldn't pretend that the 2000 square foot house is a new thing. William Floyd. William Jenkins. Harwood Taylor. Lars Bang. They were all in Houston, designing significant houses under 2000 square feet during the 1950s. I happen to live in one. But the RDA's tour doesn't feature a single one of these. (Nor does the RDA's tour feature a single house outside Loop 610.)

I will try to bring this to a close as Peter Cook might. I will say that while the RDA's houses might not be really small, and small might not be green or new - 'small' is the future. Smaller, more compact cities. Smaller houses. Smaller cars, too. The RDA is absolutely right to notice this . I think I may go to one or two of these houses.

I still wish someone would buy the house and turn it into a 'house of green.'

Leave the space the way it was, but change all the formica finishes to green finishes. Of course make it LEED.

The cool thing is that it could be marketers of green products, and the Houston design Center that covers the cost.

I guess you could call it adaptive preservation. Sort of like the dream I had a while back for Saarinen's TWA Terminal at JFK airport. I thought they should restore it back to the original, and then use it as a Supersonic terminal (for Concorde flights). It'd mimick the use the building originally had, when airports only saw a few well-heeled travelers.

(And could you imagine how sexy a Concorde would look parked outside that building.)

But then they axed the Concorde, and bastardized Saarinen's building.

God I hope that doesn't happen to the House of Formica.

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 agree it's pricey. But it's in Piney Point Village. I was actually surprised to see a sub $1 million price tag on a nice house in that area.

You could find similar houses for half the price - but they'll be around my part of town, near Brays Bayou in Southwest Houston. You won't get something like that, much cheaper in Memorial.

WAZ is correct that the asking price will allow for increased renovation monies but unless the buyer has deep pockets -- as a construction loan may be challenging to acquire these days -- this one is probably a tough sell. I don't know anything about the neighborhood and that would be a key item (as well as the school) for most folk.

The neighborhood is Robindell, and its a great neighborhood (with the exception of the schools it's zoned to - see below). There's easy access to the Brays Bayou Hike & Bike Trail; a Community Pool about 1/4 mile from the house. And very active civic clubs and citizens on patrol programs. I personally know the Civic Club President over there.

A little provenance would be helpful (if any exists). Is there a suggestion of a particular architects body of work? Is there a home owners association with records that could shed light on this home?

This could be a tough one. The people in Memorial Bend really care about their mid century history, but it seems that people around here don't have time for that. I'm the only one that I know of who's done any research. But I'm sure there's information out there.

This home is priced to sell but 82K suggests something else is going on.

Post follow-up: Property is a forclosure; schools are as follows -- McNamara Elementary, Middle: Fondren Middle School, High: Sharpstown High School (info via Zwillow.com)

Yes, the schools it's zoned to suck. But if you found the same house a mile east and zoned to Bellaire schools, you'd pay $250k for it. Similar houses in Robindell that are not foreclosures can go for around $130k; updated, bigger, and towards the east of the subdivision can top $180k.

Your point about the construction loan is well taken, though. I blew my savings, maxed out two credit cards, and borrowed money from my parents to renovate my mod. Had to - couldn't get a construction loan:-(

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y

Price just dropped on this place. Each price cut on the place means it makes more sense to work on. Could be beautiful given the right renovations.

Also I heard a rumor that it needs some foundation work (probably that's why it hasn't sold yet).