richardtb

I have a copy of the Greenwood King Houston market report and they compare 1/01/08-3/3/08 to 1/01/07 to 3/31/07 and it gives a totally different picture than the Chronicle's article which compares 2006 and 2007. For instance, the average days on market in Southampton area has gone up 439%.

Thanks for all the opinions. There were other things about my visit that made me uncomfortable. It is "sell by owner," so the current owner showed us the house. When we asked her about the house, she didn't seem to know anything about anything. Pretty much said that she had just lived here and all the work was done by the previous owner. This seems a bit odd to me since both husband and wives are engineers and this does not seem to match with the personality of the engineers that I have known. The next day, the owner emailed us the seller's disclosure statement which we had requested. In the form it mentioned that right before the put the house on the market they had a company do a property inspection report and a condition of property survey. Is that a common thing to do? I have a strong suspicion that the more I will find out about the house (through a professional inspection..), the more potential problems will be uncovered.

The explanation is definitively 2. The additions did not use brick but aluminum siding. Also, there was foundation work done. My wife noticed that the hardwood in the first floor were somewhat slanted. However, the house felt solid, all doors closed very nicely. Since those changes and repairs were make a while back (at least two owners ago), it looks like pretty complicated things to check whether the weight is handled adequately, and if we end up having a contract on the house it sound like I should I hire an engineer to check things out.

Thanks a lot for all the responses. I was looking at a house in West U. It turned out that the crawl space was very, very small. So, it would have been pretty hard to get inside but I was able to look at it and seemed ok. Fortunately, a couple of friends of hours (who are architects) came looking at the house with us. It turns out that the house was originally about 1,800 SF, however a long time ago they had added an additional 1,200 SF. (The seller did not mention this, but after it was pointed out to me, it seemed pretty clear.) That piece of information did not show on HCAD. The new parts were all on in the upstairs. They had converted the attic into living space and added additional portions to the upstairs. Given that the new parts were covered in aluminum siding, our friends opined that the addition may have been done sometime during the 60's or 70's. The other thing that our engineer friend noticed was that the house had been re-bricked, since the bricks were not the type of bricks in use when the house was built. I realize that this is not the conversation topic, but I hate starting a second conversation topic in the same day. However, if anyone has any comments on what this should mean to me (the additions, the re-bricking), I am all ears.

Thank you very much. Very helpful.

I am looking at houses to figure out which one to make a bid on. All the houses that I am considering have a crawl space. My question is should I go down to the crawl space before making the bid or should I just wait to go down until one bid is accepted and I can go see the crawl space with the inspector? I have never seen a crawl space. So, if the answer is that I should see the crawl space before making the bid, I have two more questions: 1. What is it that I should be looking at/looking for? For instance, if I wanted to see the state of the piers, what would I be looking for? 2. What are the chances of getting bitten by a spider, snake or rat? Are there any things to do to minimize those chances? Thanks. Richard

Do I understand correctly then that "structural slab on pier and beam" means the same thing as "slab on builders piers"?

I looked at another house and it said "foundation is structural slab on pier and beam." Again, how does that compare to just pier and beam? In other words, how does it do if the ground moves, how is it with respect to humidity & termites.

No, it is pier and beam. The answer that TheNiche give makes a lot of sense: There must be some drainage problem and so by having concrete and 8 drains, it drains better than if the water had to go through the soil. The other reason why the answer ty TheNiche makes a lot of sense is that when we went to the open house all the windows were open, even though it was not all that warm that day. So, it makes sense that there are some humidity problem with the house and that is why they had all windows open for the open house (to get rid of mildew smell).

Thank you so much!!!

Thanks. Here is the listings with pictures... http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y However, to show you the crawl space, I would have to go & take pictures of it. The house is in the 500 year flood plain, so it would seem a bit excessive to go through this trouble in case of a flood...

I just saw a house that had a crawl space, but instead of the floor being dirt, they had put concrete - with 8 drains. I had read all the posts regarding slab vs. crawl space, but I have not read anything about crawl space with dirt floor vs. crawl space with concrete floor. Any comments/opinions would be appreciated. Richard

I did not go to see the house, but someone I knew went there on Saturday. This person told me that the highest bid for the house was $200K.

I will follow your advice. Thanks so much!

There is a new house which is being auctioned off in Bellaire. One can see it on Saturday or Sunday and bid on it on Sunday. http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y This seems strange. Do people think that this is something worth checking or just a marketing gimmick? Thanks. Richard

I have not been able to access realdata.net for a while. Does anyone know what happen? Are there any places now where one can find selling prices for houses (other than MLS)? HCAD does not provide that information anymore following the passage of the law that makes this information confidential in Texas. Richard

Again, thank you very much for a very helpful answer. I was also worried about the stucco. Yes, I had found that builders' address in Austin, but I thought that given that it was in a different town it was a different builder, but I wrong (another poster give a link to find all builders and got the same information that you provided). About the excessive price, I agree, but there seem to be people willing to pay these prices. For instance, the house on 2034 Dryden, 2216 sq feet (but a large lot: 8613 sq feet) sold for the asking price 749K.

Thanks. I found the builder with the link, although it was not all that informative. This is what it said: Number of Homes Registered: 0 Number of Inspection Requests with construction defect found: 0 Number of Inspection Requests with constuction defect(s) not found: 0 Number of Inspection Requests Withdrawn: 0 The recommendation for an engineer would be helpful.

Thanks you answered all my questions. However, I assume that you only hire an engineer once your bid on a house has been accepted, and as part of the inspection. So, the question, is in figuring out how much to bid for a house, how much should you take into account the fact that it is slab on builder pier foundation. For instance, we looked at http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cf...mp;backButton=Y The builder was Markee Construction, for which we couldn't find any information. So, I doubt they would have an engineer on staff. So, my question is how much should I put a value on the fact that is says builder pier, versus a similar house that was built 5 years ago that just says it is a slab foundation. My guess is that what you are saying is that one cannot give much value. Again, thanks for your great answer. Richard

Thanks. When you say to avoid slab, should one also avoid the new constructions that say "slab on builders pier"? As far as I can see on HAR the only houses that are not built on a slab are the houses built before 1940.

My mistake. I meant "water damage" not "flood damage." The house is not in a flood area. It it possible that the water damage has nothing to do with possible foundation problems.

I have read the multiple posts that discuss the advantages of house with a crawl space foundation over a house with a slab foundation. I did not see in those posts a discussion of slab foundation on builders pier. I am assuming from the posts that this should be just like a slab foundation except it is less likely that the foundation is going to crack. Am I correct? Are there are any questions about the builders pier foundation that a buyer should ask, or does one just have to rely on the reputation of the builder? Also, I have seen a few houses from the 1950s that say "slab on builders pier." I am assuming that this means that the house was originally built on a slab and then they added builders piers later on to prevent foundation problems. For the house that I was looking (built in 1950), the documentation says "slab on builders pier" and it says that in 1995 "45 10' bell bottom piers installed." Also, the flooring was not all that straight and I could see on the ceiling of the first floor that there had been some flooding. How concerned should I be? Thanks. Richard

1. I find it a bit politically biased. 2. The Sunday travel section could be longer. 3. The Sunday real estate section should have at least on column worth reading.

If I look at a property that was sold (say) in 2003 on HCAD, the reported market value and the appraised value for 2003 on the website are the same. I assume that these values are equal to the price at which the property sold. Am I correct? Also, on the HCAD site it says "You can review a complete list of sales in our records, as well as more detailed information on each property sold, at our information and assistance center located on the third floor at our office at 13013 Northwest Freeway in Houston." Has anyone gone there? What additional information can one get by going to the office? (E.g., more recent information...) Thanks! Richard