Tall Forest, North Timber Top In The Woodlands

[bachanon]

i was walking the dog this evening and went a different direction than usual. much to my surprise, one of the 30 year old 70's homes had been torn down and replaced with a two or three story, closer to the street, COOKIE CUTTER home!

another home with a double lot down the street recently sold (quickly) and has been sitting empty for several weeks. yet a third home appears to have been purchased for top dollar (at least it was top dollar three years ago) and has received at least 30k in renovations.

anyone know how the values are doing in this neighborhood? any realtors want to share recent sales prices?

thanks in advance.

edit: upon closer, daytime examination, the tear down is actually a complete renovation made to look like a cookie cutter home.

[AndreaD]

Anyone know how the values are doing in this neighborhood? any realtors want to share recent sales prices?

thanks in advance.

edit: upon closer, daytime examination, the tear down is actually a complete renovation made to look like a cookie cutter home.

=============

I'm not a Realtor, but an intensively searching buyer. Since early 2007 I've found that the Timber Top Drive area has become a hot market. In the summer of 2005, it was a struggle to sell a non-updated home there, but not anymore, if the price is right. In late January 2008, a 1968-sq.-ft. two-story golf course home on Timber Mill sold in one day flat, even though it had ALL old kitchen components. It was asking about $190K, which my Realtor said was a pretty good price. To compare, another home with the same floor plan, also on the golf course but near the northern end of Timber Top Drive, was asking $158,000 in Feb. 2005. It took one week to sell it then, which is still pretty fast.

My mortgage broker was a savvy buyer: a while ago he bought two of those golf course homes, both 1968 sq. ft., in the North Timber Top Drive area. He'll do very well on the day he sells those homes.

The key here is priced right. Ask a ridiculous amount, and the market will just say "No." I'm seeing this throughout The Woodlands. Homes in subdivisions that used to sell almost instantly, in all price ranges, are now sitting on the market for a while, especially if they aren't on a golf course. I don't know if the reason is the subprime mess, the declining economy, a general belt-tightening, or what. But last June it was a different story. Luckily for home buyers now, the interest rates have dropped a lot since last June.

[bachanon]

welcome to the forum andrea! i'm glad to see you registered.

i have a recent comp. report for north timber top. if you do not have it, i can email it to you. a cousin, who is a realtor, sent it to me. i'm interested to see what they paid for 1 dewthread. it is on the market for 199k. it is a complete renovation.

thanks for the other bits of info.

also, there is an annual impact study TCID puts out. last year, homes within one mile of town center were doing really well when comped with the same home two miles or further out.

[AndreaD]

welcome to the forum andrea! i'm glad to see you registered.

i have a recent comp. report for north timber top. if you do not have it, i can email it to you. a cousin, who is a realtor, sent it to me. i'm interested to see what they paid for 1 dewthread. it is on the market for 199k. it is a complete renovation.

thanks for the other bits of info.

also, there is an annual impact study TCID puts out. last year, homes within one mile of town center were doing really well when comped with the same home two miles or further out.

Yes, I'd love to get that comp. report for N. Timber Top Dr. from you! Also, I'd like the annual impact study by TCID.

I tried to look up that 1 Dewthread Ct. listing in past sales, but it wasn't shown. So that must mean it was a private sale and was never listed on the MLS last September. I have my doubts about that owner being able to sell it for even the high $190's, in spite of all its remodeling: it's pretty noisy at that end of Timber Top, and until recently, the agent didn't post any photos of the "gourmet-style kitchen with new appliances." So where's this wonderful kitchen? It gripes me how many Realtors and owners still haven't grasped the significance of GOOD photography. You're selling merchandise here, folks! Show it at its best, please. And that means 640 x 480 resolution, not little bitty pix. Otherwise, I won't bother. At least now, there are lots of new photos of this home.

Also, this Dewthread listing says the house has 2490 sq. ft., but MCCAD says it only has 2176 sq. ft. inside. Why the big discrepancy?? I always check a home's interior space on the MCCAD website, to see how truthful the agent is. A surprising number of them fudge the truth, which is another gripe I have. At least some of them state in the description that MCCAD has made an error in interior space info.

By the way, Hedgebell Ct., I found out, is 50% rentals (non-owner occupied). Also, 58% of the homes from #2 to #24 N. Timber Top Dr. on the golf course are rentals. So I look at those kinds of streets as ones I'm not interested in living on. I'm sure it's because of the traffic noise from Woodlands Parkway.

[bachanon]

i believe that many people are holding on to these properties expecting them to accelerate in value as demand grows around town center. this could be the reason for the large amount of rentals and quick sales. i purchased in '02 with the same expectation.

you may be able to find the town center impact study on the town center website. however, i could not find it today. the info could be on the new woodlands township website, but i didn't have time to check it out. i can email the neighborhood comp list after work, sometime this evening.

[AndreaD]

I looked for two evenings on the Town Center's websites (old and new), and unfortunately couldn't find anything to do with the economic impact on housing prices in the immediate area. The only thing I can think of is to call someone at the Town Center's office next week and ask if they have a copy of the study.

But it's sort of a moot point, because I'm seeing its effects very plainly in the asking prices of N. Timber Top homes vs. 1 mile further south. How fast the homes sell is also very revealing. Another person somewhere else on HAIF (I think in the Life Forms forum) called this the "Town Center effect" and it's very real. There's no doubt about it. That's why I'm looking for a retirement home in this area and not further away.

[bachanon]

it may be time for the next impact study to be released. i think that when tcid became the woodlands township, the old tcid info was removed from the town center website.

my realtor bought in autumnwood in '03 shortly after i bought my house off n. timber top. i spoke with a keller williams agent last week who told me that people are buying off of box turtle and doing complete renovations, sparing no expense. i've seen this in doe run. apparently, the 300k and up sector is turning over and going up faster than the lower price ranges.

i'm anxious to see how 1 dewthread does. if it sells anywhere near asking price it will be a heads up to flippers. like you, i don't think they can sell it for that.

did you get the comp list?

[AndreaD]

i'm anxious to see how 1 dewthread does. if it sells anywhere near asking price it will be a heads up to flippers. like you, i don't think they can sell it for that.

did you get the comp list?

No, I didn't get the comp list from you. You said you would email it several nights ago.

[bachanon]

i emailed it again today

[woody_hawkeye]

This is a very interesting subject. Part of the equation in my estimation is not necessarily proximity to Town Center but just being in The Woodlands. The desire to live here is driving up the prices. Desire is being pushed by the Town Center's advertising and marketing processes. So we see the effect of demand. Some of us may be priced out of remaining here in very few years because of taxes, especially those of us who are retired. Assessments are skyrocketing. Houses have been selling rapidly in Indian Springs.

Edited April 29, 2008 by woody_hawkeye

[bachanon]

1 dewthread ct has either been sold or leased. haven't been able to find out which. i noticed a golf course home, 185 timber mill, on the market for 180k with minimal upgrades.

[AndreaD]

... i noticed a golf course home, 185 timber mill, on the market for 180k with minimal upgrades.

Well, apparently no one was interested at the original high price of $180K. I believe on 5/27/08 (yesterday), the price was slashed $20K to $160K ($114.29/sq. ft.) and that makes it a lot closer to the market reality. My agent looked inside of it when it first came on the market, and she said the bathrooms were both small but clean.

Andrea

[AndreaD]

1 dewthread ct has either been sold or leased. haven't been able to find out which. i noticed a golf course home, 185 timber mill, on the market for 180k with minimal upgrades.

FYI, 1 Dewthread Ct. came back on the market on 5/30/08, at $189,000 and as an investment property (it's currently leased). So it was leased earlier this spring. Its address isn't disclosed, but you can find it by entering the street name or its new MLS no. 8906414. There's a big disparity between what the listing says its size is (2459 sq. ft.) and what MCCAD says (2176). I don't know who to believe. It's been nicely fixed up.