Great Memorial Plaza Mod For Sale

[dbigtex56]

i understand and agree...but fifteen years is a long time to put up with that - and the owner "neglect" might have started way before that...

Yeah...maybe if they'd spent more money on routine maintenance and less on some truly

ugly decor, the house wouldn't be 'hopeless'.

[Willowisp]

I'm pretty new to the preservation thing myself. I resign myself to the fact that some houses are just too far gone (possibly including this one!) Had I not been so niave, I might have decided that my house was just about too far gone. Thank goodness I didn't realize that! As far as this house goes, I have no idea, I've never been to it. But, is 235K the lot value? If not, then it is the house that is being sold, not the lot. It's a tough choice between saving an old house that needs a lot of work and just starting over. The problem with starting over is as others said, it always seems that what is put up in it's place just doesn't match the rest of the neighborhood. We have one down our street that doesn't match. The owner (who I believe designed it or had it custom designed) absolutely loves his house. It is not my taste at all and it is definitely not in the style of the neighborhood, but in the end, it's none of my business despite the fact I drive by it on average 4 times a day.

Anyway, I think the point has been well made that the problem is that the realtor tries to sell to both sides of the fence in the same ad, at least as we read it. Builders to me means people who tear down and rebuild, not preservationists. I'm guessing that's what riles us up the most.

Finally, about the realtor just doing his/her job, there should be a lot more to the job than buying and selling houses and making money. Some people consider architecture to be an artform. The job of realtor should be part "museum curator" as it were. They should know the history of the neighborhoods they work in the most and they should try to find out as much as they can about the areas they work in. I felt lucky to find RPS when we did because he certainly took that area of his job seriously. But not all realtors have a passion for architecture.

By the way, your estimate of $75K is probably low. I would imagine that it would cost a lot more than that to fix this house from the stories I've heard. I would imagine that the selling price is going to have to come down some more before action either way is taken.

Jason

I know that this topic is a bit old now, but I just found out about this forum. I just wanted to let y'all know that the house on 13022 Kimberley Ln. IS A TEARDOWN. I understand that it may be an orginal Floyd, but you haven't lived there for 15 years. I have been there through many problems. This home is not fixable!!! If one wanted to remodel and live in it, it would cost more than 75K, like someone had mentioned earlier, not to mention, that problems would still occur. The reason that it is selling so low has nothing to do with the agent. It is not her decision whether she wants it torn down or not. y'all are being too harsh. She is an excellent realtor and has helped us with other listings and purchases as well. She is just doing her job!! If y'all are so concerned about the home, then you should put an offer on it and save it.

[sevfiv]

according to the appraisal, the house is almost at par with the land...

http://www.hcad.org/records/details.asp?ta...t=0920120000002

it is also being sold quite a bit under appraisal value, but definitely NOT at teardown value!

Yeah...maybe if they'd spent more money on routine maintenance and less on some truly

ugly decor, the house wouldn't be 'hopeless'.

hehe...better be careful, ms. karr may not like that

[TJones]

Yeah, that was pretty brutal bigtex, shame on you.

[Willowisp]

Well, there was another house on my street that sold soon after we bought ours, for lot value or maybe under lot value, honestly ($115K). I thought for sure it would be torn down. They are restoring it instead! This is not an architecturally special house by any means, but I considered it a victory for the street because who knows what would have taken its place.

Jason

[Lowbrow]

I'm not sure how many of you have seen this but the Kimberley house was bought the other day (fell off HAR). And it is now back on the market yet looks completely different and costs $700k. Anyone suprised?

[sevfiv]

I'm not sure how many of you have seen this but the Kimberley house was bought the other day (fell off HAR). And it is now back on the market yet looks completely different and costs $700k. Anyone suprised?

[rps324]

There is a great mod on Looscan in River Oaks I was in today. It is a one owner and was designed by an Architect for himself. His widow just sold it to a builder, so you know where that is going. It was an incredible house with poured terrazzo floors, floating room dividers and one of those Brady Bunch floating staircases, tons of floor to ceiling glass, high ceilings, and sliding grasscloth shoji screens.

They are working it out now to sell the fixtures. If those can at least be saved someone could have some really cool mod items.

It is really depressing to see so many of these homes getting demolished and replaced with the mundane.

[sevfiv]

looks like charter custom homes is having a mediterranean influenced wreckingball party on that street or something.

[GoAtomic]

It's sure too bad to see this happening to that house ... but I still hold hope that the coming energy bill shocks are going to help put the kibosh on these Hummer-size houses in a hurry.

I just got my electric bill through 12/30, which is usually about $40-60. It was over $100 for about the same useage as last year (which is slightly less than my normal summer HIGH bill). And I still haven't seen my gas bill, which will be even worse from what I'm hearing.

And, yeah, I know, that's low by most standards - but it's a big jump to me.

[sevfiv]

i guess if you're dropping a few million on the house, utilities may not be the first thing on your mind

[GoAtomic]

i guess if you're dropping a few million on the house, utilities may not be the first thing on your mind

Yeah, thought about that after I posted .... it was a little naive of me. But you gotta hang on to some kind of hope ...

[Parrothead]

God. I hate what these builders are doing to our neighborhood. How in the hell do you stop them?

Part of me wants to just smack that owner in the face! Freaking take some responsibility for the heritage in your area!

[sevfiv]

Project Details

Project No:

06009559

Date:

2/27/2006

USE:

DEMO RES/ SEWER DISC.

Owner / Occupant:

MELVIN E HOPPER

Job Address:

13022 KIMBERLEY LN

Tax ID:

0400920120000002

Subdivision:

Valuation:

0

Inspector Zone:

13

Permit Type:

SD

FCC Group:

231

Buyer:

ALL TEXAS DEMOLISHING, INC.

[Willowisp]

http://www.har.com/indexrecenthomesales.cfm

Address: 13022 KIMBERLEY LN , 77079

you can still see it here...

Jason

[Parrothead]

Yes, the bastards are demolishing it today. I am going to go take some photos. It is so sad.

[Parrothead]

What once was, is no more...

That excavator is rather metaphorical.

[GoAtomic]

What once was, is no more...

Until Houston gets serious about giving a civic association or homeowner the OPTION to apply a preservation designation to certain structures (regardless of age), this will continue to happen over and over again. IMHO, a well respected org like Houston Mod should make brokering such an option their number one priority.

It's really a shame in this case that a street of exclusively contemporary houses will soon be RUINED by some ugly-ass, oversized McMansion right smack in the middle of the rest. For that reason alone, the civic association should prevent them from building it.

But, Texas is a 'property rights' state ... and the cowboy spirit lives on.

[Vaughan]

God. I hate what these builders are doing to our neighborhood. How in the hell do you stop them?

Part of me wants to just smack that owner in the face! Freaking take some responsibility for the heritage in your area!

This is unfair to the seller. She said it would be very expensive to repair the home, as another poster on this thread who visited the home confirmed. It sounds like her choices, from your perspective, were (1) to spend the money to repair it, (2) to continue living in a home in need of repairs or (3) to sell it to somebody else who would agree not to tear it down, thus imposing on the buyer to spend the money to repair it or to live in a home in need of repairs.

Given how long it took to sell, imposing a condition not to tear down the home would have likely resulted in an even longer sale time, and probably a lower price, for the seller. Were you prepared to help her out with that? Was anyone else here? There was ample time for someone else to step up to buy it. Also, the idea that her agent should not have been trying to do what the agency relationship requires, to represent her client's interests by selling the house for maximum value, is puzzling.

Many of the homes on Kimberley are attractive and excellent architectural specimens. That does not translate into meaning that this seller, or her buyer, should bear the cost of the rest of us continuing to enjoy the aesthetic pleasure of one of those homes. Why should they subsidize your preference or my preference for the kind of home we like to see when we walk or drive down the street?

[Vaughan]

Until Houston gets serious about giving a civic association or homeowner the OPTION to apply a preservation designation to certain structures (regardless of age), this will continue to happen over and over again. IMHO, a well respected org like Houston Mod should make brokering such an option their number one priority.

It's really a shame in this case that a street of exclusively contemporary houses will soon be RUINED by some ugly-ass, oversized McMansion right smack in the middle of the rest. For that reason alone, the civic association should prevent them from building it.

But, Texas is a 'property rights' state ... and the cowboy spirit lives on.

Kimberley has a number of mods, but not exclusively. There are some non-mod homes on that street. Moreover, some of the homes on that street, mods or not, are not in particularly good shape.

So that would leave the Memorial Plaza HOA to make judgment calls on which homes get preserved, imposing different costs on different homeowners. Would the condition of the home, as well as the architecture, be considered? What if a mod home designated for preservation were in such bad shape that it required repairs worth more than the home? Would the HOA help out? Would the city? Would you?

And the HAR sketch of the home to be built there indicates that it will be in line with other new homes that have been built in the neighborhood. Just because the home is not a mod does not per se make it "ugly-ass."

[Parrothead]

I disagree. Nothing I said is unfair to the seller. She got just what she wanted, she sold her property, as was her prerogative, and the neighborhood is negative one piece of architectural heritage. End of story.

All anyone who supports these mods wants is for some guidelines where there are currently none. What would Savannah look like if it were not for historic preservationists that had the foresight to see that those homes needed to be saved? How about Galveston...should we just let those houses be torn down to accomodate anyone that has a buck? Mod houses are a dying breed in this country; there are districts in other states where they are protected. Why is Houston always the exception in such cases?

[Vaughan]

I disagree. Nothing I said is unfair to the seller. She got just what she wanted, she sold her property, as was her prerogative, and the neighborhood is negative one piece of architectural heritage. End of story.

All anyone who supports these mods wants is for some guidelines where there are currently none. What would Savannah look like if it were not for historic preservationists that had the foresight to see that those homes needed to be saved? How about Galveston...should we just let those houses be torn down to accomodate anyone that has a buck? Mod houses are a dying breed in this country; there are districts in other states where they are protected. Why is Houston always the exception in such cases?

It is not the end of the story. It is wanting someone else to pay for preserving something that others think is important. It is fundamentally unfair to decry her for not bearing the costs of other's preferences. And to exclaim that a part of you feels like slapping her in the face seems like a bit much.

Expecting her to sell the home to someone who would preserve it would be more defensible if the home were in decent shape, but it reportedly was not. Of course, if it were in better shape, she would probably have gotten a lot more for it than she did for a teardown. I doubt that taking what is in effect the lot value was her optimum outcome.

I would love to see as many of those homes as possible on Kimberley survive, but not through calling for regulations that would impose on individual homeowners the costs of allowing the rest of us to enjoy the benefits of having those homes there.

Having seen the inside of many homes in that neighborhood, it is apparent that some of them will remain there a very long time, while others are bound to be replaced.

[sevfiv]

apparently this house lot had been deteriorating/neglected for fifteen years or so by the hand of those who lived in it...

the owner edited her(?) post, of course, and erased what she had previously said.

[Parrothead]

When I said "End of story", Vaughan, I meant end of HER story. She has moved on to something else and it is no longer her problem. Now it's her neighbors' problem. On both sides, and across the street.

[Vaughan]

When I said "End of story", Vaughan, I meant end of HER story. She has moved on to something else and it is no longer her problem. Now it's her neighbors' problem. On both sides, and across the street.

I wonder whether the new home will raise or lower property values in the neighborhood.

[Parrothead]

Oh, no doubt initially it will raise them. Having said that, the neighborhood (Memorial Plaza) peaked in 2003 at $134/sq ft, in 2004 it was selling for $124/sq ft...so it's hard to say long term what it will do.

Have you ever lived next door to an out-of-place McMansion? I have, on W. Clay near Dunlavy. My privacy was nonexistent after the one on the left went up. It was one of those three-story Lovett jobs, and I lived in a '40s bungalow that was typical of that street and neighborhood. I felt like I couldn't even have a freaking game of frisbee with my dog without my neighbors watching my every move over my fence from their kitchen area. It really sucked. I ended up moving when I heard there were plans for another on the other side.

I haven't been down W. Clay in a long time. The last time I was down there was 2002, and there were very few bungalows left on that street. It is sad. Property values, I am sure, are through the roof...but what good does that do if there is no history to be found? Who is to say what the property values would have been had all the bungalows stayed and the street's original character had remained intact? We'll never know.

[dbigtex56]

Vaughan's points are valid. I'm not happy about that, but you can't fault someone for telling the truth.

The problem with establishing a preservation district or policy for MCMs in Houston is that the economics are different than in previous efforts to save historic/significant buildings. In many cities, what are currently preservation districts had become virtually abandoned slums, and ownership had reverted to city tax rolls and banks. At that time, the roles of 'good guys' and 'bad guys' were more clear cut; some people flatly didn't like "that old stuff" and were eager to bulldoze 19th century houses out of sheer ignorance - or arrogance. A lot of effort was expended to document what was there, and to educate people as to its value. Lenders and governmental entities were persuaded to offer incentives that ultimately produced profitable loans and put depressed properties back on the tax rolls. Preservationist saved structures that would otherwise have been lost for no good reason.

Preservation often does involve spending other peoples money. If the other people are banks or government, this gives preservationists a foothold. It's sometimes just a matter of changing minds. But if I was an elderly person in poor health (or even a greedy heir) whose primary interest is receiving top dollar for my house, I'd resent interference by outsiders trying to tell me what to do with my own property. Moral arguments seldom trump the Almighty Dollar. There is no shortage of people willing to spend it in areas which feature the better MCMs.

Yes, it makes feel angry and sick to see a beautifully designed MCM bulldozed to construct some Gawd-awful stucco caricature of Tuscany. What we're doing here - right now - is part of the solution. If we can make people aware that good architecture is worth saving, even at the expense of square footage or trendy amenities, we've taken a step towards saving them. There's hope - have you noticed that MCM houses are suddenly being featured in a lot of advertisments? When the public catches on and gains an appreciation, the current flurry of demolitions may be slowed. I only hope it doesn't come too late.