Rather than choose between more yard and more house, a 1991 custom home in West University appears to have simply put everything but the front lawn under roof, including a free-range atrium vignette in the living room (top) and a garden patio (above middle). The home was relisted by the same agent last Friday and has an asking price of $1.249 million. The previous listing, at the end of February, lasted a month and was aiming for $1.399 million.
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In the open plan main living area, which doubles as the media center, the ceiling height soars to 19 ft.
The kitchen has an informal dining area (above) and bar seating on the dining room side of a service counter (below) located between the 2 rooms and near the home’s atrium elevator access. HCAD indicates a 1999 renovation, but the listing does not specify any updates.
Could the work have been the glazed exoskeleton across the back of the 5,470-sq.-ft. home’s back patio and gardens? It’s located off the dining room (above) and master bedroom suite, both of which offer full-height windows and sliding-door access:
The master suite includes 2 bathrooms and a shallow porch (also glassed over) on the east side of the home:
An open room upstairs has views south through the slanted roofing structure. The glass elevator passes by a balcony (located inside the captured space) off the game room upstairs. Secondary bedrooms and the guest suite all connect to it:
One of the home’s 4 bathrooms runs between 2 of the bedrooms upstairs:
The guest suite over the attached garage has a kitchenette and staircase to call its own . . .
Up on the unfinished third floor, meanwhile, there’s the start of a home office right off the elevator shaft.
Above, there’s a moon roof.
West U’s Recreation Center is across the side street from the home’s 8,260-sq.-ft. corner lot, which backs up to the parking lot of a single-story office building fronting Bellaire Blvd.
- 4145 Cason St. [HAR]
This is certainly one way to tolerate Houston’s challenging weather and still feel like you’re outside. Just close the whole lot in, add lots of A/C, plant a tree in your living room, and voila! No humidity, no mosquitos . . . .
That first phot makes me feel like I’m in the lobby of a professional building. I wouldn’t want to come home from work to that view!
Hopefully the house comes with an additional a/c unit dedicated solely to that back terrarium. It’s gonna get a tad toasty in the summer.
Real tree in the living room. Fake tree in the master.
Can I please see a photo of the house torn down to make way for this. Please?
Who rakes the leaves from that tree in the Living Room. From the photos it looks like a River Birch.
Um, no.
Uhhh.. A moon roof? So it opens? And is the attic air conditioned, I only ask because there is a vented door going into the attic.
I went to the broker open house and the listing agent must have paid a penny pretty for the photography because I was let down. It’s completely overpriced and the listing agent made some terrible mistakes. Listing high and dropping the price 200k in 30 days? The home should have never been listed that high in the first place! In experienced agents like him ruin the market for everyone else, not only is he a new agent but he hasn’t sold any properties above 100k. Dear listing agent, do us all a favor and let someone who knows what they are doing sell the home and collect a referral fee!
Well, other Mel, the listing is gone. http://www.har.com/18655040
Mel, I also was there at the open house, I ran comps and I don’t think the price was too far off. The problem is with the unique situations with the property. I would hate to have to market this one.
Wow.. looks like they pulled it and relisted it AGAIN, now dropping it down to an ask of 1.18 mil – http://search.har.com/site/4145-Cason-St-Houston-TX-77005_SITE29285957.htm
Well well well Mel,
I AM the listing agent and I’ve discovered what us real agents call a misinformed troll. Haven’t sold anything above $100K? Try these solds: MLS#s: 8196187, 60233499, 96119671, 15574474, 51086974, 3408984, 43588004, 10480374, 94340045. Try these pending units: 10558054 – $609,900, 40975963 – $539,000, 99742106 – $539,900, 17544483 – $609,900. That’s just a fraction of what I’ve sold. I also build luxury homes with 10-15 $600K-$1.2M units going on the ground within 180 days. The above are only the ones in Houston. You see I also do Estate, trust, and Probate properties all over Texas and because my evaluations are so spot on I write Amicus Briefs for hearings in probate cases. I’ve also negotiated over 50 short sales within estates where the owner died intestate within a dependent administration (you probably don’t know what that is…this inexperienced agent will school you later on it.) We’ve done top notch staging, top notch photos, and a top notch broker’s open house. Last guest was an Emeril Lagasse ex-chef raving about the Bananas Fosters. I couldn’t make this stuff up.
My family and I are the owners of this house and I personally appreciate all your comments. Even though I understand that there are trolls everywhere and answering to them only serves to feed their insecurities, I feel compelled to write for one reason only and that is my gratitude towards Dan, our agent.
The listing history, including price changes, photo changes, etc, has been coordinated (and in some instances I have almost forced Dan to do it) because from the beginning our goal was to have fun with the listing. My family and I are very fortunate that we get to live in a magnificent house (a bit big for us, which is the reason for the listing) but we do not have to sell it if it is not the right price. We are trying different approaches just for the heck of it, not because we are desperate.
We understand that the perception of the buyer is that it backs the commercial property (property that is also ours btw) and because of that the price of the house will be affected. Therefore, we wanted to determine what the real (perception adjusted) value of the house is and that is the reason we changed the price and might continue to do.
In the end, Dan has been the most amazing agent and we have learned an incredible amount about properties with his guidance and wisdom. His team decorated our house and even our friends cannot believe it is the same house. The other day, he showed up at our house with the most tasty jambalaya I have ever tasted. And that is just a sample of all extra stuff Dan does.
Therefore, even though I should not waste my time responding to trolls, I would suggest to anyone, Dan is by far the best Real Estate Agent I have ever met, bar none. And if you are judging by the fact that we have not sold the house, I have news for you, we might not want to sell it. Just get the whole story before you judge.
@Bill: “Who rakes the leaves from that tree in the Living Room. From the photos it looks like a River Birch.”
If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
(river birch is pretty, isn’t it?)
The agent doth protest too much.
Believe it or not it’s a ficus tree. There’s a built in automated irrigation system that includes the atrium, back gardens, and the lawns. They just have a guy trim it back ounce or twice a year. On the humidity, it’s doesn’t contribute anything to it. The ceilings are so high what little it does generate dissipates. And of course the A/C removes any other moisture. And the raking of the leaves? Doesn’t really shed.