There’s plenty of buffering yard in back, but this Idylwood home hugs the curve of the street in front, so open grounds swing to the side as well. Palm-crowned, the deep lot has a saw-like shape, with the house holding the “handle” near the jog. Beyond the far-away back fence on the property lies the side parking lot of the Wayside Dr. Walmart Supercenter. The well-tended 1952 home is set on a slight diagonal across its almost quarter-acre kinda-corner lot; but there’s a section (not pictured, though it’s also heavily landscaped) that falls outside any fencing (above) lined up to square off the setback.
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The east-facing property landed on the market over the weekend, asking $260,000. Back in 2010, the current owner picked it up for $214,000. The 1,318-sq.-ft. floor plan’s first level includes a living room (above) with restored original hardwood flooring and family room, which has a set of doors opening to a patio:
The tile floors in the photo above provide clues that the family room aligns with the open dining area off the overhauled kitchen:
The largest bedroom, 15 ft. by 11 ft., snags a first-floor corner. Window placement pegs its location: at the front of the home.
One of the freshened-up full bathrooms serves the first floor:
The half-story upstairs gives its 2 bedrooms eave-hugging ceilings. One of them has a dormer facing the street. The bump tucks in a window seat unit with storage below:
Both bedrooms have one 10-ft. dimension — and more of the original hardwood flooring:
Head to the attached 1-car garage for the utility area:
The fence across the driveway incorporates a sliding gate, so there’s room for parking behind it, if needed:
In the photo below, the set of glass panel doors shows where the family room sets up in the layout.
The north side of Sylvan Rd. is entirely residential. This property, however, is the first home on the mixed-use south side of the street. HCAD records the adjacent parcel, currently vacant land, as commercial property.
- 6642 Sylvan Rd. [HAR]
That vacant lot beside this house is where the now demolished Sylvan Apartments (don’t know the actual name) were that you featured here on Swamplot in April 2011. An Idylwood resident purchased the property.
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Sure, it’s in the Luke Moore League, not Idylwood so it could be apartments again someday or town homes but there’s not a likelihood that it’ll be a used car lot or a fast food place.
The last two houses sold in Idylwood, Rockbridge and Park, went for something like $245 and $260 respectively. At ~1320 sqft each that’s $185/ft and $200/ft in the heart of the neighborhood. Both of them needed a little work to be fully livable.
This is on the neighborhood fringe, and while you pay the high $/sqft metric you get an extra lot of land. You can do the math on whatever you think the extra land is worth, but overall I see priced a little high given the great condition and state of the market.
The problem will be whoever has $260k to spend would likely forgo the land and move into the neighborhood proper. If there was any inventory that is…
I had no idea this wasn’t in Idlewood proper. Thanks for the heads up. My realtor wants me to take a look at this house on Friday. It’s nice, and in good shape. The landscaping in the back is really well done and its a huge lot, but on the other hand I don’t really want to be paying for that huge lot. Give me a similar property with a 6k sq ft lot with decent landscaping and I’ll happily pay you 230 for it.
@MrEction:
The house is in Idylwood. The vacant lot next to it (around the curve) is not. Check out the 2011 Swamplot threads about the old apartments that were demolished. The civic association was largely responsible for staying on that project. The owner of the vacant lot keeps it mowed.
Cute house, but who wants to back up to a Walmart…..
I think it’s priced about right. In addition to the MLS listed houses in Idylwood proper, there have been a few off the market sales in the $200 per sq/ft range. The extra lot for this house gives it some value, but the Walmart location may detract a little bit. Maybe a little under-priced in my book.
From what I’ve heard the vacant lot will be residential, not commercial.
Idylwood homes are selling for 188-200/sf, so this is within range – but location right next to Walmart definitely has an impact. It looks like another home has recently listed in Idylwood proper for 188/sf range too. Nice looking houses overall… I love the neighborhood’s park like feel and am glad Houston still has some affordable homes close to downtown.
What is with this “Idylwood proper”?
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As someone else said, this house IS in Idylwood. What is Idylwood proper? Is there an Idylwood improper? And truthfully, it’s backyard is a good distance from the actual Walmart store. It’s backyard faces a remote part of the Walmart parking lot. Look at the map on HCAD.
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I think Swamplot may have started something by calling this house “at the edge of Idylwood”. It is IN the neighborhood of Idylwood!
Karma: What’s so hard to understand about the edge of a neighborhood? Edge, periphery, fringe, etc. sylvan is the last street in the neighborhood, and this house is on the south side of the street, last row of houses, and it’s the last residential structure before the convenience store. It’s at the edge.
I have no issues with it, as I live on sylvan as well, but the inconvenient truth for those of us on sylvan, especially the block adjacent to wayside is that the market dictates somewhat of a price deduction for that street and block. People want to live near the park. Especially those with kids.
That said, the market had spoken. It’s already under contract. And for the last week every time I’ve driven by it someone’s been showing it.
aaaaannnnd its gone.