Featured Posts
09/22/14 4:15pm

Blanton Estate Seeking $4.85 Million for Its Updated, Expanded Staub-Born River Oaks Estate

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The last time this 1952 River Oaks home attributed to Staub and Rather was on the market was about a decade ago. At the time, it sold for $2.875 million to business titan and philanthropist Jack S. Blanton, who died in December of last year. The 1952 corner property features an expansion by a previous owner back in 1998 — around the time it sold for $1.08 million. In its listing earlier this month, the home’s asking price was $4.85 million. What sorts of add-ons have accompanied the rising prices?

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Still Rather Staub-Like
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Featured Posts
09/19/14 3:45pm

This 1970 Thornwood Contemporary Wants Your Attention, and $345K

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Despite a series of remodeling tweaks, this 1970 Thornwood contemporary’s rebirthing still has a way to go. Its listing earlier this week pegs the property’s status as ripe for renovation, and sets the ask at $345K. Several rooms already feature updates (and the pool got a redo back in that “watershed” year of 2008), but others show their age, work in progress, or the effects of what’s gently described by the listing agent as “recent moisture and plumbing issues.”

Can the home’s renovations be completed? Should they be? Look for clues in the photos below, or see for yourself at this Sunday’s open house.

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You Complete Me
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Home Design
09/18/14 4:30pm

A Heights Triplex Across from Reagan High School Is Aiming for $750K

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Crosswalks and No Parking signs related to Reagan High School separate an updated 1920-ish bungalow from the front of campus on 13th St. in the Houston Heights. The residential property includes 2 apartments, located on 2 levels of the still-accessible 3-car garage and its extra-extra wide driveway. The tidy compound backs up to an alley that splits the block, which is located in a section of the Heights East Historic District. Against the home’s recently applied bright blue paint, the freshened exterior’s white trim brightly pops, particularly on the porch’s newish old-style columns and balustrades. Listed on Wednesday, the triplex bears an asking price of $750K.

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Compounding Interests
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Featured Posts
09/17/14 5:15pm

Where a Cool Half Million Has Taken a Woodshire Mod

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Over in Woodshire, a fifties-vintage neighborhood hugging the South Loop west of Stella Link Rd., a recently renovated 1956 mod returned to the market earlier this month. Its distinctive airplane-wing roof slants nearly to the ground above a brick exterior that’s now been whitewashed. Inside, a few structural changes have opened up the living space, removed a series of exposed ceiling beams, and restored a studio floating above the double-wide driveway. The home last sold in May 2013 — for $240K. After its overhaul and repositioning by P&G Homes — in collaboration with LynnGoode Vintage and Jamie House Design — the flip-ready property now carries a $775,500 asking price. What does the half-million upgrade get you?

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Once Beaming, Now Gleaming
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Featured Posts
09/12/14 1:45pm

Splashing Down Behind the Wall of a Split-Lot Property in Westhaven Estates

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The frontrunner on a split lot with a shared driveway, this 2002 contemporary in the Westhaven Estates area captures space for a splash zone courtyard. Sculpted landscaping and decorative panels soften the curbside appearance of the sturdy wall erected near the sidewalk on Inwood Dr., south of San Felipe Rd. between Nantucket and Potomac drives. The front property’s relisting by a new agent this week set a $1.139 million asking price. Back in February, a previous market appearance had begun with a $1.195 million price tag. A reduction in April, to $1.145 million, briefly snagged a contract in June before the property took off for the summer.

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Front and Center
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Energy Corridor
09/11/14 3:15pm

This $1.3 Million Lakeside Venture Home May Look a Bit French-ified, But It’s Filled with Ranch Dressing

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This Energy Corridor area home may present Frenchier lines to its neighbors, but there’s some whoopin’ country-style living hidden inside. Located in the Lakeside Venture neighborhood — west of S. Kirkwood Rd. and north of Briar Forest Dr. — the property’s large-but-narrow lot is just over an acre and shaped a bit like a boomerang, with one tip near the street. In its relisting earlier this week, the 1979 home’s asking price took another tack: $1.295 million.  A previous listing by the same agent in July 2014 had begun at $1.695 million but dropped the asking price a month later to $1.475 million.

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Le Country Interiors
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Buildings for Sale
09/10/14 5:00pm

This Concrete Building from 1946 Is Still Hanging Around an East Downtown Corner

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Were it nighttime and the glass a bit more seamless, this mod industrial storefront might work as a stand-in for the scene of Edward Hopper’s iconic Nighthawks. The contoured corner hugs the corner of Leeland and St. Emanuel St., a block past the Eastex Fwy. overpass and the eastern border of Downtown. The building’s 4,250 sq. ft. footprint sits on a 5,000-sq.-ft. corner lot in a warehouse-y district within eyeshot of the Toyota Center. It was listed on the MLS for $600K last summer, but has stayed on the market through various relistings since October 2013 for a bit more: $650K.

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Chinatown Printing
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Featured Posts
09/09/14 3:30pm

A Not-So-Modern Midcentury and Its Late-Century Addition in Old Braeswood Are Now Looking for $1.29 Million

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At the newer end of Old Braeswood, where the housing is typically more fifties vintage than stately prewar stock, there’s an updated stoney-faced original home with a smooth-sided seventies addition. The latter blocks the large corner lot’s interior from cross street Kirby Dr., 3 blocks north of Brays Bayou and the Rice School. Some of the added space rocks on, including the family room with its sturdy stone fireplace (top). A contract on the property fell through in May 2014, when the asking price was $1.15 million. After a brief timeout, the home reappeared in July with a fresh price tag that’s still in effect: $1.29 million.

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No Stone Unturned
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Featured Posts
09/08/14 5:00pm

Through the Balustrades of a Home on Lake Conroe That’s All Legs and Decks

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Viewed from the waters of Lake Conroe, the lacy tiers of a 1974 home in April Sound lend a layer cake appearance to a property that likes balconies enough to feature them outside and in. Leggy columns connect exterior parapets on 3 levels (top). The interior’s double-sided version spans the main living area between a pair of wooden staircases. Listed at the end of August, the property has a $950,000 asking price. A previous listing that lasted for 8 months back in 2008 had originally sought $888K but found no takers, despite a reduction to $747K.

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Wrapped in Railings
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Featured Posts
09/04/14 2:45pm

On the Lookout for a $1.65 Million Maximum Mediterranean in Spring Valley

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Like an arrowhead, the groomed lot sprouting a custom 2007 Mediterranean comes to a point — though the tip, where Merlin and Ben Hur (drives) part ways south of Westview and west of Voss Rd., is separated from the base by a circular driveway linking the 2 streets within the Cedarwood section of Spring Valley. Listed a week ago, the property has a $1.649 million asking price. Does the lots-o’-lawn on the grand approach come with a back-lot equivalent? Judge for yourself:

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Casa and Casita
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Featured Posts
09/03/14 2:45pm

A Modern Colquitt Townhome’s Gently Lowering Price Tag

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Overhangs, cutouts, and eyebrow arches shade the balconies and patios of a 2005 stucco contemporary in Lancaster Place. The townhome’s price in its relisting today by the same agent, $749,990, is $100K less than in its initial appearance back in April. Price reductions in the interim sought $799,900 in May and $775,000 in July before the previous listing terminated Tuesday. The corner unit differentiates its footprint from a not-so-identical twin next door with sprout-and-chrome accents — and more:

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Minty Fresh
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