Once an orphanage, a gated 1913 Italianate property near downtown and north of Montrose found new life in 2003 as a 15-unit condo re-dubbed Villa Serena. Its historic pedigree encompasses city, state, and national recognition. A corner unit on the ground level quietly made its market debut on Monday, with a $299,000 price tag. The 1-bedroom home last sold in 2010 for $210,000 — down from an asking price of $245,000 at that time.
A deep-lot pocket of Oak Forest near White Oak Bayou appears to have escaped the area’s new-build frenzy, getting some second-story work instead. This property, for example, added an upstairs master suite with pool-view porch as part of a previous overhaul. The 1955 home landed on the market last month and has a $499,000 price tag. It last sold in 2009 for $359,190, just a tad higher than the $359K asking price.
Windows and mirrors in a 1961 Westbury home’s well-hinged front room make it possible to look out and in at the same time. The cerulean-hued space off the entry hall can also swing between uses. It’s a living room now, but shows up in the listing specs as a dining room. A $5K reduction last week brought the asking price for this tidy property to $155,000; it first appeared on the market in August.
With its courtly interior finishes (top) and not-so ivory tower, an updated 1948 Garden Oaks home has a bit of a baronial feel. Most of the grounds, however, lie in the palatial corner property’s deep, catty-corner setback rather than its residual back yard. Garage-free, the stately brick home is located a block north of the North Loop at Lawrence St. and last sold in 2008 for $425,000. When it popped up on the market last week, the asking price had reached the princely sum of $625,000.
What’s that glow on the horizon? Could it be flashing reflections of the sparkly and shiny finishes inside this 2003 home in Mission Bend? The highly polished property in the Keegan’s Ridge neighborhood appeared on the market last week; it has an asking price that’s just a dollar short of $200,000.
Hidden windows at this fortified home in Tanglewood open into a grassy front courtyard and a well-lawned southern-exposure back lot — with greenhouse. The true-to-its-origins 1963 property caps one of the cul-de-sac streets accessed off Woodway. Its listing — posted on the autumnal equinox — calls the property prime for renovation or razing. Price tag: $915,000.
The wraparound porch of this updated 1928 bungalow in Lancaster Place lands on the side of the home on the far side of the former Fiesta Mart site 3 lots to the west, where the announced 8-story Finger apartment project (The Susanne) is about to go up. The recessed porch’s overhang shades the bedrooms that line up along the driveway, but the living and dining side of the property appears to get plenty of light — for now at least –Â from the west and apartment-free south. The home appeared on the market Wednesday; it has a $520,000 asking price.
White Oak Bayou’s concrete-lined banks are just off the unfenced back lot of this 2006-built side-entry 2-level stucco-and-siding home on a cul-de-sac in White Oak Terrace, across T.C. Jester from Highland Park. The balcony (at right), however, faces the front and looks over the single-story roofs of its ’70s-vintage block. Other 2-story homes of the current millennium pop up across nearby cross street Bayou Vista Dr. This double-decker property hit the market earlier this month. Asking price: $215,000.
