165 thousand for a house that has no AC or heat? A garage structure with a possible one bedroom apartment that “needs work” (DUH!) I used my imagination, and it said that if I had 165,000 bucks, spend elsewhere. I know, location, location, location, but still. All of you out there with experience with rehabbing houses, what would it cost to pretty this up to where someone would want it?
Mother Hydra
I love how Dana has declared the kitchen fit for an open-concept makeover. That will save people the money of hiring an engineer to inspect the wall for load-bearing structures.
SIGH, I HATE when realtors do that. She has just as much of a chance of knowing whether or not my cat’s eye mass is benign.
Hanabi-chan
Mother Hydra, I think if the realtor was being honest, she would just say: Look. It’s lot value. Tear the sucker down and build something new. Because it’s a money pit. What do I care? I still get my commission.
I am thinking that a remodel for that place will get expensive very quickly. Anyone who buys that with a rehab and sell in mind should have deep pockets and have to ask a pretty high selling price to turn a profit. That is just from looking at the exterior, I have no idea what the plumbing, electric etc looks like.
Walt
The real question (that I don’t have time to look up the answer to) is what is the minimum lot size there? If it can be divded to put up two Mr. PotatoHead’s, then it stands a decent chance of moving at close to that price. If it can’t be divided, then its likely asking too much.
mel
It’s zoned to a terrible school, or the price would be double.
miss_msry
That looks like a demolition job any eight-year-old and his boy gang could handle.
tcpIV
It reminds me of my first house, but $100,000 more and not in Montrose.
rental me this
Some of the woodwork and doors in there are really beautiful. Hope someone can salvage them.
Practically_Yours
Those spots on the last few pictures must be the Realtor’s snow job.
Heights Hype
I guess I’m the only one here who loves it. The woodwork and doors are gorgeous and it has so much potential. Makes me wish I had the money to drop on it. I would love to rehab it and make it something really nice.
RealtorHouston
It has multiple offers…
And unfortunately Swamplot did not post a front photo of the house itself. I would have thought that the readers of Swamplot would have a better idea of what is going on in the Houston real estate market.
mollusk
In a lot of ways, I think this is even easier than a lot of remodels. Rather than any shred of wishful hoping, you KNOW you will have to replace all of the wiring and plumbing (both gas and water), level up the place, tent for termites, HVAC starting at square one, new drywall throughout, refinish all the floors, and a gut job on the kitchen and bathroom. Might as well do a roof while you’re at it.
I’m pretty ambivalent about the neighborhood, though.
mollusk
oh, and today’s earworm, now…
“They say Louise was not half bad…”
August
Nice photo of the SIDE of the GARAGE, Swamplot! The second floor “mystery door” is intriguing. I wonder if there used to be an outer stairway there that took you upstairs to the door. The house never seemed to have an actual concrete driveway, just a couple of ruts in the lawn, leading to the garage.
The house looks to be in much better shape than the garage. The shiplap walls (a construction usually used for garages, barns, or a home where you wanted a “rustic” look) is interesting, but you can see that the wall were originally all covered in wood paneling. Nice to see the original 1930s linoleum flooring in the kitchen (probably asbestos) that was applied directly over the shiplap that makes up the wood subfloor.
This home listing is like going back in a time machine to see what an original basic home built almost 100 years ago looked like. I looked up the information on this home and looks to have been in one family since it was built in 1920 until the son of the original owner died in 2003 (I found an article written by him about the history of Houston fire stations).
Dana-X
I’m with you, HeightsHype. Original doors, hardware, interior trim, clapboards, porch columns..kitchen sink, tub..as long as the structure is sound it’s ready for an authentic restoration. Kinda tiny though for most tastes.
Miz Brooke Smith
Interior walls: more likely they were formerly covered in wallpaper, glued onto burlap nailed onto the shiplap with little tacks. Over time the paper sags, and cockroaches and other bugs crawl around behind it. A buyer could put up drywall, or could hire the one man in town who still hangs old-fashioned wallpaper.
mollusk
@ August – Generally, the shiplap on the walls and ceiling originally had cloth (typically muslin) tacked to it, and then wallpaper applied over that. Plywood paneling didn’t come into vogue until much later.
While the linoleum in the kitchen may have asbestos in it (and the mastic almost certainly does), what’s underneath is the same heart pine tongue & groove that’s in the rest of the house.
August
To mollusk and Miz Brooke Smith:
Thanks for the information about how the old wallpaper was affixed to the walls. I kept studying the wood walls, trying to understand what was there originally and wallpaper mounted on burlap/muslin makes perfect sense. You can see the marks from where the cloth backing was tacked on/glued to the wooden shiplap.
I know that this Swamplot listing was meant as a joke, but I really enjoyed looking at the photos of this original old home that’s obviously never had any remodeling done on it. It’s like going back in time. :)
Bethsheba
I like this house just the way it is. Except tear down the garage.
Lynn
Too bad it’s a goner. Those doors are really great. And I’d LOVE that kitchen sink. On a previous house, I took one and mounted it on the porch outside the utility room. Was great for cleaning up veggies from the garden or washing up things you didn’t want to drag in the house. And you just can’t find those old growth pine boards that are on the walls. I’d sand and whitewash them for a rustic, farmhouse look. But definitely a lot of work if you bought it for rehab.
RealtorHouston
fyi this house will be rehabbed.
rental me this
That is great news! Glad to hear that someone sees the potential here and has the ability to save it.
Houstonrealtor
In case you were wondering how the house turned out.. here it is.. and more similar development going on in the neighborhood and on this street. http://www.har.com/79676054
A sleepwalker’s nightmare
165 thousand for a house that has no AC or heat? A garage structure with a possible one bedroom apartment that “needs work” (DUH!) I used my imagination, and it said that if I had 165,000 bucks, spend elsewhere. I know, location, location, location, but still. All of you out there with experience with rehabbing houses, what would it cost to pretty this up to where someone would want it?
I love how Dana has declared the kitchen fit for an open-concept makeover. That will save people the money of hiring an engineer to inspect the wall for load-bearing structures.
SIGH, I HATE when realtors do that. She has just as much of a chance of knowing whether or not my cat’s eye mass is benign.
Mother Hydra, I think if the realtor was being honest, she would just say: Look. It’s lot value. Tear the sucker down and build something new. Because it’s a money pit. What do I care? I still get my commission.
I am thinking that a remodel for that place will get expensive very quickly. Anyone who buys that with a rehab and sell in mind should have deep pockets and have to ask a pretty high selling price to turn a profit. That is just from looking at the exterior, I have no idea what the plumbing, electric etc looks like.
The real question (that I don’t have time to look up the answer to) is what is the minimum lot size there? If it can be divded to put up two Mr. PotatoHead’s, then it stands a decent chance of moving at close to that price. If it can’t be divided, then its likely asking too much.
It’s zoned to a terrible school, or the price would be double.
That looks like a demolition job any eight-year-old and his boy gang could handle.
It reminds me of my first house, but $100,000 more and not in Montrose.
Some of the woodwork and doors in there are really beautiful. Hope someone can salvage them.
Those spots on the last few pictures must be the Realtor’s snow job.
I guess I’m the only one here who loves it. The woodwork and doors are gorgeous and it has so much potential. Makes me wish I had the money to drop on it. I would love to rehab it and make it something really nice.
It has multiple offers…
And unfortunately Swamplot did not post a front photo of the house itself. I would have thought that the readers of Swamplot would have a better idea of what is going on in the Houston real estate market.
In a lot of ways, I think this is even easier than a lot of remodels. Rather than any shred of wishful hoping, you KNOW you will have to replace all of the wiring and plumbing (both gas and water), level up the place, tent for termites, HVAC starting at square one, new drywall throughout, refinish all the floors, and a gut job on the kitchen and bathroom. Might as well do a roof while you’re at it.
I’m pretty ambivalent about the neighborhood, though.
oh, and today’s earworm, now…
“They say Louise was not half bad…”
Nice photo of the SIDE of the GARAGE, Swamplot! The second floor “mystery door” is intriguing. I wonder if there used to be an outer stairway there that took you upstairs to the door. The house never seemed to have an actual concrete driveway, just a couple of ruts in the lawn, leading to the garage.
The house looks to be in much better shape than the garage. The shiplap walls (a construction usually used for garages, barns, or a home where you wanted a “rustic” look) is interesting, but you can see that the wall were originally all covered in wood paneling. Nice to see the original 1930s linoleum flooring in the kitchen (probably asbestos) that was applied directly over the shiplap that makes up the wood subfloor.
This home listing is like going back in a time machine to see what an original basic home built almost 100 years ago looked like. I looked up the information on this home and looks to have been in one family since it was built in 1920 until the son of the original owner died in 2003 (I found an article written by him about the history of Houston fire stations).
I’m with you, HeightsHype. Original doors, hardware, interior trim, clapboards, porch columns..kitchen sink, tub..as long as the structure is sound it’s ready for an authentic restoration. Kinda tiny though for most tastes.
Interior walls: more likely they were formerly covered in wallpaper, glued onto burlap nailed onto the shiplap with little tacks. Over time the paper sags, and cockroaches and other bugs crawl around behind it. A buyer could put up drywall, or could hire the one man in town who still hangs old-fashioned wallpaper.
@ August – Generally, the shiplap on the walls and ceiling originally had cloth (typically muslin) tacked to it, and then wallpaper applied over that. Plywood paneling didn’t come into vogue until much later.
While the linoleum in the kitchen may have asbestos in it (and the mastic almost certainly does), what’s underneath is the same heart pine tongue & groove that’s in the rest of the house.
To mollusk and Miz Brooke Smith:
Thanks for the information about how the old wallpaper was affixed to the walls. I kept studying the wood walls, trying to understand what was there originally and wallpaper mounted on burlap/muslin makes perfect sense. You can see the marks from where the cloth backing was tacked on/glued to the wooden shiplap.
I know that this Swamplot listing was meant as a joke, but I really enjoyed looking at the photos of this original old home that’s obviously never had any remodeling done on it. It’s like going back in time. :)
I like this house just the way it is. Except tear down the garage.
Too bad it’s a goner. Those doors are really great. And I’d LOVE that kitchen sink. On a previous house, I took one and mounted it on the porch outside the utility room. Was great for cleaning up veggies from the garden or washing up things you didn’t want to drag in the house. And you just can’t find those old growth pine boards that are on the walls. I’d sand and whitewash them for a rustic, farmhouse look. But definitely a lot of work if you bought it for rehab.
fyi this house will be rehabbed.
That is great news! Glad to hear that someone sees the potential here and has the ability to save it.
In case you were wondering how the house turned out.. here it is.. and more similar development going on in the neighborhood and on this street.
http://www.har.com/79676054