04/09/14 3:30pm

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When renovations in 2007 perched a partial second story atop a 1957 ranch-style home in Willow Meadows, several original rooms gained high clearance (top). The project anchored its new load with 59 bell-bottom piers below and gutted out the plumbing, wiring, and lighting fixtures, among other tweaks. A week ago, the property was listed on the market with a $639,000 asking price. It had last changed hands in 2007, for $520,000.

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Up and Over
02/03/14 4:00pm

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From the exterior, a midcentury modern in Meyerland looks much as it has for decades, reports a longtime admirer of the property. The 1965 home incorporates stone in many forms, from the dark craggy accents on its crushed-rock facade to the paved, no mow yard (top) interspersed with landscaped pods. And as of last Friday, when it debuted on the open market (for the first time in at least 20 years, according to a source), we can ogle its innards: There’s a pool tucked into the front of the footprint, so the entry doors open to an interior walkway past the water and ending at the door. The approach is on display from the step-down section of living space facing the poolscape through a broad wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.

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Rocks in the Casbah
01/21/14 11:00am

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Nubbly textures abound in the interior of this 1960 Mod by Brenham architect Travis Broesche. The low-pitched presence in Meyerland popped up on the market Friday, just in time for an open house over the weekend; it has a $619,000 asking price.

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Yowza
01/02/14 3:45pm

condo

A condo collection in Maplewood Square hit the market in mid-December as a series of listings by the same owner. Units are available individually or as part of a “mixed package of occupied, income producing condos.” Similar (but not-identical), the updated units occupy portions of 2 buildings within the 1974 development, which is across from commercial properties near Hillcroft and 2 blocks south of South Braeswood.

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A Condo PlentiPak
10/24/13 12:00pm

A modified 1959 mod home with tinted clerestory in Westbury has changed hands 5 times in 8 years — after decades with the same owner. Last week, the now-even-more-open-plan property appeared on the market once more, this time with a $425,000 asking price. It last sold in March 2013 for $348,000. Back in 2005, before all the flipping and renovations, it sold for $152,367. Other sales scored $129,000, $374,990, and $389,000. Somewhere in that chain of ownership came a big fan of glass-panel doors. They’re installed throughout the home, starting with the living room (above).

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08/08/13 4:00pm

This 1955 1-story home was first listed in July at $379,900. Just south of Beechnut and west of S. Rice Ave. in Meyerland, the 2,359-sq.-ft., 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1-garage mod was priced down this month to $350,000. This exterior shot shows the home sitting back on a relatively expansive 11,067-sq.-ft. lot, but the listing also reveals something else, described as an “extra room” that’s downright subterranean.

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05/24/13 12:42pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: CHEAPER, CLOSE-IN “I would just add to what Cody said. You can avoid traffic AND get a big house and lawn here in Houston. You just need to set aside your prejudices about certain neighborhoods. We’ve been living in the Brays Oaks area, formerly known as Fondren Southwest, since 2007, and it’s wonderful. Houses prices are on-par with far-flung suburbs like Jersey Village and Spring; far less than Inside the Loop. Barring any major accidents we can get from our house to the Museum District in less than 25 minutes; the Medical Center in under 20. My commute to work only takes me one exit on the Southwest Freeway. I take a certain satisfaction and watching all the people from Sugar Land sit in traffic, knowing that they spent more and got less house than we did. (Crime issues here are overblown, by the way – the result of sensationalized local news reports. The public schools are lousy, but we have some great private schools.)” [ZAW, commenting on Comment of the Day: First We Crowd]