Swamplot Archives by Tag: Homes for Sale

Monday, October 12, 2009

Swamplot Price Adjuster: By the Wayside

The Swamplot Price Adjuster needs your nominations! Found a property you think is poorly priced? Send an email to Swamplot, and be sure to include a link to the listing or photos. Tell us about the property, and explain why you think it deserves a price adjustment. Then tell us what you think a better price would be. Unless requested otherwise, all submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster will be kept anonymous.

Location: 6601 N. Park Ln., Idylwood
Details: 3-5 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths; 2,914 sq. ft. on a 5,750-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $320,000
History: Listed since late May. Price cut $5K in late June.

The reader who’s nominating this property has a few gripes:

First, $320,000 for a house that corners on Wayside? Idylwood is great, but the houses cornering right on Wayside have to deal with the truck and general traffic noise & have to be discounted to sell. I don’t care if you dip it in gold, you aren’t get three-anything for something cornering on Wayside. . . .

The backyard is all concrete with a token deck and some sort of garage apt. You can’t rent those out in Idylwood, so it would have to be for a relative or a guest house. Your guests would really sleep well with those big trucks rumbling right by you.

And then, from a longer set of complaints about how the listing reads:

I can deal with a few typos & such, but some of it is just damn confusing. “Here’s you (sic) NEWLY updated HOME” I guess special emphasis needed to be placed on HOME in all caps so no one would think that being on such a busy corner might make it eligible for commercial? It goes on to describe “w/a converted or not garage w/apt/living quarters for guest/family…” Um, what? . . .

She sums it up with “reminds me of the old Heights area in Houston.” I’m glad she quantified that with the Heights area that is in Houston, we might have confused it with some other Heights. Of course the confusion is natural when a flat area of late 19th century and WWI era, mostly wood frame homes on flat terrain reminds you of a late 30’s & WWII era mostly brick homes on slightly hilly terrain. Yes, well, anything over 30 years starts to look alike I suppose.

So . . . any better numbers for this place?

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Thursday, October 8, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Log Home by the Lake

Well, whaddya know? Someone won one!

Where was that mystery cabin? There were 2 votes each for Conroe, Tomball, Sealy, Katy, Magnolia, and New Caney. The rest of your guesses? “Somewhere out in Montgomery County,” Silsbee, Jasper, Woodville, Liberty, Pearland, West University, Lake Livingston, Wharton, Memorial, Alvin, the Heights, Kirby Dr., Lake Jackson, Richmond, Rosenberg, Porter, “near Lake Houston,” South Braeswood, League City, Pinehurst, Manvel, Galveston, Splendora, Hempstead, Baytown, and Carson City, Nevada.

So who’s the newest member of the Rice Design Alliance? It’s Matt, for guessing

Near Lake Houston. East side of the lake, north of FM 1960.

Okay, wrong side of the lake, wrong side of FM 1960. But good enough for the win, and good enough for that one-year, individual RDA membership. Congratulations!

This next entry is wrong in more ways than we can count, but wins movocelot runner-up status because it’s just so . . . comprehensive:

I agree with the stabs at old communities outside of town because it looks like a genuine 1870s, hipped roof, four-square. But I think it’s a thoughtful reconstruction for weekend use (also outside of town, Pinehurst between Tomball and Magnolia.)

The bones are old and I envision came from around San Felipe, Wallis or East Bernard. The exterior walls are pine and could well be logs, hewn to square: Sure looks like pointing between them, and the outlet boxes are cut horizontally out of the middles. Look at the lovely wide plank floors! 24”centers for roof joists looks right.

So, the place was moved & reconstructed in the 1970s “way, way out” on a deer lease on the NW side. It is dated by the ovens, exterior doors, ‘old-looking reused’ brick so popular then, drapes and schmaltzy framed pictures.

Also the wall, separating the bedrooms from living space, is newer, yellower pine, the walls have been trimmed to the roof joists in a modern manner, the wide cypress boards at the fireplace are hard/expensive to come by anymore and were probably salvaged 30 years ago. Also the carpentry is so-so & not original to the house.

Well, you can’t discharge firearms half mile from 249 anymore & there’s no wood to chop, so it’s become a divorced dad’s den: Cache of unmatched furniture, tower of old audio components, TV above the fireplace, ‘light-the-wrapper‘ log. The only signs of life are the part-time kids and their stuff. If two sets of twins won’t kill a marriage, nothing will.

So what’s the real deal?

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You Love the Knight Life: Rivercrest White Castle Retreat

A reader calls this odd home “a lottery winner’s dream!” The listing agent calls it “the ultimate bachelor pad.” But does either pitch fully explain what’s going on in this $4 million, 6,753-sq.-ft. medieval chateau fantasy in Rivercrest Estates?

A few highlights:

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Monday, October 5, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Model Home Model

We have a winner of that Rice Design Alliance membership!

First: your guesses in last week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. We had “just outside the Loop,” Oak Forest, Katy, Olde Oaks, “Memorial/Dairy Ashford area” (2 guesses), the Memorial Villages, “somewhere south of I-10 and east of Highway 6,” “off Briar Forest between Dairy Ashford and Wilcrest,” south of Memorial City Mall, west of Bunker Hill between Hammerly and Memorial, Memorial close to Beltway 8, Kingwood, near Lake Houston, Bellaire, Westbury, Tanglewood, Meyerland (2), Riverside Terrace, Clear Lake (3), Braes Heights, Lakewood Forest, Brook Forest, Pinehurst, Humble, Wilchester, Westchester, Nottingham Forest, Nottingham VIIIage, Nottingham Country, “Nottingham something,” “around I-10 and the Beltway, Spring Shadows, south of I-10 “around the Gessner area,” Maplewood, Ashford Village area, 77077, Southgate, “near the Med Center,” Huntwick Forest (2), Quail Valley, “near the Costco on Bunker Hill,” near IKEA, Green Trails, Green Trail Estates, Champion Forest, Memorial Bend, “near off Memorial just east of Hwy. 6,” near Gessner south of Clay Rd., north of I-10, near Pinecrest Golf Course,” Sharpstown, “Braeburn area,” Katy near Katy-Hockley Rd., Baytown, Spring Creek Oaks, Mission Bend, West Bend, Walnut Bend, Northampton, Pasadena, Cypress, Jersey Village, Dickinson, Sugar Creek, near Hearthstone Country Club, Copperfield, Briar Meadow, Pearland, Memorial Northwest, River Oaks, and Texas City.

The winner of that one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance? flake, for landing on Jersey Village! Congratulations, flake!

Want the details?

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Swamplot Price Adjuster: Brookesmith in the 200s

The Swamplot Price Adjuster needs your nominations! Found a property you think is poorly priced? Send an email to Swamplot, and be sure to include a link to the listing or photos. Tell us about the property, and explain why you think it deserves a price adjustment. Then tell us what you think a better price would be. Unless requested otherwise, all submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster will be kept anonymous.

Location: 1005 Cordell St., Brookesmith
Details: 2 bedrooms, 1 bath; 980 sq. ft. on a 5,000-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $229,900
History: On the market for 3 months.

Why does the nominator of this bungalow think it’s overpriced?

Okay, then: What would be a better price for this home?

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Friday, September 25, 2009

How About a Little Something in Tuscan?

   

If the $7.4 million price tag on his 12,734-sq.-ft. Friar Tuck French-chateau-that-is-actually-from-France turns out to be too much of a stretch, maybe you’ll be interested in the upcoming auction of real-estate developer Jerry J. Moore’s tchotchkes: “Many of Moore’s belongings were 19th century French, to go along with the French chateau-styled home that he owned on the eastern edge of Hunters Creek Village. Auction items include marble statues, bronze statues, a 19th century billiards table and a Steinway grand piano. ‘All of the furnishings are the best of the best,’ says Ray Simpson, owner of Simpson Galleries. ‘Everything he did was over the top.’” Moore died last year. [Houston Business Journal] Photo: Simpson Galleries

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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Nobody’s Fault

Who won the prizes from Houston. It’s Worth It.?

For this week’s game four of you guessed Sugar Land. We had 3 guesses each for “the Champions/1960 area,” Missouri City, Silverlake, Cypress, and Atascocita. Two votes each for “near Highway 6,” Eagle Springs, Sienna Plantation, Lake Olympia, and Katy. Single guesses hit Commonwealth, Brightwater, Sweetwater, First Colony, Sugar Mill, Sugar Creek, Sugar Lakes, New Territory, Lexington Colony, Summerwood, Walden, Lake Houston, Longwood, Pearland, Audubon Place (in Pearland), Crystal Lakes, “one of those gated communities near 35,” Meyerland, “that little neighborhood near Bellaire, inside The Loop, by the Home Depot,” Hilshire Village, The Woodlands, southeast Houston, Clear Lake, Lakeside Estates, Lakeside Forest, near the Lakeside Country Club, “Grant Rd./Spring Cypress area,” “somewhere in the Cy-Fair school district, maybe way up 290,” Lake Colony, Bellaire, “the area bordered by 249, 1960, I-45, and Spring-Cypress,” Rodeo Palms, Deer Park, League City, Huffman, Humble, Memorial, Bunker Hill, Greatwood, Kingwood, Lakes of Eldridge, Friendswood, Klein, Copperfield, “toward Crosby,” and West University.

Senorbanity wins an honorable mention for calling this home “a late 80’s or early 90’s Perry McMansion.” But . . . where?

Here’s the winning entry:

My guess that this is somewhere in the Cy-Fair school district, maybe way up 290, and built sometime in the mid to late 90’s. It’s old enough that the landscaping has grown up, but new enough that the builder’s plop-oak in the front yard hasn’t.

Also, I think I know what color the office off the master bedroom is, because my bathroom is the same color. If it’s not Northern Cascades by Benjamin Moore, then it’s the same color, but by Laura Ashley.

Claire, we’re coloring you a prize winner. Here’s what Houston. It’s Worth It. is going to send you: The original Houston. It’s Worth It. book, the new HIWI: Ike book, and HIWI’s new “Hunkered Down” stencil kit. Congratulations!

We had 3 other Cypress-area guesses from runners-up Jessica1, nativesnob, and NWH. All three very close!

Special recognition goes to James, who wrote in with the actual listing, and sent other players in the exact opposite direction with his decoy guess: down I-45 to Deer Park or League City.

So where is this place, really?

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Monday, September 21, 2009

Swamplot Price Adjuster: Your Cherryhurst Neighbors

The Swamplot Price Adjuster needs your nominations! Found a property you think is poorly priced? Send an email to Swamplot, and be sure to include a link to the listing or photos. Tell us about the property, and explain why you think it deserves a price adjustment. Then tell us what you think a better price would be. Unless requested otherwise, all submissions to the Swamplot Price Adjuster will be kept anonymous.

Location: 1617 Fairview St., Cherryhurst
Details: 3-4 bedrooms, 2 baths; 1,810 sq. ft. on a 5,000-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $475,000
History: On the market for almost a month and a half.

Note: We now have a response from the seller! See updates below.

The reader who nominated this expanded bungalow on Fairview likes the place, but . . .

What’s not evident from the photos are the basic problems with this house at this asking price:

[First, it's ] across the street from Wilson Elementary. Not such a bad thing if you have kids who might attend Wilson, but otherwise a drag. School buses have a tendency to idle in front of the property. Noise and trash coming from, well, kids. Every Saturday and Sunday morning, year in and year out, a litany of soccer matches, volleyball tournaments, Frisbee “flag football”, etc. emit a constant din. You know, just what you want when you’d like to sleep in a bit.

Some opinions about the home’s other immediate neighbors, too:

The townhomes aren’t that big of deal other than the residents can peer into your backyard and house. But, the house to the east is a nightmare. . . . Overgrown yard, house falling in on itself. Great for Boo Radley’s house. I can imagine prospective buyers looking at the thing next door and immediately saying, “Nope.”

So . . . what might be a better price?

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Thursday, September 17, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: All’s Well on That Tidwell

Who won that Rice Design Alliance membership this week?

Here’s where you thought this week’s mystery mansion might be: There were 3 guesses each for West University and Bellaire. We also had Katy, Sugar Land, “Montrose west,” Montrose close to 59, Montrose “somewhere along 59 between Shepherd and the spur-ish,” “along the Beltway 8 feeder road between Briarforest and Westheimer,” Westchase, Green Tee Terrace in Pearland, “near the Med Center,” Museum District, Cinco Ranch, The Woodlands, Southgate, Steeplechase off Jones Rd., Jersey Village, “a few blocks north of 610 North near St. Pius School and Church,” “Morningside area,” the Heights, the northern Heights, Woodland Heights, near Willowbrook Mall, Sharpstown, the Astrodome area, University Park in Clear Lake, Southampton, and Lindale Park.

Any more guesses? Here was the winning entry:

A few blocks north of 610 North near St. Pius School and Church. I’m stating the obvious when I note that this is a 2 or more story building. I see stairs in one photo. I see even a possible 3rd floor. yup, this one looks standardized. I think this is in an older neighborhood than most guessers. the builder probably took some plans from an old job out in kingwood, bought a lot “in town” and broke ground in 1992. nirvana was playing on the worker boom boxes over all of the hammering and sawing and stuff.

Okay, height and the Nirvana bit are way off, and let’s make that a few superblocks north of 610 North. Still, good enough for a win. Congratulations, JPSivco! You’re the RDA’s newest member!

Wanna see the rest of this place?

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Friday, September 11, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Messenger HQ

Did we really need that extra day to come up with a winner? Well, not exactly. Your extra-day guesses for this week’s game weren’t much closer. But let’s work with what we’ve got!

First, here’s where you thought this week’s mystery homestead might have been: Champion Forest, the Northgate Country Club area, Old Town Humble, Minnetex, Jersey Village (2 guesses), “off south Gessner near Bellaire,” “on the east side of town south of Highway 90 just outside the Beltway,” “a barely incorporated area of Humble,” the FM 1960 corridor, Stafford, Zip Code 77024, Atlanta, Kingwood, Spring Branch (2), Spring Shadows, Eastwood, “east of Downtown,” Midtown, South Houston, near Fuqua, “between 290 and 45, 610 and Little York,” Friendswood (2), Mission Bend, Timbergrove Manor, “the Heights/near North Side around Airline,” Heritage Park in League City, Pearland, Southwyck in Pearland, Ponderosa Forest, Olde Oaks, Memorial Northwest, Dickinson, League City, Santa Fe, “off Stella Link,” “the swath between 45 North and 59 North, within train horn distance of the Hardy Toll Rd.,” Aldine Bender, Aldine Mail Rd., “off Post Oak South, east of the Meyerland area and south of 610,” “all of the areas not chosen between Katy, Highway 90, Ft. Bend Tollway/Beltway 8, and I-10,” “the Crosby/Highlands area,” the Energy Corridor, Thornwood, LaPorte, Seabrook, “from 225 to the Kemah bridge on the bay side of 146,” Shoreacres near the Houston Yacht club, “an unincorporated semi-rural subdivision in the wild woods of Metro Conroe,” Atascocita, Brazosport, Fondren Southwest, “Lakewood/Grant and Jones/Eldridge area,” Santa Fe, the Bear Creek area, Baytown, Bellaire, West Columbia, Spring, Tomball, Magnolia, Galveston, Cypresswood, Enchanted Oaks, outside Alvin, Tiki Island, San Leon, Lake Jackson, the Houston Ship Channel, “off 59 near Lake Houston,” and Sugar Land.

That’s a lot of running around town!

The winner of this week’s (and, in fact, last week’s) prize — the new HIWI: Ike book, the original HIWI book, and that “Hunkered Down” stencil kit from Houston. It’s Worth It. — is marmer, for this:

What a strange place! I agree it looks like a manufactured home, but it’s just too big and there are too many details in the bedrooms to really convince me. I agree it’s quasi-industrial, too. Has anyone guessed the sketchier part of the Heights/near North Side? Kind of around Airline?

Not exactly a correct guess. But can we focus in on just those last two words — and ignore the rest . . . ?

Congratulations, marmer!

Our two runners-up are Jessica1 — who wisely chose to stretch an earlier guess north of Little York, but veered too far west to Jersey Village — and Harold Mandell, who set up camp on the wrong side of I-45.

Let’s take a look at this place, shall we?

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Karen Derr Promises Not To Tear Down City Hall, Either

A reader from the Heights sends in photos documenting only the latest scene in Houston’s long and theatrical history of commingled real estate and political ambition. If you like, say, the pricing on the homes Karen Derr’s former company sells — like this one at 946 Arlington St. — you’ll certainly want to see Derr join city council!

But what’s with that part in red letters? Maybe just to let voters know she’s a little less favorably disposed toward freeform demolition than, say, former candidate/broker Michael Berry was. Writes our reader and snapshooter:

I am guessing that Karen Derr’s office rec’d so many calls as to the future of this house- one the few remaining 19th century homes in the Heights, that she had the “Remodel” sign made and stuck atop her broker sign. . . . Karen used to be on the board of the Houston Heights Association and she is locally active and running for office, so she does not want to piss off too much of her long time neighbors.

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Track-Side Townhomes for Less: Heights Blvd. Railroad Perches Now Even Cheaper!

A reader notes that a few of those new Villas at the Heights townhouses from Northgate Custom Homes, built “right on the railroad tracks on Heights Blvd, backing up to the recycling center” are now sporting new — and much lower — asking prices:

The most extreme price reduction on one went from $365k to $299k. There are now 5 units for sale with prices ranging from $289k to $309k. They are getting there, only another $40k to go before someone might actually look at them!

Front-row train-side Unit M — featured in Dave McC’s famous video below — seems to have taken a break from MLS, but it’s still listed on the Northgate website for just $299,900!

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Goldilocks in Spring Branch: This One Looks Just Right

Hidden among the pix of this new Spring Branch listing: more evidence of Houston’s snoozy real-estate market. Details:

Drastic reduction by $105k! Bargain hunter where r u? . . . can easily convert to commercial use for clinic,office,corner store,washertia. High traffic area . . .

We’re hoping that’s a plain ol’ residential use pictured in the bedroom here.

And who’s sleeping in that other bed?

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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Deep in the Shadows

Looks like the barn door’s closing on this one. . . . Do we have a winner of the prizes from this week’s sponsor: the HIWI: Ike book, the original Houston. It’s Worth It. book? The “Hunkered Down” stencil kit?

Sadly, no. This one stayed just a bit out of reach.

Your guesses for the home in this week’s game: Oak Forest (3 of you), Sharpstown (3), Meyerland (2), Briargrove, Westbury (2), Spring Branch (3), Old Spring Branch, Glenbrook Valley (2), Mangum Manor, “one of the Willows,” Lindale Park, Afton Village, Westview, Spring Valley (2), Braes Heights, Timbergrove Manor (2), Braeswood, Old Braeswood, Riverside Terrace, Tanglewilde, Southgate, Memorial Plaza, “between Meyer Park and Westbury Square,” “Simsdale — the area across the bayou north of Garden Villas, around Reed Rd. south of Bellfort, east of Mykawa,” Midtown, Walnut Bend, Robindell (2), the “Robindell/Maplewood area,” Shadow Oaks, Lazybrook, Ella around 11th, Larchmont, Afton Oaks, Oak Estates, River Oaks, “between West Alabama, Weslayan, the 59 feeder, and Drexel,” Memorial Bend, Ayrshire, Norhill, and “on Brays Bayou, or very close to it, along North or South Braeswood, between Kirby and Stella Link.”

Any Modern-friendly enclaves missing from this list?

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Piney Point Village Megamansion: Now $10 Million Off!

More than 6 reductions over the last 2 years mean you can now snap up this 20,000-plus-sq.-ft. Piney Point megamansion for less than half its original $19.9 million asking price. The spread belongs to Douglas R. Johnson and his wife Melanie, who divorced a year and a half ago, reports the Chronicle’s Shelby Hodge:

The house began as a 6,000 square-foot teepee sitting in the middle of a lush wooded acre on Arrowwood. We are told that the couple pumped $16 million worth of expansion and improvements into the place. Eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, three half-baths and a paneled wine room and bar dating from the 1920s are part of the package. And did we mention the vast third-floor entertainment area that features a lavish theater center, game room and bar?

According to the divorce decree, Melanie and the boys get to live in the house until it sells. The judge gave Doug the right to control that sale. He priced the property at $19 million — unheard of in the Memorial/Piney Point neighborhoods. There was little interest. Melanie went back to court recently and secured rights to control the sale herself. And how things have changed.

According to MLS records, the home went on the market in April of 2007. Its most recent price cut — just a few days ago — was a mere $3.4 million.

Until his Johnson Broadcasting Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last October, Johnson was listed as the sole owner of KNWS, local TV’s Channel 51. Johnson also filed for personal bankruptcy, but reportedly told the Chronicle at the time that it all had to do with the divorce.

How’s this home doing in the ratings? Well, the listing puts it at about 26,214 sq. ft., but the appraisal district only counts 21,240. But even that lower figure is enough to get the home onto Wikipedia’s list of the largest single family residences in the United States.

The home’s price may be down, but the commission is now up to 12 percent. And the photos sure make it look like the volume is still turned way up:

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