Swamplot Archives by Tag: Homes for Sale

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Sweet and Low-Like: The Bunker Hill Woods Ride of Paul Revere

A reader writes in to report finding “arguably Houston’s best version of McKim Mead & White’s famous Low House, with maybe a little Brady Bunch pizazz thrown in:”

Complete with the classic Memorial-area window wall facing the back yard. Bet MM&W never thought of that!

It’s this 5-bedroom 1964 home on a little more than half an acre in Bunker Hill Woods, which snuck on the market for $780,000 at the beginning of this month. Plus, raps the listing agent, pecky pickled cypress paneling in the Family and Living Rooms:

Estate property built by architect for himself. Owned by one family exclusively. . . . Floor in gmrm recycled from Rice U science lab as well as lower cabinets in garage.

Never mind the Game Room floor. Where’d they get that bathroom tile?

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Dam Close

Who won the prize for this week’s game — a one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance?

Somebody who made one of these guesses: Memorial, Bunker Hill Village, Piney Point Village, Sugar Land, Champions (2 guesses), Charnwood, the San Felipe and Voss area, Katy, Cinco Ranch, “Memorial/Kirkwood area,” “Memorial/Dairy Ashford area,” Richmond Ave. inside the Beltway, Riverside Terrace, Fleetwood (2), Quail Valley, Greenwood Forest, Hedwig Village, Ponderosa Forest, Timbergrove Manor, along Sims Bayou near the Gulf Freeway, “Memorial Northwest, just north of Louetta and off of Champion Forest,” and Sandalwood.

Congratulations to Phil Hyde, for winning with this:

This house has some obvious updates, like the granite countertops. But the herringbone floors and wood paneling scream 70’s. Very typical of houses in Fleetwood.

Would you like your membership wrapped? Also guessing Fleetwood was this week’s runner-up, KimmerTX.

Let’s have a look:

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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: South Loopside

None of you guessed the correct location for this week’s mystery home. But we have a prizewinner for that Rice Design Alliance membership!

Here’s where you thought the home might be: Friendswood, Timbergrove Manor (5 guesses), Lazybrook (2 guesses), Oak Forest (2), Westbury, Willowbrook, Shepherd Forest, Spring Branch (2), Sharpstown, Meyerland, Westwood, Willowbend, Braes Heights, Ayrshire, Afton Oaks, Lynn Park, Old Braeswood, Braeburn Valley (2), Bellaire, and Maplewood.

Since nobody guessed it, we’re giving a one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance to a player who wrote in to identify the listing, then posted a couple of solid decoy guesses:

While the funky kitchen floor throws me off a bit, I’m going to guess based on the traditional furniture that they are Afton Oaks-dwellers.

and

Sorry - Afton Oaks OR Lynn Park (behind Highland Village). That whole area has that real estate tension between renovating old ranches or mowing them down to build a brand-new faux-something.

Congratulations, LT. You’ve won the week!

So where is this home?

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Monday, November 30, 2009

A Londoners’ Guide to the Westbury Land Rush

“The key to buying a home in Houston is to figure out the next up-and-coming neighbourhood before it arrives,” declares Sheila McNulty, the Houston and energy-business correspondent for London’s Financial Times. Then you can knock down a home there — or fix it up! And that next hot new neighborhood would be . . . ?

Momentum is building in Westbury, a 20-minute drive from downtown. Here the tree-lined streets sell suburbia: they are quiet, close to good schools (both public and private), the Medical Center – a key employer in Houston – and the Galleria shopping mall that anchors Houston. Yet they are set back from the highways and urban sprawl that characterise any big US city.

Before Westbury hit the radar of local estate agents it was Meyerland, which followed Bellaire, which followed West University, as the circle of sought-after areas around downtown Houston steadily widened.

McNulty tours a few listings in the neighborhood with Keller Williams agent Peggie Kohnert — including this “needs TLC” special at 5842 Dryad Dr., just 6 houses in from Hillcroft:

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Where Are They Building Now? A Royce Builders Bankruptcy Reunion Tour

Channel 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis sends a KPRC newschopper to buzz the 80-acre Cypress party pad estate of former Royce Builders president John Speer. More than a year after we featured the innumerable builder upgrades of that Mack-Daddy mansion on Swamplot, it’s still sitting on the market — for the same $9.8 million.

Meanwhile, less than a mile to the west, sales aren’t going so well either in former Royce Homes subdivision Grant Meadows:

“Houses are in disrepair. Fences are in disrepair,” explained homeowner Matt Adams. “The whole neighborhood’s been left in ruins.” . . .

Royce stopped paying the bill for the street lights in Grant Meadows in July 2008.

Reliant recently switched them off, and told homeowners they must pay the $14,000 owed before they can turn them back on.

“It’s pitch black out here at night,” said homeowner Evit Byrd, who planned to retire in Grant Meadows with his wife. “You can’t see anything.”

But there’s some good news: Speer has been building again! His new company, Vestalia Homes, which Speer founded 3 weeks after he closed down Royce, is busy constructing and selling homes a little closer to FM 1960, in a subdivision called the Lakes of Cypress Forest.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Hudson News

We have a winner for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game! Who won that membership in the Rice Design Alliance?

First, here’s where you guessed this home might be: Southampton (2 guesses), Bellaire (3 of you), Tanglewood, Champions (2), “off Memorial near the Tollway,” Baytown (2), “Gessner and Wilcrest area,” Pearland, Sugar Land, The Woodlands (2), Katy, Southampton, the Heights, Briar Forest, Downtown, Memorial, West University, Deer Park, League City, Clear Lake, Greatwood, Willowbrook, Spring, Champions, Kingwood, Midtown, Montrose, Rice Military, Camp Logan, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Timbergrove Manor (2), Upper Kirby, the Galleria, Afton Oaks, Gulfton, Spring Branch, Sharpstown, Alief, Braeburn, Tanglewilde, Westchase, Barker Cypress, Greenspoint, Cinco Ranch, EaDo, River Oaks (2), “Wards 1-6,” Riverside Terrace, Avondale, “just inside the Beltway, just off Memorial Dr.,” West Lane Place, “somewhere south of Richmond and west of Hillcroft,” “the Stoney Brook or Westbriar/Tanglewilde area,” Tealwood, and “the Memorial/Gessner area.”

The winner of a one-year individual membership in the RDA is mojo jojo, for pinpointing the home with this entry:

The decorations in this home point to outside the loop, around the beltway or beyond! The photos give very little indication to era, except for the kitchen. From the knob placement on the cabinets (I betcha that these cabinets original had yellow or green ceramics knobs), to the custom built vent apron over the island, this kitchen screams 70’s!!! . . .

What leads me to the location is the fact that the home has almost no yard, as seen in the many photos which show the ivy covered wall outside of every window. This leads me to the many townhome communities built in the 70’s and 80’s, around the Beltway.

My scientific calculations, lead me to believe that this home is just inside the Beltway, and just off Memorial Dr.

Congratulations, mojo jojo!

We’re also handing out an honorable mention to movocelot, for being kinda close too. Now just where is this place?

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Meanwhile, Way Out There in Texas City

A reader wants to know if this home on a cul-de-sac in Texas City’s Northside neighborhood is too far out to work as a subject of Swamplot’s weekly Neighborhood Guessing Game.

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Monday, November 16, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Major League

Some very smart and interesting guesses in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game!

Here’s where you thought this home might be: “Off of Highway 249, Jones Rd. and Louetta,” West University, Katy, Lakeside Estates, “around the Augusta/Bering area” (2 guesses), Riverside Terrace (also 2), “that strip between Almeda and 288,” Lakeside Place, “Barker’s Landing, between Memorial and I-10, behind the BP compound,” Gaywood, Braeswood Place, Ayrshire, Braes Heights, Braes Oaks, Braes Manor, Braes Terrace, Emerald Forest, Southern Oaks, the Rossmoyne Addition (near Bonnie Brae and Graustark), Wilchester, Clute, Meyerland, Memorial, FM 1960, along Yorktown and Sage in the Galleria, “just south of Memorial City Mall, maybe on Gessner,” Westhaven Estates, “one of the Fleetwood neighborhoods near Memorial and Highway 6), Montrose, “within a mile or 2 of Memorial and 610,” Sugar Land (2), Richmond, Sugar Creek, Quail Valley, “along Cypresswood and Louetta,” the Energy Corridor, Prestonwood Forest, “East of Eden,” The Woodlands (3), Dickinson, along Dickinson Bayou, Champions, Champion Forest, “that River Oaks Lite neighborhood between Shepherd and Kirby, north of Westheimer,” Pecan Grove, Tanglewood, Vatican City (2), Bellaire, the Museum District, Willow Meadows, Linkwood, “the ‘Ashford’ subdivisions along Briarforest west of Kirkwood,” “the older subdivisions in Pearland and Friendswood along Clear Creek,” Bay Oaks in Clear Lake, Idylwood, Briargrove Park, Spring Valley, Northfield in Fondren Southwest, Lazybrook, Timbergrove Manor, “the Shepherd Forest/Brookhollow area,” Inwood Forest (2), Bayou Bend, “the Woodstone/Woodlake Forest/Hudson Oaks area,” Tealwood, “I-10, just before the Beltway, north side of the highway,” Kingwood, River Oaks, “on Breakwood by 610 South,” Townhouse Manor, and “one of the more upscale subdivisions in outer Mongolia.”

Matt Mystery wins this one with his close-enough, uh . . . 19th guess:

The paneling is the main clue but the ceiling height is what is so mysterious - not just a high ceiling. Not a two story ceiling. It’s a one and one-half story ceiling. Wherever it is, I suspect it is a custom home. Some built custom homes in “tract” subdivisions which is what I’m wondering about - some other possibilities could be Bellaire, the Museum District, Willow Meadows, Linkwood, the “Ashford” subdivisions along Briarforest west of Kirkwood, the older subdivisions in Pearland and Friendswood along Clear Creek, Bay Oaks in Clear Lake. So many possibilities.

Yes, but this is where it is:

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Tacos a No-Go? What’s Up with the Indian Summer Lodge?

A couple of months ago, a TABC application appeared outside the Indian Summer Lodge, Jeff Law’s quirky and colorful Quonset-Hut-turned-event-compound adjacent to the new Hike-and-Bike Trail off lower Columbia St. in the Heights. And so the rumor began that midtown’s Tacos-A-Go-Go might be moving or expanding there.

Now, however, the Indian Summer Lodge is for sale. A new listing was posted over the weekend on the MLS. The 16,170-sq.-ft. property features three buildings — the lodge, the “loft” (the Quonset hut), and a treehouse with skyline balcony.

Here’s what $775,000 gets you:

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Fantasy Andalusian: Climbing All Those Spanish Steps

“I’d need to get in shape to move into this house,” writes the Swamplot reader who sent in this listing for one of those new $million-plus homes in the fenced-off Caceres compound wedged between Reinerman, Feagan, and Detering streets in the West End.

Is this stucco structure really five stories tall?

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Monday, November 9, 2009

Swamplot Price Adjuster: Last Resort in Montrose

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: 1206 Hyde Park Blvd., Hyde Park, Montrose
Details: 3-4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths; 3,680 sq. ft. on a 10,100-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $1,199,999 [corrected from before]
History: On the market for 7 weeks

All the fine furnishings in this 1920 Montrose mansion didn’t sway the Swamplot reader who nominated the property:

“River Oaks living in Montrose”? Certainly River Oaks pricing in Montrose!

Given the location, the neighborhood, and the house itself the HCAD appraisal of almost $700k seems excessive. . . .

This house was sold in 2004 per HCAD, and the 2005 valuation was $563k - my guess is that is very close to the sale price.

The 2009 valuation of the house is about $700k. All the neighboring houses are about $300k in value. The neighborhood average is well under $200/sq ft (a beautiful house, fully restored . . . on Harold recently sold for about $200/ft on a similar sized lot)

And a better price for this property would be . . . ?

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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: In the Zone

Where was that home that was featured in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game? And did anyone win that RDA membership?

First, let’s run through the locations you guessed: Braes Heights, Highland Village, on Brogden Rd. in Memorial, Southampton, Rice Village, Midtown (2 guesses), “somewhere off Washington Ave.,” St. George Place, Hyde Park (also 2 guesses), Cottage Grove, “north of Fairview, east of Dunlavy, near Wilson Elementary,” “between Shepherd and Waugh, just south of Washington, maybe around Feagan St.,” Timbergrove Manor (2), Montrose, the Museum District, Camp Logan, the Heights (2), “just east of Memorial Park, south of Washington, north of Memorial, near Westcott,” Rice Military (3), near Memorial Park, in the “River Oaks” area, “in the upper west Washington Ave/Rice Military vicinity,” near Winter and Houston Streets (2), Sunset Heightsish, Upper Kirby, Shady Acres (2), “north Heights,” Sunset Heights, “within a mile of the north Loop,” off Quitman, East Downtown, Fifth Ward, Downtown, the Caceres development, “between Montrose and the Museum District” (2), Jackson Hill, the West End, and near the Menil.

The winner of that one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance? Longtime NGG player justguessin, who just guessed this guess:

First, I’ll go with somewhere off Washington Ave. Second, St. George’s Place, so many townhomes over there.

One of those new modern townhomes with all of the slate tiles on the exterior.

This house must have been built recently. There are a few too many textures in this place….cement floors, granite and marble counters, and the ubiquitous “tumble stone” backsplashes. Also, the rug in the bedroom seems to keep showing up in the NGG houses. You would also have to sell the dining room table with the house…what else could work there?

Congratulations, justguessin!

This week we also recognize the considerable efforts of reader mojo jojo, who already knew the answer (and wrote in to let us know that), but went ahead and posted this remarkable entry anyway, just to throw the rest of you off track:

Just from my initial peruse through the photos, two things immediately caught my eye; the window placement and the curved walls in the dining room and just past the kitchen. Noticing these items, I am certain that this is a recently constructed contemporary/modern home. On closer inspection, I noticed that through the four windows in the living room, I can see that the property has been landscaped with an abundance of tropical plantings, consisting of large green leafy foliage. From the size of the landscaping, I would estimate that this home was built somewhere around 2005 or 2006. Although I don’t see any, I would bet my first Gin & Tonic of the morning that the property has its fair share of palm trees.

From the photo of the master bedroom, again looking out the windows, this photo also gives two clues to location! Out these windows, you see mature trees both on this property as well as across the street. This indicates that the home is located in an established neighborhood, maybe from the 30’s to the 50’s. The second, and most important clue, is the slope of the street running in front of the home (bottom of the middle window). I can tell that the road slopes down to the left! Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

This home is located in Braes Heights, what should be Section 9. I am sure it is located on one of the streets that run North or Northwest from N Braeswood Blvd, between Stella Link and Buffalo Speedway. My guess would be that the home is within five to 10 lots North of N. Braeswood Blvd. Another clue, which I almost missed, is the framed diplomas located in the open cabinets in the study. These diplomas look just like those that hang behind my Dr’s desk. My theory is that the owner is a Dr who does ER work, thus the close proximity of Braes Heights to the Med Center is perfect.

Did it work?

So where is this place, really?

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Monday, November 2, 2009

Swamplot Price Adjuster: Priced in the Heights

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: 301 E. 10th St., Houston Heights
Details: 2 bedrooms, 2 baths; 1800 sq. ft. on an 8,200-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $600,000
History: On the market for 6 weeks.

A reader thinks this property is overpriced:

. . . even if it is lot price at 8,200 sq ft - listed for $600K it’s about double the price - I’ve seen 10,000 sq ft lots go for $325,000 (May 09). For a lot in the Heights it’s too high - yes it’s a corner lot - but there are no curbs on the street and it’s right near a church. To keep the house for a “conversion” as suggested would be too high as the house doesn’t even have central air or heat.

What would be a better price?

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Shakespeare at the Village Corner

We have a winner! The . . . same winner.

Where is this home? There were 2 guesses each for West University, Riverside Terrace, Idylwood, Montrose, and the Heights. The rest: “near Hobby Airport,” Pearland, Southampton, Southgate, Clear Lake, Spring Valley “or the area a little east of there,” “around Rice,” “Longpoint near Spring Branch Med Center,” Meyerland, “MacGregor/Riverside,” “outside the Beltway just south of I-10, maybe near Kirkwood or Dairy Ashford,” Friendswood, “off Lawndale and 45,” Westbury, Garden Oaks, “somewhere in the vicinity of Rice and Rice Village,” “one of the various neighborhoods along Greenbriar and Shepherd between Rice Village and West Alabama,” Oak Forest, Pasadena, and Deer Park.

The winner — for the third week in a row! — is Matt Mystery, who blanketed the Rice University area with a series of guesses, making sure to mention the Rice Village:

That converted attic to me is really the main clue along with that curious mail slot which seems to indicate there is also an entry. So it is in an older neighborhood where even the smaller houses, and this was probably a smaller house with several rooms added on, were a little more “upscale” than normal. One story but with a high-pitched roof which as I recall allowed for better cross-ventilation which kept the house cooler and of course added more storage space in the attic itself. It could be out in the boonies somewhere but my feeling is it’s “inside the loop” and somewhere in the vicinity of Rice and Rice Village although it could be further north in one of the various neighborhoods along Greenbriar and Shepherd between Rice Village and West Alabama and the various neighborhoods between West Alabama and 59 in the Montrose area. Draw a circle using Rice University as the center and I suspect this house is somewhere within a 5 mile radius.

Congratulations, Matt! Our runner-up this week is Carol, who also thought the home was “around Rice.”

Where is it exactly?

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Monday, October 26, 2009

Swamplot Price Adjuster: The Path from Spring Branch to Binglewood

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: 3122 Mona Lee Ln., Binglewood
Details: 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths; 3,894 sq. ft. on a 10,018-sq.-ft. lot
Price: $234,500
History: On the market since mid-September

This person who’s nominating this home writes:

Binglewood? Binglewhere? Wherever it is, this is a great neighborhood to walk in. As my spouse and I have strolled past this house over the years, we’ve called it The White Elephant. It’s a charming elephant from the front, but it’s been way over-improved for the neighborhood. Before the large addition, it was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and was probably around 1700 square feet. Now it’s a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, and almost 3900 square feet. Almost no one else in the neighborhood has added on. The addition at the back is quite graceless, the pool won’t add any value, and the entire rest of the back yard is concrete.

There is no cache to living in this neighborhood. When we moved in, more than one person said to us: “Oh, Spring Branch. That area used to be nice.” We love it here, but are under no illusion that other people will. The school district is great, but the neighborhood is zoned to Edgewood, Northbrook and Northbrook - not the best in the district. (Snark aside, our kids loved Edgewood Elementary, but didn’t want to go to Northbrook Middle and High. It was their choice to go elsewhere.)

So what about a better price for this home?

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