02/17/15 4:30pm

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Architect Lars Bang gets the credit for the curb-facing original section (above) of a 1959 Meyerland mod built for the Alan Finger family, which kept it for 40 years. It was architect David D. Foster, however, who handled the 1974 additions that gave the home its “U” shape, furthering the floor-to-ceiling windows encircling the pool and patio (top). The home is located 2 blocks south of S. Braeswood Dr. and east of Millbury Dr., 4 houses away from the S. Post Oak stem of the 610 Loop. Its listing last week quotesa $739,900 price tag.

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House of Many Fingers
10/08/14 4:00pm

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Over in the Mod Mecca of Meyerland, a well-tended 1960 home rolls out the red carpet — and terrazzo tile, wood paneling, and other mid-century finishing touches. In near-original condition, the tilt-topped property is located east of Chimney Rock Rd. and south of S. Braeswood Blvd. Its listing earlier this week comes with a $459,900 price tag.

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Ready To Remuddle
08/28/14 4:30pm

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Too late. The mid-summer rental-rate reduction to $4,495 per month for this renovated 1967 Meyerland home expired with today’s re-listing of the property. The ask is back up to the $4,600 per month of its original rental listing, dating from early July 2014. Or you could flat-out buy the place. The for-sale listing, pegged at $657,500, also popped up on the market today.

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Love It or Lease It
06/17/14 4:00pm

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Is it really worth it to empty out and polish your bomb shelter before you put your home on the market? Here’s some compelling evidence that it is. The property on Jackwood St. in Meyerland with the bomb-shelter-turned-subterranean man cave featured last August on Swamplot sold late the following month for $330,000. But the buyers wasted no time in working a profitable flip. Clearing out the La-Z-Boy, beer bottles, Wendy’s soda cups, bunny figurines, and other memorabilia from the underground domed space resulted in a cleaner listing and a much higher sale price last month: $503,700, marked down from a $515K asking price and locked up only a week or so after the April listing. That’s an explosive increase of $173,700, or more than 50 percent, over the purchase price, in less than your typical real estate half-life.

Of course, a few things affecting home prices may have been going in the outside world while the buyers were busily scrubbing the walls of their underground lair. Though they did make a few other changes to the house as well:

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Lessons in Subterranean Staging
06/13/14 3:00pm

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Smack in the middle of a Meyerland street of single-story ranch-style homes, an East-ish-meets-West property bumps up its curbside presence (and square footage) while keeping its inner life focused on the central courtyard with fountain (top). Was the mishmash of pan-Asian flavoring part of a 2001 remodeling or was any of it original to the one-of-a-kind 1970 home? The listing on Wednesday, which notes a $739,000 asking price, doesn’t make it clear. Let’s just say that there’s a whole lot more going on inside this home than might be hinted by the mostly quiet exterior.

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There Be Dragons and Cabinets
06/03/14 4:00pm

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Permeable pavers and fluffy plantings convert the front of a 1956 Meyerland mod into a patio (and parking area) off a glass enclosed foyer. The property went up for sale last week with a $475,000 asking price. Renovations in 2012 made the most of the home’s bones while updating the finishes, such as the color-blocked hardwood flooring found in the common areas (top). No, that’s not an area rug.

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With and Against the Grain
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
09/04/13 1:00pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY RUNNER-UP: LOOKING SHARP “The Bellairefication of Meyerland is pretty much complete except you actually get a sizeable lot. It’s only a matter of time before Southwest Houston’s astronomical growth reaches Sharpstown and other once forgotten communities.” [robertrulez, commenting on The Ups and Downs of a Meyerland Contemporary] Illustration: Lulu

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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05/20/13 11:00am

This rendering shows one of 4 charitable duplexes planned to go up in Meyerland that will be set aside for single-mother families. Construction began late last week on property that’s owned St. John’s Presbyterian Church at 5020 W. Bellfort Ave., between Willowbend and S. Post Oak Blvd., just outside the Loop. One of the 8 units will also be home to an on-site caseworker.

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