Tag: Buying and Selling

09/28/07 8:41am

The 1031 Exchange Buyer Advantage

Commercial Real Estate, Financing, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing

Parkview II, 333 Cypress Run, Houston

Everyone knows having money gives you a big advantage when you try to make money. But think about the advantage already owning real estate gives you when you’re trying to buy real estate.

Imagine a buyer bidding against a crowd of competitors on a pair of fully-leased West Houston office buildings—say, Parkview I and II:

“They’re not active buyers and they had a specific need with 1031 exchange money,” says Marty Hogan, associate director in Houston for Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP. Texas is a non-disclosure state so he won’t discuss the sale price of the 333 Cypress Run properties, but local experts confirm that similar class B buildings are trading for $110 per sf to $120 per sf.

Hogan says the assets attracted 10 offers, with a partnership from Greenwich, CT ending up with the deal because it offered a short due diligence and certainty of close. “The buyers also had a large amount of equity and the purchase wasn’t contingent on financing.” Hogan tells GlobeSt.com. “Given the market at this time, they weren’t high-leveraged buyers looking to get 80% to 90% of the purchase price financed so that was appealing.”

Sure, a lot of cash in the transaction is going to be pretty attractive to a seller. But other aspects of 1031 exchange requirements—if the buyer knows that’s what you’re doing—give like-kind-exchange buyers a decided advantage in any market: The seller knows you’ve got time constraints to complete the deal. And that you’ll likely have to pay a lot of taxes if you can’t pull it off. You look like a sure thing.

Of course, if the seller knows that you have no other 1031-exchange options available and the terms of your deal aren’t fully worked out yet, that’s another story.

KBS Sells 176,471-SF Duo to 1031 Exchange Buyer [Globe St.]

Photo: Parkview II

1031 Exchanges, 77094, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Financing, Office Buildings, Real Estate Investing

09/19/07 8:56am

Price of Smalley House Shrinks Just a Little

Homes for Sale, Southampton

1816 Bolsover St., Houston, the former home of Richard Smalley

The family of nanotechnology pioneer Richard Smalley has knocked a little more than $50,000 off the price of the late Nobel Prize winner’s Southampton home.

The 21-year-old, six-bedroom house has been on the market for more than two months. Arnoldy says she has had some trouble selling the three-story home, which features a gourmet kitchen and third-story deck, because it has virtually no yard. The 5,433-square-foot house sits on a 6,312-square-foot lot.

What do you mean, no yard? What this home clearly needs is an owner who can take advantage of small spaces.

Included in the sale—sort of: a Buckyball-shaped skylight over the Family Room.

“Rice University wants the skylight, but we see it more as a marketing tool to sell the home,” says Susan Arnoldy, a Realtor at John Daugherty Realtors Inc. who has listed the property for sale. “The new owner can decide whether or not they want to give it to Rice for display.”

New asking price: $1,295,000.

Listing agent having a ‘ball’ marketing storied Rice-area home [Houston Business Journal]
1816 Bolsover St. [HAR]

77005, Buying and Selling, Homes for Sale, Southampton

09/05/07 10:59am

Mattress Mack Saves You Money

Homes for Sale, Northgate Forest, Price Trends, Real Estate Marketing

Mattress Mack's Home at 3002 Pine Lake Trail in Northgage Forest

Speaking of fame and real-estate listings, we may have an answer to our earlier question about the power of endorsements by celebrities—or local celebrities—to sell houses quickly and at a premium price.

The Northgate Forest estate of Gallery Furniture owner Jim McIngvale—written up here a month ago—is still listed for sale! And the asking price has dropped a quarter of a million dollars.

3002 Pine Lake Trail [HAR]
Mattress Mack Pad Available . . . Today! [Swamplot]

77068, Buying and Selling, Homes for Sale, Northgate Forest, Price Trends, Real Estate Marketing

08/20/07 3:54pm

Sonoma Units Available?

Condos, Development Strategy, Mixed Use, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Rice Village

77005, Buying and Selling, Development Strategies, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments, Rice-Village, Sonoma

Interior Rendering of Model Living Room, Sonoma

Our story on the Rice Village’s Sonoma development last Thursday repeated KHOU reporter Lee McGuire’s claim:

The developer says potential buyers have reserved all but four of the new condos.

But Jennifer Friedberg’s writeup in this past weekend’s Chronicle sez otherwise:

A total of 115 of the 220 units for sale in Sonoma are already reserved, Tysor said.

That’s quite a number of buyers backing out of their reservations in a very short period, no? But even more curious is this:

The number of units continues to change depending on the square footage potential residents select for each condo.

Contracts won’t be signed until later in the process.

That’s right, ma’am, just tell us how big you’d like your kitchen and we’ll move the wall there.

Why Houston is $1.5 M richer [KHOU]
City Council approves sale, abandonment of Bolsover in Rice Village [Houston Chronicle]
Council Bowls Over, So No More Street [Swamplot]

08/03/07 1:58pm

Mattress Mack Pad Available . . . Today!

Homes for Sale, Northgate Forest, Real Estate Marketing

The McIngvale Home at 3002 Pine Lake Trail

Do celebrity endorsements move real estate? Okay, what about local-celebrity name-dropping, plus a few personal appearances?

This 6,840-square-foot, seven-bedroom Northgate Forest estate has been languishing on the market for almost three months, even though John Daugherty Realtors has been advertising it as the actual home of Gallery Furniture and Westside Tennis & Fitness owner Jim McIngvale—in full-page ads in luxury-home mags. And the Houston Business Journal reports that Mattress Mack himself has been mingling with visiting homegawkers at his own open houses.

Hand the downsizing McIngvales a mere $1.499 mil, and you get:

a dramatic two-story entry with winding staircase; a two-story living room with two-story fireplace, hardwoods and adjacent sunroom; gourmet kitchen with built-ins and quality appliances; breakfast room with built-ins; dining room with hardwoods; and Swarovski crystal chandeliers. Media room, den, weight room, reflection room, game room, extra room and more. Master suite with two-sided fireplace and amazing bath. Olympic-style pool, spa and pool house. Additional five-car garage with apartment above.

What about the furniture?

After the jump, more pics from the McIngvale Mansion.

77068, Buying and Selling, Homes for Sale, Northgate Forest, Real Estate Marketing

07/16/07 11:44am

The $9.7 Million Corner Lot

Hotels, Land Prices, Reliant Park

Corner of Braeswood and Main

Buried at the end of a Houston Business Journal report on a new Hilton Garden Inn that’s going to replace the Droubi’s boxcar at 7807 Kirby, between South Main and OST, is this gem:

Moody National had been on the hunt for more property in the area, and was especially interested in finding more land next to the Hilton site to create a larger footprint for the project. . . .

A 1.2-acre vacant lot on the northeast corner of Main and Braeswood, across from Moody National’s Residence Inn, also caught the developer’s eye, but the price was too high there as well. Moody says an offer of $140 per square foot was rejected by the owner, who said he would entertain an offer of $185 per square foot.

“The land has been extremely hard to come by,” Moody says.

Sure, that’s expensive, but there’s a premium for waterfront property.

Developer finally checks in with Reliant Center-area Hilton [Houston Business Journal]

Photo: Bradley Broom

77030, Brays-Bayou, Buying and Selling, Hotels, Land Prices, Lots, Reliant Park, South-Main, Texas Medical Center

Briarbend

06/12/07 9:14am

You’ll Love This Home! And You’ll Love Demolishing It, Too!

Buying and Selling, Demolitions, Development Strategy, Homebuying, Homes for Sale, New Construction, New Construction: Residential

7807 Del Monte Dr.

Five little words slipped into the end of an MLS profile remind us, gently, that updated but low-slung houses on large lots in tony Houston neighborhoods aren’t meant for homebuyers who want to enjoy a simple home in a natural setting. No, an older ranch like this is meant for a family willing to tolerate a “gorgeous” and “spacious” (but also apparently cramped and doomed) home until they can tear it down and build something that’s five times as big and that blankets the 10,665-square-foot lot more definitively. It’s a sacrifice, we know.

See if you can find the magic words in this listing:

GEORGEOUS, UPDATED, WELL MAINTAINED 3/2.5/2 W/LRG ENTERTAINMENT RM & WET BAR OVERLOOK POOL, BRIARBEND SUBD, ZONED NEW BRIARGROVE ELEM. $55K+ IN UPDATES: 2007 Paint/Hardware, 2005 Silestone Kit Counters/ Dbl Ovens, Baths, Entertain Rm Roof, Replaced Ducts/Added 4 Return Vents. UPDATES LAST 6 YRS: Dbl Pane Windows, Refinished Hardwood Floors, Refinished Pool Surface/Robotic Pool Sweep, Garage Doors, Recessed Lights in Kit, LR & Hall. Park @end of blk. Live in now/Build later/2 story allowed.

More photos of the amazing $466K Briarbend house you’ll love so much you won’t be able to wait to tear it down—after the jump.

77063, Briarbend, Buying and Selling, Demolitions, Development Strategies, Homebuying, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Ranch-Houses

05/22/07 9:44am

Won’t Touch This: $492K Freeway Townhouse

Homes for Sale, Riverside Terrace, Townhomes

2232 Riverside Dr.

What happens when townhomes don’t crack half a million? Sellers get mighty cranky:

This unit has a great view of downtown. It features a large balcony, spacious rooms, high ceilings, both wood & carpeted floors, an elevator, fireplace, beautiful kitchen and much more! It is being sold ‘AS IS’. The seller will do NO REPAIRS.

Don’t want to deal with this kind of unwillingness to negotiate? For a mere $200K+ more, you can buy the townhouse next door. And that seller isn’t saying what will or won’t be repaired—at least not in the listing.

A nice view of 288 from the balcony, plus an interior photo, which you can scan for evidence of a need for repairs the seller won’t make, after the jump.

77004, As-Is, Buying and Selling, Riverside-Terrace, Townhomes, Views

05/18/07 10:26am

New Listing: Pecan Park Home with Plenty of Storage Space

Homes for Sale, Pecan Park

2618 Metcalf from the Street Are you one of those people who needs a house with a little extra storage space? You might be interested in this modernish two-story home in Gloverdale, near Gulfgate, built in 1950. It’s listed at $225K, has five bedrooms and two full baths, sits on a very large lot, and comes with its very own storage warehouse next door:

COMBO SALE!!!! This house is being sold as a combo with also a 2250 sq.ft. warehouse. Warehouse is located next to house. Warehouse has extra parking along warehouse as well. Warehouse has kitchen,restroom,conference room and office with large roll up door to move large equipment or just for your own personal storage. MUST SEE!!!

Or just move into the warehouse and use the main house to store . . . your furniture.

After the jump, views of your storage bonus.

77012, Buying and Selling, Gloverdale, Gulfgate, Homes for Sale, Pecan-Park, Storage

05/16/07 10:48am

Selling Your Home: How To Give Buyers a Good First Impressionism

Condos, Galleria, Interiors, Townhomes

2078 Augusta Dr 6/49 Living Room

Home buyers want a masterpiece! So why should your home listing suffer from bad, poorly lit, unimaginative photographs? Why, with a little bit of camera-phone artistry, you can make your home look like a Van Gogh!

Here’s a great example. Yes, this beautiful, Galleria-area impressionist interior can be yours, for a mere $165,000:

2 Bedroom, 2 1/2 bath Townhome with living room, kitchen and half-bath downstairs and bedrooms up. Master bedroom has cathedral ceiling and there is a large round skylight in the staircase. Light and bright throughout. Great location . . .

No, we didn’t alter the photo above (okay, we did enlarge it). But we do recognize artistic genius. Great photos like this hide carpet stains, too!

How can you make your home look like it’s worth a lot of Monet? Learn from the masters! After the jump, more of ERA broker Al Rafat’s unadulterated images of this notable home.

77057, Art, Buying and Selling, Condos, Galleria, Interiors, Listings, Photography, Townhomes

Apartments

05/14/07 9:49am

The Instant Med Center Highrise

Highrises, New Construction, New Construction: Residential, Proposed Developments

The great southern Med Center land grab continues: Moody National Companies has bought a one-and-a-quarter acre site at the corner of Woodbury and Cambridge—about a quarter-mile southwest of the Spires. What for? How about . . . a new 200-unit apartment tower? Globe St. reports:

The fact the parcel is situated within 100 feet of the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine’s proposed 2.7 million sf [new campus] is underwriting the project’s potential as are the proposed rents. “We’ve projected rents at around $1.65 per sf, with an average unit measuring somewhere around 950 sf,” Moody tells GlobeSt.com. “We want to offer a lot of variety from smaller studio units to larger luxury units.” He adds that Moody will manage and lease the tower.

No architect yet. No general contractor. Early-2009 opening.

Moody National Will Build $35M, 200-Unit Tower [Globe St.]
Corner of Woodbury and Cambridge [Google Maps]

77030, Apartments, Buying and Selling, Devonshire, Highrises, Proposed Developments, Texas Medical Center

Apartments

05/09/07 8:46am

Apartment Hunting Season Opens in Texas

Calais at Courtland Square Interior Courtyard Looking for apartments? Can’t decide between, say, the Calais in Midtown, the Meyer Park or Meyer Park Lakeside, the Beverly Wilshire, or the Seasons on Hollister Road?

Why not buy them all? How about if we throw in a couple of complexes in Richmond, four more near Dallas, one in New Braunfels and another in San Antonio? That’ll make it easy for you, right?

Oh, and if you’ve got around $400 mil in cash that’ll make it a whole lot easier.

$400M Multifamily Portfolio Comes to Market [Globe St.]

77006, 77040, 77096, Apartments, Buying and Selling

Piney Point Village

04/27/07 10:42am

Kicked Out of Strip Center, City Hall To Move to Area House, Spook Neighbors

Public Buildings

The New Piney Point Village City Hall

Piney Point Village’s City Hall is moving . . . to a party house! And a pretty swank one, too: It’s got five bedrooms plus a den and a game room; six full bathrooms; huge windows and vaulted ceilings; a large kitchen with Corian countertops, stainless-steel appliances, and a Sub-Zero refrigerator; a three-car garage and a storage shed; a circular driveway; a 60-foot-long granite swimming pool, an in-ground hot tub, and a giant rock waterfall. Plus, the master suite

is very large, with coffered ceilings, extra sitting room, atrium access, skylight and large master bath featuring his and hers sides/vanities, separate closet space, jetted tub with separate shower and separate water closets.

Bet that’ll be pretty exciting for the mayor, huh? â€œWe wonâ€™t have to do a thing to it,” Mayor Carol Fox told the Memorial Examiner. And it only cost $1.53 million!

Why move to a residential neighborhood? That’s easy: City hall is getting booted from the strip center it was occupying, on San Felipe in Houston, because the center’s owners have decided they want to tear it down. And here’s a benefit of having city hall right in the neighborhood, Fox says: It’ll now be legal to hold elections and police court there. Wonder which lovely room they’ll choose.

Piney Point buys home to use as city hall [Memorial Examiner]
230 Blalock [HAR.com]

77024, Buying and Selling, City Hall, Piney-Point-Village

Apartments

04/17/07 7:53am

Apartment Complex Changes Hands; Tenants Endure Meaningless Name Change