Our winner in this week’s game was Señorbanity. Congratulations — you’re the newest member of the Rice Design Alliance — via a one-year individual membership donated by the organization. Thank you, RDA! We’ll also recognize a neighborly guess and award second place to Jayci.
Sweet! So where can you find this home?
The winner of this week’s game is EllieMae. Congratulations! And Kevin, you’re our runner-up.
So where is this home?
It’s not looking good for the few remaining low-slung postwar Ranch homes on Banks St. in once-aptly named Ranch Estates, in the northeastern stretch of Boulevard Oaks. Last year architect Karen Lantz took apart the Ranch at 1514 Banks, piece by piece. Three more of them have been idling on MLS for months, two at what the sellers consider lot value. The third, at 1515 Banks (pictured above), isn’t priced a whole lot higher, but it’s been out there since September of last year, shedding $50K from its initial $599,950 price tag. Will the owners even get back what they paid for it 15 months before putting it on the market?
Houston’s 15 “please wait 90 days before demolishing” historic districts — plus that special one that’s a little more strict — now have their own special page on HAR.com. And it comes with maps! It’s now easy to stake out the boundaries of each one, if you’re into that sort of thing. And each map shows properties for sale within the district.
But the information doesn’t appear to be flowing in the reverse direction. Listings for properties located in historic districts still include no indication what district they’re in — or even that they’re in one at all. Unless, of course, the agent is forthcoming enough to mention it in the main text of the listing itself.
The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance also reports that “if a designated landmark is located within a historic district, the designation will appear on the site.” Anyone wanna show us some examples?
Image showing map of Houston Heights West Historic District: HAR
The judges for this week’s game declare . . . that we have a winner! Miz Brooke Smith, you get the prize: a one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance. Congratulations!
(Thanks also to flake, for writing this post’s headline!)
So where is this place?
HOUSTON HOUSING AUTHORITY HOPING TO FIND BUYERS WHO ARE MORE WELL-TO-DO The Houston agency charged with providing affordable housing options has come up with an interesting response to criticism that it’s been giving the runaround to low-income applicants trying to buy the more than 200 homes it has for sale. Potential buyers and real estate agents tell Fox 26’s Randy Wallace that the Houston Housing Authority “would constantly make requirement changes even with verbal and written contracts in place.” As a result, the authority has only closed on 7 of the homes in the last 6 months. Too late to be included in the TV report, HHA Vice President for External Affairs Dennis Spellman sends Wallace a letter with some exciting news! The organization has decided to do away with income requirements for its Scattered Sites home program. Yes, that means that low-income applicants earning less than 80 percent of the area’s median income will now have the opportunity to bid against more well-off buyers for the same properties. [MyFox Houston, via Texas Watchdog; HHA response letter (PDF)]
“Beautiful corner lot, gorgeous oak trees. House has been added onto and has 8 ft ceilings,” begins the terse listing for this 80-year-old property with a $1.6-million asking price on live-oak-lined South Blvd. It’s part of the newly declared historic district portion of Boulevard Oaks.
A 4,270-sq.-ft. home with lowish ceilings — is that a problem? Nothing you can’t make up for by taking your interior shots from atop a stepstool:
MariaO was the first to name the Yorkshire in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. Which means she’s our . . . runner-up! First prize goes to DavidW and his exhaustive descriptions of this west-side home. Congratulations to you both!
Wanna see more details?
Can’t get enough marble tile, paneled doors, or finely wrought yet unobtrusive burglar bars? You’ll find this River Oaks gem just a swerve north of the Shepherd Curve. It appeared on MLS over the weekend.
A few delightful surprises inside:
None of you guessed the location of this week’s mystery home. But . . . we do have a winner of that one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance!
Two readers sent in links to the listing — and helped to mix things up by posting fake guesses. We’ll award the prize to Jennifer, who did so first, and volunteered some extended commentary about the property:
I’ve actually been to see this house. I haven’t been inside, but drove to find the property to see what in the world it was after seeing it on har.com
It’s sort of an island paradise. It’s bounded on the east by a creek and on the west and south by a drainage ditch. It borders another property to the north. The house in the pictures is the main house, but there is another ramshackle house on the property plus the barn.
The entire area is smack in the middle of the revamped FEMA flood maps 100-year floodplain. A neighbor came out and told us that the area had never flooded and that they are in the middle of fighting it in the courts because the change in the flood maps has decimated their property values.
I have no idea if it would be safe to live in this area. We drove the entire area to get a look at it from all sides. The street itself is kind of isolated and the neighbor said it was safe, but just across the drainage ditch on the west side is the kind of apartment complex that shows up on the news, and not in a good way.
Thanks and congratulations, Jennifer! Karen came up with the other fake guess. We’ll call her the runner-up.
And now the details:
Got sellers who aren’t too keen on . . . say, clearing off a messy bed for you to take photos? Nothing a little Photoshop rubber stamp magic can’t fix. Add a few blocky pillows, spread that quilting, and presto! It’s clean!
Hey, that was easy! What else could we brush up in this Memorial Bend home?
“Dual toilets in the Masterbath…very unique,” reads the caption on this photo in a listing for a Riverside Terrace home on Parkwood Dr.
But haven’t we seen something like this somewhere before?
Oh, yes.
But that just means this home, built in 1965, was way ahead of its time:
All hail the winner of this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game: Ms Cleo! Well, we promised you glory if you won. Now’s your moment to shine. Congratulations!
Some lovely sleuthing and commentary appeared in this week’s round. Our runner-up, Claire de Lune, was oh so very close but ended up on the wrong side of Shepherd.
Want to see a little more of this home . . . say, the outside?
Real estate agent and Glenbrook Valley champion (and Swamplot advertiser) Robert Searcy has been tracking Midcentury Modern properties for sale in the Houston area on the Houston Mod website. Included in the latest list: this wood-filled home in Woodside designed by architect Zachary T. “Zack” Graham in 1957. It’s been on the market for 2 months now, for $369,000, and it’s practically begging for a whitewashing.
A reader declares that this home “has got to be the largest original home in Lazybrook/Timbergrove.” And:
This is the highest quality of wood paneling I’ve seen in a home in Timbergrove/Lazybrook, and I’ve never seen the wood beams. Too bad the house is so disorganized inside, I’d love to see it fully furnished and cleaned up. An nice little step back into time.
How far back? This 5-bedroom home — on almost half an acre in the upper left armpit of the 610 Loop — was built in 1968.
