04/09/09 7:18pm

Which one of you just won a night at La Torretta Del Lago?

We’ll get to that in a moment. But first, a recap of your guesses for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. The most popular locations were Nottingham Forest (6 guesses), the Energy Corridor (4), and Spring Shadows (3). Thornwood, Kingwood, Nottingham Country, Lakeside Forest, and Barker’s Landing got two guesses each. The rest: Crestwood, Rice Military, Camp Logan, off Dairy Ashford, near Terry Hershey Park, Wilchester, Westchester, “Dairy Ashford/Wilcrest area,” “the Ponderosa Forest area (1960/Kuykendahl),” Ponderosa Forest, Newport subdivision in Crosby, Briargrove, Tanglewood, Memorial, Spring Branch, Shadow Oaks, Sherwood Oaks, “Braeswood/Bellefontaine area, sorta south West-U-ish,” “north of Memorial, south of I-10 . . . between Gessner and Kirkwood,” Montrose, “one of those out-there, almost Energy Corridor, Memorial Villages,” Nottingham Forest 8, Clear Lake, “the Spring Branch/Shadows area between the Beltway and Gessner in the vicinity of Hammerly Blvd.,” Memorial Meadows, Shepherd Park Plaza, “around the Bear Creek Park area,” Ashford Forest, Olde Oaks, Baytown, Memorial Villages, Hedwig Village, “that bit of Houston proper between Bunker Hill & Gessner above Memorial,” Lakeside Estates, Lakeside Place, Briargrove Park, Walnut Bend, Nottingham, Nottingham West, Memorial Northwest, “somewhere between Gessner, Memorial and I-10,” Champions, Greenwood Forest, College Station, “older Champions, south of 1960, Greenwood Forest, Theall Rd. runs through the area,” “somewhere off Memorial View Drive, just west of Eldridge and Memorial,” “that little old neighborhood . . . tucked in between Memorial Oaks Cemetery and Hershey Park . . . could be a little further west off Barker’s Landing (closer to Hwy 6),” “in the middle of the 1960/Champions/249 asteroid belt . . . a block or two from Champions Forest Shopping Center,” “I45 and Cypresswood, near Spring High School,” “the neighborhood bordered by Kempwood and Hammerly and Campbell and Gessner in Spring Branch,” Memorial and Dairy Ashford, Sharpstown, and Bellaire.

Did you leave anything out?

The winner of an overnight stay with breakfast for two in a Tower suite at the La Torretta Del Lago Resort & Spa on Lake Conroe is . . . Rachel, who sprung this wandering guess on us:

I grew up in a house similar to this style too of Wilcrest and Memorial. How I loved going to the neighborhood pool during the summer. Many have already guessed that area so I am going to guess elsewhere…Hmmm the multiple locks on the front door does translate to either a nervous home owner or an area of town which isn’t the safest. I think my Mom has those exact same chairs in the pictured in the livingroom, she has had her’s reapolstered…All along I45 there are some smaller older neighborhoods closer to the freeway. I would say the Huntsville area, but there aren’t enough pine trees in the backyard…I will go with I45 and Cypresswood, near Spring High School.

Congratulations — and enjoy your stay! Also very close, with guesses of Ponderosa Forest, were Jeff and David. David takes special honors this week for this compelling walkthroughand guess:

I can see why so many are drawn to Kickerillo and the Energy Corridor. I feel like I know this house. Come in the front door, wainscoting in the foyer, formal living on the left, formal dining on the right with a bay window. Continue through to the paneled den with corner fireplace to the left and further to the left the downstairs master on the front and master bath toward the back past all the built-ins. Kitchen and breakfast on the right in the back. Period porcelain pulls on the dark stained kitchen cabinets. Walk through a utility room to the detached garage connected by a breezeway. Office is an upstairs bedroom on the right side front of the house with a door out to the upstairs balcony with a wrought iron railing. Probably four bedrooms up with hollywood baths. I bet there is a pocket door between the dining room and the kitchen.

I don’t think it is in the Energy Corridor, though. Some details are Kickerillo but some don’t seem right like the bay window around the tub. It is the right aluminum framed variety from that era but I don’t remember any houses like that. Kickerillo did some other developments – I am going with Ponderosa Forest due to the lack of recent updates and a feeling in my gut.

Very nice. But probably better to go with this gut feeling:

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04/08/09 1:01pm

This 4,148-sq.-ft. 4-bedroom, 4-bath home on three-quarters of an acre in Piney Point Shadows is listed for sale on HAR at $1.1 million. But don’t waste your time making an offer for anything less: The sellers won’t take it.

At least not until after April 22nd. And even then, not unless the auction for the property the listing agent is holding on that date fizzles.

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04/06/09 5:34pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: GUESSING GAME MARKDOWN “This home was custom built as wheelchair accessible. The features noted are the obvious accessibility features. What makes this home a great example of universal design are the lack of thresholds and the curved radius walls which lessen the chance of crashes, but they also look great! The owners are not handicapped at all and are relocating. They now cannot imagine having shower doors and thresholds to trip over in their next home. The price has been reduced to $555,000.” [Thomas A B Johnson, commenting on Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: First Chair]

04/03/09 7:43pm

Thanks to some helpful Swamplot commenters, we have more of the scoop on that railroad-track-side townhome featured on this site yesterday. The project, developed by Northgate Custom Homes, is called Villas at the Heights. And yes, units are still available!

114-M Heights Blvd., which has the front-row seat on the railroad track just north of Center St., is in fact listed at the same price it started at when it first hit the market, a week and a year ago. However, it’s been marked down three times and up twice since then, reaching a low of $296,900 last May and a high of $324,900 last August. Today, you could snap this place up for a mere $299,900!

If you like the track frontage but feel a bit nervous about owning a townhome that directly faces busy Heights Blvd., you might prefer Unit A in back, available for the same price. It’s the same model, which Northgate calls “The Blue Violet.”

A peek at the interiors of the development’s model home:

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04/02/09 5:08pm

We have a winner . . . and a new member of the Rice Design Alliance!

Here were your guesses for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game: “Spring Branch south of Long Point, around Antoine, Wirt and Pech,” Spring Branch, Oak Forest (2 guesses), Mangum Manor, Timbergrove Manor, Lazybrook, Garden Oaks, Afton Oaks, “Braeburn/Meyerlandish,” Meyerland, Meyer Park, “Westbury, around Chimney Rock/Willowbend/West Bellfort,” Willowbend (2), Glenbrook Valley, Braeburn Valley West, Westwood, Tanglewilde, Westbury (2), Maplewood, “Spring Valley or above – near Hollister,” Pasadena, “between Willowbend and Bellfort, east of Post Oak, within a half-mile of Willow Park in Willow Meadows,” Tanglewood, Braes Heights, Braes Oaks, “somewhere south of Bellaire Blvd., near Stella Link/Buffalo Speedway,” Braes Terrace, Channelview, Jacinto City, Montgomery near Little York, and “the Woodlake/Briar Meadow area off Richmond inside the Beltway.”

Right off the bat, Brad and CK win a couple of honorable mentions for mentioning Spring Branch. This week’s winner didn’t name that neighborhood explicitly, but came closer to the actual location and gave a better explanation:

I think Brad sorta nailed it but I’m going to move a little to the west & say Spring Valley or above – near Hollister. A cul-de-sac lot – that big bathroom window is looking out on their own garage, so no need for, um, cover. Maybe if you buy the house they’ll throw the RV in as well. Possibly a ravine lot – that’s why the new bathroom, because of flooding in the 90’s?

Congratulations, flake: You just won a one-year membership in the RDA!

A third honorable mention goes to biggerintexas, for this entertaining and entirely plausible (if geographically challenged) commentary:

My favorite part is how the dining room floor magically grew onto the kitchen walls. The bathroom was a project done very recently (hence no window coverings) to help sell this house…if only you could see the before photos of the bathroom when it had gold, textured wallpaper and a red carpet to go with the pistachio colored porcelain. In their defense – the visible “neighbor” is actually the detached garage so unless they have squatters living in their garage they don’t have worry about peeping toms from that particular directions. The house is owned by a couple that is reaching retirement age and they plan to sell their house and dump their furniture so they can take their RV (you can see it from the kitchen window) on a tour of America’s finest petting zoos. Once the furniture gets cleared out this house isn’t so bad but the new owner will have lots of fun removing wallpaper and paneling. Oh, and the house was built around 1960-ish in the Oak Forest neighborhood.

And the actual coordinates?

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04/02/09 10:50am

Great real estate video takes time. Bicyclist and blogger Dave McC has been very patient:

I’ve been waiting for a year since this place was finished to time it right for a good photo op. Today was that day! Houston has some wonderful examples of Developers Gone Wild (TM). This is a great one . . .

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03/26/09 3:43pm

Today, a lucky smart Neighborhood Guessing Game player wins a Houston. It’s Worth It. gift box — containing a copy of the original Houston. It’s Worth It. photo book, a HIWI mug, a HIWI T-shirt, a HIWI baseball cap, several “afflictions” postcards, and of course HIWI bug repellent. Very appropriate prizes for this game, and all donated by . . . yes, Houston. It’s Worth It. (You can find more about the individual products at the HIWI store.)

Before we announce the prizewinner, there’s a long list of neighborhoods to call off — your guesses! Ready? Meyerland off South Post Oak near 610, “between Westwood CC and Beechnut,” the Heights, La Porte, Jersey Village, Willow Meadows, “near the bayou off Braeswood in a flood zone,” “between 610 and the beltway, near the Ship Channel,” Jacinto City, Denver Harbor, Pasadena (2 guesses), Galena Park, North Shore, Clover Leaf, Channelview (2 guesses), “near Antoine, south of Tidwell,” off Griggs or Scott, the East End (2 guesses), the Energy Corridor, “off Dairy Ashford close to Stratford High School,” “somewhere along the 225/Allen Genoa/Allendale area,” “north of Braes Bayou, west of Buffalo Speedway, east of Weslayan/Stella Link,” Forest West, Oak Forest, “south along the I-45 corridor,” South Houston, Harrisburg, Magnolia, Baytown, “around Irvington [or] continuing north to the Airline area,” Sagemont, “the Westbury/Willowbend area,” Briarmeadow, Sharpstown (2 guesses), “Sharpstown near Gessner/Bellaire,” the “Sharpstown/Chinatown area” (2 of you), “south of Braeswood near Buffalo Speedway,” near UH, “damn close to Southmore,” Lazybrook, Pearland, “off Navigation,” Meyerland, lower Westbury, the “southern part of Greater Westbury,” south of the Med Center, Southwest Houston, Alief (2 guesses), Bellaire between Wilcrest and Dairy Ashford, around Friendswood, “over by the Georgia addition in Eastwood (sort of near Evergreen Cemetery maybe),” “Larkwood, near Bissonnet and Fondren,” Spring Branch, Windsor Village, the Hiram Clarke area along Sims Bayou, Riviera East, along Normandy north of I-10 by Greens Bayou, near “perennial Channelview area flooder Sterling Green by Carpenters Bayou,” Maplewood between Braeswood and Beechnut, Glenbrook Valley, and Meadowcreek Village.

Phew! That’s quite a tour! And there are some great guesses in there.

Picking the winner was a little tough this week because nobody guessed the exact name of the subdivision — and because a few players came mighty close. The winner of the photo finish — and the prize — is subprimelandguy, who managed to name a couple of flanking neighborhoods and a nearby bayou . . . among others:

I agree that there is definitely some flooding bayou love going on here. But due to the decor and burglar bars, I’m not thinking Braes Bayou or White Oak, but instead prolly Sims or Greens. Maybe somewheres in Windsor Village or elsewhere in the Hiram Clarke area along Sims, or maybe out east in Riviera East or elsewhere along Normandy north of I-10 by Greens. Or, maybe even perennial Channelview area flooder Sterling Green by Carpenters Bayou. All feature 1960’s or 1970’s General Homes type tract specials.

Congratulations! And shouts-out to runners-up flake (for “lower Westbury”) and JT (for “the southern part of Greater Westbury”). A whole bunch more of you were pretty darn close, too.

This was your target:

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03/25/09 11:53am

THE GREAT INNER-LOOP TEARDOWN BACKUP “Since builders cannot get credit to build spec homes right now, they are not buying older “tear-down” homes in West U and Bellaire. As a result, the $400K-$499K price range in West U and Bellaire is a strong buyer’s market with inventories stacking up.” [Strictly a Buyer’s Agent]

03/25/09 11:33am

Sell! Sell! Sell! screams the grand central Living Room of this 6,495-sq.-ft. wonder (seen here from the entry) in pond-spotted but down-to-earth Royal Lakes Manor. And really, it does look like the builder was able to get a rather comprehensive new-home design-cliché package to fire on all cylinders.

Sadly, all the entry melodrama hasn’t been drawing the buyers. The 2-story house — which looks to be about halfway between Sugar Land and Richmond, south of 59 — was completed in 2007, and originally listed for $1.2 million. The following May the price was cut to $1.1 million, then later listed with another broker for $1,025,000. By July, it was down to $949,000. It’s been listed with the current broker — at $899K — since last December.

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03/19/09 11:48pm

Hey, we have another Rice Design Alliance membership to give away!

Your guesses for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game were: Rice Military, the East End of Galveston, Camp Logan, Oak Estates, The Woodlands, Avalon Place, “the area between Shepherd & Montrose and 59 to Milford or North,” Southampton, “west of Chimney Rock to around Voss, between Woodway and Westheimer,” West Lane Place, Nantucket, Southside Place, “Indian Trail/Indian Circle/Tecumseh off Chimney Rock btw Woodway and Memorial,” along the “divorcee belt” between Beltway 8 and 610 “crossed by the likes of Westheimer, Woodway, Richmond, Bissonnet et al.,” the divorcee belt north of Westheimer and east of Voss, “in the area of the Houstonian off of Memorial, closer to San Felipe-Sage/Post Oak,” Midlane at San Felipe, near Bering, “past the Galleria heading towards Voss,” and West University. Plus two each for the Heights, Afton Oaks, and Bellaire. All very sharp!

The winner of a one-year RDA individual membership — donated by the Rice Design Alliance — is Rachel, for this entry:

This home is in the area of the Houstonian off of Memorial, closer to San Felipe-Sage/Post Oak. The kitchen dates it to around 2001 and the small size makes me think the lot is not especially large. It looks to me like they had a decorator come in and all of the built in book shelves suggests a higher end builder.

Congratulations, Rachel! Deserving of an extremely honorable mention this week is Harold Mandell, who stepped out of a shadowy corner of Montrose to deliver two classic NGG entries — first, introducing the Great West Houston Divorcée Belt:

Long time lurker, 1st time player–impelled to jump in because I really want the prize. And because you guys are so off the mark on this one.
No man doth live in this house– and the baby in the baby’s room is a guest baby. This home is found in the great divorcee belt– one of those late ’80’s or newer townhomes found west of Chimney Rock to around Voss, between Woodway and Westheimer. The stairwell and the upstairs ceiling tell all.

. . . and next, in response to a broader definition of the belt, tightening it in a wide-hipped circle around the target:

Bobby Hadley, you see the Great West Houston Divorcee Belt right on– but remember, there’s also the divorcee demographic that arrived from comfortable circumstances in say Briargrove, or even Memorial. Comfortable until there comes a time when “she’d rather be homeless than be at home with him”. Then she finds herself in downsized quarters– but at last she can decorate it just like she wants it. I say this place is definitely north of Westheimer, and except for Hammersmith I would say east of Voss.

So, what’s the real deal with this place?

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03/12/09 5:06pm

Are all the votes in? Okay, then. We have a winner!

First, a big thank you to Robert Gadsby’s brand-new Bedford Restaurant in the Heights, for sponsoring this week’s prize: a $100 gift certificate to the restaurant.

Now your guesses for this week’s home: They were all good. You doubled up on Clear Lake, Cypress, Bentwater, Missouri City, Kingwood, Lakes on Eldridge, and Memorial. Sugar Land got 3 guesses. The rest: Silverlake, Cinco Ranch, West University, Spring Valley, “somewhere east of champion forest, south of spring cypress, north of cypress creek, and west of i45,” the eastern portion of Cypresswood and Louetta near I-45, Cypress Estates, “Kickerillo, Energy Corridor-ish,” Lakes of Parkway, April Sound, near Lake Conroe, “northwest, north of 290, outside of 1960,” Richmond, Pecan Grove, River Oaks, Upper Kirby, Cole’s Crossing, Copperfield, near the Sweetwater or Sugar Creek Country Clubs, Sugar Lakes, Barker Cypress and I-10, Bellaire, Atascocita, Linkwood, Braes Heights, Twin Lakes, Summerwood, Spring, Montgomery, Humble, Friendswood, Pasadena, Dickinson, “Highway 90a between Stafford and the little regional airport,” and Tomball.

Lots of new participants this time. See? It’s not hard! Unless, of course . . . you want to win!

No player narrowed this one down to the actual neighborhood name. But of the two players who mentioned Missouri City, CK had the better explanation, and wins the $100 gift certificate to Bedford. Congratulations! The runner-up was houstonre.

The standout entries, of course, were from flake, who earns an extremely honorable mention for visualizing the hidden wheelchair:

The shower was redone so a chair can get in it. The kitchen counters were lowered and made so a wheelchair can fit underneath comfortably – microwave, sink (plumbing exposed out of necessity) now all within easy reach. Front-loading new washer/dryer put in as well. Also explains the large barca-loungers in LR & bath. And no area rugs to trip up wheels. Mom or Dad is the disabled one – not Grandma.

and later:

ooh, ooh, the light switches are lowered as well. I think they worked with the original builder before the house was built. This just doesn’t feel like a remodel.

Excellent work! Alas, picking up on those clues didn’t lead to the actual location.

Now: A little more about that house!

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03/10/09 5:46pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WEST UNIVERSITY HOMES FOR SALE “You can see the collapse happening in West U. Noticed what I thought were an unusually high number of for sale/for rent signs there in late January, so started keeping an eye on the number of listings. (There’s an easy link on the chron.com site and then you can click on a neighborhood.) At the beginning of Feb. there were 297 residences listed. It has climbed more or less steadily over the past 6 weeks and stood at 353 today. A drive down Edloe from Westpark towards Holcombe is almost scary. There is a combination of developers finishing the last of the giant McMansions for this cycle and likely reseting of adjustable rate mortgages and job losses. There will probably be a cascading effect as very expensive places that can’t be sold get reduced and put pressure on prices of smaller places that have to be cut in turn. . . .” [MikeRG, commenting on Those Wet and Wild Houston Mortgages: 18 Percent Now Underwater, 7 Percent More Still Paddling for Air]

03/09/09 9:35am

A reader stumbles across this oldish-fashioned gated compound of brand-new $650K-$800K townhomes in the northern part of the Heights and sends in a photo report:

Driving to my favorite taco stand this morning, I happened on this “gated community” within the Heights on E. 22nd just west of Gostic. Thank God they will be gated in. We in the Heights don’t like having to interact with such snooty riff raff.

The 4 homes at 621 E. 22nd St., labeled The Court at 22nd Street, were developed by the Frankel Building Group. How will they do in the court of public opinion?

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03/06/09 12:22pm

This home, with a dramatic roofline that only hints at the remarkable ceiling swoops that await inside, was the 1952 creation of Houston architect Allen R. Williams. It’s at the corner of Ivanhoe and Kettering in Afton Oaks, and as of this week, it’s on the market “as is.”

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03/05/09 8:54pm

Time’s up for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. And there’s a prize winner to announce!

We had 2 guesses each for Camp Logan, Crestwood, and “near the Houston Country Club.” The rest: Tanglewood, “overlooking Memorial Park,” Spring, Champions, Greenwood Forest, Nottingham, Hudson Bend, Hudson Forest, “somewhere off Gessner,” along Gessner between Briar Forest and Memorial, Tealwood, “near Memorial . . . around Gessner, Fondren or Wilcrest,” the Braeswood-Med Center area, east of 288 near MacGregor and the bayou, along Rice between San Felipe and Westheimer (?), between San Felipe and Woodway off Post Oak Lane, Clear Lake City, River Oaks, near Memorial between Kirkwood and Eldridge Parkway, Bellaire, Sugar Land, Greatwood Bend, “the Plantation-y area around Dulles and Highway 6,” Bayou Glen, Westhaven Estates, near Chimney Rock and Memorial, Lakeside Place, and Lakeside Forest.

The winner of a year-long membership in the Rice Design Alliance? MariaO, for this entry:

I wonder what this place looked like before the staging? What’s up with the pool cues without a pool table?
Obviously 70s construction, built-ins and bathroom cabinets are the giveaway. Brick floors and no carpet down, so most likely is near water, maybe backs to a bayou? I’d say Memorial but it can’t be or they would have done a Subzero fridge instead of that generic thing. Must be outside the Beltway and south of the bayou, Lakeside Forest or Lakeside Place.

Congratulations! The runner-up this week is CK, who was drawn to Wilcrest. And an honorable mention goes to the amazing through-the-web olfactory talents of JPSivco, who was able to sniff out both a bayou and golf course nearby. Only it was the wrong golf course:

Guys, I can’t believe you can not smell that Bayou in the backyard of this place!!

I like the second floor loft.

All of the windows argue a view of something.

Since Houston is flat…with views of nothing…I bet it is along Buffalo Bayou

it is a big place, with a pool and lots of renovations (floors, kitchen) so near HCC. it might even be on a golf course if it is not the Bayou. Maybe i just smell a retention pond.

Talk about a great nose for real estate!

A special shout-out goes to Lisa, who wrote in that she knew the listing, then submitted this great head-fake:

Painted paneling and flagstone fireplace place this as built around 1975. The poor little kitchen looks neglected. Not upscale enough for Memorial, Tanglewood, etc. The bathroom looks like the ones in the 1970’s homes in the great NW area. The yard is small so it’s a subdivision. I think that it’s a older home in the Champions area. Maybe Greenwood Forest or Nottingham.

And now . . . the reveal!

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