Tag: Price Reductions

Featured Posts
02/25/15 3:15pm

A Woodshire Mod Redo That Hasn’t Flipped Yet, but Has Been Marked Down More Than $90K

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Homes for Sale, Interiors, Modern Design, Renovations, Woodshire
25 Comments

9231 Fordshire Dr., Woodshire, Houston

9231 Fordshire Dr., Woodshire, Houston

What’s been going on with that mod home renovation in Woodshire that was featured on Swamplot last September when it was aiming for a $775,500 sale price? Plenty!

The property appeared in a Chronicle featurette in October. Later, it went on a short holiday vacation from the MLS — interrupting a sequence of 6 separate price reductions and one relisting. It stood and beamed for a whole new portfolio of listing photos (shown here). And today, the home’s redesigner, Jamie House, has posted her own account of many of the decisions and efforts that went into the transformation of the 1956 property she worked on with Dave Seeburger of P&G Homes — along with an entirely different set of before-and-after pics.

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The Story Behind the 1-Story
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Featured Posts
12/15/14 12:15pm

Will This Well-Pointed West U Home Bring in $765K?

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Homes for Sale, Interiors, Price Reductions, West University
10 Comments

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Over in West University, one of the updated brick bungalows in the Rice Court neighborhood makes a few good points — in its windows, archways, and a section of living room ceiling vaulted into the sharply pitched roofline. The 2008-renovated 1934 property has been on the market since an August listing aimed at $799K; it dropped its price a month ago to $765K. Two-and-a-bit years ago, the current owner picked it up for $551K.  CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Pointillism
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Briarmeadow
11/25/14 4:00pm

The Many Listings and Change-Ups of a Briarmeadow Home Still Aiming for a Flip, Now at $409K

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Homes for Sale, Interiors
3 Comments

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Tweaks to a 1977 Briarmeadow home have left it looking rather peachy inside, thanks to a dream-state color wash. The heavy-roofed French-ish property last sold in 2013, for $291,040, and has appeared in an assortment of listings and relistings ever since. Updated in that interim, the westward-facing home is now  attempting a flip at $409,000. Previous listings sought a high of $489K in July 2013, with reductions to $459K in September 2013, $449K in April 2014 (which snagged a contract but not a closing), and $429K in July 2014 — before taking a breather from the market in August. Renovations picked the bones clean and added new ingredients . . .

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Continuity
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Home Design
10/30/14 2:15pm

A Fifties Bachelor Pad Returns to the Woodshire Stage with a Bow at $550K

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Homes for Sale, Interiors, Price Reductions, Woodshire
7 Comments

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If portions of this open-plan Woodshire mod look a bit like a stage set (top), that was likely the idea. The 1957 custom designed pad, by architects Dunaway & Jones, was for Joseph T. Finkelstein, the co-founder and former president of the Alley Theatre (and a former actor in New York). Although the double lot’s landscaped scenery has gone a bit shaggy between acts, the overall swank factor still appears intact. Earlier this week, a re-re-relisting dropped the period property’s asking price down to $549,500.

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Scene Stealer
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Featured Posts
09/12/14 1:45pm

Splashing Down Behind the Wall of a Split-Lot Property in Westhaven Estates

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Home Decor, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Open Houses, Price Reductions, Westhaven Estates
6 Comments

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The frontrunner on a split lot with a shared driveway, this 2002 contemporary in the Westhaven Estates area captures space for a splash zone courtyard. Sculpted landscaping and decorative panels soften the curbside appearance of the sturdy wall erected near the sidewalk on Inwood Dr., south of San Felipe Rd. between Nantucket and Potomac drives. The front property’s relisting by a new agent this week set a $1.139 million asking price. Back in February, a previous market appearance had begun with a $1.195 million price tag. A reduction in April, to $1.145 million, briefly snagged a contract in June before the property took off for the summer.

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Front and Center
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Featured Posts
09/03/14 2:45pm

A Modern Colquitt Townhome’s Gently Lowering Price Tag

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Home Design, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Price Reductions
28 Comments

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Overhangs, cutouts, and eyebrow arches shade the balconies and patios of a 2005 stucco contemporary in Lancaster Place. The townhome’s price in its relisting today by the same agent, $749,990, is $100K less than in its initial appearance back in April. Price reductions in the interim sought $799,900 in May and $775,000 in July before the previous listing terminated Tuesday. The corner unit differentiates its footprint from a not-so-identical twin next door with sprout-and-chrome accents — and more:

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Minty Fresh
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Featured Posts
04/25/14 5:00pm

Maxing Out a Mini-Lot in Houston Heights

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Historic Districts, Home Design, Homes for Sale, Houston Heights, Interiors, Open Houses, Price Reductions
3 Comments

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A wee corner lot in the Houston Heights East Historic District carries a 1920 home’s addition on its back instead of in its back yard, which is occupied instead by the “tandem” one-car-wide garage. Renovations to the property since last summer, when it sold for $342K, moved around some of the interior walls and overhauled the kitchen and bathrooms. The current listing’s asking price of $574,900 is the ninth price point sought by a series of listings that ticked down nearly $75K in price reductions since the home’s January 2014 market debut at $650,000. 

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Spacing Out
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Buying and Selling
02/07/14 1:30pm

How the Ken Lay Condo Sale Worked Out

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Condos, Interiors, Price Reductions, Upper Kirby
10 Comments

Interior, 2121 Kirby Dr. Unit 33, Upper Kirby, Houston

The Huntingdon, 2121 Kirby Dr., Upper Kirby, HoustonA slideshow featured on the website of the Houston Business Journal (and noted in our Headlines post this morning) features the 7 most expensive homes sold in Houston last year. Coming in at No. 3 is the full-floor Huntingdon condo unit where former Enron CEO Ken Lay used to live. 2121 Kirby Dr. Unit 33 and its mopey-castle-in-the-sky interior (shown below after the furniture was removed) was listed for sale by his widow, Linda Lay, back in 2010 and featured on Swamplot occasionally over the following years as it hopped on and off the market a few times and descended in fits and starts from an initial (off-market) asking price of $12.8 million to the mid-single-digit millions. MLS and county tax records show the 9-bathroom, 6-elevator, 12,827-sq.-ft. pièd-a-terre with the $10K+ monthly maintenance fee finally sold last February to an entity controlled by another local CEO, for a (still-record-making, but more than half-off) $5.5 million, though the list price had by that time fallen $100K lower.

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Much Lower, but Still Sky High
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Homes for Sale
09/04/13 3:30pm

Shaving the Price of the Fiery Neuhaus House in Shadyside

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Houston Architects, Interiors, Price Reductions, Shadyside
10 Comments

A megasized 1920 “cottage” in the gated community of Shadyside has knocked a couple mil off its asking price; it’s now at $8.9 million, compared with the $11.5 million in its March 2013 debut. All the home’s chimneys atop the steep-and-shingled faux-thatched roof signal a plethora of stately fireplaces inside. Most of the blaze is outside, however, when the extensive gardens surrounding the property are in bloom (at right).

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Homes for Sale
04/04/13 4:16pm

Fencing Off the Urban Setting of an Upper Kirby Contemporary

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Interiors, Price Reductions, Upper Kirby
7 Comments

Behind the curbside growth gone wild, a far tidier contemporary home has been hiding (above) in plain view since 1998. The Upper Kirby property dropped its price April Fool’s Day to $745,000, down from an initial $770K when listed in mid-March. Facing west — and located across from older apartments and the back of a more recent mid-rise complex — this home on an end-cap lot not too far from Whole Foods Market saves its outdoor impact for the back side of the fenced lot (above) and uses the scene as its view from rooms within.

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Home Decor
02/04/13 1:30pm

The Piney Point Mansion Beyoncé Likes Goes Up on the Auction Block

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Home for Sale, Home Prices, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Piney Point Village, Real Estate Marketing
8 Comments

If Beyoncé still wants this deeply discounted Piney Point Village mansion for her mother, she might have to bring back Sasha Fierce and grab a paddle: It’s going up on February 19 for auction. The 21,640-sq.-ft., 4-kitchen rental property near Briar Forest was listed as recently as January 3 at $5.9 million — and, says the website of California-based auction house Premier Estates, that’s just where bids will start.

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Home Design
08/14/12 9:32am

West U’s Haus und Häuschen

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Homes for Sale, Interiors, Price Reductions, West University
16 Comments

There’s a stuccoed Dutch-Colonial-Swiss Colony on the not-so-mountainous streets behind Weslayan Plaza’s west side in the College Court section (aka the “chimney”) of West University Place. The lookalike cottage and quarters are steps away from the new Buffalo Grille and a U.S. Post Office. West U’s Judson Park to the south and a proposed rail station for Metro’s supposed University Line are also blocks away. Railroad tracks, meanwhile, are just up the street.

During construction of the 1983 main house, a former 1940s “barn” on the site became a 2-story guest house in lieu of a garage. HCAD cites some remodeling in 1991 to the home. Last Friday, the property re-listed at $462,500 after a previous listing by the same agent initially sought $575,000 in April 2012, with adjustments to $565,000, $550,000, and then a summer of $524,990. The home’s side entry and hipped roof make for an atypical floor plan:

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Condos for Sale
08/08/12 1:01pm

Ken Lay’s Former Condo Has Vanished

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Price Reductions, Upper Kirby
12 Comments

From the for-sale listings, at least. A reader tips us off that the former Enron CEO’s 12,827-sq.-ft. condo on the 33rd floor of The Huntingdon highrise at 2121 Kirby — which with a break or 2 has been a fixture on Houston’s MLS since early 2010 — is no longer listed for sale. Is the property’s owner — Lay’s widow Linda — just taking a summer break, is another re-listing planned, or is something else going on?

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Briargrove Park
07/02/12 11:40am

Seventh Listing May Be the Charm For Briargrove Park Hopeful

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Homes for Sale, Interiors, Price Reductions
13 Comments

This property in Briargrove Park has had more MLS lives than Henry VIII had wives. The current listing is the fourth round for the same agent and seventh for the address since November 2010. In the interim, the price has bounced around, landing at an even $500,000 10 days ago after runs at $529,000, $499,000, $495,000, $499,000 (again), $575,000 in April, and reductions to $549,000 and $525,000.

Stylized photos of the 1998 brick-and-stucco home in Briar Court show its little-of-this, little-of-that exterior, decked out with builder-deco keystones, quoins, gas lamps, and an entry arch. A Medici-worthy Italianate balustrade suggests a balcony, but it’s not to be: A window sits close behind it helping light the atrium entry hall within. Beyond the double-wide leaded-glass front door, a stripped-down entry unfolds, complete with curving, pincher-like double staircases and a marble floor:

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Comments
01/27/12 10:21pm

Comment of the Day: Up or Down

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Leasing, Price Reductions, Quicklink, Real Estate Marketing
27 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: UP OR DOWN “On the agent side of HAR, you can see the different listing amounts. So while you might avoid the big red arrow showing a decrease, any agent can still see the pricing history. What a lot of agents do is lower their places by a few bucks a day, that way people with searches setup for a given location will keep being notified of their listing (since a price change will kick in a notice to be sent out). I know it works as I just RAISED the price of a rental on HAR and got a ton of calls. Likely because anyone that has an alert setup for my rental type just got ‘re-alerted’ about the apartment.” [Cody, commenting on Back, Slashed: Ken and Linda Lay’s Huntingdon Penthouse]

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