Over in Woodshire, a fifties-vintage neighborhood hugging the South Loop west of Stella Link Rd., a recently renovated 1956 mod returned to the market earlier this month. Its distinctive airplane-wing roof slants nearly to the ground above a brick exterior that’s now been whitewashed. Inside, a few structural changes have opened up the living space, removed a series of exposed ceiling beams, and restored a studio floating above the double-wide driveway. The home last sold in May 2013 — for $240K. After its overhaul and repositioning by P&G Homes — in collaboration with LynnGoode Vintage and Jamie House Design — the flip-ready property now carries a $775,500 asking price. What does the half-million upgrade get you?
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Five huge live oak trees shade the lot. As shown in the above view from curbside, a series of slanted roof segments continue the angles over the living-dining wing, bump-out kitchen with patio access, and floating studio. A counter-height service window previously located between the dining area and kitchen . . .
was removed. As shown in the post-work pix, the previous floor plan’s ups and downs were brought back to a single level:
The updated wall of windows that faces the back of the 9,392-sq.-ft. lot now features a center door to the patio and yard:
Photos in the previous listing show the door on the side of a staggered arrangement of glass:
Removing this cross-beam over the former living area also helped elongate the combo living-dining area:
In the old set-up, swinging doors flapped between the room and the entry (above), all of which got smoothed out in the redo. A former pass-thru into the bedroom wing no longer passes through at all. It’s a shelving unit:
Here’s the old kitchen, with its dark cabinets and wooden ceiling with exposed ribs:
The new space still accents its lines overhead. (There are just fewer of them.) Stone countertops emphasize the room’s horizontality:
Over the sink, a wide window continues to look across the back patio to the opposing wing, where the bedrooms are to be found. One end of the room opens into the study:
At the other end of the room, there’s an informal dining area. Near it, a glass-panel door has access to a small side patio, protected from cross street Leeshire Dr. by a brick wall, also painted as part of the project:
The current listing mentions 3 bedrooms, plus one in the studio space. One of the bedrooms used to look like this:
As in most of the updated rooms, the interior’s brick accent walls remain, but white ceilings spanned by just a few dark beams help brighten things up. In the current listing, furnishings in this photo are virtual:
Here’s another view of the same bedroom, located toward the front of the 3,304-sq.-ft. home:
This bedroom lands in the middle of the lineup:
Before the 3 full bathrooms (and 1 half-bath) met 21st-century tastes, they looked like this one:
The new finishes blend stone, tile, and dark wood:
The master bathroom is equipped with a large closet and access to the half-bath, which the listing dubs “his.” The master bedroom itself isn’t shown.
Giant pavers matching those found at the front of the lot trim out much of the back yard, where a tubular staircase rises to the studio. Floating above the now-gated driveway, the studio space leaves a carport below it:
The studio (or guest suite) includes a living area, kitchen, bathroom, and storage loft:
At the back of the carport, a pair of double-door storage closets are tucked between the structure’s columns.
Stella Link’s southbound lanes lie on the other side of the corner property’s back wall. There’s a shopping center across the street.
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This must be a joke, $500k more for an basic remodel job? If your realtor advises you to buy this house for anywhere close to the asking price, they should be fired and their license yanked.
Beautiful home but it looks as if it was staged by Rent-A-Center.
Too much for the area. Across the street is a work source, a newly opened game room, a soon to open 99 cents store and a laundry mat. I guess the best part of living there would be all the poor people dashing across the street to wait for the bus and use the lawn for a garbage can.
Until that shopping center improves its clientele, they are about 300k too high for the area.
Seems like they’re aiming for way too high of a margin. I redid a house of about that size in a market with higher labor costs that had some minor, but real, structural issues, and it cost me about $120k over the purchase price. Making all the floors the same level and everything else they did I could see it costing $200k, or maybe $250k? Maybe I’m missing something.
And maybe your margin equaling what you put in above the purchase price is normal in the Heights, but I doubt it works that way backing up to Stella Link.
I think the brick on the front looked better before it was painted white. Should of painted the trim, instead. Nice updates, but does not seem to fit well with the design. The conversion to ultra modern did not work in my opinion.
I think they’re clearly being too aggressive in their asking price, but I like what they did to the place/think its substantially more attractive (and interesting) than the mini-mansions others might’ve put on this lot. Additionally, this individual house might be overpriced given its proximity to Stella Link, but the surrounding neighborhoods Woodshire/Woodside/Westridge/Knollwood are all booming with a lot of total renovations or teardown->lotline mansions happening.
Beautiful job, but the price seems.. how do you say.. insane
Other lesser mods in the area are getting $275 per sq ft. $775k for a 3300 sq ft house near the med center is not a bad deal, even with the lousy location. A mile or two closer to the med center would have this selling for 1.5 mil.
The original architecture is brilliant. I would have kept the beams that housed AC ducts and tried to be a bit less minimal modern and a bit more funky MCM with the renovations.
There is nothing “basic” about this remodel. Excellent work… and a ton of space for an inner-loop original.
Um, yeah, for $750K, I want a garage,
Can Swamplot do followup on these homes as they sell so we can see what they actually go for?
@JB3 – Register for HomeSnap, it gives a pretty accurate history of properties; it will tie various MLS# to the same property address as well as indicate price changes, contract dates, and final sales price.
I wondered what they were doing to this one — it’s been an active reno site since the last sale. Agree the location makes the price unrealistic, but if it speaks to folks who are flush with that kind of cash, location won’t matter.
I missed that there’s now a game room in that shopping center. It’s almost 100% capacity now, and which is an improvement over the fairly recent history where it was mostly vacant.
Heather: I disagree about the fullness of the shopping center being better than empty. Game rooms are usually associated with drugs, crime and violence there is a reason the city regulates them so harshly. I don’t know how long this one will be there before something criminal occurs. Also, the 99 cent store is another potential beacon for the poor and criminally minded. The last 99 cent store failed fortunately so this should crap out too. The problem is that the shopping center appears to be targeted for the lowest common denominator with the exception of the brewery supply store and the jiujitsu academy. Other than the other side of 610 with a few ghetto apartments, the area has become much Improved. Having these types of lower class stores is not in the best interest of the neighborhood and I suspect will go away as the last of the ghetto apartments are torn down on north braeswood and turned to condos in link valley (aka the old Death Valley from the 80’s and 90’s). Knollwood still has a few that are pretty rough but given the rapidly rising lot values south of the bayou, they should go soon.
I know it is not politically correct to say these things but almost all of the crime in the area comes from low income people. It is a well known fact that southside/bellaire/west u/ cops and constables are on the watch out for people like the customers of that shopping center and with good reason, they commit most of the break-ins and robberies in the area. They see there is money to the north and are willing to rob and hurt people to get it.
Gorgeous, thoughtful renovation. Outstanding.
I”m an owner of P&G Homes, the company that invested in this awesome mid-century mod. Thank you Swamplot for the post! And thank you all for your comments. We work so hard on our homes that I’m always anxious to hear what people have to say when we are finished; and when it’s unbiased it’s even more helpful! We have received a lot of interest in this home; although the style isn’t for everyone (including my wife:), it really has appealed to the target market. I want to thank Jamie House Design and Lynn Goode Vintage (and the army of contractors) for their efforts in helping us preserve and update this home for the next half-century.
Restoring old homes isn’t as easy or profitable as tearing down and building new, but I do it because I love it. And I’m always looking for more.
I thought self serving cheap advertising plugs by two-bit flippers are forbidden on Swamplot. Especially if the comment serves no other purpose than a self serving plug fraught with platitudes and advertising drivel.
I love it! And I think the price is a good guess; I live in Old Braeswood, which is a couple of miles closer in, and a 50’s house there sold for over $1M in less than a day last month.
I can’t say how much I love this remodel. LOVE.
Congratulations on a successful updating, and thank you for not tearing her down. Here’s hoping the neighborhood improves and supports your investment.
Zodiac – All valid points. We can agree to disagree. As I said in my first comment, I was unaware of the game room — I noticed it yesterday after your comment, and that is disappointing, particularly given the money spent to reno that center fairly recently. It’s a shame HPD vacated that strip — they had a storefront there for a while, didn’t they? I’ve lived in the neighborhood 29 years and seen development cycle up and down, along with crime, which has been more pervasive in the last six months than in the previous few years. My chats with the constables and security patrols haven’t netted any solid response on “why now” or or referenced the upswing in shopping center tenants as a cause, but I know it’s a legitimate concern when said shopping center is literally in the backyard.
what can I say, I like that the remodeler kept the original style of this mid-century-home as too many people tear them down and build those boring homes we all see in the suburbs. Though the furniture looks a bit dated or original to the house they did a good job at some of the finishes and cork floors are pretty cool, too. I can’t believe all the negative comments on here but there are a lot of people who don’t get period architecture and I’m sure these are the same people who want the Astrodome torn down and hope to have a new Walmart of Fiesta built in it’s place. Personally being from the Seattle area it’s refreshing to see something different.
the surrounding shopping centers don’t mean a thing esp in up and coming or transitional neighborhoods. You see this all over america. Unfortunately there aren’t enough tenants aval to fill them all up (meaning you can’t have a full line HEB or Starbucks in every center) and eventually as the landlord, who is temp filling them up to pay the bills, will tear them down when the market is right and build town homes or whatever. The smart commercial investor buys now in a transitional area while it’s cheap and leases to whoever until it’s time to redevelop it. Commercial is usually the last to get changed out. I Have lived in Boston, NY-East Village and Chicago you always see low end commercial tenants in transitional neighborhoods that’s the new america unless you move to Woodlands and let’s face it, suburbanites are a different buyer than city dwellers.
this has got to be the ugliest flip for a midcentruy home!!! We live in a similar style home in Meyerland and love the design but the flipper destroyed it. Not sure on pricing but seems a bit high for the region but I’m not an expert, after reading above sure seems so. Next time don’t paint the brick people!! I do like those 3 globe lights by the front door I’m glad the flipper didn’t remove those.
Good luck on that crazy price, where did the remodeler pick up that two bit realtor she doesn’t know her prices. Looks like she sells mostly low cost homes in the bad part of town lol. What the heck? She should have knocked it down and built something new that matches the neighborhood. Next time I’m sure the remodeler will sell with a realtor who knows more about the neighborhood as buyers don’t want a crummy remodeling job.
Had to laugh at the last comment. Knock it down to build in the style of the neighborhood? Obviously you have not been in Woodshire. Though there are new builds that are grossly out of character with the prevailing style, there are a substantial number of soft moderns throughout the neighborhood. Also, the Realtor, Jackie Zehl, is a very seasoned lady that happens to sell a lot of upper end Meyerland ranches. The fact is this house was basically purchased for less than current lot value. Though it seems very well done with some thoughtful choices, I think it is overpriced by $75k but you never know what the market will bear. Woodshire does not have as many adjacency issues as other neighborhoods as it only has 4 entrances so it is pretty self contained.
This post sure did grab my attention. I showed this house to my investor prior to it being sold to the current owner. Buyers check the disclosures carefully before submitting an offer. I advised the original seller of the this home that the property should be sold as “Lot Value Only†as that is my listing specialty. It is to my surprise to see my colleague, a well-known real estate broker represent this home knowing the structural issues it has and the fact the rental apartment in the backyard Is completely leaning. My investor was concerned about the brick wall that is about to fall over as well, this home has lawsuit written all over it. I advised my clients to build new in this area as the entire subdivision of Woodshire’s foundations known severe cracking and shifting. Certainly do wish the current home sellers luck as a thorough home inspection will reveal the fact the home has more or less had a paint job and Ikea cabinets. The price is not bad though, as raw land in the area is now in the $400-$600k range.
I want to address some false claims about the condition of this home..
The home has lifetime-warranty piers installed around the entire perimeter. The back studio was reinforced with engineered steel columns/beams. The brick fence was demo’d so a new footing could be poured underneath; and rebuilt with the original brick. All done with the intent of not being noticed.
I live nearby and have walked this home before and after the renovation.  What they’re calling the studio is such a cool space now.  They could have kept more of the mid-century finishes but the place was a mess before; inside and out.  They did save things like the front door and dining room light.  Oh, and the house..  I think it’s beautiful!
Who wants cork on the floor is that for a sound barrier seriously?
Though this house does not personally appeal to me, I think they did a great job with a very interesting and thoughtful reno. In response to the last comment about the integrity of the home, I think you should check your facts before assuming they did a cheap paint and flip job, as I know prior renos by these same people go above and beyond in quality and attention to detail. I would think any prior wall or foundation problems were likely addressed and I can see from the road that the studio is no longer leaning and looks completely redone.
That studio is awesome. My dream teaching/rehearsal space. (Violinist.) They really have done a lot to open the house up. Making it one level and removing structural beams to open the rooms is expensive. The finishes are high end throughout. There is more going on then a basic remodel.
End of the day the house is priced fair – Houston is in a buyer’s buying frenzy (doesn’t happen that offen here)- inventory is super low – the house has a specific look that maybe the average buyer might not want but when the right buyer comes along they’ll be super excited for it and will pay the higher price as this buyer doesn’t want the typical Houston home style! Let’s face houston is the 10th largest Metro (Dallas-Ft Worth is spot 8) w people moving from Seattle, Portland, San Fran, la, chicsgo, denver, miami, philly, NY or Boston and they’re looking for the ‘cool guy’ home that most Houston home builders ignore. This seller will get their money but might take a few months to find the right buyer. In the mean time all these negative feedbackers on here get yourself back to sugarland and walmart where life’s normal there as you clearly don’t get the new city inhabitant.
The price seems reasonable but it will need a total renovation to look acceptable. Whom ever staged this home is on crack.
Houston is the 5th largest metro area, not 10th. This house is worth what the market will allow, pure and simple. It seems this house is over priced for that area, but who knows. It seems at times Realtors comment on here to gin up interest in their properties–can’t really blame them, that is their job, however I think they may be a bit ambitious on the pricing of this house. When I look at what this price buys in Houston, I’d certainly chose differently from an investor point of view, I’m not sold on this house nor this neighborhood, of course I don’t have a vested interst in talking it up either.
Is it me or is the real estate agent, Jackie Zehl throwing the seller under the bus by publicly saying the price is too high? Sounds shady to me, who’d trust her to actually sell at a higher price when she’s already telling the world the house is too expensive and that she publicity thinks it’s $75,000 too high (keep that to yourself).. Major Shade if you as me!
@Tiffer:
Think you are confused–Jackie Zehl did not say it was too high–I said I thought it was and only mentioned her name because someone else questioned the unnamed realtors pricing strategy and reputation.
I live in this neighborhood and was thrilled when this monstrosity sold, expecting a tear-down. With this mystifying “upgrade”, we will be stuck with this architectural eyesore for decades.