There are definitely some - uh - ~interesting~ listings on the market right now in my neck of the woods. Particularly at the higher price points.

https://www.har.com/homedetail/11002-olde-mint-house-ln-tomball-tx-77375/3025584

https://www.har.com/homedetail/7102-hampton-ct-spring-tx-77389/3573274

https://www.har.com/homedetail/7507-langley-rd-spring-tx-77389/3763265

https://www.har.com/homedetail/11218-olde-mint-house-ln-tomball-tx-77375/11156423

First one is the worst by far.

combat wombat said:

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And here's another lovely garage door.



$1.25 million house on >2 acres. WHY is the garage door the most prominent architectural "feature" on the elevation of this house? That's not the only thing wrong with his hot mess, but it's a pet peeve of mine.

https://www.har.com/homedetail/19930-stone-lake-dr-tomball-tx-77377/3622124

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Not only that, it looks like a cheap standard metal garage door painted brown (even if it is an 8 foot door). Could have gone wood and made it better.

The 15 different types of windows on that house also look like a nightmare. You can also tell on some of those huge patches of uninterrupted stucco that they used the previous-fab stucco panels and didn't do it correctly. House is a ****-heap

Sea Speed said:

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First one is the worst by far.

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I don't get it, if you're building on a crawlspace why put in that cheap looking laminate or engineered wood? You can install actual hardwood instead. Unbelievable that it's almost 4,500 sq ft. I'd have guessed it was half that size.

edit: 2nd one is the most awful. It looks like a freestanding house connected to a duplex with an ugly elevated walkway. That stone and brick aren't even close to working together. The first dozen pictures look almost identical to a place that was featured on McMansion Hell.

3rd one - get a look at the zero lot line disasters behind the place and to the left!

4th - is this a church, funeral home, or house?

Yeah the cheap garage door thing drives me crazy too. You see it sometimes in the Heights on 1.5+ MM homes. So bad.

No matter how great the house may be, my SO is completely unwilling to live in a house with the garage as part of the elevation.

That fridge on the second house, eh, close enough.

We had that fridge situation in our old house. The 1980 commercial-grade fridge died right before listing. It was a unique size that nothing currently was being built in that size. We had redone everything but the kitchen and knew that was going to be redone by a buyer. We just moved new fridge to the garage and listed the home. It looked way better than having one that clearly didn't fit.

In my opinion the garage door is forgivable. People have cars. Lot lines could have made it hard to turn the garage sideways and hide it down the right side. The bigger issue with the elevation is how the roofline's largest 'mass' is over on the right over the garage. It should be in the center. Either the center peak needed to be made larger or the right peak not exist and just a normal roof line out over the garage.

Sea Speed said:

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No matter how great the house may be, my SO is completely unwilling to live in a house with the garage as part of the elevation.

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Same here.

The tiny windows in the giant facade look ridiculous, IMO. Vast expanses of stucco.

one MEEN Ag said:

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In my opinion the garage door is forgivable. People have cars. Lot lines could have made it hard to turn the garage sideways and hide it down the right side. The bigger issue with the elevation is how the roofline's largest 'mass' is over on the right over the garage. It should be in the center. Either the center peak needed to be made larger or the right peak not exist and just a normal roof line out over the garage.

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here's the original elevation.

This might be the goofiest house I've seen in real life for a bit.

Just your typical Ray Ellison side entrance.

We have a front loading garage but we live on a very small/narrow lot. Only alternative was to put the garage in back after a long driveway - but that eats up a ton of the lot with driveway. We definitely tried to deemphasize garage though.

combat wombat said:

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Sea Speed said:

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No matter how great the house may be, my SO is completely unwilling to live in a house with the garage as part of the elevation.

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Same here.

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Side entry garages FTW. No ugly ass garage doors, no sketchy ass alleyways.

Detached ftw

My garage doubles as a shop if it was attached it would make the house filthier than it already gets. It also takes a whole lot more house to get a bigger garage when attached than it does when detached, particularly when you will not accept it being a part of the elevation. I'm not opposed to a rear or side attached garage that you can not tell is there, but homes like that are out of our price range right now. The homes that we are vehemently opposed to are basically every house built in a neighborhood in the last 20 years. Garage front and center taking up at least 50% of the front of the house, often times jutting out further towards the street than the home, making the garage door the focal point of the house. It is terrible.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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combat wombat said:

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Sea Speed said:

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No matter how great the house may be, my SO is completely unwilling to live in a house with the garage as part of the elevation.

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Same here.

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Side entry garages FTW. No ugly ass garage doors, no sketchy ass alleyways.

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I used to be a side-entry garage snob. My first house had one. I rejected any listing with a giant garage door on the front of the house. But that was in Alabama, and the house was on a 1/2 acre lot.

Then I moved to TX. Quickly found out that side entry garages are not a thing here.

I've since owned two with a front entry, and it hasn't been terrible. But I've learned to appreciate the interior of a home over the curb appeal.

Rear entry looks fantastic. But all the rear-entry garages in my 'hood have issues with the narrow alleyways. It's a struggle for large vehicles and garbage trucks.

Gracepoint has a lot of side entry garage plans in Stillwater.

We loved their homes but the amenitys were pretty lacking and I was worried about the land they sold off turning into crap homes.

TXTransplant said:

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Ol_Ag_02 said:

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combat wombat said:

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Sea Speed said:

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No matter how great the house may be, my SO is completely unwilling to live in a house with the garage as part of the elevation.

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Same here.

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Side entry garages FTW. No ugly ass garage doors, no sketchy ass alleyways.

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I used to be a side-entry garage snob. My first house had one. I rejected any listing with a giant garage door on the front of the house. But that was in Alabama, and the house was on a 1/2 acre lot.

Then I moved to TX. Quickly found out that side entry garages are not a thing here.

I've since owned two with a front entry, and it hasn't been terrible. But I've learned to appreciate the interior of a home over the curb appeal.

Rear entry looks fantastic. But all the rear-entry garages in my 'hood have issues with the narrow alleyways. It's a struggle for large vehicles and garbage trucks.

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Agree harder to find for sure. I would say 90% of homes here are side entry garages, but there's also a city minimum lot size of half an acre. This is in Texas.

Lot size and mature trees are why we bought here and not in Plano/ Frisco. Trade off was an older home though which needed updates.

SquanchyAg said:

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Ol_Ag_02 said:

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Sea Speed said:

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Detached ftw

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Absolutely incorrect. Completely pointless design. All it accomplishes is providing an extra door to open and close when your hands are full of groceries or crap the kids left in the car.

Also, no one has ever said, "do you know what make getting into my garage parked warm car even better, a quick 25 foot pointless jaunt outside in the freezing weather".

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maybe you should let your wife get the groceries or bring in the kids' crap. problem solved.

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When you find a way to make that happen feel free to share.

My previous house of many years was on a double corner lot and we had an oversized detached garage on the side with side street access. I really miss the size of that garage but like the attached garage we have now so much better. So much easier to load/unload, not having to run through rain, easier access, etc. But I'm really shocked how much cooler it is, which is so nice in the summer.

Diggity said:

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Gracepoint has a lot of side entry garage plans in Stillwater.

We loved their homes but the amenitys were pretty lacking and I was worried about the land they sold off turning into crap homes.

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I've got a friend to moved from Creekside up to Stillwater. They were one of the first houses. I finally went to her house a couple of weeks ago, and I was impressed by the development. She built a Darling home, and it's gorgeous. Overall, the development was a lot nicer than I expected. I have the same thoughts as you do about what might build up around it, though.

And, I swear, for a while there every house that was listed on HAR has that giant water tower in the background.

Yeah, it's really pretty out there. They did a great job with the landscaping.

It just bugged me that there were no community pools or playgrounds. If the kids were older, I probably wouldn't have cared but that seemed like a miss compared to other communities.

I'm also convinced it will get rezoned at some point.

I didn't realize there isn't a community pool. I noticed several common areas/parks, but not specifically a playground geared towards kids. I think you're right about that missing the mark.

Houses there are also selling for quite a bit less, which makes me slightly suspicious.

speaking of garages, this is terrible. its like a caterpillar with fake eyes on its butt.

https://www.har.com/homedetail/2322-meade-ct-league-city-tx-77573/2609510