Sea Speed said:

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I just hate when a home is designed for a TV to go in a specific space. Don't pigeon hole me man.

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Mine was like that with a DLP TV hidey hole. I walled that crap off and added the space to a closet before even unpacking.

this looks to to be the case where they hired a friend to market the house. Never heard of that agent or group in this market.

Yeah that was my assumption too. I'd normally think it was a bottom of barrel foreclosure/bank realtor - but don't think that's the case here.

Agree - to some extent. I don't think the landscaping is near as bad as the photos make it appear though. But the staging thing I find very strange because they had really nice furniture in the architect's photos and used a really good interior designer. They spared no expense when they built the house just 9 years ago. Maybe it is a bankruptcy/foreclosure type situation...? That would just be really surprising.

one thing I don't like about that house is the back porch arbor. Just build a proper back porch with an outdoor kitchen.

This coming from someone who bought a house with an arbor, that finally rotted out due to the wisteria taking over, and an pecan tree constantly dumping leaves on the top. Now in the process of building a nice back porch with fireplace and kitchen.

Agree - too much concrete also. But overall I love the house.

MAS444 said:

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Agree - too much concrete also. But overall I love the house.

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yep. what's the point of an oversized lot in West U if you're going to cover it with concrete and add zero landscaping.

I know it's hard to avoid in Houston, but that damn utility pole running though my side yard would piss me off at that price point.

For 3.25 million that house needs to have an outdoor kitchen on the big concreted area, a plungie pool right there in the yard, and a row of arbor vitae planted to block out the neighbors view. Not just four scraggly trees.

one MEEN Ag said:

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For 3.25 million that house needs to have an outdoor kitchen on the big concreted area, a plungie pool right there in the yard, and a row of arbor vitae planted to block out the neighbors view. Not just four scraggly trees.

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For 3.25 million, I'm not even considering that house.

Sea Speed said:

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I truly don't understand how people, realtors and sellers alike, don't understand that good photos are almost the most important part of selling a house these days. It's truly baffling.

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Yep. Same is true for VRBO/AirBNB listings. I love when the owners include a short cutline with each photo, too, so you know what you are looking at.

combat wombat said:

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one MEEN Ag said:

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For 3.25 million that house needs to have an outdoor kitchen on the big concreted area, a plungie pool right there in the yard, and a row of arbor vitae planted to block out the neighbors view. Not just four scraggly trees.

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For 3.25 million, I'm not even considering that house.

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All the other parts of town exist for people like you and me,... $2.5 million of that is location location location.

TMoney2007 said:

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combat wombat said:

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one MEEN Ag said:

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For 3.25 million that house needs to have an outdoor kitchen on the big concreted area, a plungie pool right there in the yard, and a row of arbor vitae planted to block out the neighbors view. Not just four scraggly trees.

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For 3.25 million, I'm not even considering that house.

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All the other parts of town exist for people like you and me,... $2.5 million of that is location location location.

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Wrong. For about that same price you can get a much, much better house in the same area. Some people may like all the built-ins…. beds included. I do not. Furthermore, the backyard is a mess. All that concrete is terrible, there is no landscaping, you have powerlines running through your yard. I have a friend who just bought a house in West U, not too far from the intersection of Holcomb and Buffalo Speedway. The house is new construction and they spent a little bit less for their house than that. They have a better lot, they have a better house, they have better landscaping. This is not a location location location issue.

11,000 sq foot is a really big lot for West U. I just filtered West U for lots over 10,000 sq ft and they range from $1.8mm (not even pictures of the home, complete gut job or tear down) to $5.2mm.....

The Fife said:

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Wow those pictures were awful! It hardly looks like the same house and the first one definitely looks like a generic spec home.

edit: This is how you make a $3.25 million house look like a $325K house.

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is that little orb in the center of this photo a sunspot or the reflection of the agent's dome light in their car?

This house is around the corner and is about half a mil more, but has probably a 200k backyard space. If I'm in the 3MM+ range I skip right over the one posted earlier and head straight for this one.



Wtf, texags isn't working. For some reason the link isn't pasting

https://www.har.com/homedetail/6443-vanderbilt-st-houston-tx-77005/8876148

nice backyard for sure, but those two houses couldn't be more different.

I would argue it would be more expensive to update the interior of the second house than to fix the exterior of the first.

Most buyers are going to run as soon as they see all those arches and Mediterranean finishes.

I agree they are completely different and wasn't trying to compare anything other than the price and backyard since thats what the discussion was generally about.

My friend's house is in the city of West U and is on a 10k sq ft lot, the house is 7300 sq ft, has 5BR/5.5 baths, a study, a second office off of the kitchen, the kitchen has a prep kitchen. It has has a nice covered back patio with an outdoor kitchen. It's all either stone or stamped concrete. Much more attractive than the raw concrete on the house in that post. They also have a reasonably-sized backyard with room for a oil, the house is attractive viewed from the street, and the front yard is pleasantly landscaped.

Oh, and it's new construction with very up-to-date finishes.

Yeah to each their own but I'd pick the Edloe house WAY before that Vanderbilt one. I love that Edloe house - and the built ins have nothing to do with it. It's just a really a great design, spaces, doors, windows, finishes, etc. They're crappy listing photos - the house looks WAY better. And the backyard/landscaping is easy to fix.

combat wombat said:

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My friend's house is in the city of West U and is on a 10k sq ft lot, the house is 7300 sq ft, has 5BR/5.5 baths, a study, a second office off of the kitchen, the kitchen has a prep kitchen. It has has a nice covered back patio with an outdoor kitchen. It's all either stone or stamped concrete. Much more attractive than the raw concrete on the house in that post. They also have a reasonably-sized backyard with room for a oil, the house is attractive viewed from the street, and the front yard is pleasantly landscaped.

Oh, and it's new construction with very up-to-date finishes.

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I mean,... its all preference. I'm glad you like your friend's house... I'm not sure why the house you like has to be the objectively better house.

I really don't care about "up to date finishes" because if they're truly up to date, then they're going to be out of date in 2-3 years. What's the point?

WhenI stated that I wouldn't even consider the originally posted house, someone tried to tell me that 2.5 million of the price was location, location, location and that there were other places For people like me. My argument I'd that there are absolutely wrong.

I mean this is a complete derail and 2.5 may be a slight exaggeration, but that lot and that location is around 2. Market has changed a lot in the last 6 months. And it seems your buddy got a great deal as there's nothing even close to that for that price on the market right now. 5,300 sq ft new builds on 7,500 sq ft lots are listed for $3.1

Yeah, they put offer in last July and closed last August. Maybe it was timing.

Wtf are you going to do with these cabinets....or why on earth would you put fake cabinets here?

What is going on in the bottom right?

ha i was so disgusted wth the vent hood cabinet i didnt even notice that.

Sea Speed said:

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ha i was so disgusted wth the vent hood cabinet i didnt even notice that.

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Did you notice the arm picking up dropped groceries

no, thats what i was saying i didnt notice.

MAS444 said:

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What is going on in the bottom right?

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Looks like someone had stuff out on counter for dinner and forgot the photographer was coming by, so they moved it to the floor and then kicked the milk carton over and caught it while rolling a turkey into the shot as well