I'm looking for general thoughts on the Cottage Grove neighborhood in terms of both a place to live and as an investment. My wife and I are looking at the 3bed/3bath townhomes and have seen a few we like, but driving through the neighborhood seems like a nightmare with narrow streets and so many homes. I understand this is a common theme ITL Houston and assume you get over it, but it seemed like it may be worse than other spots I've lived/driven ITL? I wish they wouldn't have jammed so many houses in there, but understand $$$ drives decisions.

Additionally, seeking opinions on how those homes might hold their value over the next 3-5 years? I did see that InTown homes is building an additional "community" to the northwest side and Fenway Development owns the remaining property to the north of the existing neighborhood and south of the bayou. We're also considering places in the Rice Military for comparison. Not opposed to making upgrades to an older home in the Rice Military area instead.

I would only consider a detached townhome with a private driveway and a yard in that neighborhood. There's a couple streets that have curbs and gutters but not many.

Sandcastle builds a good product in that area. They've been doing in for 20 years in the area.

As far as appreciation, they went up a ton during the boom of a few years ago and have flattened since then. As you mentioned, Frank Liu with InTown has shown no signs of slowing down over there but he's got enough money to ride out the slower patches.

Diggity said:

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I would only consider a detached townhome with a private driveway and a yard in that neighborhood. There's a couple streets that have curbs and gutters but not many.

Sandcastle builds a good product in that area. They've been doing in for 20 years in the area.

As far as appreciation, they went up a ton during the boom of a few years ago and have flattened since then. As you mentioned, Frank Liu with InTown has shown no signs of slowing down over there but he's got enough money to ride out the slower patches.

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Mostly agree with this. Full disclosure, I lived in cottage grove and sold my place around 2010-2011. Generally speaking, even if you have your own drive and yard, what I didn't like abt the neighborhood (just to be clear) is with all of the shared drives and undersized 2 car garages, so many folks who live in those houses almost have to park on the street. It's the feeling where you come home on a normal Monday or Tuesday night and there are so many cars parked on the side of the roads that it feels like somebody is having a house party. It sounds silly and small, but it just gets old to look at or live around even if parking isn't an issue for you. </oldman rant over>

I hear what you're saying, but that's true of pretty much any townhome community, whether it's Cottage Grove, Shady Acres, Midtown or Rice Military.

Might be my imagination or the fact that I lived in one and just visited people in others... But the effect feels magnified in Cottage Grove. I'd be curious of density of those 3 areas relative to street size... Would almost guarantee Cottage Grove is by far worse than the others you are mentioning. Feel like it has by a good amount the least amount of own driveway developments. Maybe I'm wrong though.

I have to show houses in all those areas (and generally park on the streets). They're all about the same in my experience.

I currently live here now and have been here for just over a year. One of the main reasons to me that it seems like the roads are always crowded is that ever since Down the Street Bar got rid of their parking lot now it seems customers just park all over the place. I chose a private driveway and decent backyard after seeing how miserable it was for my friends to park in their shared driveways. Another problem that doesn't help the already narrow roads is all the builders just parking wherever they please and halfway blocking some of the roads.

If you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer anything I can.

I'm currently in the First Ward, neighborhood where Club Nomadic was. We live in a standalone town home with a shared drive. There seems to be less congestion in our neighborhood and having the hike and bike trail running through is a major plus for foot traffic. Streets still have a lot of cars parked on them at night, but it doesn't seem as crowded driving down them as Cottage Grove. I'm a big fan of the neighborhood Down the Street bar, but can see how this has probably added the crowded streets.