Maybe you’ve seen that t-shirt that has a cartoon drawing of a bee followed by the quote: “If we die, we’re taking you with us.” Or perhaps you’ve read the newspaper and magazine articles that discuss bee colonies collapsing at a rate that beekeepers seem helpless to staunch. In any case, bees are commanding more
While we have seen a robust number of house sales in the first half of 2019 on small and moderate-sized lots, the most striking feature of the current River Oaks real estate market has been the large number of sales of properties on half an acre or more.* In a neighborhood where the price of
You’ve heard that expression – variously credited to Mies van der Rohe, John Ruskin and Friedrich Nietzsche – that God is in the details. I often find myself whispering that affirmation as some stupid insignificant thing has me bogged down. And it’s never truer than with a whole-house renovation. Take our house for an example.
Calling all Houston architecture buffs: We have a new River Oaks listing that just went on MLS earlier this afternoon. It’s not the most expensive or largest home we’ve ever listed. But its pedigree is outstanding. If you like classic American architecture, you will love this house. Winner of the 2011 John Staub Award from
House viewing activity got off to a quick start in January 2019. The previous two years were very slow to start by comparison. One has to ask if the sudden increase of inventory was a factor this year. Consequently, new contracts surged in March and April, and May looks promising, too. By comparison, in 2018
If you live in an older home dating from, say, the 1920s through the 1960s, chances are your kitchen pantry is inadequate. Some grand older houses have butler’s pantries, where final prep was performed before service. But I’m talking about those catch-all kitchen closets where one keeps canned food, paper goods, spices and such. As
Question: What are the most common mistakes made by home sellers? Answer: We can think of three areas where sellers sometimes stumble. The first is pricing the property too high. The logic is, often, “Let’s price it high so that we have room to negotiate down.” We see that backfire all the time. It’s true
Just two months ago, we were trying to catch our breath after the wild record-breaking River Oaks real estate ride of 2018. As we wrote in the River Oaks Market Report ~ 2019 Outlook, 2018 was memorable for the sheer volume of transactions: “more than $300 million of real estate traded hands in River Oaks,
Demographics are a fascinating study, and we always find it satisfying to crunch the data we collect on River Oaks homebuyers and sellers. Some of the results, shown in the pie graphs below, help us to chart the changes in the neighborhood. We run through this exercise every six months and publish our findings in
Question: What is title insurance? Why do I need it? Answer: Before you close on a new home, the title company does a title search that includes examining the deed, tax records and survey. The point is to make sure that there are no existing liens or restrictions on the property you want to buy.