November Turkey, December Feast

November 23, 2022November 23, 2022Cameron Ansari

Since mid-October the River Oaks real estate market, and several other of Houston’s pricier areas, have been moribund. And there has been absolutely no new activity whatsoever relating to the speculative new construction market – neither new contracts for the finished product nor purchases of land for future speculative development. It...

Talk of the Town

October 19, 2022October 27, 2022Cameron Ansari

This month I had wanted to write something typically esoteric about the River Oaks real estate market, like the current pricing sweet-spot or how a few iconic properties have “quietly” changed hands for eye-watering sums of money. But it’s hard not to be drawn back to the subjects on everyone’s lips,...

A Dozen Things to Know about the Gardens at Bayou Bend

October 18, 2022October 20, 2022Teresa Byrne-Dodge

As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, I am now a proud docent at Bayou Bend,* class of 2020. Almost all of our docent education centers on the house and its collection of American decorative arts. But recently I presented a paper on the history of the gardens at Bayou Bend....

A Loud Call for Truly New Fresh Inventory

September 20, 2022October 1, 2022Cameron Ansari

River Oaks is predominantly a supply-driven market. Activity rises and falls based on available inventory, rather than the motivation of prospective buyers. Regional macro-economic conditions affect River Oaks indirectly: They inform buyer and seller psychology rather than act on the more typical forces of actual affordability and economic necessity that we...

Ask the Agents #25: 9 Things to Ready Your House to Sell

September 20, 2022September 21, 2022Cameron Ansari & Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Question: What kind of improvements should I make to my house before putting it on the market? Answer: That’s a simple question that can have a lengthy answer. It seems to us that fewer buyers are looking for a project these days; rather, more buyers want a home that is move-in...

A Mid-Year Snapshot

August 10, 2022August 10, 2022Cameron Ansari

Our mid-year River Oaks Market Report is now out, and we hope you’ve had a chance to take a look. Like you, we have read the national and local headlines about sky-high housing prices. (We’re looking at you, Austin.) We’ve taken note of sales activity slumping now as summer takes the...

Nosy Questions for Tyler Horne

August 8, 2022October 3, 2022Teresa Byrne-Dodge

If you’ve been to the farmers market on Saturday mornings at the St. John parking lot on Westheimer at Buffalo Speedway, you have surely noticed its director, Tyler Horne. He’s the unflappable boyish-looking guy with answers to a constant stream of questions from shoppers, staff and vendors. Horne left a job...

Ask the Agents #24: How important is an open house?

July 17, 2022July 17, 2022Cameron Ansari & Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Question: How important is it to have an open house? Answer: Very. It’s the best way to get the most traffic through your home. And even in our age of the online video tour, there’s nothing quite like letting potential buyers into your house to let their imaginations begin to percolate....

Back to Normal

July 17, 2022July 18, 2022Cameron Ansari

With our mid-2022 River Oaks Market Report heading to the printer this week and to the post office the week following, we take a look back at the year so far. For that purpose, we thought it would be instructive to see how things turned out following our prediction in an...

Preview of River Oaks Demographics

June 16, 2022June 16, 2022Cameron Ansari

Ahead of the publication of our River Oaks Market Report Mid-2022 printed edition, here’s a snapshot of buyer demographics for the first six months of 2022 compared with the numbers for all of 2021. Areas of the neighborhood In 2021 the Country Club Estates area predominated sales. The area east of...