River Oaks Houston – Page 3 – Houston Realtor, Cameron Ansari

Ask the Agents #26 – Is homeowners insurance required?

January 17, 2023January 17, 2023Cameron Ansari & Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Question: Is homeowners insurance required? Answer: There is no Texas law that requires you to buy homeowners insurance. But no mortgage company or bank will offer you a mortgage without it. You can roll the payments into your monthly note to your mortgage holder, or you can pay it yourself. Even...

The Old and the New

December 21, 2022December 21, 2022Cameron Ansari

We’ve dusted off this old graph from mid-2021. Regular readers will recall that we used it in August 2021 to explain why sales in that year were occurring at twice the typical rate and what that meant for the market for the final months of 2021, as well as the outlook...

Nosy Questions with Thomas Kligerman

December 21, 2022December 21, 2022Teresa Byrne-Dodge

Architect Thomas Kligerman was in Houston in December for a book-signing and presentation to a crowd of enthusiastic fans at Greenwood King’s Lobby. His local appearance was sponsored by the Institute for Classical Architecture and Art. Kligerman is known for a robust architectural style that draws from English traditions as well...

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...