Thursday Three Hundred: Hill Haven MidMod with One Story Deed Restrictions Needs Some TLC But Heck, Who Doesn’t?

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I cannot believe there is a home right smack near Jan-Mar for less than half a million. This one is actually, are you ready, only $350,000! Listen up people: $141 a square foot!

You get three bedrooms, two full baths, three living areas, two dining areas in a circa 1954 that screams mid-century modern from Hillcrest to LBJ!  7714 Midbury is perfectly sized (I think) at 2,294 square feet. OK, I know she looks like she needs a little work, but folks this here is a diamond in the rough. And what a great price! Oh if it’s a lot you seek, this pup is .37 of a lush wooded acre, 100 by 161.

Wait. Oh oh. Turns out this is located in the part of Hill Haven with those blasted restrictive deed covenants that do not allow for two-story construction. I myself am not a fan of these deed restrictions, someday I’ll tell you why. So it will be very interesting to track this house an an indicator of what deed restrctions can do to values.

But I do think this home could be vamped up like all get out — from the clean lines to the flat roof. I don’t have to tell you about the location: inside LBJ, and Hillcrest is the best do-it-all road in town. The problem is, if I were buying it, I might not want to build a second story or get any larger, but the next owner might. And that’s what worries me about these restrictions. It’s not what you want, but what if you had to unload a place fast: is it marketable?

By the way, the agent tells me Mark Albert with Arthouse built a beauty at 7817 Midbury, a 4,000-square-foot mod split-level that sold for $1.1 million in the same restricted area. Splits are apparently “allowed,” just not true two-stories. Of course, the builder was smart enough to hire architect extraordinaire Bruce Birnbaum of Birnbaum-Magadini to consult. So very smart: Bruce is on the Architectural Review Board for Hill Haven Heights!

7817 Midbury

 

 

Candy Evans, founder and publisher of CandysDirt.com, is one of the nation’s leading real estate reporters.

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  1. Micky Carr on April 6, 2012 at 9:48 am

    In 2000, I gutted the fantastic mid-century modern across the street from 7714 Midbury… and lived there for 3 years. Truly one of the best neighborhoods in the city! My house was also about 2300 hundred feet… and agreed… the perfect size!

  2. Micky Carr on April 6, 2012 at 9:48 am

    In 2000, I gutted the fantastic mid-century modern across the street from 7714 Midbury… and lived there for 3 years. Truly one of the best neighborhoods in the city! My house was also about 2300 hundred feet… and agreed… the perfect size!

  3. Candy Evans on April 6, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    If I had the time, I'd buy this house as a project and flip it. I just have a blog that keeps me busy 24/7!

  4. Candy Evans on April 6, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    If I had the time, I'd buy this house as a project and flip it. I just have a blog that keeps me busy 24/7!

  5. David Toomey on April 6, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    Kyle, excuse me, but that photo sucks!

  6. David Toomey on April 6, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    Kyle, excuse me, but that photo sucks!

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