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This week’s edition of Leader Listings takes a look at a century-old home in the Heights, tips for buying a new home and one of the area’s hottest ‘new’ neighborhoods.
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The Do-Over 1B ¡ Expert Opinions 2B • Hot Neighborhoods - Inwood Forest 6B
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Saturday, April 25, 2015 • Page 1B
The Do-Over:
Opening up a century-old home By Cynthia Lescalleet For The Leader The term “open floor plan� has a far more expanded -- and literal -- meaning at a renovated 1912 Craftsman bungalow in Houston Heights. Within its reworked, slightly expanded floor plan, an entire back wall of the home now features full-height glass doors that fully retract. When opened, a seamless transition links interior and exterior spaces, which include a large covered porch, ground-level deck and adjacent landscaped pool area. Abundant landscaping further transforms the outdoors as a centerpiece that’s tucked into the “L�-shaped footprint. While still looking like a classic porch-entry Heights home from the street, its interior and outback was transformed by 2013 renovations. The yearlong project repurposed and repositioned existing rooms, added 700sq. ft. for a master suite, side entrance and laundry room, and smoothed out the flow in a floor plan -- and grounds -- left a bit choppy by two rounds of renovations by previous owners. If there’s a theme to the now 3,300-sq.-ft. home’s redesign, it appears to be about making connections: nature with structure, old with new, past with future, local with global, and modernism with historic. The design also bridges cultural influences from the owners’ international backgrounds and shared world travel. Rather than start from scratch, the project reflects the couple’s preference “to work with what we had and find costeffective, non-destructive ways to enhance,� said Laura LopezMarks, a veteran marketing exec, author -- and developing artist. She and husband Lewis
When open, the back wall of retractable glass doors seamlessly links indoor-outdoor living.
The wide front porch of a renovated century-old Heights home on a triple lot merely hints at the indoor-outdoor spaces found throughout the updated floor plan (Submitted photo)
Marks, an energy business consultant, share an appreciation of older properties and architecture. They own and lease out several Heights homes as well as an historic commercial building downtown. This has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983 and as a Houston Landmark property since 1998. Lots of lot (and work) The couple and their young daughter lived about five blocks away and had been seeking a place with a little more room and a pool. They had long-envisioned an “L�shaped Asian-inspired home with indoor-outdoor emphasis. Although they abandoned that project in 2008, she said, the vision remained. In 2011, she toured the triplelot property with house-hunting friends who later passed on buying it.
“When I saw it, I started replanning it,� she recalls. It held promise as a better version of their long-held design. One of the challenges was the design process itself, she said, which took about a year, followed by a year of construction in 2013. The family shared the home’s cozy garage apartment during the project. Having lived in the home for a year, Lopez-Marks delights in how the revisions integrated the various spaces and moods. While the retractable glass wall is a favorite space, she said, so too is the “pass-through� the streamlined-but-original front rooms (with their wavy glass windows) and the openedup space shared by a modern kitchen and great room. Lined in original shiplap boards harvested elsewhere in the home, the pass-through “signifies moving from the past to the future, the old to the new,� she said.
Open door policy “We use all the outdoor spaces,� she said. “Each one transports you somewhere else.� The front porch, for example, time travels back to a slower
Redfin focuses on customers first and leading online tools By Christina Martinez Christina@theleadernews.com Putting the customer first and reinventing the way you buy or sell a home is exactly what Redfin is all about. Redfin is a company of real estate agents, naturally, but also a team of software engineers who build online tools to help with the list or search process and to create results rather than a headache. Redfin got its start inventing map-based search and growing their company around this base. The company is data driven and offers consumers online tools that cater to the urgency of the market. Last year the company surveyed nearly 1,000 recent home buyers and sellers to see what type of change would improve the buying and selling process. A portion of the survey found that buyers, in particular, valued responsiveness in an agent. Consumers showed a marked preference for agents who are responsive and are strong advocates for their clients, even as less expensive, technologybased options become more prevalent and popular in real estate, according to their website. “The Redfin model is all about the customer and deliv-
ering the best possible service,� Broker Irma Jalifi said. “I strive for a deep level of understanding and empathy for my clients in order to best help them navigate buying or selling their home. When you work with Redfin you get great service, but also state-of-the-art technology that empowers you to make educated decisions about your home search.� Along with offering online tools, like a virtual tour of a new home on the market, Redfin’s numbers are a bit different than everyone else. Average commission to list a home is about three percent and Redfin lists for 1.5 percent. Once they close the home sale, Redfin passes the savings back in the form of a refund to the consumer. One other factor that drives their customer service, their agents earn a customer satisfaction based bonus, rather than commission. “Instead of going for the easy sale we fight for the client’s best interests, even when that means telling a client to walk away from a bad deal,� Market Manager and Broker Tara Waggoner said. “Our online tools make the home tour, the listing debut, the escrow process - the whole process - totally transparent and worry free.�
Redfin is constantly improving and creating new technology features to help clients keep up with the demand of the market. Visit their website at www.redfin.com for more information.
The “pass-through� spans updated original spaces at the front of the home and the more modern, opened up area near the home’s back wall of retractable glass doors.
See Do-Over, P. 2B
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