I was looking through the picture thread. (Houston, Lindale: houses, neighborhoods)

[megsy]

And I'm wondering if I can find homes that are similar in style to this: Garden Oaks on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckandjo/2329237583/in/set-72157604103448468/ - broken link) and what neighborhoods they'd be located in?

My gut is that they're only found in the million dollar neighborhoods, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. I'd reconciled with the idea of cookie cutter housing but when I saw those pictures that Aggiez took, my hope rose yet again in that perhaps I could find the house-style we love so much in South Louisiana.

[houstoner]

Garden Oaks, the Heights (including Woodland Heights, my personal favorite part of The Heights), Old Sixth Ward, and Eastwood. I may have left some areas out... oh, the Montrose area as well. You can also look for old threads like this one https://www.city-data.com/forum/houst...-2-cities.html and look for posts by modster, who unfortunately doesn't seem to post here promoting the Inner Loop much anymore.

[megsy]

Thanks, Houstoner!

[Muhnay]

That is a wonderful home.. I would love to find one in disrepair to fix up and restore!

[houstoner]

Originally Posted by megsy

Thanks, Houstoner!

I forgot First Ward around Houston Avenue and I-10, roughly between the Heights (Woodland Heights) and Old Sixth Ward, but be warned: it's currently gentrifying... and Norhill, my second favorite part of the Heights. https://www.city-data.com/forum/houst...wood-area.html And I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting... when I moved back to Houston from New Orleans I moved to the Old Sixth because it reminded me so much of New Orleans, only Texas-style.

[modster]

I wouldn't call Garden Oaks necessarily a million dollar neighborhood, but a 900 sf train wreck can fetch just under $200k just for the dirt. Anything interesting will costs, in most cases, at least $300k and up.

Many that are priced out of it went west into Oak Forest, however, the homes are not nearly as...."architecturally compelling." Oak Forest does have a lot of things going for it, but the houses are not as interesting.

Similar architectural styles and character can be had all day long for less, you just have to have a tolerance for transitional neighborhoods, as well as good areas being next to bad. Many areas I tout as up & coming people eschew because of sketchy things around them. But even Garden Oaks is not exempt from this, as right across Yale is pretty sketchy and just north on Shepherd (or even south through the Heights on Shepherd/Durham) are not exactly scenic drives. So if you want the non-cookie cutter community, then it is something you have to learn to embrace in no-zoning Houston.

It depends on your price range. If you can do in the $300's then you can do Garden Oaks fine, and you can find things for less than that in there. The other ones Houstoner mentioned, such as 6th ward, (I used to own an 1862 south Louisiana style cottage there), Heights, Norhill, Woodland Heights, and the Montrose area.

For under $300k range, I would strongly recommend checking out Lindale Park Lindale Park Civic Club, Houston Texas, they have a photo gallery on the website. And Idylwood, which has excellent curb appeal and great 30's and 40's era bungalows. There isn't much on the market in there right now though. Eastwood was also mentioned. This was developed by the same guy that developed Woodland Heights. It is still very transitional, with good houses sitting next to bad, but every year a few more get "turned around" and it is so close to downtown & UH that it will eventually turn.

For that matter when I first looked at Garden Oaks in the mid 90's I had people telling me I was crazy because it was a "bad area" & right next to the junk on Shepherd and across Yale, and the schools were bad (Like I care, I don't have kids) and worst of all, it wasn't inside the loop, so it was questionable if it would ever improve, but if you run prices today, oh yeah, it improved quite a bit.