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Inspired Guest Post: Good Bones

Ryan Brown — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:42:30 +0000

Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by Austin Architect Cindy Black. Cindy Black is the Principal of Hello Kitchen, an architectural firm specializing in kitchen design. She also collaborates with her husband at their firm, Rick Black Architect, and together they are recognized for modern, sustainable projects in Austin and the Texas Hill Country.

Before owner meets architect, there is that hazy and exhausting period of searching for just the right property to build upon or house to renovate. Austin is not known for its supreme housing stock, and the older, central neighborhoods are full of houses that often require so much maintenance that there is not much left in the budget for design.

When possible, our clients will involve us in the site selection process, and we provide analyses and design possibilities for each property under consideration. The goal is to find a property that has been built upon a history of good decisions; in other words: good bones. So for anyone embarking upon the search for a property to improve, we suggest taking the following into consideration.

The Site

The old realtor notion of ‘location, location, location’ shouldn’t be limited to the draws of a good school district or popular neighborhood. One should consider the specific dynamics of any property, which include proximity, site qualities, and potential.

Proximity to and from:

Arterials: an arterial is a major thoroughfare that connects between cities and suburbs. Examples of this road type are I-35, 360, and FM 2222. Try to avoid properties within view or sound range of these heavily-trafficked roads.

Bad: Highway in view

Collectors: often used as a route by EMS and other large vehicles, and which usually defines the boundaries of a neighborhood. 15^thStreet, Koenig Ln, and Slaughter Ln. are all collectors. I recommend staying at least 1 ½ blocks away from any collector, which means that you can get to and from your property using local roads at rush hour.

Local roads: your address should be on a local road, with a collector within 4 blocks. Too far from a collector and your property becomes isolated, difficult to visit and without the relief of commercial centers.

Green space: a park, greenbelt or playground should be within walking distance (15 minutes or less on foot).

Good: Accessible green space

Public Transportation: what if your reliable car suddenly becomes unreliable? Or what if you want to hop on a shuttle to go to ACL or a UT game? Proximity to a Cap Metro stop is a good idea – within 3 blocks is reasonable.

Site qualities:

-Elevation: look for a property mid-way up a hill, rather than at the lowest elevation in a neighborhood. Being located ‘downstream’ in Austin can mean flooding, foundation issues, and rodents. That creek may look lovely in spring, but in the rainy season it’s your worst nightmare. Higher elevations also allow for better access to natural light.

Bad: Properties in the flood-plain

-Trees: established trees should have well-balanced limbs, show no signs of disease, and be a reliable, native species. Avoid properties with trees located within 5-feet of a house, or in the spot of the backyard where you might someday enjoy a garden or guest-house.

Good: these trees have well balanced limbs and are located a good distance from the house

-Location on a block: mid-block will present neighbors on all four sides. A corner lot demands more consideration of the building design and garden, as two sides are exposed. Avoid dead-end streets as those may go unwatched by surrounding neighbors and can become derelict.

-Quality of the block: Look for streets lined with mature trees, well-kept homes, and historical consistency. Avoid streets that have become overrun by quadplexes or poorly maintained apartment buildings.

Good: a neighborhood with evenly spaced, mature trees, sidewalks, and historical interest

Potential:

-Neighborhood Plan: are there options for growth within your property? Is the neighborhood protected by a Historic Overlay District? Attend a neighborhood planning meeting and hear about the goals for future growth.

A renovated 1915 house in Hyde Park.
Good: beautiful neighborhood. Bad: modern additions may not be welcome

-Neighbors: Do the adjacent neighbors seem to take pride in their property? Look for gardens – this is usually a sign that someone is taking time to establish their own property, which bodes well for the context in general.

The Structure

Once you’ve found a property that incorporates most of the considerations above, it’s time to analyze the house. Remember that we’re looking for something with Potential, so at first glance it may not be exactly what is desired. Here are a few guidelines for finding a house with good bones:

-Good plan: look for simplicity, rooms with light on two sides, balance of public and private space, and connection to the outside. Avoid: long, narrow hallways, chamfered corners and oddly shaped rooms, lack of connection to the backyard.

-Room Proportions: should be generous without being oversized, and should work with a few different furniture layout options. A living room with three doorways will not work well. Look for ceiling heights of 8’-6” or higher, but less than 12’. Window sills should be at most 30” from the floor, or it will feel like you’re in a fishbowl.

Bad: High window sills, no entryway Bad: double-height ceilings

-Historical consistency: look for houses that have not been added onto multiple times. Often these are done poorly, with bad materials and proportions, and can confuse future design decisions. Avoid: kitchen renovations from 1960-1990, enclosed porches, second story additions, and sunrooms.

Good: A 1940 duplex with balanced proportions, generous ceiling height, historical interest, no additions

-Historical eras to look for: 1900-1929 offers uniquely built structures, often with craftsman wood details, good proportions, and high-quality construction materials (they’ve lasted this long!). Traditional Austin Bungalows from the mid-30’s are fine if they have been well-maintained and have not suffered many additions. Masonry structures, like CMU, cut stone, or brick are usually good investments.

Left: A traditional Austin bungalow with good bones. Right: 1920’s masonry details

-Good foundation and roof: make sure these are in good or repairable condition. These high-cost items can exceed the renovation budget quickly.

-Do you like it?: This may sound obvious, but buy a house that you like! Don’t get swayed by a big garage or a screen porch if the master bedroom is totally in the wrong place or the ceilings are all too low. Good design can fix some of the problems, but often this is merely a remedy for an incurable disease!

Summary

This list is a good summary of some of the important considerations for any home buyer, but especially those considering a remodel. Bring this list along when you’re out on a property search with your realtor. Don’t let emotion take over; the best decisions are made logically and with your original convictions in mind. And remember, the goal is to find reasonably priced property with loads of potential, and allow yourself additional funds to invest in a design that works for you.

Editor’s Note: This Inspired Guest Post was written by Cindy Black. If you have further questions or would like to consult Cindy regarding your project or home search see her website at hellokitchen.net. You can also read about my own search for a home with potential here: Our Central Austin Home Search

Vacation is Over, Ready for Feedback

Ryan Brown — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 05:30:41 +0000

You may have noticed that things have been a bit slow around Inspired Austin lately. I have been travelling quite a bit, most recently on a long overdue vacation.

In any case, I have some work to do to get my Modern Home List back up to date. The Austin Board of Realtors recently changed the data format of their MLS feed. As a result my modern home lists and search will be down for a bit. If you need help in the meantime send me an email.

While I’ve got the hood open I plan to tweak the design of the site as well. If you have any feedback on the layout, content, etc. please let me know. One common complaint is that my contact info is too hard to find, so here is my email:

ryan at inspiredaustin dot com

I also apologize to those following my remodel blogging. I did not live up to the example of timely blogging set by the Erwins and Schusters who went before me. I do plan to finish out the series as I believe it is helpful for those planning a similar path.

I am now living in the home, and I love it. Photos to follow, but here is a sneak peek of the exterior:

Again – please don’t hesitate to email with any questions or feedback on the site.

Austin Modern Home List Update

Ryan Brown — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:38:32 +0000

Here are some recently updated listings on my Austin Modern Home list:

5500 Spanish Oaks Club – $3.75M

3108 Rivercrest – $2.5M

4709 Via Media – $1.299M

1600 Lipan – $469k

3815 Red River – $456k

1181 Hargrave – $339k

You can also view the full Austin Modern Home list, or search for Austin Modern homes.

Austin Modern Home Search Updated

Ryan Brown — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:18:30 +0000

Apologies for the stagnant data – the Austin Modern Home searches are now up to date. In February I’ll have to do some rework due to a change in the Austin Board of Realtors data format, hopefully no more service interruptions. As always – let me know if you need a custom search – useful for sellers or buyers.

The links:

Austin Modern Home List

Austin Modern Home Search

A few of the updated listings:

Our Central Austin Home Search

Ryan Brown — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:26:30 +0000

This is the second post about my modern remodel in Austin, Texas.
Click here for all ‘My Remodel’ posts.

We started our home search about 4 years ago. We wanted to find a small home in Central Austin that we could live in immediately and remodel in the future. Like every home buyer, we were first concerned with location and price.

Step 1 – Use Map data to find target areas

To help narrow down our options we began by plotting homes for sale in a way that would allow us to quickly evaluate the price relative to the area. We used Google Earth to visualize this data, here is an example map (icon colors indicate relative $/sqft):

Mapping the relative prices of homes for sale allowed us to quickly identify areas and properties we could afford, or where there was an anomaly (a good deal). We honed in on these areas and began looking at houses.

Step 2 – Look at houses to buy and to learn

We probably toured at least 100 homes. Large homes, small homes, new and old. This gave us an excellent understanding of the home values for the different areas. Seeing the new homes gave us ideas for what to do (and not do) when it came time for our remodel.

Side Note: It is a good idea to check out remodeled homes in your area when planning a remodel. This not only gives you ideas, but also helps you understand values in the area.

Step 3 – Evaluate houses for living and remodeling

When we found a good price/location match, we then had to examine its potential for remodeling. Here is a list of the criteria we considered:

Lot size & orientation
Tree locations
Power lines at side or rear
McMansion Ordinance Implications
House condition (aesthetic & structural)
House location on lot

All of the above will determine the possibilities for an addition/remodel. In our case the lot orientation and tree locations as well as the condition of the existing home were most important. The lot orientation and tree locations not only determine where you can build (due to protected trees) but also the sun exposure and prevailing winds – very important for an efficient home.

As to the homes condition, we had two rules:

The home had to be livable, because we needed to move in immediately. This was not only to get a feel for the existing spaces and the lot, but also to meet the neighbors and enjoy the area.
The home had to be mostly original. We did not want to pay for someone else’s remodel that didn’t meet our taste or standards.

Conclusion – What we found

Ok, I know what you’re thinking – “Get to the point. What did you find?!” We found a few great homes, made offers on 4, and had 1 offer accepted. During the option period we had an architect and builder review the site to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. With a clean bill of health we closed and moved in to this home:

Click below for more photos and details…

It had 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, a dining room, small kitchen, and living room. It also had a poorly built addition at the back of the house, which was used as a dog/laundry room. Here are more before photos:

As you can see, definitely livable condition. The home is on a large lot (7800 sqft), is shaded by several large trees, and faces East. Of course I had to build a quick Sketchup model during the option period to get a feel for the lot:

And then we moved in, and lived happily ever after… for about a year… stay tuned for my next post – Designing our Central Austin Remodel.

Modern Home Search vs. List Browsing

Ryan Brown — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:40:10 +0000

Thanks to Ben of modernaustin.com for linking to my modern home search today. I also owe him a big thanks for being one of my early beta testers. In addition to his knowledge of Austin architecture, Ben also knows a good bit about UI design.

This comment from David Mathias on Ben’s post today got me thinking:

I liked Ryan’s old listings better than his new tool. Yes, it was a pain to go through 200+ condo listings to find one you were interested in, but it was fun to browse if you had a free moment…

This is an interesting perspective. I created the new map-based home search to allow users to actually search homes for sale in Austin (by price, location, etc.). Before this I only had a list of modern homes – the user was not able to filter by price or location. They couldn’t even change the order. Here is a screenshot of the old interface (which is still up to date and available here).

Old Austin Modern Home List Interface

To David’s point – the list may be better for those who are more browsing than searching. What do you think? Let me know in the comments. I can’t promise immediate changes, but my goal is to continually improve the search based on your feedback. Perhaps a photo/browsing interface in addition to the map search is in order?

Please share your thoughts in the comments!

New Austin Home Search at InspiredAustin.com

Ryan Brown — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:02:42 +0000

I’m happy to announce the first release of the new InspiredAustin.com Austin Home Search.

InspiredAustin.com Austin Home Search

As you can see, I’ve built a map-based interface for searching homes for sale in Austin, Texas. This first release of the new interface has the following main features:

Google Map Property Display

Map icons indicate property locations, type (homes vs. condos), and modern vs. non-modern. You can adjust the map view (pan, zoom) to change the search area. Clicking on an icon displays a summary of property details (see below).

Table Property Display

This table displays details about the properties visible in the map. The table is sortable by any field (price, sqft, etc.). Clicking on a table row displays a summary of property details (see below).

Search Form

This form expands from the upper right corner and allows you to search for homes by price, # of beds & baths, Sqft, as well as MLS # or Street name.

Listing Detail Summary

This panel on the right of the map displays a summary of property details when any icon or table row is clicked. You can click through images here, or click on the link to the full property details page.

Search Statistics Table

This table at the bottom right displays the number of search results for the current map view and Search Form settings as well as Min/Max/Average values of list price, Sqft, and price/sqft.

Summary & Request for Input

The intent of this new interface is to allow buyers to quickly and easily drill down to homes that meet your specific needs. It can also help sellers to get a quick idea of prices in their area. The map interface allows for focusing on specific areas, while the search form can further narrow results. The map, table, and statistics displays provide a high level view of home search results, while the Listing Summary and linked Details pages provide full info.

I hope you find this new search interface as useful as I do. I think my Austin Home Search is already better than most existing Austin Home Search websites, although there is still much room for improvement. I have several additional features planned.

I would truly appreciate any feedback or suggestions for improving the design/usability of this search. I know many of my clients & readers have design backgrounds so I’m sure you could provide many useful tips. Please comment below or email me: ryan at inspiredaustin dot com

Be sure to check out the new search here or via the link at the upper right :

Austin Home Search
Note: If you long for the older tabular Austin listing displays they can be found here: Austin Modern Home List. If there is enough demand I can add a link to this on the sidebar as well.
Copyright © 2010 InspiredAustin. This feed is for personal non-commercial use only.

Pardon The Interruption

Ryan Brown — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:48:09 +0000

I’m sorry to report that the new MLS database has foiled me yet again. Yesterday’s data update contained a serious error that corrupted my database. You may have noticed that my Home Search results are missing photos, and are no longer sorted by their time on the market.

Image courtesy of Flickr User pri.studio360

You can imagine my frustration, as this will take me some time to repair. The migration of the Austin MLS to new database software has been very rough. In any case, I apologize for the interruption in service, but (pending good data) I hope to have everything fixed by Monday.

If anyone needs data on a particular property from my list of modern homes/condos please don’t hesitate to contact me in the meantime:

ryan at inspiredaustin.com or 512-380-1663

Have a nice weekend. Wish me luck!

Austin Modern Home Search Update

Ryan Brown — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 05:08:56 +0000

Well folks, some of you may have noticed that my Austin Home Search data hasn’t been updated in about a week. The Austin Board of Realtors (ABOR) recently upgraded their MLS database engine which resulted in changes to how the listing data I receive is formatted.

Unfortunately, ABOR didn’t warn me of these changes, so I’ve been scrambling to update code and repair my database ever since. I think I’m finally back to a state of functionality, so be sure to check out my Austin Modern Home Search page if you haven’t looked in awhile.

Here are some photos of modern listings that came up after I fixed the issues:

Check out the search here: Austin Home Search, or via the map-looking link in the upper right corner of the page.

Starting a Successful Home Search

Ryan Brown — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:19:46 +0000

Starting to look for a new home can be a bit overwhelming. One of the most important steps in any search is to calibrate your expectations first. Without detailed and current knowledge of the market conditions, its very easy to have an unrealistic idea of market prices. I believe this is one of the most important functions of any agent helping you to find a home.

The best way to do this is to look at homes that have sold recently which meet your search criteria. Looking at what is currently for sale gives you some idea, however the actual sold price gives the most accurate insight into market prices.

For example, lets say you’re looking for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in Hyde Park. That’s a pretty clear set of criteria, so we could easily look at the sold data for 3/2′s in Hyde Park.

Unfortunately I can’t post sold data directly the web (MLS rules). Here is a map with basic data, the color indicates the prices (blue = high, red = low), which range from the high $200′s to the mid $600′s:

Hyde Park 3/2 Sold Map – 2007 YTD:

Of course we could also look at the number of active and pending listings, the average days on the market, the sale prices over time (for trending), etc. As you can see, I like to map everything out in Google Earth to get a geographical understanding of the data (I wrote a tool to plot it for me ).

The bottom line: Do whatever it takes to gain an understanding of the market value for property meeting your criteria. Your Realtor should have access to this data, and you should use it.

As I said, this data gives buyers an excellent perspective on the market and accurate expectations of what they will be able to buy. Of course, this market knowledge is also critical for evaluating the asking price of a property and making an offer.

“Fortune favors the prepared mind.”
- Louis Pasteur

Make sure you are prepared for your home search by having a good understanding of market prices.

Contact me if you’d like to go over sales data meeting your criteria.