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| BUNGALOW |
The Heights Area has become a very "Cool" part of Town. It has that old neighborhood charm that almost makes you feel like you have left Houston all together.
The Heights area has been able to preserve much of its historic beginnings. In fact the credited Founders of the Heights, Oscar M. Carter and D.D. Cooley, built homes 120 years ago for their families that can still be found on the Boulevard today.
The Heights is broken in to 5 major areas: Houston Heights, Woodland Heights, Norhill, Brooke Smith, and Sunset Heights. Timber Grove, Cottage Grove, Lazy Brooke, and Shady Acres are the Neighbors to the West. Garden Oaks and Oak Forest are the Neighboring areas to the North. I will focus in on those areas at a later date as they deserve a great amount of attention as well.
The Houston Heights, signatured by the beautiful Heights Boulevard which runs straight through the center of the neighborhood is the oldest and largest subdivision in the Heights. As far as the real estate in this neighborhood most of it is Deed restricted in order to preserve the historic feel and look of the area. The lots are a lot wider; generally 50 Feet wide and at least 100 Feet deep. This is twice the width you generally see with lots sizes. For this reason you are paying mostly for the land and the lots alone tend to start around $200,000 ($30-$40/SF).
For a long time investors looked to renovate homes rather than do new builds in Houston Heights in order to avoid pricing themselves out of the neighborhood. Now that the area has come up in status there are more new builds starting to pop up. A new build in this area will generally start around the low $600 range. The area has really made a big jump in value which is a very positive thing for all of the surrounding areas that will benefit by proximity.
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| VICTORIAN STYLE HOME |
Norhil just East of Houston Heights, is distinguished by Esplanades that run through the center of the neighborhood giving it a nice park like feel. Both Norhil and Woodland Heights came about almost 20 years after the Houston Heights, during a time where the architectural style made a pretty big adjustment from the lavish Victorian style to the Bungalow style home. Norhill was actually established on the premise of selling residential property commercially with the houses made available and sold through catalogs such as "Ladies’ Home Journal" and "Sears Roebuck and Co." Similar to Houston Heights, the houses were built on wide lots, and Norhil's residents have fought over the years and finally won for this area to be named a Historic District in order to prevent lot cutting and commercial use in the neighborhood.
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| CRAFTSMAN STYLE BUNGALOW |
Woodland Heights is one of the closest residential neighborhoods to Downtown and has a lot of potential for growth. Similar to Norhil, this neighborhood is made up of Craftsman Style Bungalows.
Woodland Heights is also Deed Protected, so you won’t see a lot of lot cutting or commercial use in select areas of the neighborhood, but this again makes the lots more expensive. This area has been the last part of the Heights to really be completely finished out due to its proximity to I-45. There are some jewels to be found, but the area is still considered transitional in some parts. For those patient investors this is and will be an up and coming area to watch.
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| NEW CONSTRUCTION SUNSET HEIGHTS |
Sunset Heights sits just North of Main Street and 20th st. This is an area close to the 610 Loop with more commercial development, warehouses, etc. Land Prices have really escalated in this area enticing investors to buy up old junky places and build new homes, so you will see more new home construction in this area.
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| FOLK-VICTORIAN STYLE HOME |
Brooke Smith backs up against I-45, and the area has been slower to turn over. There are not as many new home builds because the land value has not risen as high as the other areas of the Heights. However there are some very cute Folk-Victorian homes at much more affordable prices. This area is destined to rise in value being so close to downtown and U of H, but it has taken a little longer to transition.
