House For Sale

My house is a very very very very fine house. I’ve lived her for 14 years, but it is time for me to move out and let some other lucky soul have a crack at it.  I fully intend to remain in the neighborhood because it rocks the mic like a vandal and waxes the chumps like a candle, bizyotch.

There was a point when I swore the only way you’d get me out of this house was in a box, but then again there was a time I swore I would never cut my hair, never eat meat and never have sex for money. Things change!

Below are the basic details as well as a more detailed description you won’t get from a realtor or from the HAR description. If you know anyone interested, please let me or my realtor know. Thank you!

MLS Listing: http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=99021074
My photo set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffbalke/sets/72157618602855486/
Agent: Jeffrey Morrison – 713.516.2730 (Suzanne Anderson Properties)
MLS# 99021074
Listing Price: $239,900
1118 Alexander – 77008
Houston Heights

Please note that the agent also happens to be a friend of mine and a really good guy, so feel free to have folks call him about this listing or even if they are looking to sell themselves.

The House:

It’s bigger than you think – over 1600 feet. The upstairs is cool converted attic perfect for a spare bedroom or ready for someone to remodel into a master suite.  The kitchen is gigantic for a Heights house with tons of counter top and cabinet space.  The laundry room is actually a second BIG bedroom. The back den is massive and was probably originally a sleeping porch.  It has original boxcar siding walls and is built like a tank.  The whole house gets amazing light from all the windows – particularly in the back.

The center raised dining area with the open space between the living room and the den makes the whole thing feel like an open floor plan – especially the french doors that separate the den and the dining area.

The a/c unit cools well in the house and the heater/furnace heats well.  I keep window units in the bedroom and living room just to help save on energy costs, but they definitely are NOT necessary.

The front porch might be my favorite place – typical Heights hang. It even still has hooks from where a porch swing used to hang and can again.

It’s a great house.  A lot of love has gone into it and it deserves an owner who will appreciate it.

The Garage Apartment:

This is 600 square feet and built from the ground up by the previous owner. It has a bathroom with a shower and a small hot water heater.  The rooms are divided into two small rooms originally used for massage rooms when my ex-wife and I did that for a living. I’ve used it since as a rehearsal space and it’s perfect for a workshop or office. It has separate electrical from the house, a central a/c heater unit that needs a new blower motor, but otherwise is great. The floors are steel re-inforced concrete so it’s sturdy.

It also has it’s own alarm system and a massive attic that spans the length and width of the building.

The Yard:

The yard is amazing. It’s all native plants – no grass – which means it needs ZERO watering EVER. Whatever grows in the yard has had to survive so it’s perfect for Houston.  It’s even been certified nationally and in Texas as a backyard wildlife habitat.

There are a half dozen pecan trees, a beautiful oak in the front yard that was only 10 feet high when I moved in and a lovely Chinese Elm right by the street.

The rose bushes in front of the bedroom grow like nuts and the vines on the picket fence (yup, the only white picket fence on the street – classic bungalow living) are purple trumpet vines that bloom twice a year like the huge hibiscus. Other front yard bloomers include the bridal’s wreath bush, the vitex and the firecracker bushes, which attract a LOT of humming birds in the fall.

In the back, it’s lush with a screened in gazebo that probably needs re-screening.  Inside the gazebo are electrical outlets, a celing fan and running water with a sink – perfect for hanging out.  The whole back yard has winding paths and even a small concrete pond with a wooden bridge over it. There is a wood deck that looks over the whole thing.

There’s a small greenhouse on top of a pea gravel poured area behind the garage apartment next to a covered overhang that has a potting bench and an outside closet.  It’s a gardener’s dream.

The Neighborhood:

It’s a prime location in the AWESOME Houston Heights (I intend to remain in the hood, myself) about 2 blocks from Shepherd and 11th Street.  You can walk to Java Java or Dragon Bowl for food or even to Kroger for groceries.  Take a bike and you can get pretty much anywhere in the Heights quickly especially with the new hike and bike trail that just opened 2 blocks away on Nicholson.

It’s a block from Love Elementary (an HISD exemplary school) and Love Park, which has a nice paved jogging track, a swimming pool and a great gym for basketball if you are in a league.

Oh, and if you feel like a longer jog, from the back door down to 12th, over the Heights, up to 20th and back is EXACTLY 3 miles!

Neighbors

This is the part I’ll miss the most.  The Heights can be sketchy from street to street, but my neighbors are the freaking best.  The next door neighbors are the best anyone could ask for.  Mike is an electrician and amazing handy man (he has done a bunch of projects on this house including putting up the white picket fence in the front) and his wife, Donna, makes the best fudge you will ever eat in your life.  Everyone in the immediate vacinity is just fantastic.

Oh, and they all love animals.  You’ll see raccoons, opossums, squirrels, all kinds of birds and, yes, like the rest of the Heights, a few stray kitties that the neighbors all feed and who help to keep the mice population to a minimum.