• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    Real Estate Round-Up

    Home remodeling is out of style: In down economy, remodelers deal with the "yearof the small job"

    Ralph Bivins
    Oct 25, 2011 | 6:09 pm
    • Homeowners are spending less for remodeling, and when they do, they spendconservatively.
      Photo courtesy of Trusty Joe
    • Home construction and remodeling have been soft, although this house is beingbuilt in Bellaire.
      Photo by Ralph Bivins
    • Intero Real Estate Services, a major residential brokerage firm in the SiliconValley of California, recently opened an office in the West Ave development onKirby Drive near Westheimer.
      Photo by Ralph Bivins

    Houstonians aren’t building as many new houses as they used to. So wouldn’t it make sense if they stayed put and fixed up their existing home? Wouldn’t a nice remodeling job make it a little more livable for the long run?

    Well, it’s not happening that way.

    Homeowners aren’t tackling many major remodeling projects. And when they do call a remodeler, the homeowner is spending conservatively.

    Remodelers say 2011 is pretty much like 2010 — the year of the small job. For the most part, remodelers try to eke out a living with simple bathroom and kitchen re-dos. Forget about the elaborate whole-house remodels and room additions with price tags of more than $300,000.

     

      The days of insisting on high-end Viking stoves, Kohler sinks or Hansgrohe faucets are gone. 

    “People are being very, very cautious,” says Houston remodeler Dan Bawden, owner of Legal Eagle Contractors. “A lot of homeowners have money, but they are just really reluctant to spend it right now. Everybody is holding it close to the vest. “

    Bawden, former president of the Greater Houston Builders Association, says he was hearing the same downbeat theme as he met with other Texas remodelers in late October at the Sunbelt Builders Show in Austin.

    Homeowners and spending less for remodeling, and when they do — they spend conservatively.

    The days of insisting on high-end Viking stoves, Kohler sinks or Hansgrohe faucets are gone, for most homeowners, Bawden says. Having a sexy brand-name kitchen sink isn’t so important when you’re worried about a double-dip recession.

    “People are being more careful for what they pick for fixtures. it’s really interesting,” Bawden says. “They are seeking out less expensive materials all across the board — tile, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures — in order to keep the project cost down as much as possible."

    The outlook for an immediate turnaround is not good. The Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University predicts the nation’s remodeling business will be soft until mid-year 2012, at least. The sluggish national economy and realty market will dampen any recovery move in remodeling, the Harvard study says.

    “Homeowners are continuing to undertake smaller jobs, but are still nervous about larger discretionary projects,” says Kermit Baker, director of the Harvard program.

    In the meantime, remodelers are placing hope in any trendlet they can find, such as seniors housing.

    Baby Boomers have been remodeling homes in order to make a place for their aging parents, i.e. the mother-in-law suite. And other remodeling jobs that adapt homes so that seniors can stay in their houses as they age have been a popular thing.

    A couple of years ago when the housing market crashed, remodeling registered an uptick because people decided remodel and stay put. But that trend has played out, Bawden says.

     Looking Up

    The Houston housing market continues to sail away from the doldrums.

    The Houston Association of Realtors reported 4,635 single-family home sales in September, up 17 percent from September of last year. It’s the fourth month in a row that sales volume has increased. And the inventory of homes for sale has been declining — a true indicator of an improving market.

    The HAR reported 47,812 properties were listed for sale in September, an 11.5 percent decline from a year ago.

    Home prices have been rising a bit, too. The median single-family home price is up 1.7 percent over September of last year.

    It’s true that the local home market was awful in 2010. So when you make comparisons to last year, you are making comparisons against some very dark days. But the realty market is definitely brighter in 2011 and the recovery has some sustained traction.

     Signs of Confidence

    Houston real estate companies have been adding new offices, an indicator that residential sales and getting better and realtors are gaining more confidence in the economy.

     Intero Real Estate Services, a major residential brokerage firm in the Silicon Valley, recently opened an office in the West Ave development. Katie Maxwell, who’s heading up the Intero office, said the firm is hyper-focused on the Inner Loop for now, but look for additional Intero offices to be unveiled soon.

    Heritage Texas Properties just opened its 13th office. The newest Heritage outlet is in Katy in the Icon Bank building on Cinco Ranch Boulevard.

     Weichert Realtors – Wayne Murray Properties recently opened a new office in The Woodlands. And Martha Turner, the namesake of Martha Turner Properties, says there are several communities in the Houston metropolitan area that she wants to penetrate with new offices.

    These expansions are being conducted by smart operators with a track record of knowing how to make money by selling houses.

    Listen up: Martha Turner, Wayne Murray and Heritage owner Robin Mueck have been around the block a few times. And when the battle-hardened veterans of Houston real estate are planning to open new offices, it means the real estate rebound can’t be far off.

     Ralph Bivins, former president of the National Association of Real Estate Editors, is founding editor of RealtyNewsReport.com.

    unspecifiedseries568664006
    news/real-estate
    series/comforts-of-home-2011

    most read posts

    Houston is one of America's most overpriced cities, study finds

    This Houston suburb had the highest apartment rent prices in June

    Netflix chef's modern Mexican restaurant opens in Houston this month

    your friends and neighbors

    Pioneering East End development brings cohousing to Houston

    Jef Rouner
    Jul 7, 2025 | 12:15 pm
    Digital image of a a finished cohousing development with people in the foreground.
    Render provided by CoHousing Houston
    A digital rendering of the finished CoHousing Houston.

    Houston's East End neighborhood will soon welcome a bold new experiment in housing in the next couple of months, one dedicated to communal space and curing the epidemic of isolation plaguing modern America.

    Called CoHousing Houston, the development occupies a property at 114 Delmar St. that consists of 33, individually-owned units built around a central courtyard. This layout isn't much different from a modern apartment complex, but there are architectural deviations and governing principles that gently nudge the residents toward in-person interactions.

    One is the common house, a massive gathering space, kitchen area, and work station that serves as a community center and event hall. While the individual units do have their own kitchens and bedrooms, they are short on extra rooms. This encourages people to move their hobbies and activities to the common house or to the shared outdoor porches and balconies when the weather is nice.

    The idea of communal housing is as old as humanity itself and is practiced by groups as different as hippy communes and the U.S. Army. However, few Americans live in communal housing after they reach adulthood, preferring privacy and a large space to call their own. CoHousing Houston is aiming to be the best of both worlds.

    One resident is Kelli Soika, a married mother of three who lived in a similar cohousing unit in Colorado before moving to Houston in 2018. She found the cohousing model incredibly liberating, and worked to create the first one in the Bayou City.

    "You have this great place to solve problems you didn’t even know you know you had," she tells CultureMap. "I would have to go to the grocery store with the three kids, and it was hard. Now, I can ask a neighbor to watch the girls for an hour. I hear it’s like living in a small town in the past, though I'm not old enough to remember that. It's the kind of place where if you leave the door open, someone will check to make sure you're okay. In a regular house, you could fall down and it might be days before someone found you."

    Soika emphasized the power of community connection. Surrounded by multi-generational households that are funneled into the communal spaces by design, she can draw on the innovation of young couples or the wisdom of the elderly. With one kid starting college, it's nice for her to be able to talk to someone close by who has gone through the same thing. Her husband can drop into an evening bike riding group whenever he wants without having to arrange various schedules. In her opinion, little neighborly touches like that are worth the slight loss of privacy or space that are inherent to cohousing.

    "If the power is out and you don't know what’s going on at CenterPoint, you've got a group going through it with you," she says. "These things keep happening, and when I moved into cohousing, it's just not a crisis because you've got other people to help you and be with you in it."

    Isolation and loneliness is a major problem in America, studies suggest. Increased workloads and the explosion of social media have led to a sharp decline in time spent in "third places," locations that are not home or work. According to some estimates, people stopped going to third places as much as 37 percent between 2014 and 2017, and that was before COVID sent people into deeper isolation. In Houston, soaring temperatures and poor public transit keep some people out of parks and other outdoor activities even as the city invests heavily in park improvement. Some activities such as pickleball and live-action gaming centers have picked up the slack, but these still involve planning that many tired workers simply don't have the energy for.

    In that world, cohousing seems like a viable alternative to increase social engagement, though it may be too big a change for Americans, who are famously individualistic.

    Soika says that there are weekly meetings in the common house to deal with issues that affect the entire campus, such as parking disputes and insurance. Residents own their $300,000 to $525,000 homes, but there is still an HOA, and governance is democratic. CoHousing Houston tries to make sure that the majority of people can still attend and have their voices heard in the regular meetings. Those disinclined to group gatherings can still participate in small groups that handle specific matters, but like all democracy it involves more work than simply owning your own home. There's also the worry that such a governing structure tends to empower people who have time and resources to attend meetings, such as single income households.

    "You don’t want to have the decisions dominated by people who have managed to dominate the meeting structures," says Soika. "We have rounds where we laboriously go through each person and have them talk about it. It helps the quieter ones. We want everyone to be heard."

    Another concern is safety. Soika was unable to say of there was any kind of provision for what to do if a resident became a problem, such as exhibiting violent behavior against other residents.

    "I guess we would call the police," she says. Having lived in cohousing since 2012, she says she's never come across such a situation.

    CoHousing Houston is expected to open fully this fall. Soika already lives on site, and most of the units in the $300,000 range have been sold. Units in the $450,000-525,000 range remain available. Interested buyers can find more information at CoHousingHouston.com.

    homes-for-salecohousing houstoncohousing
    news/real-estate
    series/comforts-of-home-2011
    Loading...