PS. Eff the Realtor for suggesting a tear down. Hopefully the buyer is better than that.
Comments
Ericsays
Yeah, it’s oddly worded in the listing: “Original A.D. Stinger home. Endless possiblities on great flat lot. Bring all your remodelers!” Are they trying to appeal to MCM enthusiasts with the “original” Stinger (sic) line? Why mention a “flat lot” then? I dunno. Most likely the realtor was gunning for all possible angles. I doubt it’s going to be a teardown though, just seems too pricey for a lot on that particular street (I could be wrong though). Maybe this will be the first Stenger on Brady not to be completely effed up with a horrific Home Depot remuddle? I think I would have a heart attack if so. Man, Brady is just one screwed up ugly-ass Stenger remuddled mess after another, just an eyesore of a street in this regard…IMHO. It really could be like a Granada Hills Eichler neighborhood, SUCH potential with those Stengers (and that street), kinda sad what folks do to ’em. I’ll have to check up on this place in a few months.
I’ve been told that a number of the Stenger “remodels” along Brady were done by one person / flipper. Maybe someone over there knows more or could clarify?
One way to look at is that it is payback for the petty politics in Rollingwood / Westlake that played a role in him leaving the business.
I’ve been watching this property for some time (it’s been vacant for months) and was shocked to see the “pending” sign. ACK. But hopefully the person that purchased it has enough sense to remodel it appropriately. Such a cool house.
This is almost directly behind the house we’re in on Ridgewood. My wife was terribly upset when she saw the sign as we had been scheming how to contact the owner’s children. We walk the area quite a bit and there are houses all over the place in similar states. Waist high grass, torn curtains in windows and squirrels in the roof. I guess the owners are all in nursing homes.
I also agree, there are some terrible renovations on Brady including Ridgewood.
Did either one of you consider leaving a note on the door? Talking to any of the five neighbors who’ve been there between 10 and 30 years? I know sending a letter would have been difficult, what with the street address nailed to the mail box.
The family waited and hoped that someone from the neighborhood would make a reasonable offer before they were forced to put it on the market, fearing a McMansion. And plenty of other people did make offers….$0.25 on the dollar, usually.
So if it ends up a tower of bright orange fake-flagstone, pat yourselves on the back.
I’m the Eric from the first post, not the guy who lives behind the house, just to clarify…anyway, wouldn’t it have been way easier for the owner to simply put a For-Sale-By-Owner sign in the yard to gauge neighborhood (or drive-by) interest? I would have made an offer myself if so (since I drive through that neighborhood in my weekly house hunt), and NOT for .25 cents on the dollar. When I saw the listing it was already pending after being active for approx. one day. Anyway, just sayin’…
OK, for clarity sake I’m Neighbor Eric(NE). Clearly exSIL you know the family. Unfortunately, you make no sense. Unforeseen legal nightmare? What the heck does that mean?
The only thing we heard was the owner had passed away and the children were squabbling over what to do with it. Out of sensitivity to the family we did not approach as we were waiting for a for sale sign to go up. What were we supposed to do, leave tacky notes on the door offering to buy? Puuhlease!
If it does end up a “tower of bright orange fake-flagstone” the only people who should pat themselves on the back are the people who sold it.
Interesting perspective, exSIL, as we did talk with several neighbors close to the house who didn’t know it was on the market. We did learn that the person who owned it was in a nursing home or had passed away and, out of respect for the family, chose to wait until the fate of the house was public. Clearly you are privy to much more information than we were and, had we known the house was quietly on the market, would have made more of an effort to see about rescuing the house from its disrepair.
The more I think about this, the more I get ticked off. If exSIL had all this inside knowledge about this house just sitting here waiting for offers, and he/she quite obviously knows about this site and all the folks dying for a cool Stenger, why didn’t he/she just get on here and say, “Hey guys, I know of a great original condition Stenger on Brady that might be going on the market soon, the family is thinking about selling it, etc., etc.,” and knowing that folks on this forum are conservation minded, this would have surely elicited some offers. I’m really ticked because I would have made a strong offer and then done period restoration work on it, it’s right in my price range for a home/restoration job, and I was really bummed out when it sold so quickly. So exSIL, count yourself as the one to blame if it gets the Home Depot treatment. It would have taken you two minutes to post that comment and the house would have been in the hands of an MCM enthusiast…jerk.
BTW, Ben, do you know where those other “Tee Pee” Stengers are located? I’ve seen one on Robert E. Lee and am curious as to the whereabouts of the others. Were these Stenger pre-fab’s of sorts? I’m confused as to if these homes were custom or spec or maybe a lower cost design he sold to folks to have built themselves? Thanks!
There are only a few Tee Pee that I know of. 3? Is there 2 in Rollingwood or only 1?
Stenger could be viewed more through a developer lens than a straight architect. He bought the tracks of land and then found buyers. The buyers often picked from a handful of pre-designed plans that would be altered to suit the lot or based the buyers input. I think there is around 6-8 ‘standards’ (I’ve never counted). I believe the standard homes were targeted to be around $18-20k. He may have done a few on spec but I was lead to believe most were not built without a buyer.
The exceptions are his early work, mostly centered around Arthur and Rundell area, and a few one-offs in Rollingwood (the Pilot house, Sugar Shack, for example). There are also the batches in lower Allandale and in East Austin. 4-6 homes each. Plus the townhomes.
Stenger apparently owned quite a bit more of Rollingwood then that was developed. The story Chuck and I were told by one of his ex-wifes was that he was building on .25 acre lots and there arose a dispute with the locals who then pushed through a zoning change that increased the minimum lot size. That made the economics poor for him and he threw in the towel and focused on his travels and wildlife films. This would have been the mid-60s.
ben, my favorite story from that day was that AD got mad at the city of rollingwood about a water issue so he drilled his own well and to this day his widow collects money from some 100 residents of that area for their water…
Unfortunately that well is soon to be closed and the city of Westlake Hills is trying to get each of the 100 home owners to cough up $25,000 to
connect to water district 10. Not a good thing for the neighborhood.
Not sure about Rollingwood but there’s nothing keeping one from drilling their own water well inside Austin. Water wells typically cost a lot less than 25K.
Yeah, it’s oddly worded in the listing: “Original A.D. Stinger home. Endless possiblities on great flat lot. Bring all your remodelers!” Are they trying to appeal to MCM enthusiasts with the “original” Stinger (sic) line? Why mention a “flat lot” then? I dunno. Most likely the realtor was gunning for all possible angles. I doubt it’s going to be a teardown though, just seems too pricey for a lot on that particular street (I could be wrong though). Maybe this will be the first Stenger on Brady not to be completely effed up with a horrific Home Depot remuddle? I think I would have a heart attack if so. Man, Brady is just one screwed up ugly-ass Stenger remuddled mess after another, just an eyesore of a street in this regard…IMHO. It really could be like a Granada Hills Eichler neighborhood, SUCH potential with those Stengers (and that street), kinda sad what folks do to ’em. I’ll have to check up on this place in a few months.
I’ve been told that a number of the Stenger “remodels” along Brady were done by one person / flipper. Maybe someone over there knows more or could clarify?
One way to look at is that it is payback for the petty politics in Rollingwood / Westlake that played a role in him leaving the business.
I’ve been watching this property for some time (it’s been vacant for months) and was shocked to see the “pending” sign. ACK. But hopefully the person that purchased it has enough sense to remodel it appropriately. Such a cool house.
This is almost directly behind the house we’re in on Ridgewood. My wife was terribly upset when she saw the sign as we had been scheming how to contact the owner’s children. We walk the area quite a bit and there are houses all over the place in similar states. Waist high grass, torn curtains in windows and squirrels in the roof. I guess the owners are all in nursing homes.
I also agree, there are some terrible renovations on Brady including Ridgewood.
So, Eric, Jenna….
Did either one of you consider leaving a note on the door? Talking to any of the five neighbors who’ve been there between 10 and 30 years? I know sending a letter would have been difficult, what with the street address nailed to the mail box.
The family waited and hoped that someone from the neighborhood would make a reasonable offer before they were forced to put it on the market, fearing a McMansion. And plenty of other people did make offers….$0.25 on the dollar, usually.
So if it ends up a tower of bright orange fake-flagstone, pat yourselves on the back.
I’m the Eric from the first post, not the guy who lives behind the house, just to clarify…anyway, wouldn’t it have been way easier for the owner to simply put a For-Sale-By-Owner sign in the yard to gauge neighborhood (or drive-by) interest? I would have made an offer myself if so (since I drive through that neighborhood in my weekly house hunt), and NOT for .25 cents on the dollar. When I saw the listing it was already pending after being active for approx. one day. Anyway, just sayin’…
Once any kind of sale sign goes up, every rule that applies to a realtor applies to the seller. They didn’t want to risk an unforseen legal nightmare.
OK, for clarity sake I’m Neighbor Eric(NE). Clearly exSIL you know the family. Unfortunately, you make no sense. Unforeseen legal nightmare? What the heck does that mean?
The only thing we heard was the owner had passed away and the children were squabbling over what to do with it. Out of sensitivity to the family we did not approach as we were waiting for a for sale sign to go up. What were we supposed to do, leave tacky notes on the door offering to buy? Puuhlease!
If it does end up a “tower of bright orange fake-flagstone” the only people who should pat themselves on the back are the people who sold it.
Interesting perspective, exSIL, as we did talk with several neighbors close to the house who didn’t know it was on the market. We did learn that the person who owned it was in a nursing home or had passed away and, out of respect for the family, chose to wait until the fate of the house was public. Clearly you are privy to much more information than we were and, had we known the house was quietly on the market, would have made more of an effort to see about rescuing the house from its disrepair.
The more I think about this, the more I get ticked off. If exSIL had all this inside knowledge about this house just sitting here waiting for offers, and he/she quite obviously knows about this site and all the folks dying for a cool Stenger, why didn’t he/she just get on here and say, “Hey guys, I know of a great original condition Stenger on Brady that might be going on the market soon, the family is thinking about selling it, etc., etc.,” and knowing that folks on this forum are conservation minded, this would have surely elicited some offers. I’m really ticked because I would have made a strong offer and then done period restoration work on it, it’s right in my price range for a home/restoration job, and I was really bummed out when it sold so quickly. So exSIL, count yourself as the one to blame if it gets the Home Depot treatment. It would have taken you two minutes to post that comment and the house would have been in the hands of an MCM enthusiast…jerk.
BTW, Ben, do you know where those other “Tee Pee” Stengers are located? I’ve seen one on Robert E. Lee and am curious as to the whereabouts of the others. Were these Stenger pre-fab’s of sorts? I’m confused as to if these homes were custom or spec or maybe a lower cost design he sold to folks to have built themselves? Thanks!
There are only a few Tee Pee that I know of. 3? Is there 2 in Rollingwood or only 1?
Stenger could be viewed more through a developer lens than a straight architect. He bought the tracks of land and then found buyers. The buyers often picked from a handful of pre-designed plans that would be altered to suit the lot or based the buyers input. I think there is around 6-8 ‘standards’ (I’ve never counted). I believe the standard homes were targeted to be around $18-20k. He may have done a few on spec but I was lead to believe most were not built without a buyer.
The exceptions are his early work, mostly centered around Arthur and Rundell area, and a few one-offs in Rollingwood (the Pilot house, Sugar Shack, for example). There are also the batches in lower Allandale and in East Austin. 4-6 homes each. Plus the townhomes.
Stenger apparently owned quite a bit more of Rollingwood then that was developed. The story Chuck and I were told by one of his ex-wifes was that he was building on .25 acre lots and there arose a dispute with the locals who then pushed through a zoning change that increased the minimum lot size. That made the economics poor for him and he threw in the towel and focused on his travels and wildlife films. This would have been the mid-60s.
ben, my favorite story from that day was that AD got mad at the city of rollingwood about a water issue so he drilled his own well and to this day his widow collects money from some 100 residents of that area for their water…
Unfortunately that well is soon to be closed and the city of Westlake Hills is trying to get each of the 100 home owners to cough up $25,000 to
connect to water district 10. Not a good thing for the neighborhood.
Not sure about Rollingwood but there’s nothing keeping one from drilling their own water well inside Austin. Water wells typically cost a lot less than 25K.
yikes joan, hope you’re not one of them, if so sorry to hear that.