Walking notes

When walking the dog, I may or may not have a few bucks in my pocket for a cup of coffee or a yard-sale find, but I always have my camera. It's handy for snapping weird stuff, or for reminders of landscaping do's and don'ts.

This downspout "water feature" is an interesting concept, but the execution ... no. I do like ironwork that's out of the ordinary, and bricks, so this gate gets a thumbs up.
They really should run their downspout under the walkway, though.
I always check to see what the monsters are going for. These two? $609K each. A year ago it probably would've been closer to $700K.

I went up and took pictures through the windows. I couldn't spot any surveillance cameras, so maybe they're bluffing.

It's a nice neighborhood but I still can't imagine paying that much for half a duplex.

Still fluffy

Sophie has decided to forgive me for the grooming torture. Though her face itches.

It was about 12 degrees out yesterday when we went for a walk, but the abundant sunshine made it all right. Once you've gone through a South Dakota winter with a puppy, anything above zero is a piece of cake.

That's Sophie at about 10 months with a snow-covered snoot in Aberdeen, S.D. You can tell she still had puppy fur then. She needed it!

So 13 years later we come full circle to shaggy.
While we were out walking, we passed that empty lot whose scraping-off I documented.
Well, well. It's for sale again. Looks like the builders who bought and scraped have given up on it. The neighbors had told me the lot was not big enough for a duplex, but the sign shows two addresses, so I'm guessing it is indeed zoned R2. No idea what they're asking for it. It went for $340K last time.

Nothing lasts

Oh look, another "Lot for sale." Are you getting tired of seeing these?

What makes me sad about this one is that someone has worked really hard on that yard to make it look nice. But it's all going to be scraped away.

The brochure says they won't even show the house until the property is under contract. "Rent until you're ready to build," it says.

That's a double lot, so someone can put up a duplex there. Just like the one next door.

Modern Mango

Finally met my neighbors the other day who built a gorgeous modern home. I'd been checking out their blog for a while after a mutual friend of a friend sent it to me. It's a very nicely designed home, with lots of clean lines, open space and light. They used green materials and were able to economize in some areas with Ikea elements such as closets that they built in. As I've said before, it's nice to see a new home that doesn't cover the entire lot and overwhelm the the neighbors, with a design that is interesting and attractive. It's not some cookie-cutter off-the-shelf Home Depot plan that has no character.

They have a sweet little kitty named Mango, too. Who didn't know what to make of Sophie.

Another monster, another gate

Last year I noted that the neighbors were irritated by this builder's neglect of a pair of empty lots. Since then, the builder has taken care of the weed problem on one lot by covering it with another noxious invasive:
Yes for a mere $567K, you can own the north-facing side of a duplex that will get no direct sunlight except at midsummer. And which has no backyard, as far as I can tell.
And you'll have a lovely view of the still-empty lot next door, which may or may not be filled with the sounds of heavy equipment and hammering at all hours for however long it takes to put up another monster duplex.
To the north of that is something I do like, though I find it baffling. Look at this gorgeous, ornate pair of gates in a nicely executed brick wall.
I can't figure it out. Was there a beautiful old house there before?
I'm thinking no, the owners salvaged the gates from somewhere else and had the wall built. The house itself is a ratty old stucco bungalow in a vaguely Spanish style, from what little I could see of it through the weed-tree-filled yard.
Maybe I'll walk by there again and ask what the deal is. Boy, do I covet those gates!

Now you see it ...

Now you don't.This place had been empty for a long time, purchased by builders right before everything went south in the housing market. I met the next-door neighbor months ago when he was walking by my house. He told me about how frustrating it was to have the place sitting empty and falling apart, and knowing that it would probably be replaced with a hulking behemoth that would block all his light (and hence raise his winter heating bills).

I ran into him again when I was taking photos of the house, including this (click to see it larger):
He'd had to call the city because workers stripping the place would leave the doors wide open and then disappear for days. "All I need is a meth lab in there," he said.

I guess whoever owns the place now got the hint. But I suspect they don't have the funds to do more than scrape it.

Empty nest

Now that it's cool enough to walk Sophie in daylight again, I am discovering neighborhood changes that happened in the last few months.

It took me a minute to realize that this empty lot used to hold a house I knew well. Do you recognize it?
Of course you don't. But maybe this picture will jog your memory (if you've been following my blog for a while):
I posted in March about the old man who lived there, whose death I only knew of when the house was being cleared. Cleared of everything that made it special. Or horrible, if you feel that way. I didn't, but I don't live next door.

Another empty lot, another promise of something to come. But what?

It won't be nearly as interesting, I'll hazard.

Destruction complete

You may recall I've been keeping an eye on the neighboring house that was advertised as a "Lot for Sale." When the construction fencing went up, I knew its days were numbered.

Sure enough, this morning I heard the tell-tale sounds of heavy equipment.
The morning was already well-advanced by the time I got myself caffeinated enough to wander down there with my camera and record its last moments of house-ness.

Goodbye, front door.Farewell, picture window.From home to rubble in a matter of hours.
I wish I could say something better will arise in its place. We'll see.

Under destruction

Back on April 8, I noted that a neighboring property was for sale. The sign made no bones about its potential – the sign didn't say "Home for Sale," but "Lot for Sale."

Considering the McMonsters that have sprung up on the same block, I didn't hold out much hope that someone would buy the little frame bungalow to live in it.

Yesterday my suspicions were confirmed:
Ah, yes, the ubiquitous pre-scrape construction fencing. The rule here at least is that you have to preserve existing trees, so the fencing goes up to "protect" them (though who knows if they will survive the root damage).

Would you like to know what it sold for? $340,000. The rule I've heard is that spec builders won't buy unless they can triple their money. You do the math.

It is still possible that the result won't be a hideous behemoth duplex; there is one new house in the neighborhood that was just built by an architect for himself and his family that is modest in size, attractive and uses green materials. Check it out at Denver-Modern.

I'll keep an eye on this one and report back on its "progress."

P.S. I was tempted not to post today because I was so pleased with yesterday's dragonfly pictures. (I felt the same after posting the bee swarm at night – click the second photo to see it full-screen.) But life does go on.

Monsters around every corner

While I'm waiting for 300 photos to transfer (of which probably 10 will be worth posting), here are some examples of those monster duplexes I was talking about last week.
In a neighborhood of mostly Craftsman-style brick bungalows and Victorian cottages, they stand out like big fat tumors, filling their lots from edge to edge. Many of them are empty or half-empty. Each side averages around $600K. Still more are going up or are half-built, where the money was already in the pipeline. But I suspect the pace will slow with the market being so crummy.

What do you think of this one?

You've seen the "mansion home" for sale in my neighborhood, which at least includes a nod to the Craftsman style of bungalows that are common around here. The bulk of the new construction doesn't even have that, being monolithic stucco duplex monstrosities that could be plunked down in mass-produced suburbia anywhere. (I may add a photo of one or two to this post tomorrow.)
So I have mixed feelings about this one, but I'm leaning toward liking it. If you're going to shoot for "different," you might as well go all-out. It also looks like they're putting solar panels on this, which is good. I don't know if it's a custom home or being built on spec.

Certainly you would have a clear idea of how to furnish it. Just as my house pretty much demands Victorian-style furniture, this will require a hefty dose of modern, which could look quite fabulous if done right. There's no ambiguity here.

The houses on either side are obvious scrape-off candidates. I wonder how soon that will happen, given the current market.

Then there's this one, which is newly listed. The sellers aren't even bothering to pretend it won't be scraped; the sign says "Lot for Sale."
Stay tuned.