3501 Greenway,  Austin Tx, 78705

This home is designed by Ted Flato of Lake/Flato architects, also known for designing the San Jose Hotel and The Livestrong Foundation Headquarters. The house was originally built for Ted Flato’s sister, an artist, one of the wonderful features of the house is its use of Natural light that permeates the home. Many windows enable this yet the high ceilings provide ample wall space for hanging art – a criteria of the original owner.

Lake/Flato is known for tailoring their designs to the environment, the concrete & stone exterior is almost completely hidden from the street & the wisteria covered patio blends the outside landscaping to the home seamlessly. This home is nestled in the historic Hancock neighborhood, the location is ideal, near UT, hospitals, shops & the Hancock golf course.  Close in yet secluded & quiet, no window coverings are necessary.   The hand cut mesquite floors add warmth to the modern concrete & plaster walls. The gourmet kitchen features a custom Chambers stove & SubZero refrigerator. Wood burning stone fireplaces in the living room & master bedroom. The master bath features a completely private outdoor shower. Concrete “Good Morning” stairs lead to the upstairs rooms, while passing walls of bookshelves.

The upstairs rooms feature an artist studio/bedroom with a wall of windows, as well as a bedroom with full bath, and a flex space for media or office.

Bedrooms: 3

Baths 2.5

Living: 1

Dining: 1

Sq Foot 2927 approx

Year Built: 1984

Area: UT

Asking Price : $995,000

Features:

Designed by Ted Flato of Lake/Flato architects

Built by Don Crowell

Covered patio shaded with wisteria vines

Very private lot

Tall ceilings

Wall of windows

Hand cut mesquite floors

Custom Chambers stove & SubZero refrigerator

Whole house fan

3 HVAC zones

Walls of built in book shelves

Private outdoor shower

 You can read about the rich history of the Hancock neighborhood here: Hancock Neighborhood Association

For more pictures check out the virtual tour www.3501Greenway.com

*this listing is being marketed by Nanette Labastida of Austin Fine Properties a Private Label Realty company

11921 Bittern Hollow

 With 2695 square feet and high ceilings, the floorplan really feels open & bright.

11921 Bittern Hollow - living room w/brazillian cherry floors

Formal dining and sitting room lead to the kitchen updated with granite counters & stainless appliances. So much counter space!  I would never have to put away the juicer or the blender or the coffee maker!

11921 Bittern Hollow - kitchen w/view to formal dining

The breakfast area is so cheery with natural light.

Breakfast area

The living room/den has a  fireplace, brazilian cherrywood floors, and built in shelving.

The master is down and boasts dual walk in closets, dual sinks in the master bath, and separate tub & shower

Master Bedroom

The three upstairs bedrooms are so big – room for play, office, children, guests.

 Fabulous backyard living space, covered deck & recent landscaping, so fabulous for grilling & sitting under the celing fan with a cold drink!

Gracywoods is so conveniently located between Mopac & I35, Breaker & Parmer/Metric – ideal for commuting to Samsung, Dell, IBM, Freescale as well as so many other businesses. Not to mention the Domain for fun shopping & dining.  (Try the Buddah Bowl and Beatiful Coconut iced tea at the Steeping Room, i’m addicted, they also have a few VEGAN desserts!)

The neighborhood itself has a great community, with Gracywoods Park, North Star Green Belt, miles of hike & bike trails and community events such as It’s my Park Day, Neighborhod Night Out, block parties & garage sales. Check out the Gracywoods Neighborhood BLOG SITE

11921 Bittern Hollow is listed at $229,700

*this property is listed by Austin Fine Properties a Private Label Realty company

I was lucky enough to car pool with my friends Angela & Dan who I met on the 2010 tour when I carpooled with them then. So much fun to do this with others.

Here’s just a quick recap of some of the houses we visited!

900 W Mary

I pass this house every time I go get a manicure at Frenchy’s beauty salon. Always wanted to see it.

hidden behind the wall is this lap pool

900 West Mary Pool

we all dug this unique wall fixture

410 E 6th Street is ACTUALLY in the heart of 6th Street downtown nestled between the bars, you would never know it was a private residence! Narrow, and deep, it has an older front part with a modern but retro old addition on the back. With an indoor pool.  It’s on the market for $3,000.000.

the former rear exterior, this is where the indoor pool is and transition to the newer area

"vintage" dishwasher

I don’t actually remember where this little outdoor space is but i sure do love it!

1616 Haskell was an East Austin duplex with a front & back house. The staging in this unit was the funnest, check out the giant bird in the bathroom:

And this RAD Tom Selleck pillow

but my fave was the roof top yoga set up:

Out in Westlake we visited 6703 Vireo Cove – the most stunning feature of this home was the large windows & how it felt like you were IN the outdoors from the bedroom

here is another groovy rooftop living space at 2307 W 9th St

As usual I didn’t take nearly enough pictures to capture all the coolness of Austin’s modern homes. Maybe next year!

When I think of modern homes it’s not only the architecture that attracts, but the decor & design touches. It’s so fun to get ideas and catch a glimpse into how other people do it.

If you went on the tour, what was your fav home or feature?

6804 Marbrys Ridge Cove

6804 Marbrys Ridge Cove is located on a quiet cul de sac just off of Far West Boulevard in the Austin neighborhood known as Northwest Hills
Built in 1995 it boasts really gorgeous views from the rear deck as well as the upstairs balconies off of the master bedroom and two guest bedrooms. The fourth bedroom functions as a gameroom/playroom with bright windows & french doors to the landing. Updated kitchen, formal dining room, office.  A classic, comfortable well maintained home.

This house is currently listed for $524,900

The Northwest Hills neighborhood is roughly within the boundaries of Spicewood Springs on the north, Mopac on the East, Far West Blvd to the South and Mesa west, yet like Marbry’s Ridge Cove it does extend beyond those streets to include Meadow Mountain, Ladera Norte, North Hills Drive & Farhills Drive for example.

The neighborhood schools are Doss Elementary, Murchison Middle School and Anderson High

Some of the cool things nearby 6804 Marbrys Ridge Cove are:

Northwest Hardware – one of the few remaining old school small box hardware stores with awesome personal small town friendly service

El Arroyo – north location of Austin’s legendary “the ditch” restaurant

Old Quarry Branch of  Austin Public Library

Mangia – Austin’s award winning Chicago deep dish pizza on Mesa Blvd

Dirty Dog - locally owned dog grooming and self serve dog wash! Best invention ever

Mirabelle - fine dining on Mesa Blvd

Torchy’s Tacos – finally branched out north! It’s all about the Diablo Salsa!

Not to mention 2 nearby grocery stores, HEB & Randall’s, numerous small business and restaurants, banks, dry cleaning, yogurt, yoga, pilates, starbucks, gym…

Here are a couple of  neighborhood things you may not know about unless you lived there!

The “scary house” – as my kid have always called it. Located on Waterline, you can’t miss this house during Halloween time. Super mega extravagantly decorated people travel from all over to trick or treat for full size candy bars and to admire the display.  Over the years the neighbors nearby have started to join in the on the contaigious atmosphere and now it is literally a block party! We like to watch the progress as they start to put out decorations starting October 1st

The goose – without fail, this resident on Edgerock dresses her goose statuette up complete with accessories and “friends”.  Often the goose’s outfit reflects the season, holiday or local event

below is the Virtual Tour – check out view!

If you or anyone you know is interested in learning more give me a call!

Travis County has recently made available $1.3 million in federal funds to help Texas families purchase FORECLOSED homes in the Austin area – it’s called the Neighborhood Stabilization Progam.

Here are some details & points about the NSP-1 program:

• There are defined targeted areas where to purchase the homes within Travis County (not including within the city of Pflugerville), but any day now the County is expected to get official permission to include the entire city of Austin
• Buyers may use the lender of their choice but the County can refer to a list of  lenders that have gone through the process
• If a family is below the 50% income max – they can get financed directly through  Travis County
• 100% financing is available, including closing costs – and it is 100% forgivable after either 5 or 10 years of ownership depending on the size of assistance
• The size of the loan is determined by the difference between what the buyer is qualified for and the cost of the home
• Thus far they have closed on 3 homes and the maximum loan has been $26k
• This can be an amazing opportunity for families to own a home, but be warned that the process is a bit tricky & time consuming. Paperwork/forclosure/timing. Make sure your REALTOR  is well educated on all the processes
• The County’s goal is to be within 15% of appraised value of the home. For example is a home is appriased at $100k, the goal is to purchace it for $85,000. This isn’t a total requirement and is hard to acheive. If the house purchase price is for more than the appraisal it won’t work.
• To qualify, the buyers need a credit score of at least 620
• Buyer must  have a minimum of $500 to invest towards the purchase
• Buyer must have interest in purchasing a forclosed home by May 31st 2010
•  Have a total household income below the amount in the chart below

For details on how to apply and for contact information please go to the Travis County Housing Finance Coroporation website!  http://www.traviscountyhfc.org/nsp-1.html

I think despite the hoops and paperwork – this program is super beneficial to both neighborhoods and potential homebuyers.

Realtors & buyers please don’t hesitate to contact me with any further questions, I have talked at great length to people in this department and am happy to investigate further!