Parade of Homes (Spring, Robinson, Powell: appointed, real estate, houses)

[wCat]

I had an opportunity to tour the parade of homes in the Dominion today. Anyone else get to take the tour? I'm extremely curious to what anyone's thoughts are on these $2+ million homes. Did anyone pick a favorite to vote for in the "People's Choice" awards?

BTW - the tour goes through this weekend and tickets can be purchased at Home Depot.

[PopsGuysRule]

Originally Posted by wCat

I had an opportunity to tour the parade of homes in the Dominion today. Anyone else get to take the tour? I'm extremely curious to what anyone's thoughts are on these $2+ million homes. Did anyone pick a favorite to vote for in the "People's Choice" awards?

BTW - the tour goes through this weekend and tickets can be purchased at Home Depot.

ooooh, I had no idea this was going on!!! But if I can't see Pop and his home, I AIN'T goin'!!!! .... LOL

Thanks for the info, wCat.... I had no idea......
I think Manu, Fabricio, and Brent live up there too, if I'm not mistaken.....
My boyfriend Bruce doesn't live up there..... He's out over there near Timmy I THINK... I don't remember; I used to know where almost all of them live......
Between Pop and his wife, they own the property/house they live in, and MOST ALL of the land/lots around them...... I think one other lot has a house on it; the rest are vacant....
MySA.com: Gardening (broken link)

MySA.com: Real Estate

[Paka]

Originally Posted by wCat

I had an opportunity to tour the parade of homes in the Dominion today. Anyone else get to take the tour? I'm extremely curious to what anyone's thoughts are on these $2+ million homes. Did anyone pick a favorite to vote for in the "People's Choice" awards?

BTW - the tour goes through this weekend and tickets can be purchased at Home Depot.

We went early Sat am...of the houses, I picked #1, so did DH...the one with the pool in the courtyard with the ugly tile roof that looked like they forgot to clean the extra concrete from the setting of the tiles...the "builders rep" said it was an "authentic" look, guess us poor folk don't appreciate that...I thought it was ugly, but LOVED the house. I also liked the one with all the textures!!!! Too bad it was stuffed with dead animals as the decor...I know the big game hunter decor appeals to lots of folks, just not me. BUT, when you looked past all the animal remains, I LOVED the mixture of textures and the wonderful Mexican style courtyard in the center!

Having said that, IF I had the money, I would not spend it on any of them...while interesting to look at, I did not feel that any of them were "If I won the lotto tonite I would by this house" types this year. Beautiful, but not something that I could see me really living in. I would MUCH prefer a home in Olmos park area....everyone in the Dominion seem to be trying to "out do" each other.

[Insomniac]

Originally Posted by Paka

everyone in the Dominion seem to be trying to "out do" each other.

You can say that again.

This is a currently under construction home in the Dominion.



Look at the crew, it looks like a commercial construction site.

[banker]

Originally Posted by Insomniac

You can say that again.

This is a currently under construction home in the Dominion.



Look at the crew, it looks like a commercial construction site.

Where did you get this picture? Who's house is this?

[TXtrkgrl]

Originally Posted by Paka

Having said that, IF I had the money, I would not spend it on any of them...while interesting to look at, I did not feel that any of them were "If I won the lotto tonite I would by this house" types this year. Beautiful, but not something that I could see me really living in. I would MUCH prefer a home in Olmos park area....everyone in the Dominion seem to be trying to "out do" each other.

Funny you say that. I went to the parade of homes in Anaqua Springs last year. Beautiful homes. But when we were driving home my hubby and I were saying the same thing that you said, even if we had the money it just wasn't something that we see ourselves in. The homes were so big that I swear someone else could be living there with you and you wouldn't even know it ~LOL~~

[dendox]

I liked the Chad Powell design the best. It was the french tudor. It seemed the most livable and was very nice, without being overly over the top.

The bathroom in the casa magna house was insane. All in all it is fun to go look at those.

[wCat]

Interesting comments. I sort of felt the same thing. I didn't understand the idea behind 2 and 3 "upstair" areas. I think house #3 had three different staircases to three different living rooms, bedrooms, whatever rooms?? I wouldn't even USE parts of that house. Granted, one was called a "casita" or guest house. And another was a small gym above the master. Can't even remember what the third area was...extra bedrooms.

Did any of you notice the slate/tile steps going upstairs??? The edges were not even honed or smooth. That was a disaster waiting to happen.

Most had that Mediterranean feel which is getting "old" in my opinion. A couple had courtyard/living rooms complete with furniture and big screen TV's in cabinets. (#5 especially) Big slabs of stone with zoysia grass between. What were they thinking? In a typical hot blistering Texas summer, that would NEVER get used....and our winters get cold enough that sitting outside in the "living room" would not be my idea of relaxing. Being a courtyard, you couldn't even take advantage of a breeze blowing through.....not to mention having to move all the furniture to "mow" the floor! The exception was the one Paka mentions where the pool was in the center of the house. It had an outdoor living area by the pool.

I got the feeling that some of these builders were trying to appeal to big Mexican National money. One floor plan was not even labeled in English. The other thought was that some of these houses would be awesome in California where the climate would be more suitable for outdoor living rooms.

For this area....and for the sake of being "different"....I really liked #4 which had a beautiful facade....nice blend of textures, but more like Texas meets Old English. They pulled that off nicely. It had a more traditional and practical floorplan...(how's that for being "different?"). Three bedrooms and baths upstairs PLUS an awesome bar/media/gameroom....and a second set of stairs going down the back to the kitchen area. The back had an awesome pool and incredible landscaping....I think it got the best "site" award. Great "casual elegance!"

I didn't even make it to 7 and 8 because it got too crowded. I should have known better than to go on a holiday!

Oh Pops.....I did see David Robinson on a VIP cart!

[mamabecker]

I went to the parade on Sunday morning. I was disappointed this year. Yes, the homes are large but, this year the wow! factor was not there. Every house was the same as in the past years. The "old world" look , limestome, granite, large pools and of course the all important media rooms. The staircases were to small and steep, the kids rooms were soooooo far away and up in the prison towers somewhere. I would like to see some new inovative modern kitchens from Germany, or a japanese living room. Something that has not been done to death. The beige and off white stuff is not exciting. Things just seem to have been the same old stuff you see all over. It was nice to see some colorful tiles and some tin on the ceilings and backsplashes. Bravo!!! to the builder for not playing it safe and giving us something to admire. Oh, this is Texas where are the ceiling fans and the sun blocking shades on the large porches and windows? I was not as impressed this year.