Harvey "Rehabber" – Way Beyond Buyer Beware

I guess this is a rant. Buyer beware and all that, but the kind of person that tells you "Buyer Beware," like it's some kind of received wisdom is really saying "if you get ripped off, it's your fault." For flea market jewelry, that's one thing, but for a home that will probably be put on the market for $250k or more, there should be more oversight and enforcement.

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https://www.redfin.com/TX/Conroe/302-Brook-Hollow-Dr-77385/home/33175593 is a property I drive by 3-5 days a week. The photos in that listing are from August, 2020 after it had been sitting empty, gutted from flooding during Harvey, since August 2017.

The day after Harvey passed over, I drove to the house and had a nice visit with the occupants. They were renters, and the home was owned by a faceless property management firm. The parents were having coffee, watching "the last," of the rain drizzle down, while their kids played inside.

They had no idea what was coming.

I'd been up half the night, watching the river gauge on the San Jacinto, and knew where the projected crest was headed. Their home would be under at least four feet of water by the next day.

Whether they believed me or not, I'll never know, but at some point in the next 24 hours they left for Louisiana, where they had people. As far as I know they never came back.

Near the peak of the flooding the house looked like this: https://i.imgur.com/XTamw0g.jpeg

Maybe they came back, once, to check things out, but dozens of others helped drag everything those people owned into the street to be picked up and trucked to a landfill.

Every stick of furniture, what looked like everything except their traveling clothes, and who knows what else were a 100% loss.

Sometime between 2017 and 2020 the home ended up on the FEMA 1316 list ( https://mctx.org/1316%20List%2005102021.pdf ) which means any living space has to be elevated 1 foot above base flood elevation. Otherwise, the property cannot get flood insurance, a mortgage is near impossible to obtain, and no remodeling is permitted.

After three years of sitting, doors wide open, animals in and out, a small mystery fire, and every bit of weather, the property sold for (I think) $50-$70k.

Initially, the new owners tried to remodel the home by stealth but got caught and informed of the status of the property. They claimed to be entirely ignorant of the permit and 1316 requirements.

After a period of quiescence, activity has picked up over the last year.

This time, apparently in possession of a building permit, the new owners have seemingly decided to cut the roof off, use the existing walls and foundation as support, and build a dwelling on top that is the legal 1 foot above base flood elevation.

Current progress had looked like this since last spring: https://i.imgur.com/jesbo9q.jpeg

This "house" has been sitting through all the rain and summer weather in 2021 with half the roof sawed off. It flooded in Harvey, the Tax Day floods, and in 1994 at a minimum. Probably more between 1970-94. There's no way it has a shred of vapor barrier left behind the brick. Electrical has to be a total loss, likewise plumbing and gas.

I'm not an engineer or construction authority, but I don't see any way that the structure as it exists right now can ever be a stable base from which to anchor a new dwelling 11 feet from the ground.

Besides the absolute eyesore that is its' current condition, and given that the owner already tried to remodel and flip the property sans permitting, if they do pull off the construction and place it on the market, I am entirely confident that the history I just wrote will never appear on a disclosure. The visual record of this atrocity will be lost to any potential buyer about to make the worst mistake of their life.

There is no scenario where this place should be anything but bulldozed to the ground.

So, yes, buyer be very beware, 302 Brook Hollow Dr, Conroe, TX 77385 is not suitable for habitation no matter how much paint they slap on it.

Imgur Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/oUibNv5

Redfin Screenshot #1: https://i.imgur.com/twChotn.png

Redfin Screenshot #2: https://i.imgur.com/YB1V7f1.png