Venetian Estates News - October 2018

VE Market Update

Per the Houston MLS there are currently two homes available, priced at $625,000 and $899,000, and four homes/lots pending sale in our neighborhood. Including off-market or non-MLS sales there have been a total of 12 closed sales in Venetian so far this year. Prices on those properties ranged from $380,000 to approximately 1M. FBRE’s listings at 815 Piedmont, 115 Capri, and 702 Piedmont are pending sale and scheduled to close this month.

Sales and Sailing

In July Bud and I traveled to Normandy. We spent a total of two weeks cruising the Seine and visiting cities including Paris and London. It was an absolutely fabulous trip, made all that much better knowing that Kelly was selling VE at record pace while we were away!  She negotiated sales on three of FBRE’s listings during that two-week period!  She sold our newest listing at 710 Piedmont before we were even able to have professional photos taken for the MLS. Our firm knows and loves Venetian Estates like no other, and the result is incomparable ability to negotiate win-win deals for sellers and buyers.

Friends and Neighbors, Old and New

Speaking of 710 Piedmont, our good friends and neighbors, Marcie and Glenn McCutchen, are leaving us at the end of the year. (Kelly will tell you about the new neighbors to be in our December newsletter.) As much as we hate to lose the McCutchens as neighborhood-neighbors we are excited for them in their new adventure, moving to a brand-new home in Del Webb to be in the same community as Marcie’s parents.  So many of us will miss seeing Marcie and Glenn on a regular basis, and we are so grateful for Marcie’s service and impact on the neighborhood social committee. She will still be available for catering events, and we hope to still see her in the neighborhood from time to time!

Our new/old neighbors at 403 Savoy will be Lori and Tom Shirley.  Kelly and I sold the Shirley’s home at 203 Savoy in December of last year.  Lori and Tom decided to lease for a while until finding another great lot on which to build.  With fewer kids at home they wanted to design a smaller one- or 1.5-story home in the neighborhood.  The Shirleys are now living in FBRE’s listing at 122 Saint Marks.  As many of you know Tom Shirley is president of NewFirst Bank and Lori is very active in the community and with their daughter, Calie’s, school, Fort Bend Christian Academy.  If you ever toured the Shirleys’ previous home at 203 Savoy you know how gorgeous the new home at 403 Savoy will be!

FBRE also represented the purchasers of 114 Saint Marks.  Nancy and Congressman Pete Olson will be building their future residence here. But for now, Jason and Staci Pierce are leasing the Olsons’ home after selling their gorgeous home in “The Hill”. Jason and Staci, owners of Pierce Built Homes, are building on the VE lot they purchased last year located at 903 Gondola.  If all of this “musical home” stuff is confusing, suffice to say that our neighborhood is so great that our future homeowners can’t wait to get in so they lease while building!

Neighbor News

We are honored to have Venetian Estates neighbors in public service. Two of our homeowners will be on the ballot in the Mid-Term Elections:

Congressman Pete Olson is the Republican (incumbent) candidate for Congressional District 22, and Robert (Bob) Rolnick (502 Santa Maria) is the Democratic candidate for Judge of the newly created 458th Judicial District Court of Fort Bend County.

FBRE Advantage, Near and Far
Kelly Ferguson, Bud Friedman and associate Barry Beard negotiated the sale of the iconic Richmond Foundry. FBRE had been retained by the owner, a Chicago-based trust, to market the property, which includes 37.5 acres and over 200,000 SF of warehouse. FBRE then procured the buyer, a seasoned local developer, and successfully worked through a complicated due diligence period and negotiated the sale. The new owner will soon redevelop the site for mixed-use. With its proximity to US 90A and historic downtown Richmond, the future development will be an excellent, welcome addition to our charming—and burgeoning—county seat.