Magnolia Grove

East of Shepherd/Durham, South of Washington, North of Memorial drive & West of Heights Blvd – cradled in its own cute little quadrant of town is Magnolia Grove. Most people unknowingly lump this into Rice Military or Washington Ave, but Magnolia Grove is an actual HAR recognized neighborhood area.

This pocket has a lot of the same feel as Rice Military with mostly 3-4 story townhomes, narrow-ish streets, healthy and mature trees that have grown over the roads, lots of stucco, and close to every cool place in the city that you could possibly want to visit. Want to go to an Astros, Dynamo, or Rockets game? You are literally ~8min from all three stadiums. Flying out of Bush or Hobby? You are nearly equidistant between the two.

(Being so similar to Rice Military, there are some repeats here)

Things to keep in mind when looking to buy here: 

1. Stucco. Omg. There is a heck of a lot of stucco over here & it’s just a fact of life. 
2. Stucco inspection is a must. 
3. There is a wide variety of housing product to choose from here. Small gated townhome communities, houses with driveways and no HOAs, single family homes, and multiple story homes. 
4. If the home is 3+ stories, it’s highly preferable for the house to have an elevator
5. If there is a rooftop patio, you need to pay close attention to possible leaks or improper grading and drainage. 
6. Your daily parking situation and guest parking 
7. Is the house located next to commercial or some type of business?
8. Flooding: there are some low-lying areas of Magnolia Grove that have flooded badly in the past. Do your homework & always have flood insurance. 

What you can expect living here:

1. Some areas are much more tight-knit than others, your community is what you make it
2. A few of the streets are more narrow or busier than others, this can be annoying because some roads are blocked by moving trucks or daily trash pick up
3. With the narrow-ish streets, sometimes there are a lot of garbage cans to dodge on trash day (I have been known to periodically hit one with my side mirrors.. oopsie!)
4. Perfect proximity to everywhere you’ll ever want to eat! 
5. A little bit more mature crowd because of a higher frequency of elevators and a little higher price point. 
6. Some of this area is much more walkable, having easy access to a couple great places off of Shepherd/Durham and the bayou walking trails.

And notes from a local resident:

“I love the super easy, walkable access to Buffalo Bayou Park. You can even walk to Johnny Steele dog park (less than a mile), the cistern, Waugh Bat Colony, Flora, and even into downtown. 3+ miles to downtown.

The new bike trail will come from Jackson Hill footbridge, to Blossom across to Patterson (ending right by Patterson Park) and connect to the White Oak Bayou and Heights trails. It will also connect to the existing path on Waugh in Montrose.”