SAN ANTONIO — When a devastating fire tore through a house on the 200 block of Utah Street in February, it was a tragedy for the east-side family who had owned it for many years. A longtime resident died and another family member was hospitalized with burns.
Now, the Denver Heights neighborhood property is on the market, despite the presence of signage warning of a possible demolition by the city.
Before the fire, the value of the home on the appraisal district rolls was listed at $137,129 for a 826 square foot home built in 1930.
The asking price for the burned out shell that remains is $350,000.
In an area that has seen huge jumps in property values over the last few years, some are wondering if the property will sell at that price, but it is a block that has seen a great deal of recent change.
Across the street and a few doors down, Terramark Urban Homes has a new development where they say all the homes were pre-sold, even though a number of them aren’t yet finished.
A sign out front says prices for the homes started in the low $250,000s.
Next door, the sign for The Vistas at Denver Heights offers luxury homes from the $450,000s.
All of the new growth features close up views of downtown and access to the things buyers want.
Terramark Chief Operating Officer John Cooley said “Denver Heights is a great neighborhood. It’s well located, close to town and it has a lot of great amenities there.”
Cooley said it’s one of many close-in neighborhoods where his company can’t build houses fast enough.
“You've got a classic supply / demand issue where you have a lot of demand and not as much supply as we need and so we are trying to catch up. We've got to build more houses,” Cooley said.
After a soft market during the pandemic when many people chose to stay put, Cooley said now people are ready to move.
“That totally changed at the beginning of this year and all of a sudden everything is back open. Everybody has been cooped up for two years and they’re ready to get out and it’s a gold rush to get back downtown,” Cooley said.
The biggest challenge now, Cooley said, is getting the building materials they need to get the homes built.
“Everything is getting more expensive. Lumber is up. Labor is up. Oil is up. All those things drive the price up,” Cooley said, adding there are some supplies they just can’t get. “The supply chain is still log-jammed, so you’ve got trouble getting materials.”
Cooley said windows are hard to find now.
“You can’t get windows in the normal time period because they can’t produce windows quick enough,” Cooley said, adding that a home that could have been built in six months is now taking nine or ten months.
Realtor Carlos Todd said there are positive aspects at play.
“There are so many people qualified to buy in the San Antonio market now, there's an abundance of buyers but a shortage of homes,” Todd said.
"For those that do want to sell, this is by far the absolute prime time," Todd said.
Todd said many buyers are showing up with cash in hand.
“I was looking at some of the homes that sold here in the area and out of the last 20 homes that sold, about 10 to 15 of them were cash buyers, and that's $300,000 or more in price point,” Todd said.
Todd said for many families, the increase in value is an asset they will be able to pass on to their heirs.
“They're able to pass this home down to their children and their children are getting the property at higher value, which means if they sell it or keep it, they have an investment for the long term,” Todd said.
To the legacy residents who are feeling anxious about tax increases to homes that have seen huge jumps in appraised value, Todd said protesting the higher values is always a good thing to do.
“They can combat that by protesting the increases. The Bexar County Appraisal District has done a phenomenal job of making sure home owners are cared for,” Todd said.
Todd said there’s no down side in trying to get an appraisal reduced.
“It’s always up for conversation. Home owners should not feel like they can’t protest their taxes. They do have options available,” Todd said.
A spot check of existing homes within a few hundred yards showed a number with few or no obvious improvements have seen their appraised values jump more than $50,000 in just four years.
Cooley, of Terramark, said “It takes a lot of voices talking to local leadership to help find a solution.”
Cooley said value jumps are not a problem unique to San Antonio.
“It doesn’t make it any less painful but we’re big advocates for home ownership because that appreciation benefits you because your house is worth a little bit more,” Cooley said.
Cooley said one important solution to the crunch is an initiative on the May city bond ballot.
“Part of that is $150 million dollars for an affordable housing initiative,” Cooley said. “That’s going to be critical to helping attack the problem at its root.”
“I think it’s really important for everyone to look at that and in my opinion vote yes on the bond so we can start to address that,” Cooley said.
The city is currently writing a new community plan for the east side area.
The plan area extends from just east of I 37 to the I 10 corridor through East Commerce Street and then north to a few blocks north of I 35, encompassing the Government Hill neighborhood.
For anyone who wants to have a say in where growth goes from here go to this website.