1803 Clifford Ave, Austin, TX 78702

Rare opportunity to own a truly unique custom home in the heart of East Austin, designed by Hughey Design and built by Curate Custom Homes as the builder’s personal residence. Thoughtfully crafted for both everyday living and effortless entertaining, the home offers multiple outdoor living areas and a detached accessory unit with a private entrance—ideal for guests, a studio, home office, or STR potential.

A stunning open floor plan seamlessly blends the living, dining, and kitchen spaces beneath vaulted ceilings and a skylight that fills the interior with natural light. Expansive windows and walls of sliding glass create an airy, indoor-outdoor connection to the covered deck and shaded yard. Concrete floors anchor the downstairs, while warm wood floors elevate the upstairs.

Extensive recent improvements include approximately $52K invested in a full HVAC overhaul with new compressor, all indoor mini-split heads, redesigned ductwork, and a whole-home dehumidifier. Approximately $12K in landscaping enhancements include a rebuilt deck, steel trellis, and app-based irrigation. The home also features a top-of-the-line heavy-gauge seamless metal roof, tankless water heater, and mini-split HVAC in the front studio. A rare blend of design, functionality, and location in one of Austin’s most authentic neighborhoods. For more info, go to: https://wkf.ms/3LBsQaM

1803 Clifford Ave stands out first for its authorship and execution, designed by Hughey Design and built by Curate Custom Homes as the builder's personal residence, a distinction that carries weight in East Austin where buyers pay close attention to design credibility and construction decisions. Priced at $1.30 million, or $551 per square foot, this 2015 single-family residence offers 2,359 square feet with 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and 1 half bath on a 0.112-acre lot in East Austin, Austin, Texas 78702, within Austin ISD and assigned to Campbell, Kealing, and McCallum.

That foundation matters because the layout appears built for how people actually live. The main living, dining, and kitchen spaces are organized under vaulted ceilings, with a skylight bringing daylight into the center of the home instead of relying only on perimeter windows. Expansive windows and sliding glass walls extend those spaces toward a covered deck and shaded yard, creating a strong connection between interior living and outdoor use. Concrete floors downstairs add durability where traffic is highest, while wood floors upstairs shift the feel in the private rooms. Multiple outdoor living areas widen the property's functionality beyond the square footage on paper.

The detached accessory unit is another differentiator. With its own private entrance and mini-split HVAC, it adds flexibility that many single-family homes in this segment do not offer. That can support guests, a studio, a home office, or another independent use where separation from the main house improves how the property functions day to day. In practical terms, it gives a buyer more ways to use the asset without forcing compromises inside the primary residence.

The recent capital work is also the right kind of investment. Approximately $52,000 went into a full HVAC overhaul, including a new compressor, all indoor mini-split heads, redesigned ductwork, and a whole-home dehumidifier. Another approximately $12,000 went into landscaping improvements with a rebuilt deck, steel trellis, and app-based irrigation. The property also includes a heavy-gauge metal roof and tankless water heater. Those are substantive upgrades tied to performance, comfort, and maintenance planning, not superficial refreshes.

With just 9 days on market, 1803 Clifford Ave enters the conversation as a property with a clear point of difference in 78702. For buyers weighing design pedigree, flexible use, and system-level upgrades, this is the kind of home that can hold its position well over time.

East Austin is the only neighborhood in the city where you can walk from a James Beard Award-winning restaurant to a converted warehouse gallery to a live music venue to a craft cocktail bar without ever getting in your car. That walkability, combined with a building boom that has reshaped the housing stock over the past decade, makes East Austin the most dynamic real estate market in Central Texas.

East Austin stretches from I-35 on the west to Highway 183 on the east, with Lady Bird Lake forming the southern boundary and roughly MLK Boulevard marking the northern edge of the 78702 core. The 78722 zip extends the identity further north and east. Downtown is immediately across I-35 - five minutes by car, 15 by bicycle. East Cesar Chavez, East 6th, and East 7th serve as commercial corridors, each with its own personality. East Cesar Chavez leans toward taquerias and family shops, East 6th trends cocktail bars and restaurants, East 7th mixes galleries with newer retail.

Modern townhomes and duplexes make up about 35% of sales activity, concentrated on infill lots. Original shotgun bungalows and Craftsman homes account for 25%, mostly on quieter streets east of Chicon - typically 800 to 1,200 square feet on generous lots with ADU potential. Contemporary custom homes represent 15%, with architects like Bercy Chen and Alterstudio producing some of the most interesting residential design in Texas. Unrenovated bungalows start in the mid-$400s. Renovated historic homes with ADUs land between $700,000 and $1 million. New townhomes cluster around $600,000 to $900,000. Custom builds cross $1.5 million.

East Austin falls within Austin ISD. Zavala Elementary and Blackshear Elementary handle early grades. Martin and Kealing Middle Schools are the primary options, with Kealing's magnet program drawing students districtwide. Eastside Memorial High School serves the area, though many families opt for LASA, private schools, or open-enrollment options. The school landscape is more complex than in neighborhoods with a single feeder pattern, and specific addresses matter.

The lifestyle is what people picture when they think of modern Austin. Morning starts at Cenote or Fleet Coffee. Franklin Barbecue's line forms early, but locals order ahead. The dining concentration is remarkable. Suerte does modern Mexican with in-house nixtamal. Nixta Taqueria won a James Beard Award. Launderette turns a converted laundromat into one of Austin's best brunch spots. Canje brings Caribbean cooking to Holly Street. Kemuri Tatsu-Ya fuses izakaya with smokehouse. Via 313 has been making Detroit-style pizza since before the current boom. The Butler Trail, Boggy Creek Greenbelt, Roy Guerrero Park, and Mueller Lake Park provide outdoor options.

East Austin offers urban density and walkability unmatched outside downtown, at prices that undercut the west side significantly. Compared to South Congress, it provides more housing variety and better value per square foot. Compared to Mueller, it trades master-planned orderliness for more character. The main concerns are the pace of change and the east-west infrastructure divide, which has narrowed but still shows in some areas.

East Austin is for buyers who want to live in Austin's cultural energy rather than commute to it. It fits people who eat out frequently, bike to work, and value diversity of experience. It works for investors who see ADU potential in the generous lots. If you need a large lot, a quiet cul-de-sac, or a top suburban school, look elsewhere. But if you want to walk out your front door and feel the pulse of what makes Austin different from every other Texas city, there is no better address.