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The Year In Dallas Real Estate: Happy First Birthday Dallas Dirt

2008 was a humdinger for real estate, to put it mildly. We could almost call real estate 2008 the year of the “F-word”: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, foreclosures, fighting for the MLS, franchise bankruptcies, final days on the job. Then the “B” word overtook the “F” word, cropping up in every other sentence by December: just bail-out everyone. At this time last year, we ushered in New Year’s ensconced in the ”bubble”. Our 401s shone like Mr. America’s biceps. California, Florida and Nevada were symptomatic but phooey on them, OUR market was “holding strong.” Remember the Barnett Shale? The Stoneleigh Hotel and Residences was “hoppin’”. The Mandarin Oriental was getting seven hundred inquiries. Gas, oil, jobs were going to keep us out of the fracas.

Then the meltdown started.

What’s the outlook for 2009? Some say we ain’t seen nothing yet. Some say we will climb out of the ditch mid-year, others say we may have to wait until 2010. What do you think? Experts tell me our market is so-so — lots of inventory, staying on the market for a bit over six-months. We’re “not as bad as elsewhere.” No longer a seller’s market but not quite a buyer’s market inside the LBJ loop. Hec, a few weeks ago we heard some of our home prices had actually headed up. 

Thanks to the real estate market, local celebs and realtors, Dallas Dirt had a very exciting first year. We started with the Realstalker (my newest, bestest friend) bashing Phil Romano’s house, we ended with our president’s definite plans to return home to Dallas. In between, Signs of the Times turned into D Magazine’s January cover story. Oh my, how the Sheet(s) has (have) hit the fan this year.

And how can I forget breaking the news that the Jonas Brothers were moving to Southlake, Texas?

Wish we could pop a cork together — my love and very best wishes to all for a divine 2009.

Geis Tragedy: A Realtors’ Finances

Over at People Newspapers, young Josh Hixson has been looking into the Geis family finances, trying to find more pieces to this tragic, horrible puzzle. As we now know, the police have ruled the death of Virginia Cook agent Jeanmarie Tolle Geis on the morning of December 19 a suicide, leaving her as the chief suspect in the deaths of her two children, Matthew, age 8 and Sydney, age 4. Many in the real estate community still find that very hard to believe. We all mourn Jeanmarie and her children’s deaths, and our hearts go out to their family, particularly Frank Geis. 

Doing a detailed search of public records, Hixson found that on May 8, 2003, as the Dallas real estate market was just heating up, Frank and Jeanmaries Geis purchased their 45 year old, 3120 square foot home for $429,000 and took out a $271,000 mortgage. Over the next five years they refinanced, took out equity and combined loans bringing that home loan balance up to $335,000. On Valentine’s Day of this year, they refinanced once again, taking out $82,000 in cash before closing costs, leaving the home with a new mortgage balance of $417,000, the conforming loan limit. This all according to NTREIS and Dallas County tax records, says Hixson. DCAD has the home currently appraised for $476,000.

What does that tell us? Like most of America, like most of us, the Geises were apparently making use of their home equity.  I spoke to a mortgage expert who said this scenario is not all that unusual — and since the loans against the home are still less than the property’s appraised value — which in DCAD may be a tad bit low — he saw no red flags. There are those of the opinion that if you have a lot of equity in your home, why not tap it at a lower interest rate and get it into an investment yielding a greater rate of return — again, about half of America did this over the last few years.  

Holiday House Porn: Over The River, Through Woods, To Organic Rice Farm We Go

Do you see what my kitchen table looks like with all the boys at home? Fort Hood in candy-cane getup. To keep my sanity, I need a place where these boys can go play Dick Cheney. After church on Christmas Eve, I settled down with a glass of bubbly, warm and toasty in cashmere, to peruse the kind of house porn I crave during these times: ranch properties. Acres and acres of ponds, tanks, deer, ducks, geese, pigs and enough coyote to keep Sarah Palin frocked through her next campaign. Found some good ones, too, like Turkey Creek Organic Rice Farm — 1633 acres in Wharton County raising organic rice! Holiday dinner – done! Boasting $100,000 annual income from the land plus a three-bedroom, two-bath cedar lodge. “Trophy Deer and wild hogs”:  our African heads will finally have a home.  Where do I sign? Where is Wharton County?

Holiday House Porn

Really liked this house but cannot recall where I saw it. Swear that if you survive the holidays and you are female, it’s like having a lobotomy.

10151 Daria Place Back Yard

A dear friend tells me she used to play on Daria Drive and Daria Placeall the time as a child, and this is what that big back yard looked like right before the home closed. Spacious, eh?

Another One Bites The Dust

This home about five doors down from me.

Bush Home Landscaping?

Wonder what that load of dirt will be used for?

Bush Home: No Holiday Lights??

Workers hard at work at 10151 Daria Place shortly before Christmas.

Update: Geis Tragedy

Josh Hixson at People Newspapers has spent the holiday tracking the tragic December 19 slayings of Virginia Cook realtor Jeanmarie Geis and her two children, Matthew and Sydney. Here is a dramatic update.

Sotherby- Shaddock Homes

Sotherby Homes, part of Shaddock Builders and Developers, says it is suspending its home warranty program — what in the world does that means? (Update: looks like it is also suspending its website.)

The Legacy of George W. Bush: A BBC Perspective

Meet Neal Razzell, senior broadcast producer for the BBC World Service Radio. As I am typing, he is likely boarding a plane at DFW heading back to the U.K. to complete a BBC documentary on the legacy of our President and current world leader, George W. Bush. A seasoned journalist, Neal has been with World Service Radio for six years where he worked as a Washington producer. He also produced a daily news program. But for the last year and half, Neal has been producing radio documentaries, traveling far and wide.

Neal contacted me when he read about the Bush home purchase on this blog, and made plans to fly to Dallas and check out the President’s home turf. He asked me if I would spend some time with him, show him the new Bush digs, and Dallas homes in general. If you know anything about me, I jumped at the chance and spent about two delightful hours showing off Dallas homes December 20. His documentary will run January 19, Bush’s last day in office, and we hope to have a link on Dallas Dirt. It will be translated into 30 languages and beamed just about everywhere. I about choked on my peach mango iced tea with Neal this morning at Celebrity Cafe at Preston Royal when I learned of the world dignitaries he’s canvassed for reflections: the Dalai Lama, Hamid Karzie, Jacob Zuma, Desmond Tutu, Sherry Blair, Gordon Brown. He asked producers at all BBC bureaus to tack on questions about the Bush legacy on all interviews with high profile leaders.

His colleague, Justin Webb, BBC Washington correspondent, interviewed former Bush chief of staff Andrew Card. But Neal wanted to come to Dallas to poke Bush roots for himself, kick the tires in Crawford as well as get an inkling of where the President will soon be putting up his boots. Neal spent Sunday in Crawford, then returned to Dallas to interview future Bush neighbors on Daria Place. It’s always fun to interview a journalist, give us a taste of our own poison pen — or in this case, microphone. So I had to ask…

(more…)

4500 Lakeside Drive

4500 Lakeside Drive: Say It Ain’t So!

Remember this story about 4500 Lakeside Drive and what used to be there? And then this? Well, I hope you are sitting down and in fact, go pour yourself a dram before you read this. Guess who has decided NOT to build on this most prime choice of land? And guess who has it QUIETLY on the market for $14 million? Yeah, you got it.

Dale Hansen — Very Emotional Sunday Night

Did anyone see Dale’s Sports Special Sunday night on WFAA-TV? He was very emotional and spent a lot of time talking about his kids.

President Bush Home On Daria Drive: Quiet No More

Maybe they’ll install one of those huge overhead signs: 10 minutes to Preston/Royal.

Holiday Dazzle Courtesy of James Davis

There he is, so adorable, working his magic on my staircase with that gold fabric. Thanks to James I have the fab staircase, mantel and a fun angel scene in my dining room. But the tree is STILL not decorated.

Ready For The Holidays!

I hate my fireplace mantel. Out of scale, I think. So I’m hoping Santa comes down the chimney, takes this and leaves me a new one. Thank God for the talents of James Davis, former design manager of The Black Iris in Laguna Beach, CA, who flew in to create Christmas at my house this year. (Full disclosure: James flew in to Dallas to decorate the house of a friend, and I begged her for a few hours of his time.) The Black Iris made its television debut in the reality series “Laguna Beach”, and James counts Elizabeth Taylor and Oprah Winfrey among his many famous clients. To have him jazz up the house of a peon like me was very special — those fab gold arrangements: shhhh — florals straight from JoAnn’s. 

RE: Geis Murders?… Suicides?

Here is some background information on Eric Hansen from Frontburner. And Jeanmarie Tolle Geis was born on March 12, 1959, according to DPS records. She was 49.

Geis Murders?… Suicide?… Questions

Dallas Morning News and Channel 8 News has reported that Jeanmarie Geis, the beautiful Virginia Cook realtor found dead yesterday morning in her Blairview Drive home alongside the bodies of her two young children, had been “dating” Eric Hansen, 37, son of WFAA-TV sportscaster Dale Hansen. Apparently his son had been a friend of the Geis lad, Matthew, age 8. Eric told police the realtor duo, Frank Henry and Jeanmarie,  were having martial problems. (Update: and getting a divorce, which the husband denies.) I am also confused by reports of Jeanmarie’s age, which some place at 49, others at 52. It is even more tragic that police are speculating this could be a murder suicide: the children were killed by gunshot wounds to the head. (Kind of don’t like Channel 11 headlining “Mother Most Likely Killed Children, Self” on Dec. 19. Autopsy results from 12/20 have not confirmed the suicide.) I have begun talking to realtors who knew the couple, and hear they may have had some “issues” in their lives — well who doesn’t? My heart goes out to the family and the souls of those two precious babies. �

Virginia Cook Agent Declined To Discuss Robbery

John Hixson at Park Cities People files this story — he contacted Jeanmarie Tolle Geis after her December 6 robbery.

Massacre On Blairview Drive: Virginia Cook Realtor and Children

Virginia Cook agent Jeanmarie Tolle Geis was murdered in her home this morning along with her two children, Sidney and Mattew, age 4 and 8. This is the same agent who was robbed in the Virginia Cook Preston Center parking lot on December 6 by two men wearing ski masks, who took her computer and wedding ring, according to Virginia Cook. Mrs. Geis and her husband, Frank Geis, also a Virginia Cook agent, had been harassed and beaten in their North Dallas home on two separate occasions since the initial December 6 robbery. Mr. Geis was at the hospital having stitches removed from one of those attacks when his wife and children were shot to death in the 7200 block of Blairview Drive this morning.

On the morning of December 13, the attackers broke into the home and beat both Mr. and Mrs. Geis — the children were staying with their grandparents.

“They came to the house in the morning, viciously beat him and took out all his teeth with a mallet,” says one source. Mrs. Geis was also sexally assaulted. She was home alone the following day, in her driveway, when the attackers returned to sexually harass and beat her again — a neighbor helped scare them away.

Mrs. Geis’ father, the late Mark Stenson Tolle, was a prominent local state district judge who presided over the Darlie Routier case. There is speculation that this brutal, vicious attack was somehow in retaliation for a sentence her father handed down during his career.

UPDATE: I am now told that the sequence of attacks went like this: Dec. 6, Mrs. Geis robbed in the Virginia Cook parking lot; Dec. 13, both Mr. and Mrs. Geis attacked in their home on Blairview; Dec. 14, Mrs. Geis attacked while in the driveway of her mothers’ home (her father, Judge Tolle, died in September of 2007); the murder this morning. I am also told that during one of the attacks, Mrs. Geis was told: “Your family made my family’s life a living hell, now I’m going to do the same to your’s.”

The Rise and Fall of Eleanor Mowery Sheets

The story you’ve been waiting for… and the comment lines are ready for you.

Apparent murder on Blairview Drive?

The crime scene is located near Walnut Hill Lane east of Hillcrest.

Extreme Makeover Home: From Rickety Ranch To Mediterranean Palace In Seven Days

We were out there last week, then Real estate school and inclement weather kept me from updating. Zillow did such a great job, I’m just going to turn you over to Diane Tuman, who was kind enough to add in our video interview with the Augustin family!

Sheet’s Hit The Fan

In case you missed it on Frontburner.