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Highland Park Village Purchase: Not Cracking The Henkell Just Yet

Rumors are swirling on the street that Ray Washburne’s purchase of Highland Park Village may be in jeopardy. Seems the German bank which was to provide the debt financing to Charter — wait, what is it with these Germans? First Victory, now HPV? Are they funding (or not funding) everyone? Did we buy too many Beamers?  On track: the German bank that was going to fund the purchase of HPV has halted the process due to other losses in their (the German lender’s) portfolio. The entire transaction is in jeopardy unless an alternative financing source is found or more equity is contributed to the deal.

Stay tuned.

Zillow and I-Phone Real Estate Applications

 This is something we as consumers understand, not sure all agents do: buying real estate is quickly becoming something you cannot do without technology. Why shouldn’t you be able to drive through a ‘hood, see a listing, tap onto your phone and pull up all the info on the home? I mean, fifty percent of the time those plastic containers holding the flyers are empty. Or wet. (Competing agents often drive around and steal them.) A few weeks ago, I saw a foreclosure on the corner of Bushire and Royal Lane — great area. I called the number on the sign and tapped in the “case number”, only to be disconnected repeatedly. All I wanted was to know the price of the home at that moment. Well, that seller lost me. Pairing Zillow with the I-Phone is a brilliant move, but will it work in Texas?

Zillow’s “zestimates” continue to be all over the place in Texas, which the company cannot help because we are a non-disclosure state. You can, of course, google DCAD and pull the tax appraisal  from your phone — cumbersome, but I do that all the time. I keep Housefront.com on my phone as well. But Zillow’s new info-loaded app uses GPS and “follows you” as you walk or drive — too cool to describe. Watch this.  I’m off to download it!

Preservation Dallas Home Tour — $110 Free Tickets For (Some, Any) Real Estate Dish

Three gorgeous blondes: that’s Ebby Halliday, Debbie Branson, owner of the 1922 circa Leonard W. and Reanna Volk house (she is married to Dallas attorney Frank Branson) and Ellen Terry. I have two free tickets valued at $110 to this weekend’s Preservation Dallas Home Tour burning a hole in my Louis Vuitton so please email me (candye@dmagazine.com) something — a tip, real estate dish, what size shoes Doris Jacobs wears, how many ties Robbie Briggs has, the number of St. John suits in Ebby’s closet, something fun and you shall have tickets!

Room Makeovers:You Get One Shot To Impress Buyers

I cannot tell you enough how important it is to clean, style and stage a home for successful showings. Recently, while touring a four-plex with builder Kimberly Raphael, she gave away a huge builder’s secret: IKEA. Builders who need to flesh out barren, empty rooms often pop up there for beds, bureaus and linens. (One of the agents in this article used an air mattress!) I found these before and after photos really cool with one exception: I prefer the blue bathroom “before” — do you?

D Sale of the Week: Suite Real Estate at Cowboy’s New Stadium

Here’s a real estate deal too great to pass — see for yourself. The suites at the new Cowboy Stadium in Arlington are enormous (floor plans twice the size of the suites at Texas Stadium, serving areas three times larger) , simply divine and some are still available. With private rest rooms, kitchens, highest quality finish-out materials — we are talking rare granites, leather, suede paint, glass tile back-splash, honed limestone floors, these puppies range in size from 650 to 800 square feet and hold 30 party animalsguests. Not one bad sight line view in the house. Of course they come fully furnished with ergonomically perfect, theatre style box seats with drink holders, no less than three television screens, business centers with video and internet access, and state of the art, imported glass sound barrier windows that can be open to the stadium or closed. In fact, you could almost live in these suites (I have no doubt many a husband will do just that), located in the world’s most spectacular sports and entertainment venue that can stadium seat up to 100,000. (Need a shower? Hello, locker room!) There are 300 suites, including the Hall of Fame level suites (sold out) just 21 rows from the field, the closest elevated suites in the NFL. Prices range from $150,000 to $500,000, depending on the lease and location, on five different levels.  Me personally, I’d take a Touchdown Suite (also, sigh,  sold out) right at goal level.  Let’s say we’re in the fourth quarter, tied, two minutes left in the game. Romo runs a perfectly executed two-minute drill that’s capped with a game-winning touchdown pass to Jason Witten. An ecstatic Romo then heads for the closest Touchdown Suite, high-fives everyone, and jogs back to the field.  $$$Priceless.

Cowboy Stadium Suites

$150,000 to $500,000 per time lease

Chad Estis, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Dallas Cowboys New Stadium
817.892.4401
cestis@dallascowboys.net

Auction Update

Promised you a post on how Sunday’s auction turned out at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine: Radius Management says it was a huge hit, and they walked out with more than 30 homes under contract. Details forthcoming. But I neglected to tell you the latest about the Chicago  house that auctioned off some pricey Centrum units two years ago — thankfully Glenn Hunter has it covered on Frontburner.  The auction business is not hurting; Sheldon Good cites financial problems related to  Steven Good, who tragically committed suicide in January.

Outrageous Real Estate Moves: Could This Happen In Dallas?

Banks in southern California allegedly scraped foreclosed homes in need of work rather than complete or repair them, according to Mish.

Commercial Building Sells For Less Than It’s Value

I know many residential properties that have sold for less than Dallas County appraised value:

This year, an office building sold for less than the property’s taxable value – a first in many years, Nolan told commissioners. Usually it’s the other way around and it takes the appraisal district time to catch up and find the true market value, he said.

This is the deal Chief Appraiser Ken Nolan may have been talking about. 5001 Spring Valley, far North Dallas, has an appraised value of $72,154,230. So why do we as consumers care? Because corporations and commercial real estate companies are well-versed in the property tax battle and have tools and troops ready for battle. Residential homeowners generally do not have the resources.

Never fear: the Tax Doctor… is coming.

Dallas County Prepared For Lower Property Values

Ken Nolan, Dallas County’s chief appraiser, says most of the 374,000 property value notices going out this weekend will be flat and 55% will be lower.

Lucy Billingsley: Who Wants Bank Financing Right Now, Job and Population Growth Projected For Dallas

So Billingsley told our buddies to the west. Her project, One Arts Plaza, is the only downtown Dallas mixed-use 24 story high rise condominium.

The Tax Doctor Is Coming

Gear up for battle: Dallas County tax appraisals will be mailed out Saturday. Tax pros have already received some client appraisals this week and I asked them to give me a sneak peak — is DCAD upping values? No, but they are not lowering them. Still early, but it appears the District would like to hold present values. Commercial property owners are getting far bigger breaks, I’m told. I’m ready, and you can be, too. We have a pro on call to help you wade through the process of protesting your taxes May 1 to 31. So get ready — come next Monday, the Property Tax doctor is IN.

Give Me Dish, I’ll Give You Home Tour Tickets

These tickets are valued at $110. And this is but one of the glorious homes you will see, the Joseph F. and Lucy Largent Parks home designed by Charles Bulger in 1922.

Free Preservation Dallas Home Tour Tickets

The Charles B. Storey home, a Bud Ogelsby design on Wateka, is one of three architectural jewels featured in this weekend’s Preservation Dallas Home Tour that starts bright and early Saturday, May 2, 8:30 a.m. at Mockingbird Station. I have two tickets I am giving away to the folks who email me the best Dallas real estate trivia. Candye@dmagazine.com. Your deadline: Friday May 1.

Swine Flu & Real Estate Open House Tool Kit

Starting to get calls about what you should do if someone obviously ill walks into an open house… suggestions?

House Swapping

Go ahead, find a partner.

Bubble Markets May Never Bubble Again

Or at least not until the Year 2929, according to some reports claiming that real estate prices will quit declining in about two years but may never recover fully to the heights we saw in the boom. So I asked my trusty experts how that would affect us, since Dallas real estate never really bubbled.  They focused on item number 5 –

“Demographics. All probable future population growth can be easily accomodated with the existing housing stock, which means that there won’t be some population growth led surge in prices.”

What if you happen to be a city in a business friendly state where CEO’s like to move their companies, thereby increasing population and creating more demand for housing? That is exactly what is slated for us down the road, I’m told, as states to the east (New York) and west (California) enact even more building and business restrictions, levy more taxes to cover budget shortfalls, and sock it to their residents, who, in turn, will pack up and move to Texas… which should keep our home values nice and steady.

Trading Houses (Not Spouses)

I am seeking stories of Dallas home buyers and sellers who trade houses. Nothing kinky or illegal here, you simply facilitate a sale by agreeing to sell your home to the people whose home you are buying. A you scratch myback, I’ll scratch your’s deal. Send me a few good case studies and maybe I’ll take you on a date to look at a gorgeous house.

Ray Washburne is on a Commercial Real Estate Shopping Spree

First Highland Park Village, then this. I’ve got to check on those stained glass windows in Westminister Presbyterian. I recall designer to the rich and famous Trisha Wilson telling me that one of her very first jobs, besides selling furniture at Titches Department Store, was designing stained glass windows for local architect Harry Hoover. Westminister was designed by architect Herbert Miller Greene. Wonder if they ever traded windows?

The Tragedy of Jeanmarie Geis

 I’ll never forget this story: I was driving down Walnut Hill Lane and saw the police and helicopters hovering, found out why as soon as I hit my computer. For days we wondered what was lurking, what had happened, what monsters would kill a beautiful, intelligent woman and her babies in their home in cold blood. (And were they still out there?) Then we learned they were indeed monsters, but those of a different nature, the kind we cannot see, the kind we cannot lock away to keep us safe. Josh Hixson’s story in this month’s D Magazine is sensitive, insightful, and it twists your heart to think that Jeanmarie Geis may have been her own worst enemy.

Rainstorm! Quick! Go Inspect Your Property!

I’m working on a story about home inspections and today’s weather reminded me of a tip from one of the inspectors I’ve talked to: before you buy, always go see how your property fares in a torrential downpour. This is a great time to check for roof leaks, flooding, drainage issues, moisture retention.

Fewer Moving Vans On Dallas Streets

Sign of the times: I was talking to one of the city’s largest movers yesterday, who tells me things are slower this spring than in years past. Not surprising, given this report from the U.S. Census Bureau that says moving is the lowest it’s been since the bureau started tracking the rate in 1948. If we are seeing fewer moving vans in Dallas, think how stark the streets must be elsewhere. The other thing I heard yesterday: fewer moving jobs in the Dallas Design District has some of those to-the-trade-only movers looking under the cushions for quarters.

Do You Know Who Holds Your Mortgage?

Dallas realtor Martin Weber scooted this my way today, and you need to read it. Affects everyone who owns property. In a nutshell, a confidential computer registry company that saved the banking industry more than ONE BILLION over the last few years may now be holding your mortgage along with about 59,999,999 others.

“From an office in the Washington suburbs, it played an integral, if unsung, role in the proliferation of mortgage-backed securities that fueled the housing boom. But with the collapse of the housing market, the name of MERS has been popping up on foreclosure notices and on court dockets across the country, raising many questions about the way this controversial but legal process obscures the tortuous paths of mortgage ownership.”

Going Going Gone: Buying Dallas Real Estate At Auction

In this market, would you buy a home at auction? Dallas real estate market research guru Residential Strategies has it’s eye on a newbie called Radius Management, thinking folks might warm up to the idea: in 1999, $49.5 billion worth of real estate was sold by auction in the United States, and the National Association of Realtors projects that 30% of all U.S. real estate will be sold through auctions within eight years. NAR even provides links to more than 100 auction companies, which may sound surprising but there’s a protective caveat — auctioneers must either have a real estate license themselves or hire a real estate licensee to handle sales in all 50 states.

Live auctions are a $270.7 billion dollar industry with positive growth. The fastest-growing segments are real estate – land, agricultural, commercial and industrial. And with the continued dismal news about our market, sellers and agents love the quick turnaround potential: one man’s poison could be a buyer’s bargain in five minutes – that’s how long the average auction takes. Live auction real estate revenue has grown 5.3% since 2006.  

Jean-Paul Puryear, Warren Barreto and Butler Nooner are banking on that. Their Dallas auction company, Radius Management, aims to change the way real estate is sold in Texas.

(more…)

Steve Brown’s Pain Comes In The Nick Of Time

My husband just called and told me to copy and laminate Steve Brown’s Real Estate Report in today’s DMN. (Our neighborhood values, he says, have declined almost 30%.) Why laminate? Because next Friday, the Dallas County Appraisal District will be mailing out thousands of notices of valuation on all our properties.  My sources tell me they are going to have to enlarge the parking down at DCAD offices: it’s going to be a bloodbath. As for Browns’ reporting, he’s right on: what’s moving, if anything, are first time home buyers in starter homes — less than $100,000 to $300,000, spurred by the $8000 first time home buyer credit. (Stay tuned.) Homes above $500,000 to $2.5 million are sitting. Cannot move. Cannot get loans unless you have near perfect credit (”Nothing less than 620,” says Barbara Meager at Granite Mortgage) and big time equity. (Credit scores are the new SAT.) But what Steve didn’t tell you is that over the $2.5 to $3 million dollar mark, the mega homes are moving under the radar, off MLS, as I’ve told you on this blog and elsewhere.

Home Tour Time: White Rock Lake & Free Tickets

You can count on two things come spring in Dallas — allergies (ahhchoo!) and home tours. In fact, I was in the GORGEOUS Volk Estates home of Debbie and Frank Branson the other night to kick off Preservation Dallas’ Spring Home Tour on May 2. (Ebby Halliday is a major sponsor.) Might even have a few pics in my handbag. This weekend, however, it’s all eyes on White Rock Lake, where I chaired a home tour four years ago for the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance. My colleague Laura Kostelny says if you send her a haiku about her first love, mid century modern, she’ll send you a pair of tickets. For those of us who are light years from ninth grade English class, here’s a definition.