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A Friendly Reminder to Register for the Summer Staycation!

Just a friendly reminder to get you in gear…

Ebby Halliday Realtors has two days left for its Summer Staycation Giveaway, for an overnight stay at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, a wine tasting for ten at Times Ten Cellars, dinner for four and mega fish oil boost at TJ’s Fish Market, memberships to the Crescent Spa,  five hours at Whole Foods Spa with a healthy lunch, and seasonal flower decor from Dr. Delphinium’s. You can increase your chances of winning by registering once a day, every day, through August 7. When you register, enter a DD (which stands for DallasDirt) before your first name (no pseudos or handles here) and you’ll automatically be entered into my special little ”private” contest which includes *lunch with me to talk House Porn the entire time, and a one-year subscription to the fabulous D Home Magazine. Click here to register.

Dallas Real Estate Love In The L-Streets: Here’s Why Lakewood/Lake Highlands Rocks

Traditional or mid-century modern? I don’t know, but she has hardwoods, a renovated kitchen with light wood cabinets, 2370 square feet, four bedrooms, 2 baths, a wall of glass facing the creekview, and will only set you back $279,900! Check out 10836 Colbert Way in the uber hot L Streets — this home would be perfect for a first time home buyer looking to cash in on that $8000 tax credit and may be eligible for FHA financing. That plus the agent, Ed Murchison, is one of my faves in Dallas.

To get a better taste of Lake Highlands, check out this article I wrote for D Home: Neighborhood Spotlight: Lake Highlands

Austin, Texas House Porn – Reduced

Found this glorious pup in the Wall Street Journal — overlooks both the Texas Hill Country and city of Austin. I am loving the pool and the kitchen, but wonder — what do you think about the raised cabinets on legs in the kitchen? They are so sleek but are they hard to maintain? I kind of like having the cabinets flush with the floor, less to clean. (In fact, we recently took removed the plate at the bottom of my fridge and all sorts of surprises were waiting for me.) No doubt, for $10 million, this home is fabulous. But also a good example of how huge high-end homes — this one is 10,259 square feet — everywhere are having to take a little nip-tuck in price: It was listed for $13 million over a year ago, now listed with John Teinert of Austin Fine Properties.

Could HP’s Salary Cuts Further Erode Plano Real Estate Values?

I’m speculating here, but one reason why I am still wearing Debbie Downer glasses.

Dallas Real Estate: Sex Offender Notification System — Checked Your ‘Hood For Sex Offenders Lately?

The Texas Department of Public Safety has created a notification system that allows the public to receive e-mail notifications regarding database changes relating to registered sex offenders. Which means, if a sex offender moves into your ‘hood, you can be notified by email. Prior to this, you had to check your neighborhood by zip code for updates. I checked zip codes 75225, 75230 and 75229 — very surprising what I found! Everyone in the market for a home — or about to sell one — should check the database.

A note here: before we moved into our neighborhood, a sex offender drove around the circle and attempted to molest two young girls roller-blading on a summer’s day. I happened to know one girls’ mother, and thank God they knew to protect themselves and seek help. So just because sex offenders don’t live in your ‘hood doesn’t mean they won’t get there. 

Maybe Texas should be more like Florida when it comes to sex offenders. Florida is a highly restrictive state for sex offenders. Florida law requires a 1,000-foot buffer between registered sex offenders and schools, day-care centers, parks, churches or libraries. But one man seems to be creating a small real estate empire leasing to sex offenders. For reasons on why Florida law is so strict, read this article: hell hath no wrath like a lobbyst who’s daughter was sexually assaulted by the family nanny, but some also say the law leaves offenders with nowhere to live.

State Of The Dallas Housing Market: One Builder Sees Glass Half-Full

That would be D.R. Horton seeing a rise in sales in the quarter that ended June 30 — so reports Steve Brown: 22% more home purchase orders, though Horton’s stock is not exactly shooting upwards. I love it when economists say things like “we saw a reduction in our pace of declines”. In other words, we fell but not so badly. Which is the general consensus feel I am getting from the people I am polling about the Dallas market — have we bottomed? Yes, or very close, says broker David Griffin, now marketing the House for Hillwood and it’s lenders. David puts it this way: “we no longer feel like we have to climb Mt. Everest”