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Mid-Century David Braden Home On OOCCL Fall Tour

David Braden, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, was one of a whole generation of gifted architects in Dallas during the middle part of the last century, gifted enough so that George Dahl chose his firm into which to merge his own when he was ready to step back from running his own firm.  Although much of Braden’s work has been non-residential, you will have the opportunity to tour Braden’s very own house during this year’s Old Oak Cliff Conservation League Fall Home Tour, October 10 and 11.  It is said that the cantilevered deck was one of the first in Dallas–caught on pretty well, I’d say.

D Sale of the Week: Lovely Living With The Red, White and Blue

Whoever buys 6815 Gaston Ave. must have at least one patriotic party a year here; in fact, let’s make that a contingency in the contract. This is the perfect home for a patriotic week: built in 1949 in the post WWII building boom, the home has been meticulously updated yet retains all the Lakewood charm. Plus, the location is great, because Lakewood Country Club is right across the street. Step inside to see the entry flanked by formals and a remodeled kitchen with white cabinets, top-grade stainless-steel appliances, granite, moveable island, and breakfast nook. The home has original hardwoods up and down and new energy-efficient windows. The second-floor master features a balcony overlooking the almost quarter-acre lot, and the bath has been updated with double rubbed bronze fixtures and a huge walk-in shower. The 2,650 square feet includes three bedrooms; three baths; large family room; wine cellar; and spacious, treed yard. And the price is nice: $499,000. Or you can lease it for $2,850 per month.

Disney Week: Great Pinocchio Listing— And We’re Not Lying!

Wonderful listing in the storied Disney Streets, where things are Goofy these days over a proposed Conservation District. Disney is the closest thing you can get to Leave It To Beaver living in Dallas. My favorite things about this home: it’s on a huge corner lot, and has just been reduced by $10,000 to $359,000. (Even so, I still think it’s a wee bit pricey.) Check it out: pool, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, try to forget the fact that the third bedroom is now a pool hall and the home’s updating lacks an overall sense of cohesiveness. Oh — almost forgot: the sellers are excluding the wine fridge, fireplace screens (???) and the sauna. Hope they’re calling Curtiss.

Dallas House Porn: Reduced For Sale On Meadow Road — And Gorgeous

We love trees, but they sometimes shield perfectly beautiful homes from full view. Like this one, reduced for sale, on Meadow Road just west of Hillcrest. (Yes, it’s in the “good part”.) In fact, when we were looking for the most beautiful homes in Dallas, we couldn’t use many gorgeous numbers because of the trees. (Do not, repeat, do not go out and chop any trees just to be a most beautiful candidate!) Behind the kind of porte-cochere arch, this home has a lovely open floor plan, the bedrooms are downstairs, and there’s room for growth upstairs. Four bedrooms, four and a half baths. Only $755,000. I kid you not.

Update: I’m now told that this house has been leased. See, you were too late. But I’ll be the agents have a few more up their sleeves.

Dallas Real Estate: Living In A Tear-Down, Earmuffs

In our latest issue of D Home Magazine, which I know you will want to devour since it features this year’s collection of The Most Beautiful Homes In Dallas — Christine Allison writes a tender story about living in a home that “some” may call a tear down. “Some” are real estate experts, those nimble types who can calculate the cost of square footage in their heads times the return on every penny invested in a property.  These are the bean counters of real estate. They know exactly how much per linear foot it will cost to add a granite countertop and from which zip code (buy it in Plano, it will be about $2.53 less per foot) and how much that new granite will  net upon sale. They know which rooms you deck out, which ones you can let “slide”. But most of all, they know the scrapers. My editors at D Home always change that word when they see it in my copy — “don’t you mean “scrappers”?” No, I mean scrape, as in wipe that house clean off the lot. Scraper is the term real estate folks use for homes that have become functionally obsolescent — they are worn and have outlived their usefulness, like a terminally ill Medicare patient. Just pull the plug!

I, too, lived in a “scraper” for ten years that was also on the northwest corner of a lovely intersection. I knew  my girl was riding into the sunset and we watched every penny we poured into her, kind of like those comparison-effectiveness studies health care reformers want to help whittle costs. (Just wait…) We stuck to functional repairs — only repair plumbing but forget new wallpaper. In other words, resuscitate, plastic surgery out of the question. I wanted a shot at building my dream house so we sold her — one of the hardest, most retching sales I ever had. I remain great friends with my realtor to this day for this reason: I called him at two in the morning 42 hours after closing, begged him to get me out of the contract. (Client from hell, that was me.) I was sobbing: I can’t leave this home, I cried, it has way too much history and… way too much stuff. I particularly enjoyed Christine’s story, because like many of us, I like to play “what if”? What if I had not gone to the college I did, met my husband, what if I had not bought our home on Park Lane and what if my dear agent had called me back, said yes darling, I’ll reverse that transfer of funds stat and find you a nice real estate attorney to cover you for the likely lawsuit you will be in for failure to perform to contract. Never had five garage sales, packed two moving vans, moved a family of four plus three dogs and a parrot into a rent house for 1.5 years, was almost evicted from said rent house, never got my security deposit back even though the builder tore the house down to — kindling. Took him to small claims court and won, but he had filed for bankruptcy and I just got in line. Am still in line, actually.

Do you see how this scraping business created an economic frenzy? On a bright note, only one thing broke: my sister’s antique glass cake plate, and she knows nada to this day.

Christine, I know what I am getting you for Christmas: earmuffs!

Dallas City Dispute With Software Company Means No Police Report Info

I don’t know what sites like Everyblock and others who feed me constant streams of stuff they aggregate from police reports are going to do — maybe take a nice, long nap? Dallas residents currently cannot obtain copies of Dallas Police Department police crime reports because of a financial dispute between the city and the maker of the software, a company called Butler Systems. You know what happens when you don’t pay the bills or agree to pay the pills? Folks pull the plug, which is exactly what Butler did on Monday because of delays in the final contract. Apparently owner James Butler has been working with the city for eight months to finalize a contract.

Oh well, sometimes ignorance is bliss.

D Sale of the Week: Major Condo Flash for Less Cash in State Thomas

The Drexel Montane (2848 Woodside St.), in State Thomas, houses some of the best condo buys in town. Unit 205 is a three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath corner unit on the second floor with private elevator, three fireplaces (how cozy), four balconies, crown moldings, 10-foot ceilings, concierge, and travertine and wood floors—all just a short drive from the Crescent, where owners can obtain health club memberships. These boutique units have all the flash and amenities of the rich kids down the block—Azure, Ritz-Carlton, W—for a whole lot less. HOAs are currently running .32 per square foot under the management of Worth Ross and Associates. Saucy neighbors: the building is a kind of quiet hideout for many local sports pros and, until recently, Mi Cocina founder Mico Rodriguez. Must be those private elevators—a Drexel signature. Unit 205 has been reduced from $517,900 to $497,500, so the seller is very motivated—which he has to be, because there are plenty of other units available in this class-act building.

Dallas Real Estate Investor: The Bird Streets Are Really Taking Wing

Even so, the City Plan Commission denied permission to let the Simon David store on Inwood Road expand back onto Robin. Word is the neighbors, while happy with the store’s expansion plans, wanted to keep things within the original lot footprint. Basically, the neighbors did not want to take out Robin and told Randalls, the folks who own Simon David, come back with different plans, and let’s talk.

This area northwest of Inwood and Mockingbird lane is called the Bird Streets because of all the streets named after birds. I’ve been bullish on this ‘hood for years, and in fact would seriously consider an investment here. Here’s why: one year ago realtor Perry Guest sold 6806 Oriole on an 80 by 145 foot deep lot for about $155,000. Today, he’s got the 2000 square foot, womped-up house under contract for about $300,000. Guest loves the Bird Streets so much he lives there. “This is what Devonshire was six, eight years ago,” says Guest, and it’s right across from Greenway. It’s the last place close-in where you can buy a home on a great lot for a decent price, fix it up and flip it a year later, come out ahead.

Of course, Robert Shiller might tell you to wait five years.

Lots are treed, leafy, Park City-sized 80 by 150. They run under $150,000, maybe even less now. A few home builders have dabbled, none overly successful. This is the kind of place where you spruce up the existing 1940’s or 1950’s ranch, sit back and enjoy it while she appreciates as much as the current market conditions let her rip. Here’s one 2635 quare foot home reduced to sell listed for $429,000; another cutie pie down the street, owned by Briggs Freeman’s Meredith McKee, nets you 1320 square feet for only $225,000. McKee is quite hot on the Bird Streets and has renovated and sold a few nests there herself.

Simon David Rezoning, Ctd.

And they’d raze this duplex for the expansion. Folks who live in the area are pretty excited about getting an expanded Simon David — really the first gourmet grocery store in Dallas.

Simon David Rezoning Request

Robin Rd. right behind the current Simon David store would be taken over by the proposed new development.

Randalls Wants To Raze/Redo Simon David on University in Greenway Parks?

From UnFair Park: it looks like Randalls wants to keep the new Simon David about the same size as the old one that has been there for 24 years. I actually shopped at this store for ten years when we lived on Park Lane and Simon David was, to me, a precursor to Whole Foods. In fact, Dallas is one of the most competitive grocery store markets in the world so I would imagine Randalls wants Simon David beefed up. The residential area behind this store, aka the “bird streets”  is changing quickly from ramshackle rent homes to bungalows that have been remodeled with many a new construction. Property values definitely headed up here, Greenway has always been rock-solid despite the fact that the area is DISD.

Dallas Real Estate: Do You Like Roof A Or B?

image of house

This is a prototype home about to be built down the street from me. I guess someone in our ‘hood did not like the blue roof, as they wrote “are u kidding me?” on the stone. (Yes, they did.) Today when I went to snap a pic, the writing had been wiped off. I have a feeling the taste Nazis will re-appear. In the meantime, which do you like best?

Dean Fearing Moving To New Digs

More proof that the market is fluid. Dean and Lynae are movin’ on up and out of their cute Devonshire ‘hood to newer digs just in time to start waking up the kids earlier for school. Wonder if that waking up is to flapjacks, lobster omelettes or Eggs Benedict?

Dallas Home Buyer Is Suffering From Fear Of Real Estate Commitment

Oh I can relate to this — in fact, I could have written this email:

“We have been looking for a house forever we have found a
great mid century modern in the $600s in a good neighborhood (but not good part of the street) with low ceilings but big lot and nicely done.
There is also a great house with small lot – too big for us but new built
modern for twice the price which we could swing but have less money
savings wise. Also great location. Third option is to
find a lot and build our dream home (ideally 3-4,000 sq ft). My husband
wants the small one and is mad at me for throwing these other ideas into
the mix. I know people move all the time for fun, but somehow I feel like
this is a big commitment and once I am moved in I can’t change my mind as
easily as I can now. I am suffering from fear of real estate commitment
and was hoping to get your opinion in general as well as do you have a
theory about which one of three ideas might increase more in value over
the next 5 yrs?”

Couple things: location location location. Land always appreciates more than improvements, so I would opt for the biggest piece of dirt I can own with a great location.  Like if I didn’t hate camping, I’d say pitch a tent. But for quality of living, I know that bigger new home is enticing. The smaller home trend is a rumor or for downsizing baby boomers, not really sure it’s gonna happen. Best bet: build a home that can easily, tastefully be expanded. Frequent moving  is hard on your furniture, pocketbook and psyche. The days of quick flips are over, unless you are buying in one of the high-foreclosure areas (Detroit, CA, Scottsdale, FLA). My advice: buy the most prime piece of property you can and stay put for five years. I would thinking building the new home is your ticket, but I hear that building costs have not really cratered despite the downturn, which baffles me. Can you still build a decent home for $200 a square foot excluding land? If you do decide to build, know that you will go over budget sure as the sun sets in the west. Hubby: earmuffs, blinders.

I’m sure our talented city of real estate experts can offer their best advice — the keyboard is waiting!

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

Open House Porn: It Was A Beautiful Weekend For Falling In Love With A Home…

Sorry! I lied. Except for the wonderful evenings, it was not a good weekend for any weekend fun or romance, well not ’till Sunday anyhow! If you are looking for a new home  –or not,  you just like to hope and dream like me — here are a few highlights from “Emily’s Weekend’s Open House Smorgasboard”:

3704 Stratford Avenue:

This home is right up my alley. I am a recently transplanted Highland Parker, originally from New York, and this reminds me of the homes I grew up around. It is tucked away from the street behind a natural setting of trees and bushes. Everything is kept simple yet beautiful, from the architecture to the interior decoration. Even the pool area. If you are a person that likes to be close to your favorite restaurants, friends, the grocery store, and so on, but when you are home you like to feel a million miles away, this is the home for you.

3512 Euclid Avenue:

Mi piacerebbe visitare l'Italia un giorno di questi! Translation: I would like to visit Italy one day. For now, I will just visit this Tuscan style home right in the heart of the Park cities, and you can come too! Between 3:00 and 5:30 on Sunday, August 2nd, Briggs Freeman has the pleasure of giving an open house for potential buyers and real estate lovers (or real estate voyeurs). I hate to pick favorites... but this is my favorite. You have to see this one yourself so put on your Sunday best, grab your umbrella, and get on over to Euclid Avenue. Faccia come se fósse a casa sua (Translation: Make yourself at home). Better yet, don't just make yourself at home, make it your home!

3524 Wentwood:

This traditional University Park home has three of my favorite things: hardwood floors, saltwater pool, and a large second floor deck. I would happily give my left kidney to live in this home. Unfortunately, I think the cost runs more around two kidneys, a liver, and a leg, but it's worth it!

Dallas Real Estate Weekend Open House: Thumbs Up For Eastview Circle

Another collaberation from builder Richard Milligan and renowned interior designer Neal Stewart, this pup is nestled on a lake-skirting elevated property in the Northaven estate area a.k.a. Preston Hollow north. These guys so know what they are doing- contemporary feel but warm, inviting.  Sleek Italianate built around an interior courtyard with rectangular pool, fireplace, and seating areas; inside, large foyer, the living room with 16 foot ceilings, heavy coved crown moulding, and massive fireplace. The dining room is almost a perfect square, offering many options for table arrangement, Adjacent is a butler’s pantry with wine storage, ice maker and bar. The kitchen is a cook’s/entertainer’s dream. Get this: Wolf 48″ range, Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer, double Miele dishwashers, and large center island. Hammered lead covered vent-a-hood, Madeira marble and Caesar stone countertops. Love the master bath, wish that that “Light Emperador” marble would sprout legs and walk to my house; love the HUGE master closet — must post photos. In all seriousness, this is one home I might actually buy. $1,890,000. Might be a little pricey, but you cannot beat this location. I can see empty nesters in this home, two bedrooms/baths upstairs to let the kiddos visit, but not live.

How much should I offer?

One Arts Plaza Broker Changeroo: How Modern Is Dallas?

Last Monday, July 13, the Mathews-Nichols team of real estate agents at Allie Beth Allman took over exclusive representation of One Arts Plaza from Briggs Freeman (who paid big bucks to advertise it on Good Morning Texas), to sell the remaining 16 of 61 units available ranging in price from the mid $600’s to $2.85 million. Team member Faisal Halum, who had the listing originally when he worked for David Griffin, is the lead team agent. But here’s what’s really interesting to me: Faisal, David and Erin have brought in Ann Schooler to stage the very contemporary One Arts in very traditional interior design. (Ann is well known in the design world for her high end, rich and gorgeous traditional look. Think carved chests, Louis IV chairs and to-die-for oriental rugs. ) Which makes me think, how really modern is Dallas? Designers tell me that while uber modern decor flourishes when the economy is humming, in a recession folks tend to cling to the traditional — warm, woody, almost Ethan Allen looks. (Almost.) It’s like we want to see the comfort of  yesteryear around us. So I find it very interesting that Mathews-Nichols went this route.

What do you think about Dallas and contemporary design? How modern is Dallas?

D Sale Of The Week: Perfection On Pebblebrook

Calling all honeymooners, Mark Sanford would not have been crying in Argentina had he owned this home. Master-tub a must-see in this week’s listing, just reduced to $995,000 seconds before I hit publish. Dallas ranch homes really do make sense, and are making a huge resurgence. Not only does this home have it all — 4400 square feet, five bedrooms, four and a half baths, formals, three car back-entry garage, it is located in Russwood Acres, one of North Dallas hottest neighborhoods off Inwood and Royal. (Click here to see another hot North Dallas ‘hood.) Russwood (where President and Mrs. Bush also searched) boasts large lots like this half-acre honey loaded with leafy trees and beautiful lawns. 5340 Pebblebrook has been completely (and beautifully) remodeled with a state of the art kitchen, open spaces, granite slab counters, sauna in the tricked-out master bath, and a patio/pool area that screams “let me entertain you”.

Indeed!