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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?

Cantoni House — Free Lunch For Realtors

This is Cantoni’s new show home at 5903 Lakehurst , where listing broker Briggs Freeman is serving lunch today (Friday June 26) from twelve to two for Realtors. Agents get their first shot to tour the exquisite contemporary design – check out the master bath, master closet and upstairs media room. The home is open to the public on Sunday, June 28, from two to five p.m. Price tag, not including furnishings: $3,895,000.

Building or Remodeling? Formals, Wine Cellars Are Out

Toured several new homes in Dallas yesterday, including a new, gorgeous $2.9 million spec home that has no formal living room. According to the architect/designer, Don Caperton, Caperton Johnson, two things are out: formal living rooms and wine cellars. The formal living rooms are considered a waste of space and building dollars. Unsaid but widely known: they also keep the Dallas Design District afloat and serve up to many a Dallas husband heart-attack-sized design bills. Wine rooms are also over-rated, costly to install, a legal nightmare if you have teenagers, and people never end up filling the cellar with all that wine.

They just drink it.

Next thing you know, people will be filling their swimming pools.

Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas Surplus Sale This Weekend

Worth gassing up the truck for, then heading east of LBJ, north on Jupiter Road to find the best home building bargains ever — high end surplus materials left over from custom home building jobs like cabinets, doors, trim, hardware, counters, granite slabs, fixtures, lumber, tile, flooring, you name it. I’m going to stop by tomorrow to snatch up all the goodies early peruse for you. Sale starts Friday, June 19, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and continues on ’till Sunday. The address is 11220 Petal Street, Suite A, the home of Texas Door and Trim. Check out the HBA’s website for more information.

Could TRCC Dismantle Lead To Higher Building Costs?

Many consumer groups felt the TRCC was so builder-friendly,  it just gave victims an even bigger nightmare. But builders say letting everyone duke it out in court will  lead to higher costs for everyone. So who should regulate the home building industry: the state or the courts?

Getting Tough With Builders — Tell Us Your Story

The Texas Residential Construction Commission, otherwise known as the TRCC, may be biting the dust after all. The agency was supposed to be a vehicle for consumers to get a fair shake out of builders but… thanks to the input of many home builders, that didn’t happen. For one thing, TRCC ruled that all disputes had to go to mediation, creating a virtual cloak of lawsuit protection for home builders. As one home builder told me last week: wouldn’t you love it if you were shielded from lawsuits? My concern: if we start suing home builders, will that lead to an increase in building costs? Will that give consumers any real protection? Anyhow, WFAA’s Byron Harris has done a ton of great reporting on this issue.

Note: I am seeking builder horror stories from consumers, so if you have any, please send them my way at candye@dmagazine.com.

Texas House Passes HB 2255: 6 More Years of TRCC

Though the Legislature’s Sunset Commission staff declared that the Texas Residential Construction Commission ought to ride off into the sunset,  the House passed legislation to keep the supposedly “save consumers from bad builders” agency keep on keeping on until 2015. Prior to final passage, the House adopted 23 amendments, including one to eliminate the $250 fee to file for state-sponsored inspection. No kidding:  to even file a complaint against a Texas builder you have to pony up a $250 fee. It also  raised the cap from $75,000 to $175,000 on what individuals can collect from the newly created homeowner recovery fund, which serves as a last resort for homeowners who could not collect damages or get a construction defect repaired. Last March, Channel 8’s Byron Harris filed a great story on how lawmakers received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Houston home builder Bob Perry, one of the TRCC’s biggest designers supporters. Perry says  he supports the TRCC because it protects consumers from unscrupulous builders, but consumer groups say the agency needs to go bye-bye since it makes already-distraught consumers jump through too many hoops (including an arbitration process and inspections) before they can sue a bad builder. Those hoops, says one realtor, just might have been put in place to encourage inaction.

Texas Home Building To Rebound Before Rest of Nation

So says the chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, a guy from Oklahoma, who claims that because we have kept our inventory levels in check throughout this economic messola, we will be one step ahead of everyone else when it finally clears. I have written this so much I know you are sick of hearing it — is anybody in D.C. listening? — the biggest hurdle we face comes from the credit crunch.

“Our biggest obstacle is getting financing,” Ron Connally, president of the Texas Association of Homebuilders said. “We very well could wake up and see shortages in the housing market by the time this thing sorts itself out.”

Wow, wouldn’t that be something. Still keep in mind that loose-goosey lending got us into this mess. And some builders whisper they don’t think they’ll ever do another spec home, when you have to have 20 to 40% equity tied in it. Many do say the $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers is getting us out at least with the home buying newbies. But… “at least three local builders (Arlington-based Wall Homes, Plano-based Sotherby Homes and Irving-based Choice Homes) have either closed or filed for bankruptcy in the past six months. There are countless numbers of unfinished community developments by these and other builders scattered throughout Dallas, Collin and Tarrant counties.” Ditto that with unoccupied condominiums. Still, was talking to a Title Company exec last night who reminded me of Las Colinas in the late ’80s — we thought it was a ghost town. Las Colinas, he told me, is thriving today. All it takes is 20 years!

Dallas Dirt Comments

We have people of superior intelligence commenting here on Dallas Dirt. Proof: someone just posted a comment that I think is brilliant and appropriate for Earth Day. Why don’t electricians wire houses so that, as you walk out the door, you could flip a switch and turn off all electrical outlets? Not only would that save electricity it would prevent potential fires from hair dryers/curling irons/irons/Christmas tree lights left plugged in. Our house is wired as a “smart house”, meaning we are able to access electronics (lights, music) from our cell phones or computer. Naturally, I have done it once in nine years. But if I could shut down the juice remotely, I might do it more often.

Building Notes: Put Outlets In Your Drawers

I thought I was such a clever lass to put outlets in the knee space below my vanity bench so I can keep my hair dryer plugged in perpetually, but this makes much more sense: the hair dryer or curling iron can be plugged in all the time, and if you do this in the kitchen you can keep all those gadgets that need charging plugged in and out of site.

Building Notes: Hide Your Jewelry From The Burglars

I go through A LOT of homes, handy camera in hand to snap little details that make me say, why didn’t I think of that? Like these hidden drawers in a beautiful new home at 4436 Brookview Drive in Dallas, which I hear will be open this weekend. How great to be able to hide cash, jewelry, whatever, in these sub-drawers located in the master closet.

Don’t tell anyone.

NPR Reveals Bob Perry’s Texas Supreme Court Connections

Kristiana Heap, of D CEO, has the scoop on Frontburner. The long and the short of it: NPR connects the dots on a recent court case where the Texas Supreme Court overturned an $800,000 ruling against Perry and Houston-based Perry Homes. A Mansfield couple claimed that Perry built them a home that couldn’t pass inspection. Oh, and apparently Perry has donated more than $21 million to Republican candidates over the last three years. You could say he’s makin’ it rain for the Republicans: nine of the recipients of Perry’s contributions are on the Texas Supreme Court.

More Not So Friendly Signs

House Porn: Different Strokes For Different Folks

Most talked about home in town. Lionel Morrison, architect. Stay tuned.

Homeowners Getting Stuck With Contractor Bills?

Dream house turned nightmare. This story ran on WFAA-TV a few weeks ago, very dramatic: a physician says the builder didn’t pay his sub contractors on her $1.3 million Frisco dream house, so now they are knocking on her door, looking for payment. I have two words: Title Insurance. I may be wrong, but isn’t that why we buy title policies and aren’t they supposed to cover this kind of stuff? Wonder why the reporter didn’t ask more questions.

Balanced New Home Market: 3 Or 6 Month Supply?

Across the nation, home construction is down drastically – good news for buyers, bad news for builders and anyone in the construction industry. Yesterday, Steve Brown reported that Dallas-Fort Worth has a 6.9 month supply of new (that is, builder new) homes. Which he thinks is too much:

“A “balanced” market is considered less than a three-month supply.”

Hmm. I thought a six month supply was balanced, or does that apply only to pre-owned homes? Your thoughts?

3500 Beverly Has New Listing Agent

Dave Perry-Miller, an Ebby Halliday Company, listed for $17,500,000. Check out the story. Check out the video. Help Dave plan how to spend his commi$$ion…

Green Building Increases In Dallas Exponentially

Just came from the Texas Green Home Summit–which had almost 700 attendees, blowing everyone’s estimates out of the water.  Mayor Leppert reaffirmed the City of Dallas’s commitment to green building, both for the health of the universe and for the bottom line.  Michelle Russo from McGraw Hill had some great data on how much green building has increased over the last couple of years and how much it’s expected to increase over time (basically becoming the only way to build), as well as what consumers are looking for.  (Presentations are expected to be posted on the website.)

But the best news came from someone in the City building department, who told me that permits are UP over the same period last year.  Now that’s some good news.  Long may it continue.

Wall Homes Files For Bankruptcy

So reports Adam McGill on Frontburner in my absence here at DD…  keep in mind that filing for bankruptcy often gives a company a shot at restructuring debt so it can stay in business. I did a video interview with Steve Wall when they built the Extreme Makeover House in Keller. 

USGBC and Home Builders Team Up

Looking for info on where green building is headed in the coming year?  The US Green Building Council and the Homebuilders Association of Greater Dallas are collaborating on the 2009 Texas Green Home Summit at the Convention Center on January 29.  Mayor Leppert will speak, as will folks from the sponsoring organizations and from McGraw Hill, who have done considerable research into what buyers are looking for in “green” homes.

And we don’t have to drive to Plano!

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.

Let’s Not Discuss Dallas Real Estate Values Today

This is not as bad as when you get those monthly stock reports showing that all the money you’ve stashed away for retirement is down by 36%. No sir, not that bad at all. Steve Brown reports a decline in Dallas home prices of just over 2% while some Texas cities have actually seen modest increases. Don’t even ask me about the national outlook: it’s Miller Time for builders — those Dom Perignon days a recent memory. As one local home builder told me: no one is picking up a hammer. Even the Russians are having problems. I am starting my appraisal battle file right now — will keep copies of all these stories so just holler if you need. Listen up DCAD: my property taxes should be LOWERED next year, retroactive to November 19, 2008. Got that?

3500 Beverly Drive — Look Inside

You’ve read the article, here’s what you’ve all been waiting for — the video. PS: we took our shoes off to protect those gorgeous oak hardwood floors.

Centex to Shareholders: No Quarterly Dividend

Four cents a share…