Which reminds me of my biggest pet peeve: soaking tubs without hand-sprays. People, please, do not save $100 by skimping on the hand-sprayer. Serious bathers do not live by running water alone. You need the sprayer to rinse off hair, bods and clean the tubs. As my hero Joan Crawford would surely have said, NO SOAKING TUBS WITHOUT DIVERTER SPRAYS EVER!

Did 3525 Turtle Creek ever obtain Landmark Status?

What about that multi million dollar assessment to improve the interiors and exteriors?

What is the total number of units in the building?

What physical changes are proposed for the exterior elevation?

Has anyone agreed on anything?

Update: Steve Brown ran this story on Jan. 15, the day I left for Cabo.  

If Ragland’s point was to give a thumb-nail sketch of Preston Hollow, then I suggest you find a copy of Eva Potter Morgan’s “Preston Hollow”. Preston Hollow was briefly incorporated as a town after an election on November 18, 1939, the voting taking place in the real estate office of Mr. Ira P. DeLoach, also the man who hired Ebby Halliday. Her name and company now occupy what was the town hall of Preston Hollow, the “little white house” at the corner of Northwest Highway and Preston Road. Initially the notion of incorporating PH into a town was controversial, the heart of the discussion being fiscal concerns and higher taxes with annexation. But it was one of humanity’s most basic dilemmas — sanitation — that united Preston Hollow with Dallas while the Park Cities would remain the Golden Bubble in-between:

“Proponents argued that “we need only the simplest, least expensive set-up” and went on to point out that the mayor and members of the town council were to serve without pay.”

For the first few years, writes Eva Morgan, no taxes were imposed on the residents of Preston Hollow. “Income was derived from building permits for new structures and septic tanks, fines imposed by the town traffic court, and from a remarkable “subscription” system for police protection. Under this system, payment of the fee for police service was voluntary.”

Then came World War II and a need for money to support services. In October of 1942, writes Mrs. Morgan, the town council imposed an ad valorem tax. The council and the Mayor, Joe Lawther, disagreed over it — Mr. Lawther resigned, Mart W. Reeves was elected mayor — the last mayor of Preston Hollow.
Two and a half years later a tax was imposed, and a spot designated for a fire station — fire protection had been outsourced to Dallas and University Park. Meantime, the city of Dallas was pushing to unify Preston Hollow, the Park Cities and Dallas all into a single city government. It almost happened, writes Mrs. Morgan.

“But it was sewage that sounded the death knell for this remarkable town government. All the homes had septic tanks. Under the existing drainage patterns, there was apparently no feasible way that the town could install a sewage system to replace the septic tanks… in parts of town, after each rain the problem became painfully obvious. Finally, on April 3, 1945, the voters approved consolidation with the City of Dallas.”

In addition to the core class, there’s a choice of electives–residential, commercial or property management–that can be taken in person or via webinar.  It is a HUGE amount of information.

But alas, unless I sold a few dozen of my own eggs and an ovary or two, a $1.5 mil second home condo is not in the cards. That’s why I am fascinated by the option of Fractional Ownership, which would net me 21 days per year at the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, SF, plus the ability to exchange with other Ritz-Carlton properties around the globe.

A fractional ownership is a deeded title/ownership to a property for a certain percentage of time use in the property. Don’t confuse with timeshare ownership — fractional ownership has fewer owners, better resale rates and appreciation, says Daniel G. Morton, Founder and CEO of Fractional Retreats, L.L.C. At The Ritz-Carlton Club SF, a 1/12th one-bedroom Club Residence fractional sells for $239,000. You own the right to 4 weeks out of the year in that unit. (That’s $239,000 versus $1.5 million for total ownership of the same size unit.) The home is about 1300 square feet, comes with a gourmet loaded kitchen despite the fact you’ll probably only eat your morning yogurt in there, dining area, laundry closet, two baths, and living room which could accommodate two overnight guests. The master bath is huge and Ritz-luxurious, oceans of white carrera marble, soaking tub, separate shower, discreet potty. Acres of closet space. Of course the condos come fully furnished with Silicon Valley spoils such as entertainment center, at least two flat screen TVs, all the stereo and DVD gadgets, and special soundproofing so you won’t hear your neighbors. If it’s a larger unit you want, the three-bedroom residence can be yours for $399,000 for almost 4 weeks a year.

Not kidding.

As if the residences themselves are not perfect, the Ritz-Carlton staff is beyond amazing. They will fetch you from the airport in a beautiful BMW limo, email you for food preferences so your fridge is stocked upon your arrival, and greet you at the door every time you enter or leave the building. Need a rental car or nail appointment? Done. It is really like having a personal assistant. Fresh baked cookies fatten you up in the lobby (ask them for a route to run uphill in the city) and if you don’t want to take breakfast in your condo, pop up to the rooftop terrace for a lovely continental breakfast as well as evening cocktails. You can even store items in the building to lighten your luggage schlep.

If you are going to live the jet-setting lifestyle, chances are you’ll be in Dallas, then Santa Fe, then off to Europe for a week or two, then at a beach or ranch somewhere. Go visit some relatives. Then back to home to work. This is my thinking: will I really spend more than 4 weeks a year in one vacation home? Fractional ownership means I will share property-related expenses such as maintenance fees and insurance with other fractional owners. Talk about green, fractional ownership shares resources — how wasteful is it to have a home and let it sit empty week upon week? Why buy the whole cow if you just want a little fillet?

Why, said one skeptic, don’t you just go get a hotel room whenever you want to visit a city and forget this fractional ownership deal? Good point. But I’m getting weird about the beds I sleep in and where I land my tootsies when not in my own self-sanitized baino. As I snooped the halls of this Ritz-Carlton property, I actually saw how compulsively each unit was cleaned between guests: carpets steamed, draperies changed, even the air was exchanged and freshened. We’ve all seen the Sixty Minutes stories on how some maids “clean” hotel rooms — yuck. I take Lysol wipes to the Four Seasons.

Mrs. McDill’s tender story reminded me to remind my family that all I want for Christmas is a fractional ownership at the Ritz-Carlton Club in San Francisco. Many moons from now, they can leave me there to enjoy my final days and… if they are really nice to mama… I may just leave them that deed in my will!

Since I have investment properties, I am going to try SimplifyEm.com and will soon offer a review.

“The best way to treat those so-called upper level management doing nothing other than playing golf and took a great sum of money is to take them to the Japanese restaurant. Not for feeding them food, but have the sushi chef slices them like a sushi. It sounds bad but that’s what they deserved”.

Now what about husbands who play too much golf?