“A Dress Code Problem

Suburbs and sweatpants are the culprits. As a person who’s gained 25 pounds since taking a job in the suburbs, believe me when I tell you that it’s not about food; it’s inactivity. I’ve never been one to “exercise,” but when I worked in the city, I walked out of necessity (to the train, from the train to the office, up the stairs when the elevator broke, to Bloomies at lunch time).

In contrast, I now just roll out of bed and drive. When I worked in the city, I wore suits, and a tightening waistband told me to cut back on the cupcakes. In the suburbs, every day is casual Friday, and you’re never conscious of weight gain while wearing sweat pants — they just expand along with you. The obesity epidemic won’t be cured through mindful eating. We all need to move back to the city and enforce dress codes.”

Friend who have moved to New York City tell me they lose five pounds within the first few weeks because they are walking more. It’s true, you tend to drive more in the suburbs because everything is so darn spread out. I agree about the sweatpants: more doctors I know wear scrubs and blame them for weight gain because the waists are string-adjustable.One doc I know keeps a tape measure in his pocket to measure his waist daily.

But with all that open space in the suburbs, you would think suburban folks would get even more exercise than urbanites. And isn’t this kind of backwards? The country used to be where the ruddy folk — OK, peasants — tilled the soil and got way more exercise than the plump, Reubenesque  ladies and gents of London who did not walk because early cities were muddy, filthy wrecks.

Is it really suburban America’s fault that we are fat?

Was that the home where a snake greeted me one morning?

Ilyce Glink has a great overall take on this, but here’s what I suggest you look out for in Texas:

1. Wade through the information to find and contact the listing agent. This can be tricky, and even I have been fooled: the point of the website is to reel you into one of their agents — the point of the Dallas Morning News’ new deal with Sawbuck –so the listing agent’s name is often buried way low or in some cases. MIA. The listing agent should have direct knowledge that the listing is active and could also have lowered the sales price that very day, but not yet posted the new price.

2. Always check the tax appraisal on the home at www.dcad.org. This will take longer, but you can call to see if the taxes are paid. In Texas, the state can foreclose on your home for failure to pay property taxes.

3. Do a Google search of the addressto see if the home was once the headquarters of the Branch Davidians, or something. You can also check the history of ownership at DCAD. In Texas, sellers must reveal if a violent death has occured in a home. Death by natural causes does not need to be reported.

4. Of course you will use Google maps to get a satellite view of the street and surrounding area, but remember those maps may not be up to date even for rural properties. An owner once told me that he checked on his property down near Ennis using Google, and everything seemed to be dandy. Then he went down there to find squatters using his property to dump garbage — huge heaps that were visible from the air.

3. Always check to see if the property is subject to a Home Owner’s Associationand what dues are required, if any. If dues are required, the association will have more control over your property and hence, life.

4. Obvi you drive by the home, not just once but several times a day. The minute a rainstorm hits, you go check out that home for water leaks and drainage. Do the ground water “sniff test” of the interior. Foundation and drainage problems can be repaired, but you do want to know what you are getting into before signing on the dotted.

Anything else I did not cover?

Seriously, trying to get financial info together and what do I do, surf the web looking for House Porn! I cannot help myself — look at this virile lake house, just what the Doctor would have ordered for a holiday weekend family get together. (Add a few piles of clothes, dog toys, magazines and mail to this pristine, clean great room!) I am loving the interiors and the exteriors, I am hoping we have a nice bug system installed to keep away those microscopic carnivores. I am loving the square footage of 2431: three bedrooms, two and a half baths so we don’t get too many visitors (and can pack up, leave her while we jet to Europe). Built by an architect, located on Lake Cypress Springs (the Pebble Beach equivalent to Dallas, east of Sulphur Springs) complete with country club, marina, just two hours east of Dallas. We visited friends who are right on the lake this summer in the heat of July and loved those bubbling little cool springs.  Best news of all: $900,000. Perfect for last-minute deductions.

Neal contacted me when he read about the Bush home purchase on this blog, and made plans to fly to Dallas and check out the President’s home turf. He asked me if I would spend some time with him, show him the new Bush digs, and Dallas homes in general. If you know anything about me, I jumped at the chance and spent about two delightful hours showing off Dallas homes December 20. His documentary will run January 19, Bush’s last day in office, and we hope to have a link on Dallas Dirt. It will be translated into 30 languages and beamed just about everywhere. I about choked on my peach mango iced tea with Neal this morning at Celebrity Cafe at Preston Royal when I learned of the world dignitaries he’s canvassed for reflections: the Dalai Lama, Hamid Karzie, Jacob Zuma, Desmond Tutu, Sherry Blair, Gordon Brown. He asked producers at all BBC bureaus to tack on questions about the Bush legacy on all interviews with high profile leaders.

His colleague, Justin Webb, BBC Washington correspondent, interviewed former Bush chief of staff Andrew Card. But Neal wanted to come to Dallas to poke Bush roots for himself, kick the tires in Crawford as well as get an inkling of where the President will soon be putting up his boots. Neal spent Sunday in Crawford, then returned to Dallas to interview future Bush neighbors on Daria Place. It’s always fun to interview a journalist, give us a taste of our own poison pen — or in this case, microphone. So I had to ask…

What has been the response from all those world leaders? Mixed, says Neal. He was particularly surprised that even African leaders did not focus on the President’s pouring billions of dollars into Aids research — instead, the first thing that came to every one’s mind: the Iraq war.

“For better or worse,” says Neal, “It seems that’s the first thing he will be remembered for.”

911 happened when he was in office, says Neal, Iraq was a choice — for better or worse. Bush and his supporters claim it’s way too early to judge if Iraq will be his crowned thorn legacy. But being in Dallas helped Neal understand the President has a lot of fiercely loyal friends here immensely proud of the leadership he showed post 9/11 despite the “I” word.

Then I had to gauge his reaction to Dallas real estate as a Brit, home of the world’s priciest real estate. Neal and his wife, a political theorist at the University of London, live in a 50 square meter flat — equivalent to about 500 square feet. In late 2006, as the world real estate market burned “white hot”, Neal and his wife attempted to qualify to buy a bit of London real estate north of the Thames. Like our Trinity River once red lined “good” and inferior neighborhoods, in London the Thames is the dividing line between prime and less choice properties. All Neal and he wife could qualify for north of the Thames was a parking spot in Chelsea.

Not that being north of the Thames insures any greater safety — London is quite the crime-ridden metropolis, regardless of where you live.

“When I am giving someone directions to our flat from the tube, I say we are three muggings south of Elephant and Castle.”

So it was very interesting to stroll this man through Highland Park, show him 3500 Beverly, the corner of Euclid and Highland where everyone thought Bush was building a fortress, meander up Preston Road (“this was where they drove the cattle?”) past Ralph Lauren and settle down the dusty country roads of Preston Hollow.

“Where are the sidewalks?” Neal asked me.

They don’t want them, I explained; it adds to the gentrified ambiance, as if we were about to go on a fox hunt. Oh and if you have one acre in Preston Hollow you can still have a horse — one horse per acre. Which mean yes, the Bushes may have one horse at 10141 Daria Place if they so desire.

Neal felt homes in Dallas were very generous. What I described as a water feature would be a natural park in Britain, he said. Do the British live very differently, I teased?

I don’t think Texans could possibly understand how small places are in London, he replied.

(Most London flats, he explained, are three and four bedroom Victorian homes turned to apartments – we figured the Bushes could get a good ten flats out of Daria Place.)

As for the Bush home, he believes it was a sensible purchase and quite understated compared to the neighboring homes. Dallas, he said, is lovely and loaded with warm, extraordinary people. However, coming from London, staying at the Adolphus, he could not believe how dead downtown Dallas was despite the construction.

“I wanted to go to a regular bookstore, but it was more than two miles away, and then it was a Christian bookstore,” says Neal. No lunch is served downtown after two p.m. because the restaurants are not busy enough to stay open all afternoon — face it: Dallas is not a 24/7 metrapolis like Chicago or New York. Nowhere near yet, anyhow.

“I felt I was a lonely pilgrim walking around.”

Well, nothing like a trip to Preston Hollow, Celebrity Cafe and Borders to get a pilgrim ming fellow journalist settled for his long voyage home. Looking forward to the report, Neal, and safest travels!

Amarillo

• 284 homes sold (9.8 percent decrease from previous year)
• Median price of $129,500 (2.7 percent decrease)
• 5.7-month inventory

Austin

• 2,221 homes sold (20.8 percent decrease)
• Median price of $194,000 (1.8 percent increase)
• 6-month inventory

Brownsville

• 90 homes sold (19.6 percent decrease)
• Median price of $102,500 (22 percent decrease)
• Inventory not available

Bryan–College Station

• 293 homes sold (7.9 percent decrease)
• Median price of $150,700 (4.1 percent increase)
• 5.4-month inventory

Corpus Christi

• 377 homes sold (11.3 percent decrease)
• Median price of $135,800 (7.2 percent decrease)
• 9.3-month inventory

Dallas

• 4,702 homes sold (19.5 percent decrease)
• Median price of $162,100 (3.3 percent decrease)
• 6.7-month inventory

El Paso

• 433 homes sold (21.8 percent decrease)
• Median price of $133,300 (4 percent decrease)
• 12.7-month inventory

Fort Worth

• 861 homes sold (26.3 percent decrease)
• Median price of $117,700 (3.7 percent decrease)
• 6.2-month inventory

Houston

• 6,464 homes sold (17.7 percent decrease)
• Median price of $158,900 (1 percent increase)
• 6.7-month inventory

Laredo

• 75 homes sold (26.5 percent decrease)
• Median price of $130,000 (3.7 percent decrease)
• 9.8-month inventory

Longview-Marshall

• 216 homes sold (19.1 percent decrease)
• Median price of $123,800 (3.4 percent increase)
• 7.7-month inventory

Lubbock

• 342 homes sold (3.1 percent decrease)
• Median price of $116,800 (11.3 percent increase)
• 5.4-month inventory

San Antonio

• 1,775 homes sold (26.3 percent decrease)
• Median price of $152,000 (0.3 percent increase)
• 8-month inventory

Texarkana

• 95 homes sold (14.5 percent increase)
• Median price of $88,800 (21.3 percent decrease)
• 7.6-month inventory

Victoria

• 86 homes sold (6.5 percent decrease)
• Median price of $125,700 (0.2 percent increase)
• 6-month inventory

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