Otherwise, cute house. Imagine finding real marble in a home built in the 1950’s.

This home was built on white rock with bell-bottom piers (not to be confused with bell-bottom pants) in 1969, by its original owners. He was in the building products manufacturing business: door entrances. He sold to Pella Windows, which is every small-company owner’s dream. Thus the owners, who raised their family in this home, had both a keen eye and an “in” for high-quality materials. The exterior doors are solid Andean walnut from Bolivia; the double spiral banister on the front stairway was imported from Sedrina, Italy; the plentiful crown molding is imported from Cremona, Italy—well, you get the picture. The owners also installed an elaborate outdoor lighting system and a new HVAC and hot water heaters in 2007. But last summer they really went to town: scraped hardwoods in the living room, granite counters in the kitchen, new faucets, and new light fixtures. In other words, this home is turnkey. Their pain, your gain. It has been staged by Creative Staging by Design of Dallas, and it will be open this Sunday from 3-5 pm.

RUFUS C. BURLESON

Rufus C. Burleson, III passed away in his sleep on November 13, 2009. He was 77.  A Dallas native, born on May 22, 1932 at Baylor Hospital, he lived in Sachse, Texas with his wife, Mary Frances.

He was a Texas Tech graduate, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Husbandry in 1954, before joining the service where he was a First Lieutenant in the Army serving at Camp Chaffee in Arkansas.

After returning to Dallas, he had a successful career in residential construction. He “retired” to follow a passion that he and his wife shared, and began breeding and raising show Boxers full time.

He managed Marburl kennel situated on 11 1/2 acres, and enjoyed much success having completed American Kennel Club championships on at least 45 Boxers, many of whom were homebred and carried the kennel name Marburl Boxers. Marburl Boxers have won the prestigious American Boxer Club (ABC) Annual Specialty twice, the American Boxer Club Regional Specialty twice and the American Boxer Club Futurity once. In addition, one of Marburl’s International Champions won the ABC Legion of Merit. Rufus also was a well-respected judge in Boxer Specialties, judging Boxer Specialty Shows in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and Australia, and many Boxer Clubs throughout the US. The Burlesons received many awards for their show dogs, including the Life Time Achievement Award from the American Boxer Club.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Lucille Moore Burleson and Rufus C. Burleson Jr., a sister, Ann Burleson Honea, as well as his great-grandfather, Rufus C. Burleson who was president of Baylor University; Burleson Hall is named in his honor.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Mary Frances Burleson, niece Lisa Ingison of Dallas and many cousins in Dallas, Waco, Houston and Austin. Additionally, he will be remembered by many friends from his college days, Boxer owners, fishing and hunting friends and friends at Park Cities Baptist Church, where he was also a Deacon and a member of Floyd’s Faithfuls Sunday School class.

Rufus was an avid outdoorsman and grew up a member of the Boy Scouts reaching the impressive rank of Eagle Scout. He loved scouting and in his earlier years was a Scoutmaster. He also worked as a trail guide at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Rufus loved to hunt and fish, and especially enjoyed fly fishing. He fished many of the best rivers around the world, recently completing trips to South America, Alaska and Canada.

Rufus loved life and always had a smile on his face and a kind word for the people who were lucky enough to be around him. He was a devoted husband, who shared life with his soul mate and best friend, Mary Frances. He never missed a chance to support her real estate career and loved nothing more than sharing in her success and honors.

A true renaissance man, he was an artist and was well-known for his Boxer-inspired original paintings, “Dog Art,” which he created for each holiday. The paintings were reproduced as postcards for several thousand people who looked forward to receiving his latest “dog” masterpiece bestowing blessings for Thanksgiving or celebrating love on Valentines Day.

The memorial service and celebration of life is Friday, November 20 at 2 p.m. at Park Cities Baptist Church, 3933 Northwest Parkway, Dallas 75225. A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall. A private burial will happen at noon. Visitation will be held at Restland Funeral Home on Thursday, November 19 from 6-8 p.m.

Honorary pallbearers are Larry Byrd, Bob Gayden, Marshall Comerer, Fred Pendleton, Franklyn Thiebaud and Jon White.

Memorial contributions may be made to Buckner International, c/o Jim Huey, Buckner Foundation, 600 N. Pearl St., Ste. 2260, Dallas, 75201 or the American Boxer Charitable Foundation, ABCF Memorial Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 8667, Spokane, WA 99203.

“The original auction brochure listed 29 units to be open for inspection.  On Saturday, only ten were listed as being offered for sale that day.  I did not ask why so many were excluded.  I presumed that it was because each bidder that went through the registration process in the days prior to the event was asked which units they were interested in – and that the excluded units had insufficient interest during the inspection process.  One other change was that the first two units offered would start with a minimum bid of $295,000 and would be sold to the highest bidder.  The eight remaining units would be sold subject to seller approval of the high bid.  My opinion is that many bidders do not fully understand this provision in that even if they are the high bidder, the seller can come back within a stated time period and say no thanks.  (Editor’s note: the “reserve”.) The brochure clearly states this, but most people think the high bid gets the property.

An interesting feature of the auction was that the Park Hollow units were mixed in with the Craig Ranch properties.  You would have a few homes come up and then a few condos.  It was quite a large crowd that required many additional chairs to be brought in.  It seemed that there were more people interested in the SFR’s (Editor’s note: single family residences) than the condominiums.

I don’t have the one page schedule that listed the exact order of the properties to be sold.  Without it, these results are not particularly meaningful.

The high bid results for the ten condominiums in the order in which they were auctioned:

1 – $310,000 (sold to the high bidder)

2 – $300,000 (sold to the high bidder)

3 – $271,000

4 – $471,000 (penhouse unit)

5 – $468,000

6 – $326,000

7 – $233,000

8 – $251,000

9 – $341,000

10 – $300,000

I did receive a call this week from Kennedy Wilson asking if I was still interested in #4.  This indicates that the seller did not accept the high bid.  I advised them that I thought the auction bid was a lot higher than I was willing to pay to begin with.  I asked if other high bids, besides those on the first two had been accepted.  It was indicated that there were some, but that others had been renegotiated upward before being accepted.  So it appears that in certain cases, being the high bidder only wins you the right to negotiate.”

“Candy,  You stayed in #1601K and it is priced at $2,360,000.  Your reader asked about #1301K which is the same floor plan and finish package.  It is priced at $2,165,000.  We have this exact plan priced from $1,625,000 on the 6^th floor.  The HOA fees are $.77 per interior square foot.  This plan has 2,490 interior sf, so the HOA fees would be about $1,917 per month.  HOA fees include all common area maintenance for the building and grounds, the parking garage maintenance, and hazard and liability insurance for the building.  In addition to HOA fees the owner of the residence is responsible for utility fees, property taxes (2.6% of assessed value), and contents insurance.”

So $2000 ish per month in HOA fees. Homeowner is responsible for his utilities, cable, etc. and maintenance/repairs on their unit. Regarding those taxes — 2.6% of assessed value. I don’t understand how Dallas County can be losing tax revenues when all these downtown dwellers are doling out the big bucks in property taxes: property taxes on “my” unit’s DCAD appraised value would be $16,774.

9243 Church Road, reduced $150,000 from $650,000 to $425,000. This for 1.49 acres on Church Road, kind of an historic Dallas home. The agent, Briggs Freeman’s Erika Orbin, says the sellers are just really, really motivated.

Update: I’m told the property was recently apraised by veteran appraiser D.W. Skelton for $500,000 but the sellers, savvy business folks, are trying to be realistic given the current market. In my shorthand, that means motivated!

But most experts say no to worry, FHA has changed guidelines and rules and is actually check credit scores now.

I guess I just like to fret, eh?

Please note: Dr. Barnes, I’m told, did not make his great fortune from doctoring but eyeglass ty-cooning. Here I thought everyone was doing Lasik!

Update: Thanks to the reader who snapped and sent these in — huge hugs! This home was also listed in D Magazine’s Most Expensive Homes issue — surprise, surprise!

“The 10-City Composite Index was down 0.4% during October and 0.9% for the most recent three-month period. The Index started the year in January at $470,017 and reached $509,030 in July before falling to $501,377 in October. The downturn would likely have been worse were it not for historically low mortgage rates and the federal government’s $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit which is likely to be renewed in some form. Listing prices fell in 23 of 26 markets during October. The largest monthly decline occurred in Salt Lake City with asking prices down by 3.3%. Prices fell by more than two percent in Phoenix and Los Angeles. The rate of decline has slowed in Las Vegas but that market continues to show the largest decline during the downturn. In October, 2007, the median asking price was $354,347 but fell to $169,958 in October, 2009 – a drop of over 52%. Asking prices increased in just 3 of 26 markets. Prices rose at the fastest rate in the Bay Area markets of San Francisco and San Jose which experienced increases of 1.1% and 1.0% respectively. Prices in the Miami market were effectively flat with an increase of just 0.3%.
The Altos 10-City Composite presents the most current perspective on housing market conditions across the country. The Composite median price fell by 0.4% in October 2009.”