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Dallas Real Estate Report From Maine, Ctd.

Beach house decorating tip: flower balls from the wedding tent look great on the flagpole! We could not have fathomed a more perfect day.

Dallas Real Estate Report From Maine: Why We Love Beach Houses

Greetings from Kennebunkport, Maine. This is where we all gathered the day after our destination wedding: the beach house, Drakes Island, Maine. Wedding ceremony  and reception were perfect — more than perfect, actually, at Kennebunkport’s breath-taking Breakwater Inn and Spa,  on Saturday. Earlier in the day, the breeze had picked up, and though it was 75 degrees outside, I was freezing and drinking hot tea at three pm.  We turned on the exterior heaters but at about 4:50, the wind calmed and settled for the next hour. It was as if God had turned off the fan. Perfect timing. After a long, fun and quite eventful night…  we gathered at the beach house for lunch and beach walks on Sunday before everyone headed out. The gathering made me realize, more than ever, how important homes are in our lives, how they anchor us to family, memories and friends. Here we are, saying goodbye to my daughter and brand new son-in-law as they depart for their honeymoon, on the porch of the beach house where two generations have done the exact same thing. Homes: way more than bricks and mortar.

Beach House Warning: Dangerous Staph Found On Beaches

I tell you this because right now, my Dallas yard looks like the ocean. Scary news for those of us who are beach lovers and covet beach homes. Will this make ocean front properties lose value? Probably not, just bring on more remodeling of beach house bathrooms, more showers. But I do recall that Forbes warned us about this not too long ago...

Dallas Real Estate: Wouldn’t You Really Rather Still Be Here?

But where is here? In honor of all the contests we are having — Ten Most Beautiful Women In Dallas — you should vote, these gals are amazing ladies inside and out — and of course, the big cahuna final vote for Best Real Estate Blog In Texas (vote here) — I’m having a mini-Monday morning contest. Tell me the name of this golf course and where it is located, and I MIGHT be able to rustle up an invitation to golf there.

(Transportation not included — both the Lear and the Maserati are in the shop!)

Did You Know The Tax Laws Changed On Second Home Ownership?

Hello, where have I been? Apparently revenue hungry Congress has changed the rules on converting a second home from rental to full ownership so that some of your gain will be taxable if you convert your vacation home or rental unit to a primary residence after 2008.

The portion of the gain to be taxed is based on the ratio of non qualified use — the time the property is used as a vacation home or rental unit after 2008 — to the total amount of time you owned the property.Congress has changed the rules so that some of your gain will be taxable if you convert your vacation home or rental unit to a primary residence after 2008. God, how did this one slip by?

Honduran Home Owners/Investors Not Pleased With Obama Administration’s Apparent Support For Manuel Zelaya?

Just received this email from a local Realtor who invests in Honduras and wanted to share. Honduras has been a hotbed for vacation home construction, well-dotted with second homes of the locally flush. Ditto neighboring Costa Rica. According to this observer, who is boots on the ground in the country, the U.S. should support the new “illegal” government of Honduras over Manuel Zelaya. Latest news reports indicate baby steps to end the standoff but make no mention of 40 million in cash MIA : 

“Hi, I hope everyone is well.

This is what has been happening now:

All T.V. and radio stations have been connected to a government broadcast,
they have been doing this throughout the afternoon.  It appears that they
found out that Mel Zelaya’s ex-presidency minister, Enrique Flores Lanza
with a presidential order withdrew in his name, sometime between June 20th
and 28th, Lps. 40,000,000.00 in cash from Honduras’Central Bank’s vault.

The government broadcast is calling for anyone that has received this money
to return it to the public ministry office, and no questions will be asked.
If the money is not returned, they warn that they know the serial numbers on
the notes, and so they will be able to confiscate and detain anyone with it.

It is believed that this money is being used to buy support for the ousted
president.  There are several witnesses, they say that the money was taken
in bags in a wheelbarrow.

My comment here is that it is very evident that all of these followers are
in this for something.  They are not democratic, they all wear red (comunist
color), and are walking around with sticks, pipes and rocks.  Some even
cover their faces.  -These people do not represent the people of honduras
that Mel Zelaya talks about over and over.  He makes it sound like everyone
here is suffering because he is gone, and that the military is oppresing the
people.  That is a true lie.  The only reason why the military have to be
called is because Mel’s band of thugs is walking around the streets with
sticks, pipes, and rocks dressed in comunist colors.

I compare Mel’s pals to Hitler’s buddies, they are tight friends that are
still around here causing trouble, and added to this, the fact that Chavez
and his boys are also coaching the operation. 

I think that the U.S. intervention or non-intervention will be the
determining factor.  I do not know if they want to get involved.  So far
they keep insisting that they will not listen to an illegal government, they
do not see (or do not want to see) that this “illegal government” is
stopping comunism and setting an example. They are even helping Zelaya’s
family.

Please remember that as the U.S. stays quiet, Chavez, his buddies, and Mel
and his friends the crooks, are working hard to make this heroic effort
fail, and it is a shame.

I will keep you all posted of everything I can.  Good night, and I am sorry
if I wrote anything that is not in accordance to your belief on the subject.”

Father’s Day Vacation House Porn: Upper Canyon Road, Santa Fe

Dad has enough neckties. In fact, he probably needs more closet space just to house all those years of ties. Why not buy  him (instead) a little getaway in the most delicious part of Santa Fe — upper Canyon Road, above the gallery walk, an historic 1940’s pueblo-style adobe with more than 4000 square feet completely renovated, top-to-bottom. Dad will like everything about this home but he will love the Santa Fe River running through his new backyard: only $2,699,000 but I hear the Santa Fe real estate market is a bit soft right now so go ahead, make an offer!

Dallas Weekend Escape: Park City Utah House Porn

A new place for Dallas to play in just over 30 days, the Waldorf Astoria’s Dakota Mountain Lodge and Golden Door Spa opens with 104 luxury residences for ski-in, ski-out or summer mountain relaxation at the base of those gorgeous Canyon Mountains. Fly direct to Salt Lake City from DFW; Park City, Utah is about 35 minutes from the airport. Pictured here: one Bedroom, two Bathroom  residences, 741 square feet, $740,000.

Your Dallas Escape: Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

If you can’t be in your Dallas backyard this weekend sipping brewskis and flipping burgers, you might as well be on the Gulf of Mexico surrounded by butterfly gardens, walking trails, and sugar white sand beaches. This 1801 square foot home is just the right size for a Dallas get-away— 3 bedrooms, 4 and a half baths, balcony, porch, outside shower and sprinkler system. Best of all, that beach is just a few steps away… get this price: $437,000.

Pre Tax Day House Porn: Here Are The Deductions You’ve Been Scouting

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.

Nagin’s Frisco Townhome Up For Auction Today in Collin County

I called Lone Star Management, the company that collects home association fees for Casa Bella Owner’s Association, to see if the Nagins have made a last-ditch effort to save their cute little Frisco abode, but no one would comment. Here is the list of properties on today’s auction block in McKinney.

Stoneleigh Heritage Gets Help From P.O’B Montgomery

P. O’B Montgomery & Company, a respected Dallas real estate and development firm, is now working with the Prescott-Apollo partnership that owns the on-hold Stoneleigh-Heritage Residences. (Or whatever they are now called.)  Mission: figure out what to do with that sad residence shell looming behind the Maple Avenue hotel. Early December, Prescott brought Montgomery into the picture to study all market options as an advisor, not investor. Apollo and Prescott have sought financing for the Stoneleigh project since their credit source ran dry in the fall due to the Wall Street financial meltdown.

“We are looking at doing whatever makes sense,” Phil Montgomery told me today, when asked if the residences would resume construction. “The market has clearly changed.”

Prescott’s Jud Pankey says the garage is complete and open, and construction attention will now focus on the courtyard. This month’s Architectural Digest feature on the hotel and colorful designer, Carleton Varney and his mentor, Dorothy Draper, has generated national interest in the project; Varney is coming back to Dallas in the spring to create more buzz.

If another developer were going to be engaged for this project, the most likely time would be when construction financing is being negotiated, said Pankey by email.

“Phil Montgomery introduced me to Apollo almost ten years ago, and we all try and assist each other when faced with a challenge,” wrote Pankey.

What we are doing, said Montgomery, is fairly routine.

According to sources, Al Coker is no longer handling marketing for The Stoneleigh Heritage Residences; Cynthia Pharr is handling media relations.

Fuld’s Wife’s Florida “Bargain”

Great minds think alike, and Diane Tuman over at Zillow reacted the same way I did when we heard ofabout Dick Fuld’s alleged scheme to protect his Florida vacation pad. His $13 million dollar vacation pad. She’s got better pictures.

Before You Put Up That Daria Gate…

Dear former President George and Laura Bush: You may wish to check out Doug Newby’s 10240 Gaywood listing before you go to all the trouble of moving everything into Daria Place. Not that we don’t love your new home from what we can see of it, but check this out: 2.63 acres that also backs up to the combined near 50 acres of Mr. Phillips’ and the Hicks spread, classical mid-century modern design by architect Scott Lyons, a protege of O’Neil Ford. This home has 9902 square feet, a 3800 square foot guest house, pool, standing seam metal roof just like Crawford, and more trees than even Daria Drive. By the way, Lyons designed homes for Eugene and Margaret McDermott and Dan Williams. This home is a wee bit more than Daria — $6,982,000 — but maybe they’ll make you a deal!

Crawford No Longer “Texas White House”

Former President George and Mrs. Bush, who will soon be splitters between Daria Drive and Crawford, are heading back to Texas. I dug up this USA Today article on their ranch from almost nine years ago. Wonder where President Obama will find his “refuge from stress”? Camp David? Suggestion: Farnsworth House?

Friday House Porn: Lance Armstrong Looking Sexy In Dripping Springs

Just a few miles down 281 from us, and Mama has all the deets.

Holiday House Porn: Over The River, Through Woods, To Organic Rice Farm We Go

Do you see what my kitchen table looks like with all the boys at home? Fort Hood in candy-cane getup. To keep my sanity, I need a place where these boys can go play Dick Cheney. After church on Christmas Eve, I settled down with a glass of bubbly, warm and toasty in cashmere, to peruse the kind of house porn I crave during these times: ranch properties. Acres and acres of ponds, tanks, deer, ducks, geese, pigs and enough coyote to keep Sarah Palin frocked through her next campaign. Found some good ones, too, like Turkey Creek Organic Rice Farm — 1633 acres in Wharton County raising organic rice! Holiday dinner – done! Boasting $100,000 annual income from the land plus a three-bedroom, two-bath cedar lodge. “Trophy Deer and wild hogs”:  our African heads will finally have a home.  Where do I sign? Where is Wharton County?

The Legacy of George W. Bush: A BBC Perspective

Meet Neal Razzell, senior broadcast producer for the BBC World Service Radio. As I am typing, he is likely boarding a plane at DFW heading back to the U.K. to complete a BBC documentary on the legacy of our President and current world leader, George W. Bush. A seasoned journalist, Neal has been with World Service Radio for six years where he worked as a Washington producer. He also produced a daily news program. But for the last year and half, Neal has been producing radio documentaries, traveling far and wide.

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…

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Second Home Market Sucking (Super Cold Yellowstone Club Type) Bad Air?

This story says there are bargains to be found in the Hampton’s — that is, if you think a $1.537 million second home is a bargain. (Here’s former Lehman Brothers president Joseph Gregory’s $32.5 million Bridgehamton vacation pad.) I have an idea: turn this place into a fractional ownership for those of us who lost money with Lehman. Any legal minds out there want to litigate this?  

Meantime, Tamarack in Idaho is under, while Credit Suisse is fighting to hang onto first lien status with uber-exclusive Yellowstone Club, which is just a mess , bankrupt and smarting from bad press due to the nasty divorce of it’s great-looking founders, Tim Blixeth and his ex (?), Edra. Also pulled in: luxury second home big boys Discovery Land Co. Interim lender CrossHarbor Capital Partners is trumping and may end up owning the joint because Credit Suisse apparently could not cough up enough cash for a debtor-in-possession loan:

“While it is highly unusual for a major lender to be pushed out of the first lien position in a bankruptcy, Credit Suisse may turn out to be too late with its latest plan.”

About this time last year I tried phoning YC to write up  properties as Hot Props in D Home — they acted as if I needed a security clearance and was trying to find the president’s war-time bunker. We ended up in Big Sky.

But Dallas Addison, who develops second home properties in east and south central Texas, as well as Hawaii, tells me the second home market is still pretty strong. (Posting his story soon: Dallas tells me that Hawaii’s Big Island gets so crowded with residents’ private jets they have to haul them off to other islands for parking.) Glad to hear it: I haven’t been on a Lear in forever.

I Heart Gordon Keith & More Media En Route To Dallas To See Bush Home

I should have posted this yesterday but, ah, we had the D holiday party. Beauty of the web is I will soon be able to post a link for you right here. Gordon Keith was kind enough to have me on his show  to chat up chez Bush. He also had a hysterical visit with Santa, who I secretly slipped my Christmas list. (Santa said something about dreaming on, then passed the flask.) Speaking of house dreams, folks on Daria Place may be itching to clear the media from their cul de sac, but should be thankful they are not in the Albany Park section of Chicago. Might as well set up a few tea and crumpet stands because more media are on their way to Dallas: BBC World Service Radio is making a documentary about the Bush legacy and will be in Dallas in the next couple weeks.

Stevie Chaddick Just Back From Rosewood’s Artesana

Where I am DYING to go and visit the new hotel and residences, after visiting the grounds pre-construction in San Miguel last spring. I’ll get Stevie to tell me all!

Plop Me At The Ritz-Carlton Residences, III

Lovely living room…and you never have to worry about squirrels.

Plop Me At The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences

Little marble around the tub for soaking.

Note To Kids: My Time To Go, Plop Me At The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, San Francisco

This article about how Marie-Dennett McDill, an east coast socialite, spent her last days on earth at the Carlyle Hotel, nearly made me cry. So much I called our attorney and re-drafted our will. When it’s my time to go, I want my kids to plop me at The Ritz, preferably in my San Francisco fractional ownership. Cannot get closer to heaven on earth. (more…)

A-Rod’s Coral Gables House On Market

From my pals at Zillow… later I’ll dig up his cribs when he lived on Douglas in Dallas so stay tuned. Guess they’ll need more space for a nursery.