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Dallas Real Estate: My New Dream Pool

I found it in West Allen at Wimberley Place in a home by Steve Roberts. This pool was built by Leisure Living Pools. Full disclosure, they built our pool nine years ago and are still around digging pools. (Wonder if many of the pool contractors I interviewed can say the same?) I would so build a pool like this if I were building one today. Not only is this a fun waterfall feature, there’s a romantic little cove where you can hide out from the sun and stay super cool. LOVE the rock! Guess how much money the average pool costs to build today? I’ve heard between $75,000 and $100,000 depending on size,  features and rock. What’s out in pools? Diving boards.

Love Affair With A Driveway

I love this driveway. Found it in Maine, but could be created here as well, now that we have some rain…

Should I Measure Square Footage ?(Ctd.) And Local Appraisers

I want to highlight these comments because next week, I’ll bring you a story on the madness surrounding real estate appraisals courtesy of our (now) over-reaching government and how it is putting some buyers out on the streets…

1. It’s important to hire an appraiser familiar with your area. I had an appraiser from Balch Springs assigned to appraise my house in Bluffview/Shorecrest. He was lost.

2. More important than the number of square feet is how well thought out the floor plan is. If you have 6,000 square feet, but 3,000 of those are in the ‘big, grand’ but unuseable entry space, then you really have a 3,000 square foot home. Ask yourself, “How am I going to live in this space each and every day?”

 

Dirty Secrets For Selling Your Home: How To Make Your Dallas Home More Appealing To Buyers When It’s 104

It’s July and hot as hell in Texas. Agents tell me the open houses are not quite so open, and you even have to serve margaritas at the garage sales at seven a.m. just to keep people from passing out. So how to make your home appealing to buyers — and light — when it’s 104 outside?

If you have water features, focus on those. Make sure the pool is in great shape and stage a little basket of goodies, including a drink, on a floatie — Frontgate sells great pool floaties. (A model slathered in suncreen, the best — does she come with the house?) Roll beach towels on the chaise longues. Make sure the patio is flawless — no dead potted plants. You will have to open up the windows and let in light — but not if one window eminates heat like a hot coal. (Keep that one closed.) Crank up the A/C one hour before the scheduled open house — this is not a time to conserve energy. A hot house shouts loud and clear “HVAC problemos.”   

Last but not least: serve small, cute cups of chilled lemonade and offer chilled water as the potential buyers depart. In fact, leave a pretty iced container of water by the front door. I’ve heard of one agent who has even printed up labels of her listings on bottled water. Pretty extreme, but so is the Texas heat right about now.