Sofia, Amanda, Candy and Anna

There’s a lot to tell you about this place: there’s 8400 square feet of interiors, and 5500 square feet of exterior patios. Mamamia. There are three wine refrigerators — note the detail that I list first is this! There’s a fridge for champagne, red wine, and white wine. (I did see some white wine bottles in the champagne fridge, happy to come over and fix that!) There are two kitchens. Three terraces and a 360 degree view of Dallas. There are two bars, four bedrooms each with a full bath, two powder rooms, a billiards room with a purple pool table, a theater, library office, and so much mega museum quality art I have to cover it in a second post — my fingers will fall off from typing. There were two doors that I thought may be a safe room but turns out it’s a service elevator — a big service elevator — to bring up food or whatever your heart desires/orders. That is because the condo takes up the entire 21st floor. It has two elevators and a vestibule hallway with a unique art piece in it.

“I am the creative director of the house,” says Sofia. “The owner found the space, and only one unit was available. Six months later the second unit on this floor went on the market. We combined two units to make one penthouse.”

Enjoy the photos, folks, because more is coming. I need to do some research before I can bring you the art and the story behind it. And savor: the agent, Realtor to the rich and famous Eloy Carmenate, says he already has someone circling.

Oh yes! That’s Sofia at the main patio bar. The owner saw this in a liquor ad, Bacardi I think,  and asked Sofia if she could actually create it, and oh boy did she. She whipped up a rendering, installed LED lights, and the bar lights up to various colors. At Christmas they use red a lot. The entire main patio is custom made to withstand 70 mph winds: an epay wood decking houses all of the lighting and everything is bolted down to the deck, the furniture, sculpture, even the bar stools!

“The beetles aren’t killing every tree,” Currey says, “but they are killing a majority of mature lodgepole pine, and we’ve lost half our limber pine, too.” More than 116 million acres in the North American Rocky Mountains have been affected. “People are beginning to understand that this thing is too big to stop.”

Vail was just fine, evidence of the bark beetle here as well, but Vail fortunately has a huge variety of trees covering it’s 14,000 foot-tall peaks, including those gorgeous Aspens. And Vail is undergoing a billion dollar plus enhancement, one of the most major nip/tucks I’ve seen. No wonder Texans and Dallasites like the Perots love to vacation here come summer or winter. Check SecondShelters.com soon for a look at some of Vail’s most glorious second homes… soon as I unpack!

I LOVE CultureMap and you will too — it is what a real-time web magazine news source should be. My Houston friends RAVE about it, ditto Austin. There are gobs of great writers over there,  friends like Jennifer Chininis who runs the editorial show, Claire St. Amant who brought us that fabulous story on the you-know-what over at ESD — oh and Claire is totally keeping up with the next chapter in that saga, plus great scoop on Parkland Hospital. There is Rachael Abrams who does society and culture fabulously, Jonathan Rienstra who is soooo cute, Alex Bentley, Molly Cain social media guru, and my dearest Teresa Gubbins who is the best food critic in town. Teresa don’t like it, even Bree doesn’t eat it. Oh have you missed the sass of Merritt Patterson? Go bookmark CultureMap and check in every morning, noon and night, right after  CandysDirt.com. CultureMap will tell you everything you need to know about life in Dallas, from Frankford Road and north to Oak Cliff and Lancaster from a huge staff of talented, motivated contributors who will rock you with news and nitty gritty. Because you know, that’s what we are supposed to do!

 Our embattled Candy has been on blog-lite these past few days, thanks to the Maloufs’ attempts to chill her free speech down at Dallas County Court at Law No. 3 in Malouf vs. Mary Candace Evans, Byron Harris and WFAA-TV and Laura Wilson.

Now that Candy and WFAA agreed to a temporary injunction wherein they cannot step foot on the Maloufs’ property, the parties are not scheduled back in court until September, when the trial is set to begin.

Several Dallas media outlets have been covering the temporary injunction hearings over the last few days. Claire St. Amant, managing editor of Culturemap Dallas, was down there for at least two days and we think she did the best overall reporting of facts. Anna Merlan of the Dallas Observer gets the prize for her description of Mrs. (“Lady”) Malouf and her husband: “Dr. Malouf is a tall, beaky man, who looked both weary and pissed off …” However, we think she missed the entire point of star attorney James Bell’s cross-examination, most likely because she wasn’t in the courtroom over the past few days.

In any case, both reporters missed the best line of the day: Dr. Malouf, a millionaire who owns a 30,000 square foot home on Strait Lane and a couple of private jets, claims he has suffered from the collective reporting on his backyard waterpark, saying he cannot get a job or rent office space because of it.

Love this sassy little write-up on the Hicks estate, which is marketed by Douglas Newby & Associates, from Your Mama at The Real Estalker:

Like we usually do when it comes to dissin’ and discussin’ high-priced real estate in Dallas Your Mama gave the deliciously dishy Dallas-based property gossip Candy Evans a ringy-dingy and asked if she thought there was much of a market for a $135,000,000 house in Dallas.

There may very well be a market for an $135 million house in Dallas, but it’s a small one, as Candy said. You never know, right? Still, as Your Mama pointed out, you’re going to need big bucks and a lot of water to run this place. Natch:

The next owner of the Hicks’ estate may want to know that maintaining the vast estate will require an astonishing amount of water. Even with a private well Mister and Missus Hicks consistently rank among the highest users of water in a state regularly racked by drought. In August 2011 reports numerous multiple media outlets in the Dallas/Houston/Fort Worth area reported that Mister and Missus Hicks used 1.35 million gallons of public water for the month of June alone and in July 2012 the Dallas Morning News reported they consumed a total of 12,315,020 gallons of public water in 2011.

Eeek! That’s crazy! Then again, it’s not exactly like you can xeriscape a 25-acre estate! Maybe it’s time to take a nod from the soon-to-be-open George W. Bush Presidential Center and replace some of the landscape with drought-hardy natives and maybe some wildflowers? Just a thought.

Mr. Miller was chairman and chief executive officer of the Henry S. Miller Company, a name that veteran Dallas Realtors know as well as the word “contract”. Mr. Miller’s grandfather, Henry S., launched the company in 1914, growing it from a one-man show to one of the largest commercial and residential businesses in the nation. Among some of the Dallas properties owned by HSM: Prestonwood Country Club,  Signature Athletic Club, Preston Royal, Preston Trails and until 2009, Highland Park Village. The companies that spawned from Henry S. Miller Sr.’s lone office have dealt in billions of dollars in residential and commercial real estate deals over the years, and launched many stellar real estate careers. In commercial, there’s (among others) Roger Staubach, Herb Weitzman, Wayne Swearingen, and Ken Hughes to name a few. In residential, there’s hundreds, including Virginia Cook.

I had the pleasure of flying to Costa Rica in June of 2008 courtesy of Fort Worth-based Hillwood, when the market was white hot, on the Perot’s G450 to check out 13 prime beachfront lots in Peninsula Papagayo, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It’s about an hour’s drive from Liberia and the airport that Ollie North built. On board were Ellen Terry, Dave Perry-Miller and Virginia Cook. Over Nicaragua, I asked Virginia how she got her start in residential real estate. She explained that she worked for Henry S. Miller, Sr., and he was looking for someone to start a residential brokerage services division to help find houses for the families of the CEO’s and employees who were moving to Dallas. The Henry S. Miller Company was busy finding commercial space for new companies, property management, developing shopping centers and office buildings, but they wanted a division to handle the home sales and capture that business. In 1971 the company was the first to offer specialized real estate services in Dallas with Virginia Cook at the helm. By 1996, it was the second largest residential real estate firm in Texas, after Ebby Halliday. We bought a home in 1983 using a fine Henry S. Miller agent, Virginia Johnson. In 2001, Henry S. Miller sold the residential real estate division to Coldwell Banker Residential. Virginia Cook had left to start her own firm a year before. After the sale, many former HSM agents flocked to Virginia Cook.

Vance C. Miller became President of HSM in 1970 and led the company’s expansion throughout the 1970s and 1980s.  In 1984, the company merged with another major firm to form the nation’s third largest real estate services firm. Mr. Miller was born in Dallas in 1933, son of the late Henry S. Miller, Jr. and Juanita Miller. He graduated from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor’s in business administration in 1954. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Geraldine “Tincy” Miller; two sons Vaughn Miller and Greg Miller, and one daughter Cynthia Vance-Abrams. He and his family top the mile-high list of generosity and philanthropy in Dallas.  At Thursday’s luncheon, Mrs. Miller was recognized for providing one of the four scholarships given to four outstanding graduate students.

Is there a better way to honor the original bad boy of Dallas than to don a Stetson and some Lucchese boots while showing some of the city’s best properties tomorrow? I couldn’t think of one, either.

The idea came from Scott Carlson, who sent us this note:

March 11 is officially declared as “Larry Hagman Day.” The People have spoken. The mayor of Dallas has been requested to issue a Proclamation declaring it official.

Let’s get the word out and have FUN… Post on Facebook, Tweet, Radio and news station.

Wear your cowboy boots and hats to honor the man Larry Hagman and the legend J.R. Ewing.

“He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented” – Linda Gary

Larry loved to have fun and especially loved wearing his cowboy hat… So, let’s join Larry and wear our cowboy hat this special day of celebration. Have fun sharing photos of you and your cowboy hat..

The date of March 11, 2013 was chosen because that is the date on which the current “Dallas” series on TNT will air the episode entitled “J.R.’s Masterpiece,” which is the J.R. Ewing funeral episode. On that date, legions of fans will both mourn the passing of Larry Hagman as well as celebrate his wonderful life.

Beloved by millions of fans, the man who embodied TV’s greatest villain, J.R. Ewing, was largely responsible for the success of the long-running hit TV series that generated worldwide publicity and recognition for its namesake city of Dallas. On this day we will celebrate the remembrance of the native Texas, actor, and a great friend to our city.

If you play along, send us photos of yourself clad in cowboy attire! And Happy Larry Hagman Day! To help celebrate, here’s a poem about J.R. from Scott:

J. R . THE Texan
Rich, smart, dashing.
Death and Life…. life and Death
A cycle ever more!
Transcendence here and there,
To the light …everywhere!
Dallas and the death of J.R.
and our beloved Sue Ellen!
The Life of Larry Hagman and
the Resurrection of a pained City.
Fun…BEAUTY….OIL, Wealth… And Texas Karma!!!!
An ICON to behold!
The Astronaut….with a Genie in a bottle.
And the biggest, best Oil Tycoon
with a mischievous heart.
Gratitude, Love and Blessing’s
To the soul and brilliance of a great being.
A true Texan with a yellow rose delight!
With a tip of our hat,
We say Goodbye and We Salute
…..A man named Larry Hagman
and a legend named … J. R . !!!!
-Scott F. Carlson

Yes, Virginia, there are vineyards in North Texas!

Angel Ridge Manor — love the name — also includes a nearly 14,000 square foot residence, two ponds, groves of trees, a barn and a three-bedroom guest house with basement. The main estate home has no less than seven living areas because, I suppose, you need to taste wine in each one. Or at least I DO! I’m sure the family room makes the Merlot take on a more casual cache, while the formality of the parlor tones up the Beaujolais.

Oh my, don’t let me stop there with FORMALS!  No no no, this house is amazing — cooler, maybe, than the Thomas Dundon home over on Northwest Highway just west of Inwood. This veritable palace has a four-tiered home theater, spa, party rooms, an Irish-style pub, music exercise and billiard rooms. There is an indoor lap pool with water falls. There is also, in one of the formal rooms, a 20 foot cast stone fireplace. There is also an elevator or two, extensive stone columns, a secure/tornado/panic room, cabana with fireplace, outdoor kitchen, horseshoe pit, and regulation size tennis and basketball courts. The 70 by 40 foot barn houses a complete water treatment system with 3500 gallons of storage.

This place may well be what I have always dreamed of: a freaking compound with WINE!

I’m actually a little disappointed there is only a four-car garage, but at least it is climate controlled to protect the leather seats on the Rolls and Ferrari.

Situated high on a ridge, the very stately approach to this estate features a quarter mile wrought iron and brick pillar fence leading to a gated entry and a lighted bridge along the dramatic tree-lined drive. Asking $2,650,000 which is reduced from $2,700,000 which tells me these sellers are SERIOUS with a capital S and… I’m in the mood to go up and taste some wine. How about you?

Hunter Dehn is modest about his success in real estate. With the Platinum Series Realty brand, he’s marketed some of the most expensive listings in Dallas, including 4939 Manson Court. With Mark Molthan’s Platinum Series Homes, these two are building and selling some of the most sought-after luxury properties in Dallas.

Of course, growing up in Preston Hollow surely helps understand the ins and outs of the area, and gives Dehn a lot of leverage in a luxury market where inventory is as scarce as it is competitive.

What do we love best about Dehn? Definitely his ambition!

You can find out more about Hunter Dehn and Platinum Series Realty on his website.

CandysDirt.com: Where are you from?

Hunter Dehn: I grew up on Waggoner Drive in Preston Hollow.

CD:How did you get into real estate?

Dehn: I bought my first rental property at the age of 19, it was on Richmond Ave. in Lakewood.

CD: The Platinum Series Realty brand has really taken off. How do you balance the needs of a growing business with family life?

Dehn: I’ve found that 6 hours of sleep is more than enough or I usually take at least one weekend a month off to go to our ranch as a family.

CD: Where is home for you in Dallas?

Dehn: I’m building on Norway near St. Marks.

CD: What’s your favorite ‘hood in Dallas and why?

Dehn: Preston Hollow, hands down; big lots, great trees, convenient, what’s not to love!

CD: What was your best/highest sale?

Dehn: I currently have a home listed in the Strait Lane neighborhood for $29,995,000.

CD: Likewise, what was the hardest deal you’ve ever done?

Dehn: Every deal seems to have its own unique set of challenges, but like they say if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

CD: How quickly have you ever turned a house?

Dehn: It depends upon how you define that. I have one that I closed in 2 hours.

CD: How much did you sell last year?

Dehn: A little over $20 million.

CD: What have you learned about selling that makes you so successful?

Dehn: I try to treat everyone like I would a close personal friend.

CD: If you ever change careers for an encore you’ll…

Dehn: Be a farmer or NASCAR driver (my wife thinks I practice for this on the Tollway)

CD: Do you have a second home? If so, where?

Dehn: We have a ranch just outside Sherman near the Red River. It is my favorite place to escape to.

“It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances, but those oculi are pointed right at our air space,” Greg Greene, a development partner at Dallas-based Turtle Creek Holdings Inc. told the Dallas Business Journal Tuesday during an exclusive tour of the property. ”They were here first, but they don’t have the right to take someone’s air space,” Greene told me (Candace Carlisle). “Why isn’t theDallas Museum of Art complaining or anyone else complaining? Because they have a solid roof and they don’t have oculi pointed at our air space. That’s the problem and that’s what needs to be fixed.”

Recall Museum Tower officials presented a solution to foot the bill to reconfigure the oculi on the Nasher roof to point away from the new high-rise, which would essentially return the lighting in the Nasher to pre-Museum Tower conditions.

I caught up with Dallas agent Scott Deakins, who has sold a lot of Arts District condos, for his take on Museum Tower’s generous proposal, a proposal Greene told the DBJ would reduce profitability of the project somewhat.

CD: So Scott, you’ve been out of town, and you come back in and hear the news about Museum Tower’s offer to re-do essentially the Nasher’s roof. Were you surprised?

SD: It’s good to be back.  Paris says hi, btw!  No, I’m not surprised, this situation gets dumb and dumber. All you can do is roll your eyes.  Last year they asked the Nasher to grow taller trees ( to offset the glare) and now they want to replace the roof, which in itself is a significant architectural detail.  Give me a break.

CD: I’m particularly interested in your views since you have sold so many homes in the Arts District, and you live there (right?) This doesn’t seem reasonable to you? Why not?

SD: Yes, I live in the Arts District and no, it is not reasonable for a variety of reasons; why punish the victim in all of this?  The Nasher didn’t ask for this.

Also, this is not just hurting the museum part of the Nasher-what about the loss of the landscape in the sculpture garden?  What about the loss of the James Turrell Skyspace installation (see below).  This problem also affects Klyde Warren Park, drivers on Woodall Freeway. I have calls all the time from clients at One Arts complaining about the glare from the building from the morning (eastern) sun.  This is a 360 degree problem.

CD: You told me that a recent article in the New York Times by Wil Hylton almost mourned for Skyspace – and that everyone who wants to understand the function of light should read this: “One of my favorite Turrell pieces is the Skyspace “Tending (Blue),” which is inside a small stone building behind the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. To reach the piece, you pass through a Renzo Piano-designed building filled with northern light, then you cross the clean, clear lines of a landscape by Peter Walker. By the time you enter the Skyspace, the city of Dallas is long forgotten. I once lost the better part of a day inside, staring up as clouds lofted and flattened against the ceiling. But last year, a mirrored skyscraper went up nearby, reflecting glare into the building, killing plants in the garden and looming into view of the Skyspace. The museum had to close it.

SD: Yes! I wanted your followers, real estate developers and consumers, to see the New York Times piece because of the significant loss of the much loved James Turrell Skyspace thanks to the intrusion of Museum Tower.  The loss is permanent! Also, what are readers of the Times all over the world going to take away from this article about Dallas – that selling condos is more important than our culture and love of the arts? My point is MT is hurting ALL aspects of the Nasher, not just the building.

CD: But the building is there, and it was approved by the City, and those homes need to be sold.

SD: You’re right, the condos do need to be sold for the good of the Arts District and the city.  It has been my experience that people choose to live in the Arts District because of their love of surroundings.  Right now Museum Tower does not love its surroundings.  Five sales in three years is hardly something to beat your chest about.  Museum Tower is a fine building and there is a huge market for the condos, from  local as well as international buyers.  Sales are not going to increase until MT does something pro-actively about this. The problem has always been the skin of the building.

When Graham Greene sold the land to the original MT developers it was with the understanding that any structure built on the site would have height restrictions and would not use reflective glass.  Graham is an architect and as such thinks about things like light and the surroundings.  I can’t imagine the powers that be at MT didn’t know this was going to be a problem

CD: So what is a solution ?

SD: The solutions are expensive for sure.  But as it stands this 200+ million dollar building is completed and sitting mostly empty.  For a moment Museum Tower need to not think about commerce and commissions but instead think about what is good for the city it occupies. It is something that we try and teach our children at a very young age-do the right thing! Throwing in the golden rule wouldn’t hurt either.

When my inlaws built their custom home, they chose a three-car garage so that they could park both of their cars indoors and have an extra area for my father-in-law’s wood shop. His new HOA didn’t allow sheds and out-buildings, so if he wanted to have a place for power tools a la Tim Taylor, he had to have a third garage space.

That’s what I imagine most people who have multiple garage spaces would use that additional space for — hobbies and a man cave, perhaps. But would you make the leap between a two- or three-car garage to a four-car garage? Most people won’t according to a poll by Coldwell Banker:

Interestingly, results of an informal poll on optimal parking spaces were mixed, but most respondents seemed less than keen on additional garage space. Half of those asked – buyers with different lifestyles and from different locations looking at a variety of price ranges and areas – said that they would not want more than three spaces for vehicles. In fact, two was the preferred number. Asked about more spaces, the common answer was “no need.”

One 30-something entrepreneur who participated in the poll unequivocally responded in the negative, saying that extra garage spaces “would just collect junk.” Several respondents thought money would be better spent on other amenities, and several suggested garden sheds or portable storage buildings in the backyard as alternatives for additional storage space. Even car lovers thought that a four-car garage space might encourage them to buy another collector’s car, which was viewed as a negative for a lot of reasons, domestic harmony included!

I tend to agree about additional space often attracting more junk. That’s the case with our garage right now. But even if I had a four-plus-car garage like Platinum Series Homes-built  4939 Manson Court (above), I would probably just fill it with all the fun toys I could find. Boat? ATVs? Bicycles? They all sound like fun!

What about you? Would you opt for the extra space? Or is your garage like Baby Bear’s porridge — just right?

Word comes that Troy Aikman’s new abode on Normandy has a fabulous landscape designed and installed by none other than Harold Leidner Landscape Architects, our CandysDirt.com preferred landscape designer. What’s even more interesting is that this is Aikman’s third home with a Harold Leidner-designed landscape! The first two were custom jobs commissioned by Troy, and the third is the incredible Tatum Brown-designed abode he just bought.

Troy sure does have good taste, right? We think so, too. I mean, after a long, illustrious career spent on a grass-covered field, you have to know a little something about landscaping, so of course he would choose the creme de la creme in all things green.

So, what do the outdoor areas at his former digs on Highland Drive and his new abode on Normandy have in common? Lush, sculpted European-style hedges and seasonal plantings in front, for sure!

I have driven down this street, Brookside, off LaVista, so many times on my way to Hollywood Heights/Santa Monica where my daughter now lives. Every time I marvel at how pretty Brookside is, and how the homes on one side all back up to the Lakewood Country Club. What a perfect place to live — walking distance to Lakewood Shopping Center, Whole Foods, and of course a whole country club golf course in your back-yard.

Then, eureka, a month ago, I see this gorgeous, neat as a pin and spiffy Tudor revival that has a for sale sign in front on the country club side! It is listed by John and Debbie Brosius, Allie Beth Allman & Associates, Debbie being John’s wife, and John being the super star agent who brought a buyer to my home years ago. Then I look this house up and — quick someone hide my checkbook!

618 Brookside is now under one million dollars!

John and Debbie have it listed for $985,000. Was listed a year ago for $975,000, you know, different market. Then it went back on July 5 at $1,025,000. I’d say we are getting closer to perfection… and my checkbook…  and a loan from Inwood Mortgage right now!

First he unloaded his huge house in University Park. Now the man who basically birthed and nurtured the Dallas Mavericks into the sixth most valuable basketball team in the U.S. is selling sold his to-die-for North West Tower W condo of many levels. This is a giant custom unit, just shy of 4,000 square feet with two bedrooms, three full baths and one half as powder room on the 27th floor.

The kitchen is long, open and central, with a large island, gas cook top, Sub Zero and double ovens. Cook yourself up a storm, bring in Kent Rathburn, or call down for the W’s still strong, always dependable Whatever Whenever service. Don Carter has bought up a penthouse at the Stoneleigh Residences, which he is finishing out when he and wife Linda Jo are not sailing on their 41 foot power boat in the Gulf. He also owns another W unit in this building on the 22nd floor that is only 1700 square feet.

It’s just enough space to hang out before and after a game, which Carter seldom misses in his signature cowboy hat. He retains a 4% ownership in the Mavericks team, Mark Cuban is majority owner. This unit is listed with Rogers Healy’s Steve Rigley at $2,500,000.

I love how this is totally unlike his home on University. It’s really a steal! Well, maybe…

(Photo: 3500 Beverly Drive by Dan Piassick)

The four homes selected for the 2013 New Friends New Life Holiday Home Tour were unveiled Oct. 3, and boy, are they stunners! These amazing mansions will be featured on the nonprofit’s annual fundraiser on Sunday, Dec. 8, and you do not want to miss out!

This year’s tour spans the Park Cities and Preston Hollow, including two homes on Highland Park’s famed Beverly Drive. New Friends New Life helps women reclaim their lives from the sex industry, become self-sufficient, and rescues trafficked teen girls and sexually exploited women and their children. The tour, now in its 14th year, is the organization’s chief fundraiser.

“On behalf of the women and children we serve, we are grateful for the Home Tour chairs, homeowners, sponsors, volunteers and participants for supporting this event,” said NFNL director Katie Pedigo. “Women’s lives are transformed and families are restored because of community support which is displayed through the Holiday Home Tour.”

(Photo: 3501 Lindenwood Ave. by Dan Piassick)

Chaired by Tanya Wiggains, this year’s Holiday Home Tour will not disappoint. Patrons can walk through and admire the homes of honorary home tour chair Gina Ginsburg and her husband Scott at 3500 Beverly Drive, Jan and Jeffrey Rich at 3827 Beverly Drive, founder of Hard Night| Good Morning skincare line D’Andra Simmons at 3501 Lindenwood Ave., and Anne and Steve Stodghill at 10401 Lennox.

(Photo: 10401 Lennox Lane by Dan Piassick)

The homes will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. General admission tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Tickets are available at select Tom Thumb stores on November 4, by visiting www.newfriendsnewlife.org or by phone 214-965-0935.

We’ll have a few pairs of tickets to give away here at CandysDirt.com as the home tour draws closer, too. Stay tuned!

Now here is something you do not see in every $3.5 million dollar home: custom Christopher Peacock cabinetry, knotty pine, very Hamptons-like. This kitchen has it all plus a huge walk-in pantry, Dacor range with 6-burner gas cook-top and double ovens, built-in SubZero refrigerator/freezer, extra fridge and freezer drawers, one of those farm sinks that I just love, and an additional veggie sink with instant hot water to blanch those little carrots.

Of course there is an outdoor living component that is covered, a beautiful rock pool and spa, and that glorious wooded acre-plus lot that still has room for more sports development. In fact, the grass is so sumptuous I thought there was a putting green. Adding one is a piece of cake to do.

This home has what you should get when you drop $3.5 million — asking is $3,595,000: at least four living areas, three to four dining areas, bar and wine storage, at least a 3-car garage, media room and as many bedrooms as you need. In my opinion, this house has PLENTY: six bedrooms for FIVE kids and parents! And the flexibility of having that guest room down means it would be an easy deal to turn that into a brand-new downstairs master

Then too, there is this nice surprise: a Keeping Room off the breakfast area. You know how I adore a Keeping room.

Read more on A Look at Great Gulf Homes’ Ltd. Edition/2505 Turtle Creek Boulevard… at Night…

This Hamptons home can be yours for $799,000, or 1,445 in Bitcoin … wait, that’s 1,444 in Bitcoin … no, it’s 1,445. Yeah, 1,445.

While the value of Bitcoin, an alternative currency launched in 2009, is still wildly fluctuating, the novelty isn’t.

But this listing, a Southampton, NY, cottage owned by Phillip Preuss, isn’t the only property where the owners are testing the waters with alternative currency. Take this mansion in Las Vegas’ exclusive Spanish Trail neighborhood, which is marketed for $7.85 million, or 14,190 in Bitcoin.

So, is this a marketing ploy, or do these sellers really think that accepting payment in alternative currency will get them the buyer they seek? From the WSJ story:

“There might be international buyers, or a younger computer whiz who came into a little bit of coin overnight,” says Mr. Preuss, who is 42 and originally from Germany. “I’m expanding my buyer base.” Mr. Preuss, who works in international equity sales, has a small investment in the currency, having purchased about $100 worth of bitcoin in June, an investment that has appreciated significantly since then.

…

Because a bank is not involved, fees for bitcoin transactions can have fewer fees than traditional bank transactions, which Mr. Preuss says he also found appealing. With no underlying mortgage on the home, Mr. Preuss says he’d most likely hold onto the bitcoin if someone were to use the virtual currency to purchase his home. “I believe in the longevity of bitcoins,” he says.

It remains to be seen whether bitcoin sales will take off in real estate.

“I think at this point it’s nothing more than a marketing technique of getting eyeballs to a website, which can help sell a property,” says Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel. “I don’t take this very seriously, but it certainly catches your attention.”

And this from the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“The advantage is that we’re expanding our market and adding some notoriety,” said [homeowner Jack] Sommer, who’s looking to downsize now that his seven kids are grown and have moved out.

[Bitcoin merchant Julian] Tosh agreed that bitcoin could open Sommer’s home to a global audience.

“There are a bunch of people who have bitcoins, and they’re dying for a place to spend it,” he said. “If you increase awareness of potential buyers, you could tap into new markets.”

I am more likely to agree with the appraiser, Jonathan Miller, who considers it a marketing technique. But in the long-run, I’m really interested to see what the implications are when you buy a home with Bitcoin. Will that affect appraisals? Credit history?

What are your thoughts?

Homes priced at $1 million or more are moving like hotcakes in Texas, according to the 2014 Texas Luxury Home Sales Report from the Texas Association of Realtors. The figures, assembled using data from the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, show that every Texas metro area posted double-digit growth in luxury price ranges.

Dallas posted a 22 percent increase in luxury home sales for the period between January and October 2013, the report shows, with Austin posting a whopping 55 percent increase (no wonder Trulia is calling our capital city way overvalued). Houston came in second with a 46 percent increase in luxury home sales, and San Antonio posted an 18 percent increase.

“Data from the Texas Luxury Home Sales Report shows that million-dollar homes are playing an increasingly important role in the Texas housing market,” said Dan Hatfield, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors. ”The housing slump is behind us and as Texas’ economy and population continue to accelerate, we’re going to see increasing development and demand in larger, higher-priced homes with luxury amenities.”

So, what’s driving the increase? It’s mostly thanks to the influx of high-paying tech jobs in Austin, and in Houston it’s likely due to oil and gas wealth moving into the area. For Dallas, a brisk job market driven by a healthy financial sector, as well as oil and gas wealth, could be fueling the luxury real estate market. The increase in sales definitely shows appreciation, though, and it makes you wonder just how many of these $1 million-plus properties are second homes or even investments.

“It’s common for luxury homes to have a significantly longer sell time and higher housing inventory than the average home simply because the pool of interested homebuyers is so much smaller,” said Jim Gaines Ph. D., and economist with the Real Estate Center. “However, this data still indicates strong demand, particularly in Austin, where homes of $1 million or higher are close to 10 percent of all active listings and are selling in less than six months, and in Houston, where housing inventory is only 7.4 months.”

Here’s the Dallas-Fort Worth market breakdown from the report:

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 809 luxury homes were sold between January and October 2013. Luxury home sales made up 1.1 percent of the total housing market and experienced a 22 percent increase in sales compared to the same period in 2012. This is slightly higher than the 19 percent year-over-year increase of the Dallas-Fort Worth housing market as a whole. As of October 2013, there were 922 active luxury home listings, 4.1 percent of all active listings on the market. The housing inventory for a luxury home was 11.4 months, 8.4 additional months than that of the Dallas-Fort Worth housing market at large.

When she finally opened her ears, along came a buyer who sat down beside her after her agent whispered $1.8, baby, $1.8.

And then, cha-ching.

Sets a new high for acres, because even though there is a 3074 square foot ranch home on this lot, the value is in the dirt.

This is in chi chi Sunnybrook Estates, where Rachael Dedman built an 18,392 square foot mansion on 4.14 acres that DCAD has valued at more than $10 million. Tony Visconti has a magnificent mansion going up on a prime DeLoache lot that should be north of $12 million when complete. And the mansions, they just keep on coming… no matter where Mercury is dancing.