Category Archives: California

Time For an Easter Egg Hunt in One of Dallas’ Most Beautiful ‘Hoods: Happy Easter from SecondShelters.com

Written by Candy Evans on April 8, 2012

I cannot think of a better place for your Easter egg hunt than this lush lush LUSH backyard oasis snuggled away over at 4612 Watagua in Bluffview.Well maybe not snuggled: the home is actually on a ridge, has great topography and I felt like I was back in the hills of Napa! I know they say the Hill Country begins in Oak Cliff, but sometimes, when I’m in Bluffview, I think it starts right there. Built in 2000, this 7863 square foot home has gone through three owners all of who have added more, more and more to make it perfect. Great example: The Casita, built by current owners/sellers in 2007, which rests along the eastern edge of the site. It has a living area, powder bath plus fully appointed bath with double lavatory, IT’S OWN LAUNDRY FACILITY! How cool is that, guestst can do their own laundry or snack up in the efficiency kitchen. Even better: a Juliette balcony overlooks the front grounds while the dining area looks over a terraced outdoor banquette and the croquet lawn. I am going to ask if I can buy The Casita and just live there!

Posted in California, Celebrity Homes, Dallas real estate news, emerging real estate markets, Real estate market news, Second Shelters | Tagged Bath, Dallas real estate news, Easter Egg, Efficiency Kitchen, Far Niente Winery, Harold Weidner | 1 Comment

Second and Vacation Homes: Coldwell Banker Survey Says One Home is Never Enough With Baby Boomers — And It’s Way Cheaper than a Divorce!

Written by Candy Evans on October 13, 2011

(Above) John Raymond’s Cheese at Calistoga Ranch

There has been a lot of chatter out that the Baby Boomers might be the last generation to embrace home ownership. Well, a new study now says what I have long suspected: with Baby Boomers, one is never enough. The Millenials and offspring of the Baby Boomers tend to want smaller homes and fewer of them. This generation is also more likely to rent. But a new survey of Realtors acros the nation by Coldwell Banker tells me exactly what I am seeing happening among Baby Boomer peers: those in the 47 to 64 age bracket are delaying the sale of their large family homes, due to the sputtering market, and investing in second homes that may ultimately become retirement pads or family vacation spots.

Posted in California, emerging real estate markets, real estate and divorce, Second Shelters | Tagged Baby Boomer, Baby Boomers, Baby Boomers and vacation homes, Extracurricular Work, Family Vacation Spots, John Raymonds, second homes, Ulterior Motives | 1 Comment

Every Friday Is Wine Tasting Night When You Own a Second Home at Calistoga Ranch

Written by Candy Evans on October 12, 2011

I’m back from an

amazing weekend in the beautiful wine country of Northern California at Calistoga Ranch, where you can own a luxury home, with five-star plus service at your beck and call, for under $500,000. It’s fractional home ownership and from the owners I talked to, they wouldn’t have it any other way. $500,000 for real estate in this part of the world might net you a whole grape. And as one recent buyer told me, she does not want to deal with maintenance on her second home, no way. So you buy yourself a few weeks of deeded ownership for a fraction of what a home would cost, along with stellar service, and what do you get? Rest and relaxation!

Posted in California, Fractional home ownership, Second Shelters | Tagged Beck, Home Ownership, Luxury Home, Northern California, Stellar Service, Wine Country | 1 Comment

The Week Ahead on CandysDirt and SecondShelters: Calistoga, California Here I come

Written by Candy Evans on October 3, 2011

My second home this weekend!

As I have told you, I launched CandysDirt.com on July 1, 2011, my very own version of the super duper popular DallasDirt blog I created for D Magazine and kept going, growing for almost four years. CandysDirt (no apostrophe) is ALSO growing by leaps and bounds — please check it out every day. Like us on FaceBook. From here, just move your mouse over to the right and click on the logo — voila the latest real local Dallas estate gossip! Second Shelters will have some of the same stories, but focus on luxury second home communities. Coming up soon: Calistoga, CA. Read both and I promise you will know more about real estate than everyone. Not only do I have my ear to the ground in almost all 50 states, I read all about real estate trends daily and bring you whatever is behind the pay walls. (My bad!) Plus I have my AOL and Haute Living connections. Lots to tell – check out both blogs often!

Posted in California, CandysDirt.com, Celebrity Homes, Dallas real estate news, Second Shelters | Tagged D Magazine, Dallas Estate, Dallas Market, Facebook, Leaps And Bounds, Real Estate Trends | 2 Comments

The Glass House Price is Shattered, Slashed and Reduced…

Written by Candy Evans on August 31, 2011

Talk about the most perfect first, second or third home ever. Oh my, recall when I wrote about The Glass House? I called it Stairway to Heaven. That ultimate redefining structure within modernism? Not only does it have great bones, it has location squared. A 3.5 acre estate of oak groves in Montecito, California. The home has five bedrooms, five and a half baths for a grand total of 14,000 square feet. It includes a large kitchen with a wine room holding several thousand bottles, a grand hallway, and art gallery displaying a vintage car collection for 32 cars within its walnut lined walls. It is truly the pinnacle of architecture for this generation and will define the era in which it was built. The home should just be a damn museum!

Posted in Beach Homes, California, Second Shelters | Tagged Grand Hallway, Montecito California, Oak Groves, Stairway To Heaven, Vintage Car Collection, Wine Room | Comments Off

Arnold the Sperminator at Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance: Maybe My Second Home WILL Be a Car

Written by Candy Evans on August 25, 2011

Arnold Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance is like a SuperBowl for car enthusiasts. Me, I love vintage and collectible cars: love the lines, love the (revving) engines, love the interiors. Concours is a show and tell of whose collecting what and strutting the best. The grounds of the venerable Pebble Beach Golf Resort– the 18th hole of the course, to be exact — is covered with hundreds of beautiful vintage autos shipped in on trucks, wrapped and pampered like a baby’s butt. (I swear some have their own butlers.) There are several glamour as events throughout the week and weekend that require coveted invitations, usually handed out to the uber rich, major wealth managers or consumers of expensive cars. Thursday (photo below) was the Jaguar party, which was held at the Pebble Beach and Tennis Club right on the water. The new Jaguar XJ75 was unveiled. Friday was the Bugatti event and the Bentley event, Bentley such a top-secret affair no one was allowed to bring in phones or cameras as Bentley unveiled an amazing new car.

Posted in California, Celebrity Homes, Second Shelters | Tagged Arnold Schwarzenegger, Beach Golf Resort, Bugatii, Pebble Beach Concours, Pebble Beach Golf, Pebble Beach Golf Resort | Comments Off

Welcoming McLaren to Dallas: If My Second Home Is Going To Be A Car, I’m Not Buying Till Park Place Premier Is Open

Written by Candy Evans on August 25, 2011

Guess what’s coming to Dallas this fall besides, hopefully, a nippier real estate market? The McLaren, over at Park Place. Park Place McLaren Dallas will be located along side the Park Place Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Maserati and Jaguar dealerships at 5300 Lemmon Ave. This new group of ultra-ultra- premium automotive brands, all of which were on display at Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance, will be known as the Park Place Premier Collection.

Posted in California, Celebrity Homes, luxury autos, Second Shelters | Tagged Car Enthusiasts, Jaguar Dealership, Orange Paint, Pebble Beach Concours, Streamlined Structure, Vehicle Customization | 1 Comment

Your Second Home Nirvana in Northern Cali: Help Me Critique This Groovy Peninsula Spread

Written by Candy Evans on August 9, 2011

This could really get me in water that is hotter than my swimming pool right about now, but a friend in California is selling their home and these are the photos the agent shot.Naturally, I have some strong opinions, which I am going to withold. It’s a lovely contemporary northern Cali home circa 1983 but remodeled, located in Saratoga, on the Peninsula, ’bout an hour from San Francisco. Totally orgasmic yard.

Posted in California, Second Shelters | Tagged Fabulous Gardens, Home Justice, Medidate, Redwood Trees, Todie, Zen Master | 3 Comments

It’s about 68 Degrees Right Now in Pebble Beach and I am In Love with a Short Sale: Second Home Nirvana Marked Down More Than $100K

Written by Candy Evans on July 21, 2011

And fortunately, I’m a very cheap date. The home I’m in love with is a Blue Light Special marked down by a whopping $101,000. I am not kidding. As you know, many Dallasites are summering up in Pebble right now, cool as cucumbers. I’m talking about designer extraordinaire Trisha Wilson, Realtor extraordinaire Joe Kobell, Ellen Terry, and others. So when I saw this, I thought, why not put my home on the market, pack it up, just move and join the crowd? I could grab a little pied a terre on Turtle Creek to keep my Dallas residency (and zero Texas state income tax) and disappear come June 1. (Bree says she’d really prefer the cooler temps with her Doodle fur.) You’d only want to spend three to four months there a year, since, as my friend Debbie Hug (who has a home in Santa Barbara) tells me, more than six months and you are a California resident and must help Arnold pad up the state budget. Three in Pebble, nine in Dallas, and life is perfect!

Posted in Beach Homes, California, Second Shelters | Tagged Dallasites, Ellen Terry, Master Bedroom Suite, Pebble Beach short sale, State Income Tax, Turtle Creek, Wee Dram | Comments Off

Sam Wyly and Daughter Selling Off 20 Acre “Eco Estate” In Malibu: Dallas Real Estate Second Home News

Written by Candy Evans on June 22, 2011

More proof that the high end market is getting stronger, particulary in and around LA. And millionaires are getting more earth friendly every single day! Sam Wyly and his daughter, Christiana, are selling a four-bedroom, four-bath home at 1300 Greenleaf Canyon Road in Malibu for $2.995 million. The eco-estate, so called because of the extensive renovation done embracing not only the earth but the latest in green finishes and technology, as well as strategies for healthier and more efficient living (?). The 20 acre estate is minutes from beautiful Topanga Canyon, and features a huge great room with rock fireplace, kitchen with everything you or your gourmet chef could ever need, three bedrooms, numerous decks, glass French doors, guest house fully equipped with a kitchen and bath that opens to an organic garden — may be a nice way of saying quarters for the organic house manager or gardener — lap pool, and views views views of a huge California oak forest, crisp spring-fed stream, and mountains.