Candy Evans is one of the nation’s leading real estate reporters, bloggers and consultants. She reports on Dallas real estate for WFAA-TV’s Daybreak with Ron Corning, and is frequently called as a real estate expert by other Dallas media. She is also a real-estate editor for CultureMap Dallas. She even has her own web-based Real estate show called, The Party Line.
Candy has written for AOL Real Estate, and is a guest blogger for Joel Kotkin’s The New Geography, Inman Real Estate News plus a host of national sites. Candy was a longtime contributing editor to Dallas’ D Magazine and sister pubs, and in 2007 founded the wildly successful Dallas real estate blog, DallasDirt. That’s where she broke the news on where former president George W. Bush bought his Dallas home in 2008.
She is the founder and publisher of an exciting platform of Dallas-based real estate sites including SecondShelters.com, devoted to the vacation home market, and her signature CandysDirt.com, everything you need to know about real estate in North Texas. And yes, we are still psyched about the GOLD! In 2013, CandysDirt.com was named Best Blog by the venerable National Association of Real Estate Editors, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious journalism associations, and the only association for journalists covering real estate, home and urban design.
I’ve found an exceptional equestrian property sitting on almost 10 acres on the shores of Lake Ray Roberts, about an hour north of Dallas.
The expansive home at 7621 Sierra Lane in Pilot Point is a true luxury horse estate with a gorgeous custom home. Its Southern-style exterior leads to a high-end transitional interior with 20,437 square feet. You’ve got to see this in person to truly appreciate how unusual it is for our North Texas market.
“This is a remarkable plantation-style home set on a picturesque 9.72 acres with a luxury swimming pool, outdoor areas, and multi-stall barn,” said listing agent Jason Haugen with eXp Realty. “It’s right next to the equestrian trails on the shores of Lake Ray Roberts — everything about this property makes it a dream for the serious horse lover.”
This estate has six bedrooms (including two masters), five full bathrooms, four half baths, four living areas, two dining areas, on three stories with an elevator and a gated entrance and guest quarters, built in 2015. Can I give you a tour?
Interesting that Texas is becoming a popular destination for people in colder climates seeking warm weather, while we are escaping to cooler climes including McCall, Idaho. One of the top ten most popular vaca home spots is Hallettsville, Texas, a rural stretch in Lavaca County between San Antonio and Houston. (more…)
This summer marks the 125th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park, the great national treasure and home to half the world’s geysers, grizzly bears, wolves, bison and elk. The lure of Yellowstone draws millions of visitors every year, and this year may be a bonanza.
Now you can own your own small (or large) piece of Wyoming at one of the finest residential and lifestyle club communities in the northwest: the Snake River Sporting Club at Jackson Hole.
Located just south of the confluence of the Snake and Hoback rivers, about 12 miles from the town of Jackson, the Snake River Sporting Club offers 800-acres of unbelievable lifestyle experience. Live and play here when it’s 110 degrees in Dallas, and just be kind enough to put all the fun on Facebook. Owner/investor Christopher Swann says it is the perfect marriage of rugged nature and authentic western lifestyle. I have already mapped the mileage to Dallas: 1309 miles. A 20 hour drive or a direct 3 hour flight on America. Or there is always private.
Learn from the experts on what is hot in the vacation home market, and see the whole panel discussion from the National Association of Real Estate Editors 50th conference, after the jump!
The sudden death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia this weekend in West Texas throws yet another Texas ranch property into the spotlight: Cibolo Creek Ranch, owned by Houston billionaire and Washington D.C. insider John Poindexter.
Poindexter says he invited Scalia, age 79, to his ranch this weekend as a guest along with about three dozen others. One of Scalia’s sons was to come but cancelled at the last minute. Poindexter says Justice Scalia was animated and engaged during dinner Friday night, but did retire early at 9 p.m. saying it had been a long week, and he was tired.
Poindexter tried to awaken Scalia about 8:30 the next morning, but the Justices’ door was locked and he did not answer.
Three hours later, Poindexter returned to the ranch after an outing. He and a Scalia friend from Washington got into the room, and discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled, indicating that perhaps he had died shortly after retiring the night before.
“He was lying very restfully. It looked like he had not quite awakened from a nap,” he said.
Established in 1857 by Milton Faver, known as the first Texas cattle baron west of the Pecos, Cibolo Creek Ranch is now a five-star resort, a rugged oasis of a retreat, once a grouping of real life forts where Indian attacks were fended off. One of the more artistic forts remaining is “El Fortin de Cibolo.” Many millionaires and celebrities have visited the 30,000 acres near the Chinati Mountains including Mick Jagger, Julia Roberts and Tommy Lee Jones. One of the Dixie Chicks, Emily Erwin, was married there. Rooms run $350 to $700 per night. Cibolo Creek Ranch was bought by Poindexter in 1988 when it was not in the best of shape. He meticulously renovated three of the forts into a luxury, 33-room resort with a pool, dining room, horseback riding facilities, hunting and private airstrip. The atmosphere is comfortable luxury — lots of sinkable leather chairs and sofas, luxurious rooms with a ranch theme. Located about 30 miles south of Marfa, most guests fly in by private plane to the airstrip or fly to Midland and drive 3.5 hours to the remote ranch near Shafter and Marfa.
Poindexter was profiled in this 2006 Texas Monthly story by John Spong, when he was trying to buy 46,000 acres of Big Bend Ranch State Park. He was described by Spong as a rather “stiff dude” who has never married (“It wasn’t that I didn’t like the ladies enough; it’s that I liked them too much.”) – ha!: (more…)
YOU KNOW SEVEN MILE BEACH, YES? Probably the most famous and glorious beach in the western hemisphere, it is a long crescent of coral-sand perfection on the western end of Grand Cayman. Seven Mile Beach has been named “The Caribbean’s Best Beach” by the revered Travel and Leisure. Others think it is one of the best beaches in the world. It is public property (as are all beaches in the Cayman Islands) and you are free to walk the full length of the beach, which is actually 6.3 miles, regardless of where you are staying or how small your hedge fund is. There are a few residences along this famous beach, with condos built in the 1980’s starting at about half a million. The homes, as you can just imagine, are in the multi-million range. But nothing much new in the way of residential or hospitality has been built along this beach in more than ten years.
That is, until now. Dart Realty, one of the largest developers in the Cayman Islands, proudly unveils its newest property: the Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman, the boutique hotel brand’s first Caribbean property, and The Residences at Seafire. There will be a total of 265 rooms, including the private wholly owned homes.
“On behalf of Ken Dart and Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd., we are excited to announce that we have begun the one-year countdown to the opening of Grand Cayman’s first luxury resort in more than a decade, the Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, and our for-sale residential offering, The Residences at Seafire, situated on the award-winning Seven Mile Beach,” said Mark VanDevelde, CEO of DRCL.
View of Seven Mile Beach and the Caribbean Sea from the lobby of Kimpton Seafire
The Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, and The Residences at Seafire, both reflect founder Ken Dart’s vision of creating places where both visitors and residents want to gather, spend time and be inspired by the beauty of Cayman’s natural environment, says VanDevelde.
It is also another testament to Dart’s commitment to help grow the local island economy as well as create new employment opportunities. The property topped out in August, and the design team is now focusing attention on the build-out of the interior spaces. The resort and residences are on schedule for opening in November, 2016. The Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, and The Residences at Seafire, will add the first residential dimension to a developer renowned for thoughtful design approaches encompassing sustainability, advanced recycling efforts, and the most energy efficient structures. Dart Realty is an investment, development and management company with more than one million square feet of built assets including the uber master-planned, mixed-use development of Camana Bay, featuring more than 700,000 square feet of developed grounds including courtyards, gardens, event spaces, sports fields, car parks, roads and a helipad.
