We’ve given a great deal of thought to how we can best serve the loyal readers of D Home and D Magazine online. We have some exciting ideas that we plan to flesh out during the coming months, and we hope that it won’t be too long before we can let you know even more about just what those are.

For now, we’re setting aside DallasDirt and all the work that Candy has poured into it during the last few years. Keep reading FrontBurner for a daily conversation about Dallas, including talk about real estate matters.

And stay tuned.

My passion for the subject and the industry and everyone in it has led me to pursue full-time my work nationally with AOL at HousingWatch.com and, very soon with Move.com.

And I am leaving to edit my very own blog called Second Shelters. Since its launch in October 2010, SecondShelters aims to establish itself as the center of the second home universe, offering readers beautiful vacation House Porn, sales and rental prices and details, community comparisons, celebrity deals, new developments, reviving areas, where it’s hot, where it’s not, and of course the latest gossip. Updated daily, reported accurately for the real estate consumer, and always spiced with dish from readers as well as celebrity contributors, SecondShelters is a daily fix for anyone who has ever dreamed of owning multiple homes… because one is never enough.

Take a peak, but we are still in Beta!

Meantime, who knows, I may finally even organize my office.

No decision has been harder, because I cherish my association with D, and have poured my life into it for many years. More than 20, actually.  Though I will miss working directly with all the incredible  fresh young talent here every day, I will not be too far away to do lunch.

Our darling editors at D Home will keep DallasDirt going, and I have promised Christine Allison, my dear friend, that I will still be clogging her inbox with ideas.

I hope you, too, will give her your support with your thoughts and comments. You are the best blog community in the city, and I love each one of you.

And if you are looking for House Porn, come visit me at www.secondshelters.com

Love you all!

Candy Evans

candace@secondshelters.com

The West 7th development.

A young friend of mine named John J. Stathas is a law student over at Texas Wesleyan Law School in Fort Worth who has been telling me for awhile why he loves Cowtown. I mean, Fort Worth. So I asked him to write it down and tell me why:

Slowing sipping on an ice cold bottle of Shiner the warm gentle October sun bakes down on my skin with that all important Vitamin D.  The soft twang of an acoustic guitar slices through the ambient chatter.  The smell of red meat on a grill tickling my nose.  If you ever find yourself in such a scenario then you’re likely over here in my town, Cowtown.

I can’t say exactly where I am though.  Not because I’m sworn to secrecy or anything, but because I could be at any number of locations nestled along the Western edge of Fort Worth in the new exciting community known as West 7th.

It’s no secret these days that Texas has become the fastest growing state in the country.  And no city has benefited more from this population boom than Fort Worth.  From 2000 to 2006, Fort Worth saw its population increase by 20%.  This trend has not tapered off either.  Some estimate the current population to almost double in the next 20 years.

We all know that our state’s economy is the major driving force behind the overall explosion, but why has Fort Worth seen such a tremendous benefit?  In this writer’s modest opinion it’s simple.  Fort Worth provides a new and attractive alternative to other cities around the state.

More and more these days people (especially us young ones) are looking for that perfect blend of urban and modern.  The Urban Village is making a comeback all across the country and Fort Worth is right in stride with the trend.  Fort Worth has several areas where this cultural change is happening, but none as rapid as West 7th.

Simply put, it’s the place to be.  Old staples like Chimy’s Cerveceria and Fred’s continue to attract, while new spots like Tim Love’s Burger Shack (known affectionately as “Love Shack”) seem to be popping up almost daily, providing new places to discover.   I hesitate to begin enumerating all the local establishments because there are just too many.  Each bar or restaurant has it’s own unique vibe, yet the patrons seem to all be from the same crowd.  Just young-hearted people all searching for their daily peace of mind.  And in West 7th they easily find it.

From burgers and beer to high end dining, West 7th has it all.  A place where you can live, eat, play, and walk to it all.  And no, that’s not a typo, I said walk.  Believe it or not, Texans are quickly discovering the simple joys of walking places.  This is perhaps the greatest achievement of the Urban Village movement, although personally I still like the endless amount of bars and restaurants a little more.

So the next time you feel like enjoying a cheeseburger on a patio, margaritas in the moonlight, or just a simple stroll through a bustling neighbor, take a look at West 7th out here in Fort Worth and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Dear Candy:

We moved into a pier and beam house last year. At the time, we knew it had some small foundation issues thanks to the inspection — a couple rotted sill plates, and a broken beam. A year later, we’ve been reminded that it needs to be fixed, thanks to some new cracking in the bricks and drywall. We’ve gotten quotes from a company to fix it for around $2k.

What I’m wondering, though, is if it’d be worth it to bring in a structural engineer for an independent evaluation. Looks like they typically charge $350 to do a “level B” type inspection. I’ve seen examples of these types of reports, and from what I gather, I can take that report and get bids for the work.

Is this how it really works? Not being an expert, and being a new homeowner, I’m having trouble finding the correct way to proceed here. Help!

I asked if the couple watered the foundation this summer, and they said, um, nay. My first response is to hire the expert and get the bids, but if they are planning on moving in a few years, maybe just fix/replace the sill plates and the beam? While I root around for an expert, what would you say?

Also folks: hang on to those repair receipts so you can show them off when you list the house and the buyer brings in an inspector. Word is buyers are using inspectors to hasten their uber-pickiness these days.

“There are still plenty of U.S. cities where the living is easy. Take Plano, Texas–residents of this wealthy Dallas suburb enjoy the lowest violent crime rate of all big American cities, and have a much lower rate of fatal car crashes. In fact, this “All-American City” tops our list of America’s Safest Cities.”

Wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that Bob Guccione, the founder pf Penthouse Magazine, lived and died there yesterday, RIP.

The others are Omaha, Nebraska in Warren Buffet’s ‘hood; San Jose, CA which is beautiful but sure has some weird politics; Honolulu, Hawaii where I’d live in a New York second; Portland, Oregon, too rainy for me, and Plano, Texas.

I’m totally kidding about this title. Plano is not boring and in fact, produces some very bright offspring from one of the best school districts in the state. And I’m glad they aren’t killing themselves on the highways. This kind of stuff makes people want to buy homes there.

Photos by Luxuryfoto.com

Oh Kevin, Danielle: where are you going? Is 2000 Rock Dove Court just too close to mom and dad and the bros over on Wisteria? (We hope not!) Late Saturday night, K2 as he is known, the eldest and only married Jonas brother and his wife, Danielle, put their 5045 square foot Vaquero home on the market for $2,200,000.

I shouldn’t have to tell you about life in Vaquero – - it’s where all the stars and anyone who does not want paparazzi around live.  With that Fazio par 71 course, it’s golf nirvana and home to Ben Crane, K.J. Choi, Todd Hamilton, plus Tiger Wood’s ex- golf instructor Hank Haney. Lots of baseball celebs: Vernon Wells, who plays for the Toronto Blue Jays is building a 15,000 -plus square foot home, as is the ex-CEO of Exxon-Mobile. Vanessa Swarovski, heir to the famous crystal family, also has a home in Vaquero. As does that Mark Charles Teixeira guy.

Unless you belong there, like Chuck Greenburg, you don’t get in. With that proximity to DFW’s private FBO,  2000 Rock Dove Court is a perfect home for the Jonas generation II. Built in 2004, the home has been designed and decked out by the M2 Design Group and boasts walls of floor-to-ceiling windows. Which is great on those huge Vaquero lots – -this one is .71 of an acre. The exterior is Mediterranean with Austin stone and tile/slate roof.

Maybe it’s that the home only has three bedrooms, and the Jonases want to start a fam. There are three baths off each bedroom, plus three half baths, five living areas, a pool, outdoor living area with fountains, covered outdoor dining, fireplace and so many water features you might mistake the backyard for Hurricane Harbor. The pool and spa are amazing, loaded with water features overlooking the terraced terrain. Of course the kitchen is totally decked out — this is Vaquero! — enough granite and marble to deplete Brazil, and oodles of storage. Four car garage, wood, flagstone and terrazzo floors, mammoth utility room, home theater, gameroom, wine cellar and a beautiful, rich wood-paneled library housing all of Kevin’s work and guitars.

Guess what else comes with this home: a coveted Vaquero golf membership valued at $175,000 and included in the sales price.

You know what I’d do? I’d ask them to throw in all the furniture… including everything in that master bedroom. Then I’d dial up Ebay… jump for more photos.

“But since it does not own the actual loan, doing that (recording mortgages in its own name) could be seen as violating a long line of precedents that bar separating a mortgage from the underlying note in which the borrower promises to pay. He quotes from an 1879 Supreme Court decision holding that “the assignment of the note carries the mortgage with it, while an assignment of the latter alone is a nullity.”

It would be interesting to write our lenders and ask them to produce the notes they hold on our mortgages, and see what happens.

Like, who knew that homes in some blocks of University Park are HPISD but actually in the city of Dallas for services, which means they have lower values?

I know West Highland Park is DISD but Highland Park services. All these little nuances — ask me about them and more on “Ask Candy”.

And now it’s easier than ever to Ask Candy. Look over to the right and see that little box with that black and white photo of me in Mama Cass mode? Click on it and ask away. You can even upload photos.

Thank you to the website geniuses here at D! XOXO

Dear Candy:

I know you are in Dallas, but we desperately need you in California! Besides, this is a Texas-based real estate brokerage you know too well. My mother is trying to sell her home in northern San Diego County. It’s a lovely house in a gated 55+ golf community in the Carlsbad area. The house has been on the market for about 100 days, and we think the problem is because of our real estate agent. We feel we may have the worst agent in the history of the world and would love to get your  opinion on whether we are judging her too harshly. Here’s her M.O.

1.     Our agent advises her listing clients that she does not work on Sundays, Mondays or any evenings and sends this via a written, mailed “work hours” reminder to her clients once a month.

2.     Our agent has been on vacation for 2 ½ weeks, and she is not allowed to be contacted during her travels, even for emergencies. We actually were in escrow to sell Mom’s house during her absence, but the buyer suddenly walked. That was two weeks ago, and we’ve still not heard a peep from our agent. It was a real crisis for us, and we were left hanging. Our agent has had a back-up agent and an office assistant filling in for her during this vacation, but the back-up agent knew nothing and was under strict instructions not to bother our agent during her very important sightseeing vacation.

3.     Earlier on in the listing we had some agent performance issues (no flyers for more than a week after the listing, even though we were then in the MLS, incorrect MLS listing text, etc.), and we told our agent we needed a little better communication from her. She has 12 listings, so she’s not a pro-active communicator. She agreed with us, but then it was another three weeks until we heard from her. When we did hear from her, it was only because she needed a place to store some spare furniture she owns and wanted my mom to move out prematurely so that she (the agent) could personally stage the house. She fancies herself a stager and wants to move into this field.

4.     Our agent has an office assistant (for whom her listing clients are required to pay a $500 surcharge, which our agent says is standard practice these days). We have received special communications relating to the hours this assistant works. We are only to contact her Tuesdays through Fridays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Those are the agent’s formal “office hours.” By the way, the agent works from home, in the same neighborhood where my mother lives, and 55+ claims to be a senior housing specialist.

5.     The sales flyers which the agent created for my mother’s house list her website as a source for more information about the property. However, her website has not worked for four months. When I expressed concern about this, the agent said, “Lots of people work on their websites. You have no right to complain about this!” I ultimately had to insist that the agent put the realtor.com link for the listing on the flyers, which she grudgingly did.

So, Candy, my question is…. At what point can a client fire an agent without incurring legal/commission liability? This listing runs another 2 ½ months, and I don’t think we can tolerate any more of this!

Then readers took task with his confidante, a guy named Mark Kreditor, who said Texas tenants are all a bunch of deadbeats. He leases really crummy homes, people said, so sure he attracts folks with bad credit.

But it looks as though Mr. Kreditor knows his credit scores. Texans are not much better than folks in Las Vegas when it comes to credit scores — and we do have the lowest in the nation. The average Texas credit score is 651 — Nevada is 655 — and they have slot machines at their fingertips.

Why can’t we be more like South Dakota at 710?

A reader says: “I bought 10 rental properties and the majority of my tenants did end the lease in default.  It’s not a credit issue, their credit is fine, it has more to do with their day to day life and obligations.  On every case I can remember, every situation that I identified with them, was an unexpected event that caused them (for some reason) to not pay their rent for the month and hold off.  They eventually paid the rent but the next 30 day window shrunk for them.   It all catches up and the “renter mentality” is that they can hold off on the rent because their relationship with either the property manager or owner at the time of the lease was so “peachy”  they try to hold them off and it starts getting later and later until they bail in the middle of the night.”

(I’m not saying anything.)

You know what’s interesting? Looking at the 792 highest population counties in the U.S and seeing where we fit into the whole deal. It’s NY NY NY then NJ then Illinois then more eastern states then —  Williamson County, Texas, number 31. Then Harris County, number 32. Then Webb County, number 39.

Dallas is rated number 53 in terms of taxes paid as a percentage of home value. Or rather, was ranked 53, in 2009.

Dear Eager:

This is a great question currently on the minds of many homeowners across the nation.

The good news is the national foreclosure moratorium will have very little impact in Texas.  Texas is a non-judicial state and the foreclosures will most likely begin again here in the next few weeks as the lenders dot the i’s and cross the t’s on their paperwork.

The bigger issues impacting home sales in the Dallas area are three-fold.  First, the federal tax credit that expired earlier this year prompted many buyers to get off the fence and purchase before the deadline.  This frenzied buying has dissipated the current buyer pool.  Secondly, we’re still running across many buyers who can’t qualify for a mortgage due to low credit scores, high debt, or a combination of the two.  This is such a tragedy given the historically low interest rates and affordable housing prices in our area.  And third, unemployment is high, so many would-be buyers are unwilling to part with their money given the widespread job insecurity facing Texas and the nation.

While it’s a great time to purchase a home, it’s not the best time to sell.  What sellers need to keep in mind is that whatever loss they might take on the sale of their home, they will more than make up for on the purchase of a new one.  The savings in interest alone is substantial.  When you combine that with lots of inventory and stable prices, it’s a prime time to buy.  The Dallas Fort Worth metro area is having a fire sale!  If you’re planning to purchase another home after you sell, I would encourage you to take your minor bumps and bruises in sales price and then take full advantage of the current buyer’s market.

“This is a major, major crisis. The Lehman bankruptcy could be a spring rain compared to this hurricane. And if this isn’t handled right…and handled right quick, in the next couple of weeks at the outside…this crisis could also spell the end of the mortgage business altogether. Of banking altogether. Hell, of civil society. What do you think happens in a country when the citizens realize they don’t need to pay their debts?”

In a nutshell, this writer is saying that since mortgages were securitized and sold up into those bundles, the chain of ownership title is all mucked up. (I have to read repeatedly to let the process sink in, MBS’s and REMIC’s and tranches and MERS, it all gives me dyslexia.) Like, can bond holders even hold title to a mortgage? One of my mortgages was sold six times in two years. Citibank is now the last owner. I’m beginning to feel like I should get a fruitcake for Christmas because I pay my mortgage on time now on auto-draft.

So as I floated when this first happened: some people who are in foreclosure could well end up owning their home free and clear because of a technical glitch, kind of like when you are caught driving 85 in a 65 mph speed zone but the officer forgot to joy down your date of birth or whatever. You will be saved by a screw-up.

And if that happens to a whole bunch of people… judicial or non-judicial, this person is right on.

We all know it’s hard to get financing now. What if mortgage financing dries up completely and we return to the pre- 1920′s when you have to have cash to buy a home?

And the price was?

$4,9995,000

Now listed with Becky Frey at Briggs Freeman and under contract, last asking $3,850,000.

Architectural design by David Stocker of Stocker, Hoestercy, Montenegro Architects & built by Rusty Goff in 2006 on 1.3 acres.

And I’ll bet you $100 the sales price will be “Z” d out.

OK, let the guessing games begin. How much will this fabulous home sell for — truly one of the most beautiful new homes built in Dallas in the last ten years…

Update: Erin called to remind me she sold 6506 (not 09, my dyslexia cropping up today) 5/14/2009 for $3,500,000. Which made me dig deeper to see a few interesting facts. The home was originally listed at $5.6 in 2008. Property taxes then were $28,950. Property taxes at the current appraised value ($3,209,000) are — are you sitting down?

$72,031.66.

And you wonder why this area wants to de-annex!

Garland should really stop gassing those poor precious animals in their “shelter” -- property values are hurtin’.

What does this mean? Worst market ever since the 80′s, the places where schools rule and city government supplies the best services for the least amount maintain values. Despite the worst about Highland Park and University Park,  folks always clamor to live there. This also means that, as Dr. James Gaines told Steve Brown, folks at the lower end of the spectrum are having a tough time obtaining mortgages. You can be the Pope and it will still take 90 days for loan approval. Folks in the higher-priced areas are likely buying second or third homes, so they come to the table with equity in hand from a sale. Or cash, if they are flush, but those customers are few and far between, and they are driving hard bargains/deals.

Wealthy Mexicans fleeing the crime in Mexico are coming here with bags of cash, and buying.

Still, Steve says overall home sales are down (pre-owned) about four percent in the first nine months of 2010.