Inside the Ladies Lounge Room at the DCC: Why Our Dallas Real Estate Market is Looking As Great As These Virginia Cook Agents!

Note to self: never wear white or Pucci when you are standing next to four gorgeous women, three of whom are Virginia Cook agents! I believe the prerequisite for being a Virginia Cook agent is to be shapely, blonde and beautiful. Or a curvy, gorgeous brunette like Jolene Crawford, who kept us blonde babes at bay! One of my favorite peeps in the whole wide world is Diane Duvall-Rogers who gathered us at the Dallas Country Club, newly nipped and tucked with a $60 million facelift,  this week for lunch in the newly-finished Ladies Lounge!  And take a look at those chairs!

We talked state of the market, and Virginia told me it’s hot hot hot. Four reasons: buyers waited for three or four years and there are now way fewer homes on the market. The stock market has left a lot to be desired, many investors would rather put their money into real estate where we may have some inflation. Interest rates are so dang low you can trip on them — lower, says Virginia, than they were during the Great Depression: get a 15 year note for 3%, one point higher for a 30 year.

It’s also an election year, says Virginia, so both parties are trying to pump it up. But the biggest problem, she says, remains our lack of jobs in the USA: one of every ten Americans is out of a job. Can’t buy a house or get a mortgage without a job.

We solved the world’s real estate problems where they usually get solved: in the Ladies Lounge. Then I grabbed my trusty camera to get you some great shots of the DCC’s $6o million renovation:

The clubhouse is breathtaking, one of the most gorgeous I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot. It’s English Tudor all right, but I felt a smattering of Querencia in Cabo on the interiors, with an almost haute Colorado feel — think The Timbers Club at Snowmass — but a distinct Scottish frosting of the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle. As far as the green turf, I turn to Mike Hiller of EscapeHatch Dallas who is to golf what I am to real estate. Here’s what he said about the course, which was designed by Scottish-Americana golf course architect Tom Bendalow in 1912. The new course renovation began in 2010 and was masterminded by John Fought:

“When John Fought completes the course renovation at the prestigious Dallas Country Club this fall, the 18-hole layout will possess the character and charm of a vintage Donald Ross design.”

The Dallas Country Club was established in 1896. Hiller says the course is practically “new construction,” and the 18-hole layout will remain as a par 70, lengthened modestly to approximately 6,600 yards. The media’s been mum on that little property tax skirmish last year: looks like they settled at $36,406,010. I’m told the clubhouse just re-opened this spring, and it looks nothing, nothing like the old one where I recall many Tripper dances on that hardwood dance floor.

Oh PS: This is something I haven’t seen. In the ladies powder room, each stall is equipped with an emergency switch above the crema marfil walls and floors in case a member becomes ill or needs assistance. That is a true caring touch for members and really, better than the security available in most homes.