Friday Four Hundred: The Not So Rocky Feel of 1963, Dallas Real Estate Fit for the Fam

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Look at this home, what do you see? I see 1963: President Kennedy was still in the White House, Camelot ruled. The press didn’t let you know about every little presidential transgression — TWITTER? Yeah, twitter your thumbs. Never mind that JFK had his fling with 19 year old Mimi Beardsley Alford who went to the same college Ron Corning and I went to, we didn’t hear about it, so we didn’t know. Life was happy. We loved Jackie, Caroline and — oh my God, I am going to cry — John John! Remember how cute it was when JohnJohn played in the Oval office? Life was so dang good then. We hung the wash out to dry on the clothesline, well my mom did. We kids played outside ’till the lightening bugs glowed. And wonderful homes like 7217 Briarmeadow Drive in The Meadows were just being born.

This home was in the 1963 Home Builders Parade of Homes in Dallas, and it was a show stopper. Now it has that almost Colorado/Utah /Wyoming lodge look, but back then that stone front was more June Cleaver than ranch, indicative of a well-appointed suburban home.

Oh yes, back then the suburbs were a good thing. Didn’t have a bunch of egghead futurists trying to pile us up like sardines in the city.

So what I see when I see this home — a great place to raise a family. The bones in this house could not be better, and it’s fresh, updated. The large family room has windows and that great stone fireplace where you can step out onto a great patio. The hardwoods are newly re-done and better than they were in ’63. The kitchen may be very white, but hey, it has a Sub Zero and you know my Burger King Kitchen theory: get in, have it your way. You get four bedrooms, three good sized baths, a built-in wet bar for martinis, 2,666 square feet and I am not kidding: my local sources tell me this is the best street in The Meadows. And this is the ONLY home for sale on that street. And you know what’s coming down the pike over at Walnut Hill and Central: Trader Joes!

Also of note: we started here at $460K, then $450K, and I wonder why? Finally, $439,000 — a price I can live with. Do you realize you are getting ,29 of an acre with this home? Let’s grab some paint and enhance that wonderful rock on the front: come on, show us your rafters! Then maybe some cascading landscaping in the flower boxes. I see nothing but potential in this home, and many nights with marshmallows and S’Mores on the patio, those fireflies sparkling across the Texas sky.

 

 

 

Candy Evans, founder and publisher of CandysDirt.com, is one of the nation’s leading real estate reporters.

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  1. Joanna England on July 20, 2012 at 10:58 am

    This is such an interesting home! Good location, too!

  2. Joanna England on July 20, 2012 at 10:58 am

    This is such an interesting home! Good location, too!

  3. Wyman on July 20, 2012 at 11:34 am

    This home is on my block. Open house sign in the yard for Sunday, July 22 2-4.

  4. Wyman on July 20, 2012 at 11:34 am

    This home is on my block. Open house sign in the yard for Sunday, July 22 2-4.

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