This Plano Home Sale Put the DFW Housing Market on Ludicrous Speed: 2 days, $15.9M

So I went up to Plano a couple Sundays ago, nice easy drive up the Dallas North Tollway to the Windhaven exit.

Fifteen minutes later I thought maybe I had been transported to the Texas Hill Country. This was Red Wolf Lane.

I had heard about this house several years ago from its builder, Sharif Munir, but was sworn to secrecy. And mum I was all this time until I got a call from Ryan Streiff and I said, ohh I know about that house.

Then there I was, pulling into the long, winding driveway of a house hidden on an already remote road that at one time was just a bumpy country lane. It’s still bumpy.

I pulled in behind a Tesla. Faisal Halum was chatting with a young couple who had been Ryan’s showing before mine. Take note it was 11 a.m. on a Sunday and they were hard at work. Anyone who thinks luxury real estate is for fun and champagne, follow Ryan or Faisal for a day.

As we toured the home with the owners, I texted a Wall Street Journal reporter coming into town later this month: “I have the most incredible home to show you!”

5805 Red Wolf Sold in Two Business Days to Another Entrepreneur Turned Billionaire

On CandysDirt.com, we don’t interfere with agents’ hard-wrought business, so we held the story awaiting closing. And then when it closed — whammo. We also held off on telling who the buyer was — Merrilee Kick and her husband, Timothy, she being the founder of BuzzBallz in 2010, founded while Kick was a teacher at Plano West Senior High School, raising two children. The ready-to-drink products include Tequila ‘Rita, Uptown Cocktails, Sip Sip Hooray, and Texas Craft, purchased last year by Sazerac, one of the world’s largest distilled spirits companies.

That this home flows seamlessly from one winning entrepreneur to another — the seller was Matthew Rutledge, founder of internet retailer “Woot,” which he sold to Jeff Bezos — explains all the NDAs.

The most important question, however, is how did Ryan do this so fast?

Staging, Staging, and More Staging

“I think it was a combination of the right preparation and timing by the seller and the real estate team,” he said. “And the decision to go live on the open market, too.”

The sellers really understood the need to have their ten-year-old home feel as dialed in as new construction as possible at that price level, he said. Because new construction is the primary competition.

“They followed our recommendations including professionally staging the home, moving from warm tones to light, white tones,” said Streiff. Of course Streiff turned to George Bass Stage & Design who are uniquely equipped to stage luxury properties. “The style is woodsy yet easy and comfortable,’ Bass said. “We created some unique custom upholstered pieces.Our mission with Red Wolf was to soften the edges of this magnificent estate. It is paradise, an extraordinary piece of property.” 

Get Rid of Old Stone Countertops

Here is a huge tip: The sellers agreed to change the kitchen island to a lighter color stone (Taj Mahal) to break up the green stone on the adjacent kitchen counters. It really helped to give the kitchen more of a lighter tone without painting the wood cabinets.

They remodeled the primary shower and lightened it in the process, focused on the two most important wet areas (kitchen and primary bath), and concentrated these changes to where it matters most with buyers. The sellers also did an amazing job of dialing in all of their mechanicals and systems in a sophisticated home to make sure everything was operating smoothly.

Then there was the setting itself (6.7 acres) with two limestone creeks and a private one-acre stocked pond with 30 feet of grade change: buyers felt like they had escaped to a retreat 50+ miles outside of the city, yet they had this incredible centralized Plano address.

Forward Thinking Design + the Texas Love Affair With a Ranch

“Sharif Munir and Don Caperton guided the seller in circa 2013-2015 to create a one-level home with tall ceilings and a timeless Hill Country look,” says Streiff. “Having all of this space on one level with no grade changes is almost impossible to find, yet so many buyers (young and old) like this concept that was the norm when Dallas went through its post-war boom.”

Could this have sold without going into MLS? Streiff told me his group sold 49% of their listings off-MLS last year. The higher the price point, the more likely the Sellers value discretion with the sales process.

The takeaway from last week’s real estate news is this: the market is coming around, buyers are relaxing after the tariff freak out, and wealth migration north of I-635, Collin County and beyond, is real.