Second Shelters
Faithful readers may recall when I wrote about a beautiful fractional ownership property in the heart, and I do mean the heart, of Santa Fe called El Corazon de Santa Fe. It was fabulous then, and it is even more fabulous now! The property has been renamed “Fairmont Heritage Place, El Corazon de Santa Fe”. El…
You’ve just got to see this. One cannot help but think that perhaps, given the real estate reflection battle here in Dallas between the Renzo Piano-designed Nasher and Museum Tower and all the media banter about Museum Tower being a giant laser to the Nasher, that it inspired the idea for this laser light show…
Happy Fourth of July, 2012. We live the American Dream of real estate here in Texas more than anywhere. Maybe it’s because we learned our lesson back in the 1980’s — R.I.P. Danny Faulkner. Not only did we learn, we RETAINED. When I was in Denver at the National Association of Real Estate Editors Conference last month, Mark Fleming, the dashing economist for CoreLogic, told me over drinks that what saved our butts this time around was our state set limits on HELOCs, or home improvement loans. In Texas, we are limited on what we can borrow against our homesteads. That is what kept many of us from over-borrowing, so when the market fell we were not left with underwater loans*. I walked into our bank yesterday, Comerica, which I LOVE — who else sends you a thank-you note when you pay off a loan? But more than three people asked if they could offer me a home-improvement loan in the course of one hour. You know me, I’d buy a second home in a heartbeat! Our laws in Texas saved us, said Mark, in spite of ourselves.
Ryan Jones over at the Times-Picayune reports that New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton has apparently, cryptically filed for divorce from his wife, Beth. Tricky, but smart move here: a Tarrant County divorce petition was filed on June 14, the filings using initials so as to avoid making the Paytons’ identities public. Ryan says: They…