Candy Evans

I Left My Heart in San Francisco but Not My Checkbook: The Fairmont Heritage Place at Ghirardelli Square is Quite an Affordable Second Home!

By Candy Evans | August 1, 2012 |

  The Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square offers sweeping views of San Francisco Bay. The waterfront project is in a historic part of the California city on the sea that has always captured my heart. I’m here checking out this amazing property that is available as a fractional ownership for a smidgen over $200,000 for…

Read More

Dallas Designer Extraordinaire Dan Nelson Shares His Second Home in New York City with One Chipper Chick

By Candy Evans | July 25, 2012 | Comments Off on Dallas Designer Extraordinaire Dan Nelson Shares His Second Home in New York City with One Chipper Chick

Dan Nelson is a Dallas-based designer and president and owner of Vision Design, which he joined in 1991, was named President of in 1992, and then just bought the place outright in 2003. His roster of New York City and Dallas clients is a “who’s who” : The Crescent, The Mansion, Manhattan’s 21 Club, and some tony…

Read More

How To Finance Your Second Home: Avoid the Sticky Financing Wickets

By Candy Evans | July 18, 2012 | Comments Off on How To Finance Your Second Home: Avoid the Sticky Financing Wickets

There has never been a better time to buy a second home. I am even watching my spending these days, eyeing fractional ownership if it has all the right locations. We are having a guest post soon from a fractional ownership expert to explain the do’s and don’ts. The problem is not buying, as we know,…

Read More

How About a Pool Lined With 24-Carat Gold? For $125 Million, Miami’s Most famous Residence, the Versace Mansion, Can Be Yours!

By Candy Evans | July 18, 2012 |

Our Miami correspondent, Andrea Kavanagh, is back and house-hunting for us! Calling all billionaire art aficionados and free-spending, globe-trotting investors! Miami is all a buzz over Ocean Drive’s most infamous residence to hit the sizzling hot real estate market at a whopping $125 million. Casa Casuarina, also known as the Versace mansion, is an iconic…

Read More

El Corazon de Santa Fe Under Fairmont Management: Santa Fe Vacation Home Ownership In the $100,000’s

By Candy Evans | July 6, 2012 |

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…

Read More

Happy Fourth of July to All Second and Vacation Home Lovers!

By Candy Evans | July 4, 2012 | Comments Off on Happy Fourth of July to All Second and Vacation Home Lovers!

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.

Read More