texas

Capt. Michael Clauer of Frisco, Texas was deployed and serving his country in Iraq when the Heritage Lakes Homeowners Association decided to sell his family's home.

The story is an especially surprising one considering that the HOA foreclosed on the home owned by Capt. Clauer, who serves in the Army Reserve, and his wife May because their monthly association dues of $800 were late, and that the company that manages the HOA proceeded to sell the house without notifying them.

Even more shockingly, Select Management, which oversees the Heritage Lakes housing development, sold the Clauers' home to a bidder for just $3,500. That purchaser, in turn, flipped it to another owner. And here's the clincher: The Clauers owned their $300,000 home free and clear.

May Clauer told HousingWatch, "We think our case demonstrates how much power HOAs have in Texas. HOAs can take away your home without a court order, which is more power than our local government has. We did not know HOAs could do that."

With the average home in the desirable Dallas, Texas, suburb of University Park selling for more than $1 million, finding a deal can be difficult.

This house at 4508 Stanhope St. in University Park is only $1 under $1 million -- listed at $999,999 -- but it's still a worthy home to buy with plenty of room in a great neighborhood.

I've written before about University Park, a city with 23,324 residents that has a small-town feel while being close to Dallas and its big-city attractions. The area is also home to Southern Methodist University.

I want a big house with a big porch so I can sit outside to relax on sunny days, and drink lemonade while sitting in a rocking chair and reading. I know it's a lot to ask for, but the house at 6848 Velasco Ave. in Dallas, Texas, has all that and more for $1,499,000.

Not that I have that much money to spend on a house, but this five-bedroom, five-bath house of 5,774 square feet looks perfect at that price.

Former President George W. Bush made news a little more than a year ago for buying a home in the wealthy Preston Hollow neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. Bush bought his home at 10141 Daria Place for a reported $2.1 million.

Now, the chance to live near the former president and his wife, Laura, is available for $6,950,000 at 5107 Kelsey Road. The home is about three blocks -- three very long blocks -- from the Bushes' home. Whether you'll be able to get past Secret Service agents and introduce yourself to your new neighbor is up to you.

The incredible views of downtown Fort Worth, Texas and the luxury of a highrise condo tower make the condo at 500 Throckmorton St. worth a look. But what seals it for me is the location -- about 10 blocks from the Fort Worth Water Gardens.

The urban park has been described as a "cooling oasis in the concrete jungle of downtown" with three pools of water, quiet meditation pool, aerating pool with multiple fountains, and a pool with water cascading 38 feet down terraces into a small pool. Along with more than 500 species of plants and trees throughout the park, it's a relaxing place to get out of the Texas heat.

Living in a metropolitan city like Dallas, Texas, certainly has its advantages. There are all kinds of restaurants to try, sporting events and arts performances to attend, and enough people-watching to keep entertained.

But what I like about this $1.5-million house at 3611 Caruth Blvd. in the city of University Park, Texas, is that it's in a suburb of Dallas without being far from town.

I don't play golf, but I'd like to someday have the time, money and patience to learn. Walking outdoors in the green grass sounds relaxing, although shanking too many golf balls into the rough can be frustrating fast.

Still, with this $750,000 house at 4717 Crestline Road in Fort Worth, Texas, I could at least watch golfers and relax in knowing I'm not the one who can't find a ball I hit somewhere out of bounds.

You don't expect to see much greenery in Texas, but this $950,000 house in Dallas has enough in the back yard and at nearby White Rock Lake that beating the summer heat while enjoying the view will be easy.

I've written before here about big homes in Dallas at similar prices, but this one at 7151 Greentree Lane is unique for its lush landscaping, waterfall, huge amphitheater-style fire pit, all in a back yard that terraces down to Rush Creek. The 2,657-square-foot home is in the Green Cove Estates subdivision in the Lakewood neighborhood and is minutes from downtown Dallas.

The new slogan for the city of Dallas is "Live large. Think big." That's exactly what I want to do at this house at 6652 Lakeshore Drive in Dallas.

The 3,812-square-foot home in the Country Club Estates subdivision is huge, as everything in Texas should be, and has a large rooms and an open floor plan to make stretching out easy.

For $5.2 million, you'd expect this house for sale in Forth Worth, Texas, to have four large bedroom suites and five bathrooms that are each unique.

But what makes this house in the Mira Vista neighborhood stand out is the location atop a hill overlooking a golf course, and extras such as an indoor basketball court and its covered patio cantina bar for rooftop entertaining.

A Dallas area man is so psyched about the upcoming Superbowl XLV in Texas next year, he's designed his entire home around America's Team.

Stoney Kersh is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan who says he's loved America's team since the day he was born. So intense a fan, in fact, that he "lives" with the Cowboys: Every inch of his Arlington, Texas home is covered in Cowboys memorabilia. We are talking shower curtains, sheets, Tiffany lamps and bedspreads. The walls are plastered with Cowboy photos and team composites, "Fat Heads", and thousands of items of Cowboys memorabilia from commemorative coke bottles to beer cans to -- are you ready? -- Dallas Cowboys toilet paper (which you cannot use). Stoney is a single father of two teen-aged boys, who love their dad's taste in design, but what about his girlfriend?

A 30-story hurricane-damaged condo in West Palm Beach, Fla. came tumbling down on Sunday in a Valentines Day implosion that made spectators' hearts go 'boom.' The scheduled implosion took only 15 seconds to crash the concrete and steel building into a 40-foot pile of rubble that will take about three months to clean up. The tower that was at 1515 Flagler is the third largest building in the U.S. to be imploded.

Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne damaged the tower back in 2004, and it has languished ever since, creating an eyesore for the high-end neighborhood, reported CBS Affiliate Channel 12. The biggest concern was the effect on other residences next door.

More than 80 families in a still under-construction San Antonio subdivision were evacuated Sunday when giant fissures as much as 15 feet deep opened up near their homes. Now, some of the residents want out.

The president of Pulte Homes admitted to News 4 WOAI Monday night the home-builder has had problems in the past with the partially collapsed retaining wall that is believed responsible for the landslide. The city claims the builder never obtained a permit for the wall.

The near-vertical retaining wall likely failed under the weight of the area's clay soil that readily expands when drenched with heavy precipitation, as it was last week, said Sazzad Bin-Shafique, an assistant engineering professor and soil expert at the University of Texas-San Antonio who went out to the site on Monday. Steep, tall retaining walls can hold up if built correctly, he told the Associated Press.

But the fact that the wall didn't hold up? "It spells bad news for the sellers," Matt Stigliano, a San Antonio-area Realtor with Re/Max Access told HousingWatch. "I can't imagine anyone calling me and saying they want to buy there."

For some, the phrase "off the grid" may still conjure up visions of a weather-beaten wood shack with rusted metal on the outside and angry tax evaders within. But that's about change, if two Texas-based architects have anything to do with it.

The Austin American Statesman reported this month that after ten years in the making, architects Scott Specht and Louise Harpman have a plan for a net-zero house that is "shovel-ready."

I want this house, for three reasons: Location, location, and location.

Or maybe I should just say: Marfa, Marfa, Marfa. I'm referring to the tiny town in West Texas that's hard to get to, and even harder to leave.

There's something about Marfa -- about the light, the air, the landscape -- that artists find irresistible (but also, sadly for those who haven't been there, indescribable). Donald Judd, the minimalist sculptor, arrived in 1971, and stayed. His works fill several large industrial buildings in the center of town, and hundreds of acres on the outskirts.

Every object Judd created has a stunning simplicity.

This house is listed for $180,000 -- about average for Marfa. (There aren't a lot of comparables in a town of just 2,100 people.) If I bought it, I would try to give it a Judd-ian simplicity. So it doesn't matter that I'm not crazy about the house's faux-colonial decor. I like its solidity, its symmetry. And what I don't like would be easy to remove.