RETIREMENT
Family Ties
An architect son designs a home for his parents. M4 HOMES
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MARKETS
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PEOPLE
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REDOS
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SALES
MANSION
A Tempting Home
This couple built a home to lure their kids. M5
Friday, March 25, 2022 | M1
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Upsizing Is the New Downsizing $417,000
$1.85 million
$4 million
Construction costs
Moved from 2,800 sq. ft. to 4,225 sq. ft.
Suzanne and Mark White moved to a home that is much bigger than the one in which they raised children.
Moved from 3,000 sq. ft. to 5,500 sq. ft.
Michael and Janet Verlander built their new, larger home to look like a cluster of farm buildings on 15 acres.
BY NANCY KEATES
S
Moved from 3,400 sq. ft. to 4,351 sq. ft.
uzanne White, 58, longed for a swimming pool. Her husband, Mark White, 60, wanted a music studio and a space for a workshop. They both wanted to host more parties. After living in a 2,800-square-foot ranch house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms for 17 years in East Memphis, Tenn., where they raised four children, the couple sold it for $250,000 in January 2021. Two months earlier, they had paid $417,000 for a much bigger house on an acre of land about 10 miles away in Cordova. “When I would hear about empty-nesters moving to bigger homes, I thought it was crazy. But now I understand,” says Ms. White. The typical story line is that when people get older and their children leave home, they downsize to a smaller house. But for many empty-nesters, later in life is a prime time to upsize. An anal-
FROM LEFT: HOUSTON COFIELD FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (2, WHITE); JASON HENRY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (2, VERLANDER); MARY BETH KOETH FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (2, BEYER)
Instead of moving into a smaller, lower-maintenance home for their golden years, these empty nesters decided to purchase a much bigger house
Lizzie Padro and Russell Beyer bought a new home so large that one of their daughters and her boyfriend moved in.
ysis by down payment assistance provider earnings into raising children. They also say they Home.LLC looked at urban neighborhoods with a don’t have to worry about the quality of the minimum population of 500, using the median size school district anymore, which means they have of homes listed as an indicator of demand. Neighmore flexibility and can get more room for their borhoods in which a majority of its residents money. Some buyers start out wanting to are 65 and older have seen the biggest downsize but change their minds when increase in the size of homes dethey can’t find a smaller house that is at the level of quality they are seekmanded over the past few years. The ing. Others want room for a live-in study found that neighborhoods Portion of people caretaker, should that become necthat have seen a significant influx aged 65+ who bought a essary. of older homeowners have also 3,000-plus-sq.-ft. home in Dean Jones, owner of Realogics seen a large rise in the size of 2020 compared with Sotheby’s International Realty in homes demanded, says the com23% in 2017 Seattle, says there is also the “grandpany’s CEO Nik Shah. child trap” scenario: buying a larger Surveys back this up: the National estate with attractions to entice grown Association of Realtors found that 35% of children and grandchildren to visit. For people aged 65 or above bought a 3,000many buyers, the pandemic magnified the imporsquare-foot, or larger, home in 2020, compared tance of having room for extended family. “People with only 23% in 2017. got really lonely in 2020,” says Carolyn Joy, an Real-estate agents say their older clients tell agent with the Tishelman Joy Team at Houlihan them they have the resources to spend on a larger Please turn to page M6 home now since they are done pouring all their
35%
Retirement Communities? No Thanks. Hungry for excitement, some in the over-65 crowd are trading traditional senior living for city life
BOB GARST, 65, was looking to shake things up. Last year, after roughly three decades living in a six-bedroom home in a sleepy suburb of Atlanta, he unloaded most of his possessions and relocated to a luxury apartment in a highrise tower in the middle of the bustling Midtown area. He was motivated, in part, by his dad. Mr. Garst recalled watching his late father’s health decline at a retirement home a decade prior. It seemed like his father grew older and closer to death each day from being around other older people, Mr. Garst said. He would take him out of the facility to Little League games, bars and restaurants in an effort to inject some excitement into his
Brookhaven, Ga.,
days. With the move into Midtown, he’s now hoping to do the same for himself. “There’s the saying, ‘If you
want to be happy, hang around happy people, if you want to be successful, hang around successful people,” Mr. Garst
Atlanta
said. “Well, if you want to be old, hang around old people.” Mr. Garst is part of a small Please turn to page M10
Bob Garst, third from left, bought a $1 million condo in a tower in Midtown Atlanta. He said he enjoys the energy of being around younger people. BRANDON CLIFTON FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (3)
BY KATHERINE CLARKE
in DFW Luxury SELLING THE MOST HOMES OVER $2 MILLION IN DALL AS
Extraordinary Experts, Listings and Solds
from Dallas’ #1 Luxury Firm 5335 Meaders Lane Preston Hollow | $9,750,000
5138 Deloache Avenue Old Preston Hollow | $10,995,000
5330 Palomar Lane Preston Hollow | $7,295,000
KYLE CREWS AND TERRI COX
ALEX PERRY
SUSAN BALDWIN
214.538.1310 kyle.crews@alliebeth.com
214.926.0158 alex.perry@alliebeth.com
214.763.1591 susan.baldwin@alliebeth.com
5810 Park Lane, 1.83 Acres Preston Hollow | $9,795,000
Private Listing Price Upon Request
5424 Edlen Drive Preston Hollow | $6,040,000
JULI BLACK
SUSAN BALDWIN
KELLI GREEN
469.737.0852 juli.black@alliebeth.com
214.763.1591 susan.baldwin@alliebeth.com
214.500.8805 kelli.green@alliebeth.com
Bleu Ciel #1206 Uptown/Downtown | Private Sale
Private Gated Estate Preston Hollow | Price Upon Request
1312 Tinker Road, 7 Acres Colleyville | $6,500,000
SUSAN BALDWIN
CHRISTINE MCKENNY
CARRIE SMITH
214.763.1591 susan.baldwin@alliebeth.com
214.300.5539 christine.mckenny@alliebeth.com
817.905.4559 carrie.smith@alliebeth.com
3479 McFarlin Boulevard University Park | $1,600,000
6531 Stefani Drive Preston Hollow | Price Upon Request
2800 Lakeside Parkway #1203 Flower Mound | $3,750,000
ASHLEY RASMUSSEN
RAUL RUIZ
DONA ROBINSON
214.704.4428 ashley.rasmussen@alliebeth.com
972.765.6660 raul.ruiz@alliebeth.com
214.906.7069 dona.robinson@alliebeth.com
8536 Glencrest Drive Bluffview | $1,325,000
SOLD | 5900 Cross Timbers Road Flower Mound | $14,900,000
6443 Lakehurst Avenue Preston Hollow | $2,495,000
CLIFF KESSLER
SUSAN BALDWIN
FIONA RICHARDS
310.923.2506 cliff.kessler@alliebeth.com
214.763.1591 susan.baldwin@alliebeth.com
214.632.5813 fiona.richards@alliebeth.com
SOLD | Highland Park Home* Highland Park
SOLD | 4400 Belfort Avenue Highland Park | $9,950,000
SOLD | 3213 Drexel Drive** Highland Park | $1,595,000
SALLY JOHNSON
JULI HARRISON
JACKIE CONVERSE
214.676.4992 sally.johnson@alliebeth.com
214.207.1001 juli.harrison@alliebeth.com
214.673.7852 jackie.converse@alliebeth.com
*Represented Buyer; **Represented Buyer and Seller These properties are offered without respect to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability. All listing information, either print or electronic, is furnished by the property owner subject to the best of his or her knowledge; it is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified.
alliebeth.com
Thank You, Dallas! Your continued confidence and trust in Allie Beth Allman & Associates has allowed us to be the Dallas Luxury Leader for 2021 selling $3.8 Billion. We are so grateful that you have chosen our team to bring you home year after year.
Allie Beth Allman
Executive Director of the Board Founder Allie Beth Allman Executive Director of the Board and Founder
Keith Conlon President
Keith Conlon President
O U R 20 21 AT A G L A N C E
3,816
$3.8 BILLION
45% LIST SIDE / 55% BUY SIDE
▲47% FROM 2020
TRANSACTIONS
SOLD LAST YEAR
D F W E S TAT E LE A D E R
DALLAS COUNTY SALES ABOVE $2 MILLION ABA
$332M
COMP 1
$968M
COMP 1
$191M
COMP 2
COMP 2
The highest sale on record for Dallas in the last several years was sold by Allie Beth Allman & Associates in 2021
DALLAS LUXURY LEADER
Sales Above $5 Million
ABA
$21.5M
$924M $471M
$185M
DALLAS COUNTY SALES ABOVE $3 MILLION
70%
ABA
of homes over $5 Million in the Park Cities Area were sold by Allie Beth Allman & Associates
$645M
COMP 1 COMP 2
$562M $349M
DALLAS COUNTY SALES ABOVE $4 MILLION ABA
109% GROWTH IN DFW
$435M
COMP 1
ESTATE SALES FROM 2020
COMP 2
$302M $259M
LEADING IN PREMIER NEIGHBORHOODS
PARK CITIES + VICINITY
33% OF
THE PARK CITIES + VICINITY MARKET SHARE
HIGHLAND PARK
UNIVERSITY PARK
56% MORE
$130M
SOLD THAN ANY OTHER FIRM
MORE SOLD YEAR-OVER-YEAR
ABA
$828M
ABA
$391M
ABA
$437M
COMP 1
$665M
COMP 1
$250M
COMP 1
$415M
COMP 2
$338M
COMP 2
$176M
COMP 2
$162M
According to MLS from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Source: Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Data provided is per broker. These properties are offered without respect to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability. All listing information, either print or electronic, is furnished by the property owner subject to the best of his or her knowledge; it is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified.