Corsicana, TX Ranch Estate with 1,000+ Acres - Mineral Rights Included? Awesome Second Home

Go south on I45 from Dallas and you will reach Corsicana, Texas, about an hour away from the Dallas International Airport.  Located in Corsicana is 2757 NW County Road 2060, a 1,200 acre mega ranch estate with petite 6,344 sq. foot ranch home on the property.  A 150 acre private lake and 11 stall horse barn are situated on the estate, or should I say "compound", and the listing even says something about 2 other houses located on the property with 3 bedrooms each.  My only question: are mineral rights included?  If so, with a 1,000+ acre estate, oil money would be skyrocketing!  I'm not a huge fan of the home, but I don't hate it.  The 6,000+ stucco sq. foot home includes 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, huge pool with spa, and enjoyable panoramic views.  The whole estate is, IMHO, generously listed for $3,900,000.

This would be a perfect second "compound" for the DFW Metro well-off family.  With abundant possibilities from horseback riding to boating, it's the perfect summer home for an outdoorsy family!

Here's The Listing

Thanks for reading,

John

Nic Cage's Baby Momma's Foreclosed Hancock Park Mansion Goes on the Block

SELLER: Citibank (formerly owned by Nic Cage)
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $2,782,500
SIZE: 6,312 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Your Mama knows quite well that many of the children can not bear another spilled thought or diatribe about the seemingly ceaseless real estate woes of financially embattled Oscar winner Nic Cage. But Your Mama, children, just can not seem to steer clear of the head-shaking melodrama. Call it celebrity real estate schadenfreude, call it an unhealthy obsession or just call it our damn job but whichever way you want to see it the whole hot mess is a lot like driving past a fatal car accident. You slow down in order to stare and stare and stare while you hope despite a queasy stomach to see something awful. We all know we shouldn't do it and it fills us with gruesome self-loathing to do it but do it we do anyway. It's ugly but it's human and Your Mama is, despite the strident suggestions of some, human. With that in mind we are, yes, my pretty ponies, going to once again indulge today in a wee discussion of Mister Cage's continuing real estate brouhaha.

Property records reveal that in May 2001 a substantial house in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles, CA was purchased by Mister Cage's now well-known Hancock Park Real Estate Trust for $2,695,000. The house was purchased for the exclusive use and enjoyment of Mister Cage's former lady-friend and baby momma Christina Fulton who bore him one son they named Weston.

Alas, as Mister Cage's finances began their protracted tangle with the grim reaper Baby Momma sued for $13,000,000 plus direct and sole possession of the Hancock Park house because, she alleged, Mister Cage agreed to buy the house for her and her pending eviction due to foreclosure proceedings brought on by Baby Daddy's failure to pay the mortgage constituted a breach of contract or something like that. We're not sure the exact details or status of the legal matter but we do know that, in the end, like all those sad skinny model wannabes on America's Next Top Model, Baby Momma had to pack her bags and go.

In mid-November 2009 a Notice of Default was filed on the property. A year later the matter was cleared up with a Notice of Rescission, which means, in effect, the frothing foreclosure dogs were satiated and called off. A month after that, however, another Notice of Default was filed by mortgage holder Citibank and in early 2011 the stately estate was put up for auction with a minimum bit of $3,290,739.

No buyers showed up with their checkbooks–or at least no one willing to pay nearly three-point-three million smackers–and in early March 2011 Citibank officially ripped the residence from Mister Cage's increasingly thin property portfolio.

It was only a matter of time before Citibank put the property on the (open) market in an effort to recoup at least some of their losses. Thanks to The Rolling Stone, we've learned that the soulfully dour 1924 brick Tudor is now listed with the complicated asking price of $2,782,500, a figure translated from real estate speak comes to $2,785,000?

The .77 acre estate, located on a very busy corner at the edge of the upscale Hancock Park 'hood, has high hedges all the way around with multiple gated entries that open to a driveway that meanders through the property. At the back of the property a gate swings open to a rear motor court that bends around a detached barn-like structure with covered parking for at least four cars, rolls under a porte-cochere that sticks off the side of the house and makes a hard right to the front of the residence where it continues around to another electronic drive gate at the opposite corner of the property where the trek across the property began.

Listing information shows the somewhat sinister-looking manse measures 6,312 square feet and includes 6 bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms, 3 fireplaces (plus a fourth in the guest house), a turret or two and an upstairs covered balcony for secretly peeping on guests and domestic staff as they roll down the driveway and clip the hedges.

Interiors spaces, according to listing information, retain original moldings, paneling, mill work and windows and include a double-height center-hall entry, formal living and dining room, library, kitchen with island, breakfast room, family room, media/music room and staff quarters.

A courtyard-like yard separates the main house from the swimming pool and adjacent 800-square foot guest house. In 2005, according to listing information, a 500 square foot fourth structure was added to Mister Cage's Baby Momma's compound and contains a gym/recreation room.

Besides the real estate stink of Mister Cage–who may or may not have ever lived there–his Baby Momma's mansion has a few not always east to overcome obstacles. Not only does the property occupy a very busy corner–which makes it subject to near constant traffic noise–some real estate snobs in Lala Land think the upscale, historical and expensive Hancock Park 'hood ain't nuthin' but a crime-riddled ghetto. It isn't. No matter the price point, puppies, real estate is almost always a trade off. You might love the yard but hate the kitchen or want a view but not the often long twisted drive often required to get to a view home. Some folks would sooner get a divorce than give up a better location for more space while others place a far greater premium on expansive living areas over the plumiest of plum zip codes. All real estate things considered–including the absolute unattainability of a house like this for all but the very wealthy, this seems to Your Mama like a lot of house for the money in Los Angeles. Certainly a person can buy a lovely abode in the 90210 and/or the 90077–that's Beverly Hills and Bel Air–for two and three quarter million clams and it might even be as large as this house. It will not, however, include all the multiple multi-functional out buildings here.

Mister Cage, a man with a pathological need to acquire high-maintenance homes, extensive collections, exotic animals and a variety of arcana, has bought, sold and lost so many houses around the world that we can no longer keep track of what he still owns or does not own.

He lost a couple of historic mansions in New Orleans to foreclosure as well as his legendary mansion in Bel Air, a hulking academic-looking Gerard Colcord-designed pile formerly owned by shag carpet-chested crooner Tom Jones and showbiz boozer extraordinaire Dean Martin. He also owned a schloss in Germany from a previous century, another ancient castle outside of Bath in the U.K., an undeveloped private island in the Bahamas and an historic 26.77-acre estate in Middletown, RI next door to the Gilded Age resort community of Newport.

He also owned a house above Beachwood Canyon in Los Angeles (believed to have been occupied by his mother or father), a San Francisco house or two, a gaudy mcmansion in Las Vegas and a harbor front spread in Newport Beach, CA that he sold to gas and gambling tycoon Jerry Herbst in 2007 for around $35,000,000. That house, as it turns out, is back on the market with a much lower than paid asking price of $28,500,000. Mister Cage's once vast property portfolio also includes and/or once included a couple of condos in New York City, an ocean front house in Malibu and and significant acreage in the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu.

We really aren't sure of Mister Cage's current real estate whereabouts but until recently, according to Your Mama's eerily well informed source Lucy Spillerguts, he leased a three story Spanish style casa in the Hollywood Knolls neighborhood, now listed for sale for $1,237,000. It's not clear to Your Mama if Mister Cage used the house himself or it it was occupied by his son Weston or another family member.

listing photo: Skyhill Properties

It's Summer Time in North Texas: Beach House or Lake House?

As the kids are ditching the books and the parents are taking some time off from work to enjoy family activities, beach houses and lake houses become popular destinations for family fun.  As the country slowly grows out of the recession, some families will be looking for second homes, preferably around popular spots like the beach or the lake.  Honestly, if I had the money, I couldn't decide between a beach house or a lake house; both have a variety of ups and downs.  A beach house would be more scenic when a lake house would be more "outdoorsy" and active with boats, jet skis, and more.  So I ask you: when summer comes around, does your family head to a beach house or lake house?  Regardless, everyone have a fantastic summer and don't get sunburn!

A listed home in Aransas Pass, TX on the Gulf of Mexico

A listed home on Lake Lewisville

Beach house or Lake house?

Thanks for reading,

John

I Dream of Gina

Ever since I heard about Gina's "Come to the Cottage" Invitation,
(where she is inviting a gaggle (her words) of blog readers to come to her home in July, 
stay in her guest cottage, and makeover her 2 teen-aged daughters' rooms in 3 days),
I haven't stopped having bizarre dreams about DIY stuff.


Here are a few scenes from last night's dream.


At the beginning of my dream, I awoke and went downstairs for my devotional time and breakfast.
My oatmeal was a bit irregular and seemed to be difficult to swallow.

My clothes were a bit more rough than usual as I started up a new load of laundry.

My jewelry choices had miraculously expanded. (I didn't complain.)

In the kitchen, I had some trouble making cupcakes.

While waiting for them to bake, I tried to get a drink of water.

In the end, my cupcakes didn't turn out as I had wanted,
so I made some cookies instead.

(Some jumbo ones for my hubby.)

At teatime, my Earl Grey tasted a bit funny, although the color was actually inspiring.

I didn't really feel like reading after that. There was still work to do.

So, I sat down at my sewing machine (her name is LaLa; after all, she is a Singer).

I began the work, but the slipcover that I had intended to sew didn't seem right.

A bit flat.

And small.

Maybe I can use it for something else?

I had one last thought before waking from my strange dream.

New projects were calling this morning, so I climbed out of bed and put on my slippers.

            

        

I was ready for the real day to begin.

       

Now if only my dream would come true, I'd get to DIY with Gina and all the girls!

P.S. I almost forgot!

A Top 10 Countdown ::
Reasons that Gina, LaLa, Bre, Lisa, ChaCha, Angie, and Polly should let me Come to the Cottage.

#10. I need to use these.

#9. I am a hard worker 

and doing this while working never crosses my mind.

#8. I have my own tools and I'm not afraid to use them.

#7. My husband, Mark, loves eating previously frozen microwaved TV dinners while I'm outta town.

#6. I have 2 teenage daughters and know how important their spaces are to them,

so I ask a lot of questions about what they want and like before we start redesigning.

(This is my Miss S's college dorm room, freshman year.)

Me and my girls, Miss S (College girl) and Miss A (High School Junior girl).

#5. I am a professional bargain shopper and stealth curby* furniture rescuer.

See these posts:

Oh, Yard Sales, How do I Love Thee? (1)

Oh, Yard Sales, How do I Love Thee? (2)

Oh, Good Will, How do I Love Thee? (1)

Oh, Good Will, How do I Love Thee? (2)
Roadside Rescue of a Cabinet
Roadside Rescue of a Fountain

#4. I love sniffing this.

#3. I read somewhere that you promised coffee, and I have my own special mug (my hubby made it for me).

#2. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanna make you these scones!
(I promise that they'll look and taste better than my cupcakes and cookies!)

#1. I want to be a blessing to Gina and her home.
(Oh! And I can stop by Ikea for her on the way up from my home here in South Carolina!)

~By the way, I made a post with a sampling of some of my angry mad DIY skillz HERE.~

* My definition of Curby:

An abandoned, neglected, unwanted, discarded item that used to be treasured by the owner 

of the home's curb on which the item has been placed; a passerby retrieves the item and makes it useful once again.

* Dictionary.com's definition of gaggle:

1. to cackle. 2. A flock of geese. 3. A disorderly or noisy group of people (I'm hoping). 

Winner of the Vintage-Inspired Cottage Charm Giveaway

And the winner, chosen by RANDOM.ORG, is:

#37's comment was:

#37 is Lisa, from The Pennington Point!

(As I recall, she was having the hardest time getting Blogger to let her comment, too!)

I have known Lisa for a while now, and you know what Lisa?

I LOVE YOU, too!

Go HERE and pick out what you want from Pixie Pixels and Whimsy and Glee.

And they will get mailed to you ASAP!

Thank you everyone who entered!

Go say "Hi!" to Lisa!

She is a lot of fun, and has awesome summer home making ideas!

.

Mario Bros Wall-Stickers

wall stickers

Butterflies Wall Decal

wall stickers


Gorgeous nature inspired and wall stickers from Ferm Living that will spruce up any walls in a room.

Amazing Wall Sticker

wall stickers


Vinyl wall decals are very easy to remove, so you don’t need to worry if you are shifting to a new apartment wall stickers.

Decorative Vinyl Wall Sticker

wall stickers


Faux cityscapes provide a lighthearted backdrop for colorful living rooms wall stickers
and fake windows give a sense of extended space.

Wall Sticker Baby

wall stickers

Inspired Wall Stickers

wall stickers


Lovely decorative wall stickers by valerydesignwrks which are based on original illustrations.

Living Room Stickers

wall stickers


living room or my family room looks more natural to use wall sticker.

Some of My Portfolio :: For Now

I love turning awkward spaces or unwanted things into beautiful and useful ones, 

for this is what Jesus' love has done to me!

Our Basement Kitchen into a Cafe'

Corners:

Kitchen Redesign for a friend.

A few Bedrooms:

Our home.

 

A Bathroom in our home.

Livingroom, staged.

Girl's room. Staged.

A basement hangout designed for my nieces and nephew and their friends.

Other Rooms.

Snippets of my hubby's office.

Some Slipcovers, Pillows, and Window Treatments I've Sewn:

Wingbacks and loveseat slipcovers.

A Foyer Wall I Papered:

Painted Furniture:

Built the rolling island table from a kitchen cabinet, some casters, and a butcher block tabletop.

Rescued mantel.

$20 yard sale find in Miss A's room.

Some Vignettes.

Some Organization.