LUXURY HOMES

FOR THOSE WHO SPEND THEIR days selling luxury homes- walking the marble corridors, climbing the polished staircases, pointing out Sub-Zeros in gourmet kitchens-coming home could be quite a letdown, unless that home sweet home is even’ bit as spectacular as those the Realtors sell. Here’s a look into the living rooms of some of the city’s top residential salespeople.

Judy Pittman is Dallas’ No. 1 real estate agent in high-rise sales. Her stomping ground is Turtle Creek and properties such as The Claridge, The Beverly, 2801 Turtle Creek (The Mansion), The Warrington and the area’s newest luxury high-rise-currently just a crane protruding from a giant hole-The Plaza at Turtle Creek.

“I sell myself what I sell my clients,” says Pittman. Part of that ticket is great views, which she has from her condo at The Warrington.

Pittman has owned a unit at The Warrington since 1985 and has lived in her present abode since 1988-two bedrooms with a library and views not only of other high-rise properties but also of the downtown Dallas skyline. She paid a little more than $400,000 for her condo and owns another unit in The Warrington and two in The Claridge for investment purposes.

Dave Perry-Miller, one of the city’s top sellers, with Abio, Adleta & Poston, says he took every architecture course offered at his alma mater, Washington and Lee University. Then, after graduating in 1980, he moved to Dallas and went right into residential sales. Even when Perry-Miller’s not selling homes, he’s buying them or just looking at them.

“It’s in my blood from way back,” Perry-Miller says. “I worked redoing houses with my parents. 1 go to open bouses on vacation. This is what I call fun.”

It’s also business. Perry-Miller renovated an 1870s Victorian house in Lexington, Va., eight years ago and now operates it as a rental property. He purchased another rental home four years ago-this one with an ocean view on Nantucket Island.

“I call it a cash-flowing extravagance,” Perry-Miller says. “It is rented all summer. 1 go up there and get everything set for the season, then I go up every year for two weeks at Labor Day. “

In Dallas, Perry-Miller resides at 5232 Stonegate Rd. in Bluffview. The Colonial Revival home was built in 1941 by “Coke” Knight, the architect for the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts building in Fair Park. It sits on a half-acre and sports a swimming pool and gardens in back. Perry-Miller bought the house three years ago for approximately $350,000 and describes it as “a house with good bones that needed a face lift.” Part of that work included a Virginia-made replica of an 1840s screen door from a Shenandoah Valley house.

Beth Sutera, who sells luxury homes in Far North Dallas and Piano for Coldwell Banker Paula Stringer Realtors, says she’s not a very good advertisement for her industry, since she’s lived in the same Prestonwood house for 16 years.

“Like a lot of people, we were transferees to Dallas and moved into the Richardson school district,” Sutera says. “We had one son left at home at the time, and we bought the house with the idea that it would be perfect for two people.”

Sutera says she and her husband paid $200,000 for the 3,000-square-foot home at 16318 Red Cedar Trail, and over the years have put about $60,000 into it.

“I’ll be lucky to break even when we ever leave,’’ she says.

Dabney Tompkins of Uptown Realtors specializes in Kessler Park, among other neighborhoods, so when a gem comes on that market, he is one of the first to know. That’s how he came to live at 1222 Belleau St., which he bought in 1987 for approximately $300,000.

The home, in the heart of the old Kessler Park, was built in 1938 by Lake Cliff Park developer Charles Mangold for his daughter Irma. According to the legend of the house, Irma went off to Hollywood with hopes of becoming a silent screen star, but did not succeed.

“When she returned home, in true Dallas style, Daddy was still very proud and built her this house as a coming-home present,” Tompkins says.

The 3,000-square-foot house was originally six rooms, one bedroom-for Irma alone-and several large rooms for entertaining. A beautiful curving staircase descends directly from Irma’s room. It’s perfect for grand entrances-so perfect that Tompkins hosts an annual community trunk show at the home benefiting the Miss Oak Cliff pageant. At the event, contestants make their own grand entrances down Irma’s staircase. Another Hollywood touch is a large fur storage case in the bedroom.