SALES TALES Tear-Down Fever

THE HOUSE: 10750 Strait Ln.

LIST PRICE: $2,595 million

SELLING PRICE: $2.4 million



THE FIRST TIME SUSAN DOSH-ier showed her husband the “Lee Trevino” home on the southeast comer of Royal and Strait lanes, he said he hated it. So they found a lot they loved at 4920 Wedgewood Ln., just west of Inwood Road. They paid $1,425 million for 1.5 acres and a home built in 1951.

The Doshiers tore down the home and hired an architect and a builder. But when the builder, Riseman Development Company, went to City Hall for a building permit, the Doshiers got a shock: Apparently part of the lot was in a 100-year flood plain. The only way the Doshiers could build on that lot was if they put their home in the same footprint as the 6,776-square-foot house they had torn down-which they did not want to do.

And that is how Wade Dosh-ier came to buy a house he had once hated. The home at 10750 Strait Ln. was originally built in (he late ’40s, but Lee Trevino made it a landmark when he bought it in the 1970s and lived there for about six months. Made of stucco and Austin stone and capped with a clay tile roof, the 7,900-square-foot home sat on a 3-acre spread that included a country-club backyard with a koi pond, golfing green, pool, room for three tennis courts, even a four-room apartment for the caretaker.

The house had been owned by Larry Vineyard, the S&L tycoon who ended up making his home in a federal prison for a few years. In the late ’80s, the home was repossessed.

Wade and Susan Doshier are now renovating, adding a slate roof, creating a view of the grounds from the entranceway, and tripling the size of the kitchen. And the first thing to go is the koi pond.

That wasn’t initially their intention. In fact, the Doshiers eagerly anticipated restocking the pond and bought and stored the exotic Japanese fish for it. That was until Susan Doshier saw a snake in the front yard the day she closed and asked her landscaper about it.

“Sure hope you don’t have children,” he replied, “because we kill one snake a week in this yard.”

Seems this particular pond was a major breeding hole for water moccasins.

The Doshiers had it filled; no more koi. They say that most of the water moccasins are gone now-except the ones that keep out trespassers.

THE HOUSE: 5424 Deloache Ave.

LIST PRICE: $5.7 millio

SELLING PRICE: less than $5 million



Now here’s the way to look for property without getting your feet muddy: Charter a helicopter and jet around the neighborhood until you find the perfect spot. That is precisely what Daniel T. Phillips, CEO of First Plus Financial Group, did to peruse properties. From the chopper, he spotted seven acres on the corner of Deloache and Hollow Way in Old Preston Hollow.

The lot is smallish by some recent Dallas standards: 25,000 square feet. Phillips brought in the bulldozers and down went the house, tennis courts, and swimming pool to give builder Mickey Munir, of Sharif & Munir Uncustomary Custom Homes, plenty of room for a period French Renaissance mansion.

The actual home (which is scheduled for completion in spring 1998) will be 22,000 square feet, with at least four upstairs bedrooms, a nanny suite, a master suite complete with the usual mansion trimmings: bath/dressing suite overlooking the estate, exercise room, and sauna. The forma! living room boasts 26-foot-tall ceilings and massive, carved wood doors created by interior designer Nancy Ross of North Dallas Design Resources. The carriage house will hold 8 cars; the guest quarters will be a 3.000-square-foot house- “The size of our first house when we moved to Dallas.” says Daniel’s wife, Merlene.

Behind the main house, which will be built of Lennox-gray cast stone with a slate roof, will be a huge domed pavilion with giant bathrooms, cabana, a barbecue pit, and a play area plus pool and tennis court. The entire property will be bordered by a walkway for bikes, rollerblad-ing, and skateboarding.

Daniel and Merlene moved to Dallas just four years ago. When they lived in Sacramento, Calif., neither was particularly wealthy; theirs is a take-your-company-public American dream story. Finally-a mansion not built on computer or telecommunications bucks. Phillips’ fortune comes from financial services.