Big Man in Carrollton

Shaquille O'Neal slam dunks into Dallas-Fort Worth with new million-dollar mansion in the 'burbs

Shaq's new shack in Carrollton.

Photo courtesy of Redfin

There's a new Big Man on Campus around North Texas — a really, really big man. NBA icon Shaquille O'Neal has purchased a home in Carrollton ahead of the anticipated expansion of his Big Chicken restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth and across the state.

According to property records, O'Neal purchased the nearly 5,300-square-foot home through an LLC for an undisclosed amount. It had been on the market for $1.22 million, according to Architectural Digest.

Zac Gideo, an agent with Rogers Healy and Associates Real Estate, worked with the NBA Hall of Famer to ink the sale. While Rogers Healy declined to disclose the actual address to CultureMap, it's been reported by several outlets as this property in the exclusive Gates of Prestonwood enclave.

According to the listing, Shaq's new shack features:

five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and two half-baths
huge primary bedroom with a spa-like bathroom
two fireplaces
three living and two dining areas
dream kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances
gated motor court and three-car garage
home theater with leather recliners
backyard oasis with large pool and rock wall waterfall

Architectural Digest calls it "a stone-quoined European-inspired manor" and goes on to gush, "The front door is met with four fluted stone columns and two more Corinthian columns between the foyer and the formal dining room. A gorgeous library/office is wrapped in polished wood paneling and beige marble floors which run throughout the great room. The home features a contemporary fireplace and bright walls of windows that overlook the backyard."

Sounds fab, what time's dinner?

While O'Neal recently sold an estate in Florida, he still has homes in Los Angeles and Atlanta. Because of all his jet-setting, Gideo says, much of the house-hunting work with him was done in the most modern way possible: “I found him the perfect home and most of the process was done virtually — Facetime calls, videos of the property, etc.,” Gideo said in a statement.

O'Neal — a San Antonio native — is no stranger to Texas-sized hospitality. In fact, he's already being neighborly around Dallas.

Upon being spotted handing out cash and meals to people in need and buying a washing machine and TV for shoppers at Best Buy, the 7-foot-1 basketball legend told Page Six, "I just want to make people happy."

Shaq's new shack in Carrollton.

Photo courtesy of Redfin

Shaq's new shack in Carrollton.

celebrities home-for-sale

affordability news

Texans need to make nearly 6 figures to buy a home in 2025, per report

Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash

Texans that aren't making about $99,000 a year may have a tough time buying a home this year, the report discovered.

A recent report analyzing the minimum income it takes to buy a home across America has revealed Texans have it easier than residents of other states, but the dream may still feel unattainable for many.

Potential homebuyers need to make at least $99,000 to buy a home in Texas in 2025, according to the analysis from Realtor.com.

To determine the minimum income a local resident would need to make to buy a home in their own state, Realtor.com calculated each state's "affordability gap" by finding the difference in the actual annual income from the minimum recommended income to afford a median-priced home as of July 2025. The report also determined the percentage difference between the affordability gap figure and state's median actual income.

Texas joined 18 other states where the minimum income required to purchase a home is just under the six-figure range.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in Texas is $75,780, which means the affordability gap for a potential Texas homebuyer adds up to more than $23,000. That also means that the minimum income required to buy a Texas home this year is roughly 30 percent higher than the state's actual median income.

Though the report didn't give any data on the median list price of a Texas home in July, Realtor.com said the median list price of a home in Dallas-Fort Worth was $439,900 last month. July's median list price was 2.2 percent lower year-over-year from July 2024.

"Even as the summer housing market is gradually turning more buyer-friendly, the typical American still does not earn enough to keep up with monthly mortgage payments without becoming house-poor," the report's author wrote. "However, the degree of unaffordability varies widely across states. Overall, it has moderately edged down compared with the end of last year."

Elsewhere in the U.S., Iowa is the No. 1 most affordable state for homebuyers in 2025, Realtor.com says, with residents needing to make at least $76,422 to afford a median-priced home in the state. The median list price for an Iowa home in July came out to $289,938, and the median income of an Iowa household is just under $76,000, making Iowa's affordability gap the smallest out of all 50 states at only $431.

"In other words, investing in a median-priced home in Iowa would require spending just a little over the target 30 percent on housing, still leaving plenty of cash in the bank to cover other necessities," the report said.

Realtor.com's top 10 most affordable states for homebuyers in 2025, plus the minimum income needed to afford a median-priced home, are:

No. 1 – Iowa ($76,422)
No. 2 – Illinois ($85,196)
No. 3 – Kansas ($74,030)
No. 4 – Ohio ($76,425)
No. 5 – Indiana ($81,565)
No. 6 – Pennsylvania ($85,662)
No. 7 – Missouri ($81,973)
No. 8 – West Virginia ($71,167)
No. 9 – Minnesota ($105,169)
No. 10 – Michigan ($83,542)

On the opposite end, Montana is the No. 1 least affordable state for homebuyers with an affordability gap surpassing $99,000. The median income of a Montana household is only $72,066 a year, and the median list price of a home in the state was $649,900 in July. The report then determined that a Montana resident would need to make more than $171,000 to afford that median-priced home.

"To put it differently, a would-be homebuyer in Montana would require a 138 percent raise to comfortably afford a home in the state at the current mortgage interest rate of 6.72 percent," the report said.

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