WASHINGTON - Moving day is less than seven weeks away for President George W. and Laura Bush and they have finally settled on a house in the upscale Dallas, Texas neighborhood of Preston Hollow.

The neighborhood is about a 2-hour, 20-minute drive from their 1,600-acre (648-hectare) ranch in Crawford, Texas (according to Google Maps) which they also plan to keep.

“The President and Mrs. Bush do not have occupancy of the home, and therefore, no additional details will be provided,” said Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for the first lady. She declined to say whether the Bushes plan to take advantage of a drop in mortgage rates to buy the new digs.

The Dallas Morning News reported that the president’s personal accountant, as a trustee, had bought a home — valued at almost $2.08 million despite not officially being on the market — in the area on Oct. 3. He declined to tell the newspaper for whom he had bought the house (which has four bedrooms, 8,501 square feet (790 sq metres) of living space including servants’ quarters). 

The newspaper also said that a local blog reported that the house next door  — on the market for $1.6 million — was placed under contract last week but the buyer was not yet known.

And as much as Bush loves the Crawford ranch where he has built bike trails, he will likely be spending a good bit of time in Dallas to oversee his library, museum and an institute on freedom on the campus of Southern Methodist University.

Mrs. Bush on Wednesday was asked by reporters about what she was buying the president for Christmas and she replied that with the sour economy the money likely would be spent on the new home.

“We will be moving to Dallas in January and there might be a new house coming along. So I think that’s where we’ll spend our Christmas money,” she said.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi (A home up for sale last year in Dallas)