Since I had a little extra time on my hands today I've been reviewing MLS to see what is REALLY going on in the market. Here's a little fact tidbit about Pebble Creek for January 1 - March 29th 2008 - 10 houses have closed and changed hands 3 sold beetween $209,900 and $269,900 5 sold $312,700 and $398,500 and 2 sold between $435,900 and $449,900 Days on the market ranged from 43 - 258 (not taking into consideration any home that was listed, didn't sell and then was relisted again) Are you surprised? Did you think more or less home sold? I am confident we will see MANY homes changing hands over the next few months - the selling season - will let you know!     Realtor & Sales Trainer for Century 21 Beal, Inc. #1 in Real Estate in Bryan and College Station Home Sales 05/11/2008

  Thanks to the Pebble Creek Elementary 2005, 2006 & 2007 Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), St. Joseph Regional Health Center, Pebble Creek Development, Pebble Creek Owner's Association, all the volunteers and supporters we now have a beautiful new playground area with a VERY soft base and great playground equipment. Pebble Creek continues to grow for the enjoyment of us all!   Realtor & Sales Trainer for Century 21 Beal, Inc. #1 in Real Estate in Bryan and College Station Home Sales 05/11/2008

Have you told anyone at the City of College Station how you feel about "Neighborhood Integrity?" What exactly does that mean?Are you willing to take a few minutes and complete the City's Survey about the neighborhood effects of rental properties, students, zoning, neighborhood events, neighborhood welcome groups & code violations. Do you believe in zero tolerance for zode violations? Have you thought about how property values in your neighborhood will be affected by students? It could EASILY affect your property values negatively OR positively!  Are you willing to serve on a committee or board to work on the rental properties issues?  Stand up and be counted! Realtor & Sales Trainer for Century 21 Beal, Inc. #1 in Real Estate in Bryan and College Station Home Sales 05/11/2008

Lightning Prediction Systems have been installed and are now operational in many of the City's parks and schools. The purpose of this system is to further contribute to the safety of users of the outdoor facilities by complementing existing rules and practices already in place. A strobe light will begin to flash and one long 15-second audible alert will sound to indicate that conditions conducive to lightning are present. Procedures to clear fields and pools, stop or postpone athletics, and reduce exposure of personnel outside will be implemented as appropriate. Once the danger has past, the system will sound an "All Clear" with three short audible blasts of the horn and the flashing strobe light will no longer flash.Locations of Lightning Prediction Systems PD Dispatch Central, Bee, W... 05/11/2008

College Station is NOT seeing the drop in prices LA is seeing! We LOVE Bryan/College Station! L.A. home prices falling, and faster by Peter Viles. Month L.A. Index monthly % change yoy % change April 2007 263.4 -0.5% -2.2% May 2007 263.1 -0.1% -3.3% June 2007 262.1 -0.4% -4.1% July 2007 260.8 -0.5% -4.8% Aug. 2007 258.1 -1.1% -5.7% Sept. 2007 254.8 -1.3% -7.0% Oct. 2007 249.5 -2.1% -8.8% Nov. 2007 240.4 -3.6% -11.9% Dec. 2007 233.0 -3.1% -13.7% Jan. 2008 224.4 -3.7% -16.5% Feb. 2008 214.8 -4.3% -19.4% Source: Case-Shiller S&P Home Price Index   Realtor & Sales Trainer for Century 21 Beal, Inc. #1 in Real Estate in Bryan and College Station Home Sales   05/11/2008

    Emily Mullins created her unique style of drawing when she was a twelve year old. Noticing that a line she drew on a page looked like a horse's head Emily began to develop her style to represent horses in a new fashion. Over the years, she has worked on her style, using fewer lines while representing the horse in better detail. Her style has been popular with the local Pony Club, having designed multiple t-shirts and even winning the t-shirt design contest for the United States Pony Club Championship in 2003. After much encouragement from frends, she and her mother began selling art at horse shows she competed in, making modest income to offset show expenses. Emily is currently in high school in College Station,  working hard to fulfill her hopes of becoming an dequine veterinarian... 05/11/2008

Well....I'm a little suprised how the College Station City council election turned out.  Out of roughly 84,000 citizens in College Station, 5,422 voted for the Place 1 candidates.  Turn out for the other two seats was slighly less.  John Crompton was re-elected for the Place 1 seat.  Dennis Maloney beat out Ron Gay.  And Lawrence Stewart, a new comer that had never even served on a College Station commitee, defeated Chris Scotti.  The two incumbents that seemed to have the most "business sense" - are out.   The neighborhood integrity, please don't build in or around my backyard group is in.  This group, as a whole, appeared to consider the development community the "bad guys."  Oh well.....     The winners did a good job of mobilizing SOME of the neighborhoods....especially those on the... 05/10/2008

Do you have an abandoned pool nearby? Is there a foreclosure down the street that has a pool and no one will take care of it? Do you have an old pond nearby that is a great place for mosquitos to breed?  Try the Mosquitofish!   The Mosquitofish feed on mosquito larvae. They are not the prettiest fish you've ever seen but they are much more environmentaly friendly than pesticides. Realtor Magazine says  "In most areas, when the houses are sold, new owners can collect the fish and return them to the mosquito-control agency. Or some agencies offer to come back and round up the fish." Anyone know where we can find these fish in the Bryan/College Station area?  Realtor & Sales Trainer for Century 21 Beal, Inc. #1 in Real Estate in Bryan and College Station Home Sales 05/10/2008

Do you have school age children? Do you wonder where they will go to Elementary School? How can you be sure before you purchase a new home? Go to the SOURCE! Are all schools equal? Does the Elementary School your child has to go to REALLY matter? Does the school your house is zoned for affect your property value? Realtor & Sales Trainer for Century 21 Beal, Inc. #1 in Real Estate in Bryan and College Station Home Sales   05/09/2008

We continue to see foreclosures in the Bryan College Station market yet not nearly at the rate most other markets throughout the country are experiencing. While we have significantly fewer foreclosures the ones we have are just as trashed out! Inside a foreclosure we often walk into a HUGE mess!  Trash, garbage, old furniture, dead animals.... Not only that, we often find the previous owners have taken everything out of the home - toilets, sinks, garbage disposals, wiring....  Yes, we've seen almost everything at one time or another. To make the foreclosure a little less painful for EVERYONE, lenders often allow us to offer a "stipend" to the previous owners - CASH FOR KEYS. The Cash for Keys is so the previous owners will leave the property in broom swept condition. Nothing should be ... 05/09/2008

Did you know that the Crape Myrtle (lagerstoemia indica) was the official shrub of Texas? Did you know that Texas is represented by more official plants than any other state? Did you know that the crepe myrtle could have been the state tree and the state flower except it isn't a native Texan?  It originally was imported from China and was introduced to Paris, Texas in 1857 and yes - both spellings are correct. The crape myrtle was declared the Official State Shrub of Texas in 1997. The crepe myrtle is one of the longest blooming tree. The flowers last from 6-120 days in late summer. They range in height when grown between 18 inches and some even grow as tall as 40 feet. They come in colors ranging from white to pink to purple and are BEAUTIFUL!    They grow wonderfully in the Bryan-Col... 05/09/2008

Composition roofs can be separated into 3 categories: 3-Tab, Laminates, and Premiums. It is the most common roof on homes and has a wide range of styles, colors, and pricing. We offer and install all types and brands of composition roofing products. Below you will find examples of each of the three types. Additional colors and choices are offered by each manufacturer. 3-Tab   3-Tab is a good and economical choice for composition roofs. It is available in 20, 25, and 30 year. Laminates   Laminates are value priced and offer an upgraded, dimensional look from the standard 3-tab shingle. It is available in 30, 40, and 50 year. PremiumsPremiums are the best choice if you are looking for the most durable and energy efficient composition roof. Premiums tend to be the most expensive out of th... 05/09/2008

Have you told anyone at the City of College Station how you feel about "Neighborhood Integrity?" What exactly does that mean?Are you willing to take a few minutes and complete the City's Survey about the neighborhood effects of rental properties, students, zoning, neighborhood events, neighborhood welcome groups & code violations. Do you believe in zero tolerance for zode violations? Have you thought about how property values in your neighborhood will be affected by students? It could EASILY affect your property values negatively OR positively!  Are you willing to serve on a committee or board to work on the rental properties issues?  Stand up and be counted! Realtor & Sales Trainer for Century 21 Beal, Inc. #1 in Real Estate in Bryan and College Station Home Sales   05/09/2008

Below is an article from the Daily Real Estate News. It shows Forbes' list of the 10 most challenging housing markets in the US. Notice anything about the list?   Where is TEXAS?   1. Florida 2. Florida 3. Arizona 4. Florida  5. California 6. Washington D.C. 7. Illinois 8. Maryland 9. California 10. Colorado Did you notice Texas didn't make the list at all?  Texas is the largest state in the nation we don't have ANY of the top 10 problem markets.  Bryan College Station is by far beating most of the rest of the real estate housing markets throughout the country. Thank you Texas A&M!   Daily Real Estate News  |  April 24, 2008 10 Most Challenging Housing Markets The hardest places to sell homes are those with falling prices and a large inventory of unsold homes. Forbes magazine, which ex... 05/09/2008

Does the value of the dollar affect the price of real estate in Bryan or College Station, Texas? I think it does... as strange as that sounds. As the dollar drops real estate becomes more and more affordable to foreign investors. Why do we care? Think about how many people come into our community - Texas A&M University - that are not "from here?" With the dropping dollar that puts them into a much better position to purchase a property rather than lease. Stephanie Armour from USA Today says, "International buyers also see U.S. home prices as a bargain. With the dollar down against the Euro, European buyers get particularly good deals, but buyers from Asia and Canada also are active, according to international real estate practitioners." So in this sea of terrible news about the real es... 05/09/2008

Pebble Creek Elementary School continues to shine. This elementary school with extensive parent involvement makes it a much desired location keeping Pebble Creek (golf course and housing subdivision) a prime location. I've had 2 children attend and LOVED having a local elementary school where we could watch the children play and learn.Below are the school ratings from the Texas Education Agency. What have your experiences been with Pebble Creek Elementary? In 2006-2007 this school was acknowledged by the Texas Education Agency for the following indicator(s): Commended Performance: Reading/English Language Arts Commended Performance: Mathematics Commended Performance: Writing Comparable Improvement: Math In 2006-2007 this school was rated "Exemplary" by the Texas Education Agency. In 200... 05/08/2008

Yes, choosing the right Realtor is very important as is setting the right listing price. It is a job both you and your agent must take to heart. Study the market using both past sales and properties that are currently available. It is as if you are trying to look into a crystal ball and find the price that is in line with the market and even a bit ahead of the curve - up or down. You want to price the home as high as possible to net you the maximum possible yet not pricing it so high that you are out of line with the market and therefore miss the opportunity to sell and you end up being behind the curve and "chasing the price down". Pricing the propety RIGHT will help you catch the attention of potential buyers and help you meet your sales price goals. Is there a perfect price for sell... 05/07/2008

In my comparisons of schools through Greatschools.net I've seen quite a difference between some groups. College Station Elementary Schools ranked very close together in these comparisons. Class sizes in the third grade are between 17 & 20, TAKS score all were in the 80's & 90's. Looks to me like if I was looking to move into a home in College Station and I had school age children I wouldn't worry too much about which elementary they had to attend. I think these schools ranked very good - School name   School    type   GreatSchoolsRatings ParentReviews   Accountability    rating     Avg. class    size grade 3   College Hills Elementary School public 8 Recognized 18 Forest Ridge public 7 Academically Acceptable 19 Pebble Creek Elementary School public 10 Exemplary 19 Rock Prairie Element... 05/07/2008

  We have a young STAR artist in A&M Consolidate High School in College Station!   Have you ever seen Pony Drops? Emily Mullins created her unique style of drawing when she was a twelve year old. Noticing that a line she drew on a page looked like a horse's head Emily began to develop her style to represent horses in a new fashion. Over the years, she has worked on her style, using fewer lines while representing the horse in better detail. Her style has been popular with the local Pony Club, having designed multiple t-shirts and even winning the t-shirt design contest for the United States Pony Club Championship in 2003. After much encouragement from frends, she and her mother began selling art at horse shows she competed in, making modest income to offset show expenses. Emily is curre... 05/07/2008

Why is it that low life scummy people are not the ones that get convicted of stealing thousands of dollars?  No one trusts them with money, so they do not have access to large amounts of money. Why is it that people (or companies) that we trust, respect, and admire steal money...even if they really don't need it?  They were liked.  They were trusted.  They had access to the money.  AND they rationalized their behavior somehow. Does that mean that everyone that trusted the "thief" was a bad person or a poor manager?  No.  In most cases, it does mean that there was not an adequate system "internal controls" to have alerted someone to the problem sooner.  As a CPA, that formerly investigated fraud, I opted to write this post for two reasons:  1.  If you are managing an office, don't forget... 05/07/2008