Just Horsin' Around - Thoughts on Central Texas Real Estate and More

Friday evening two of my Meetup groups, Austin Green Home and Austin New Urbanism and Sustainable Development, both organized by the same person, met together for a potluck and to watch a movie, New Urban Cowboy: The Labors of Michael E. Arth (short sample available at that link).  It was a wonderful evening and a fascinating movie about a man who took a neighborhood that had once been lovely and elegant (the homes all are from the 1920's and thereabout), had descended to the level of crack neighborhood, and restored it to its former elegance as a Garden District.  This is a film that I think all real estate professionals, investors, and anyone interested in housing and real estate should see - it's an amazing story by and about an amazing man and how a community was brought back to life by many people inspired by his determination.  While you're there, check out his website and the other things he's done (and is doing) with his life.  

Anyone who lives in Central Texas is familiar with prickly pear and the battle to keep this beautiful but painful plant from taking over the land.  There has been an ongoing battle between man and prickly pear for the land since at least the days of the arrival of the Spanish.  A prickly pear or two is a beautiful thing - however, it almost never is "a prickly pear or two", as the plant tends to spread, eating the land voraciously.  (The prickly pear is the cactus looming ominously over the bluebonnets to the right.)

And in this battle, the land is often the victim, of chemicals, loss of topsoil, and other insults.  

Just this morning, however, I read of someone who's come up with a solution that may be the most environmentally correct to date.  A solution that not only leaves the topsoil and uses no chemicals, but allows the prickly pear plants to dry up and return to the soil.  AND the gentleman doing the work is happy as a lark!  What's not to like? 

I'll be researching this further, both as a landowner in prickly pear country and, as a horse property specialist, as a resource for my land-buying real estate clients who are looking for the perfect Texas horse property and find it, except that it's been invaded by the prickly pear.  

An interesting article in this morning's Austin American-Statesman tells of a professor at ACC (Austin Community College) who requires, not lengthy papers, but that his students in his Texas and national government classes write their papers online, as blogs.  More fun for them to write, and for him to grade, he notes.  

When I think back to having to write papers for class, and what a pain it was, and when I remember watching my sister, the teacher, spending hours upon hours grading papers after school at home in the evenings, and when I think about how much work, but interesting work, blogging is, and how it makes me think about what I'm going to say, I think this is a good thing.  

How about you?  Do you think that being taught to blog in school (albeit college) is a good thing?  Do you think, as I do, that it should be taught earlier (along with the usual rules about copyright infringement, etc.)?  Do you think it should be done in lower grades?  Do you think it will work better, not as well, or about the same as the traditional writing of academic papers?  

What are your thoughts on this?  Inquiring minds want to know! 

When many people think of Christmas (especially photographers and illustrators), they think of sleighs in the snow, white Christmases, and such.  

Well, that's really usually contrary to our experience here in Central Texas, for the most part.  Especially the white part.  

Today, our family gathered at the Apache Shores (Austin) home of my daughter Jess and her SO, Josh, for Christmas dinner.  (This year I've managed to have both the major food holidays at the homes of my children, which has been most relaxing!)  The day was lovely,and we ended up have dinner al fresco on their deck with its breathtaking view of the Balcones Canyonland Preserve (they share their back fence with the BCP).

The one thing our Christmas shares in common with others is that we had a lovely day with family.  I hope yours was as pleasant and that you've had the merriest of Christmases and will have the happiest and most prosperous of New Years!  

I haven't managed to make it down there yet this year, but it's once again time for the famous 37th Street Christmas lights.  This is something I try to make every year - it's the most amazing experience, world-famous, and all put together by neighbors (not a neighborhood association, but each neighbor doing their own thing that comes together in a fantastic gift to the entire Central Texas community). 

I could try to find some photos of it that are't copyrighted to put here, but I just ran across a website that has some virtual tours of the street that is so much more evocative of the experience for those of you who can't make it for the real deal.  Just imagine that there's a nip in the air, you're bundled up walking down the sidewalk (and into some back yards), there are cars driving oh-so-slowly down the street with their lights off (them's the rules - headlights would ruin the experience for everyone), along with a crowd of others throwing adulthood to the wind and enjoying the Christmas experience of being a kid again.  Followed up by a visit to Amy's Ice Cream, another Austin tradition.  (Our traditions are a wee bit different from those of other, less "weird", communities.) 

 This morning, a beautiful sunny morning, I went out to feed the critters.  As I wandered around my chores, I heard a familiar "Who?  Who?"  Feeding finished (priorities, of course), I wandered around to the front yard to see if I could locate the source.

The leaves on the willow trees being gone, Mr. Owl (Mrs. Owl?) was clearly visible, not always the case.  And HUGE said owl is!  I took a couple of photos - was afraid he'd fly off, but I, and my doings, mean about as much to him as a cow, being clearly too large to be dinner. 

When you live in the country, while it seems like your closest neighbor is far way, but that's not really true.  It's just that the definition of "neighbor" takes on a different meaning out here.  

The photos are somewhat blurred in that I didn't want to try to get TOO close, just in case he should change his mind and leave.  But here's one of our neighbors who was here before we moved in and decided to stay.

I've been sharing here various views from our little part of the country over time.  Here's another one. 

This morning I went out to feed the critters, and ask I stepped to the back door and looked out, I saw the sun just coming up.  It was so beautiful that I ran back and got my camera, went out and took a couple of shots, and then just stood and watched.  Even though this is a relatively common view from our window, it still makes me pause and consider the beauty that's all around us every day if we just take time to stop and look at it. 

I recently passed my 58th birthday and had, for some reason, an intimation of my own mortality. I looked at the years that were possibly left to me and decided that I couldn't afford not to make the most of them.  And that doesn't mean seeing how much money I can pile up in accounts (though I love my job and getting paid is definitely a Good Thing).  It means paying attention to the world around me, because I suddenly realized that I don't have forever to do those things.  

It can be something as simple as this sunrise, something that happens every day without our input or notice.  If you can see the sunrise from where you live, go out tomorrow morning and see what it looks like, will you?

As real estate agents, a lot of us are familiar with working out of our home offices, so in that way, this is something with which we're familiar.  However, it appears that this may be a growing trend in other fields, and something we might want to keep an eye on in terms of how we look at homes for our clients. 

There's an interesting article on CNN today on "the world of hidden tech" and its impact on our society and our lives. (More in depth information can be found at CNN's special report on working at home.) With more and more baby boomers looking at second careers, many of them out of their homes, this could well impact how we market homes and what kinds of homes our buyers are looking for.  Location, location, location may become less important than what kind of internet access is available, for example.  (I've already seen that with some of my buyers and am incorporating it into my marketing plans as we speak.)  Lots of people move out to the country to get away from the city crowds but still need to work - their companies are letting them telecommute or they're starting home-based businesses that operate almost entirely via the internet.  There are a surprising number of people living in the country or small towns who run ebay businesses.  Many of the people who are looking for Texas horse property (or horse property in other areas) are part of this ever-expanding group, looking to work at home and run a boarding or training facility, for example.

NOW is the time to examine this growing trend and tweak our marketing and buying techniques and plans to take advantage of it.   What are your ideas of ways to do that? 

D'Vine Wine is more than a wine store.  It's the only winery in Williamson County (as I understand it, in order to call yourself a winery, the wine has to be made on the premises).  They offer tastings, they sell only their own wine, they even offer facilities for you to make your own wine (which gets it out of your kitchen, says she who's made wine and beer in the same kitchen - don't advise it, you can end up with 15% beer if the wine yeast goes walkabout!). 

There were three of us, and you get 3 tastings for free, so we shared so we'd each get a well-rounded view of their offerings.  I'm considering having a Central Texas Food-Centrics gathering there (they're set up to handle private groups).  The agent with us is considering having them make up "signature baskets" of various Georgetown-produced items as closing gifts.  They have lots of wine-related foodstuffs and gift items (some really cool cowboy-head wine bottle stoppers, for example), and they will make a special label for you (from their template or you provide the artwork) to put on bottles for the perfect gift for the person who has everything.

All in all, a great little place.  I highly recommend dropping by and checking them out - you won't be disappointed.   On Austin Avenue, just south of the Courthouse Square. 

So, MLX driving you crazy?  Real estate market got you down?