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    <title>Meg Zoller Blogs Bellaire, Houston, Texas</title>
    <link>http://activerain.com/blogs/finehomeshouston</link>
    <description></description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/778732/is-the-f-word-being-mentioned-more-often-in-your-real-estate-market-</guid>
      <title>Is the &quot;F&quot; Word Being Mentioned More Often in Your Real Estate Market?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ok- get your mind out of the gutter!&lt;/strong&gt; Of course the &quot;F&quot; stands for &quot;&lt;strong&gt;foreclosures&lt;/strong&gt;&quot; and in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot; title=&quot;Houston Real Estate Market Information&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston real estate market&lt;/a&gt;, foreclosure properties are becoming more common place. Not to the extent seen in the major foreclosure markets of Nevada, California, Arizona or Florida but pretty widespread all the same. Even in the popular &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire Neighborhood Information&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston neighborhood of Bellaire&lt;/a&gt; there are over a dozen foreclosure and REO properties on the market.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;The Challenges Consumers Face with Foreclosure&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We all recognize the challenges faced by homeowners at risk of foreclosure, and those already involved this gut-wrenching&amp;nbsp;experience. Many homeowners too embarrassed never attempt to call or even talk to their lender, choosing to watch their mailbox fill with notice after notice. If they only knew to pick up the phone and make that call to see just what options are available. And then there is the seedy side of this business where the vultures are circling these individuals looking to swoop down and pretend to offer a solution. As a representative of the real estate industry, I somehow believe we should be doing a far better job protecting the consumer from these low life's. The first step in this solution is to be open, transparent and offer sound education. &lt;img src=&quot;http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/2/8/4/6/ar12260758964829.jpg&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;Foreclosures&quot; width=&quot;290&quot; style=&quot;margin: 10px; float: right;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;The Other Players in Foreclosure&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition to those homeowners either in the midst of a foreclosure or those teetering on the edge, you find the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/buyers.php&quot; title=&quot;Houston Home Buyer Resources&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;buyers&lt;/a&gt;. Some are equally oportunistic, ready to &quot;low-ball&quot; the equity-starved &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/sellers.php&quot; title=&quot;Houston Home Seller Resources&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;seller&lt;/a&gt; who is trying to avoid foreclosure. Look at the impact of foreclosures on any hyper-local market - its snowball effect can slowly begin to rob a neighborhood of its property values.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Remembering Why I Have a Houston Real Estate License!&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Our &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/staff.php&quot; title=&quot;The Zoller Group&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston REALTOR team&lt;/a&gt; here at the Zoller Group has decided to meet this challenging and growing reality of foreclosures and short sales head on. As a veteran &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/about.php&quot; title=&quot;Learn About The Zoller Group&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston REALTOR&lt;/a&gt;, I was recently reminded of my responsibility to our &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Your Ultimate Houston Real Estate Resource&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston real estate website&lt;/a&gt; visitors, our &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/&quot; title=&quot;Community Blog for Fine Homes Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston real estate blog&lt;/a&gt; visitors, our customers, and our clients:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To state all material facts&lt;/strong&gt; relating to any &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/property.php&quot; title=&quot;The Zoller Group Featured Houston Homes&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston property&lt;/a&gt; (foreclosure, short sale or otherwise)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To protect my clients from legal peril&lt;/strong&gt; and to offer sound consultation&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To use every opportunity to educate&lt;/strong&gt; consumers, customers and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/testimonial.php&quot; title=&quot;The Zoller Group Testimonials&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;clients&lt;/a&gt; using my online presence to the very best of my ability&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Our creditability as real estate professionals demands we skillfully fullfill these responsibilities. To do otherwise places those we work for at legal peril and financial risk.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Putting My Houston Real Estate Blog in High Gear!&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With a fresh perspective, we launched a new post yesterday at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/&quot; title=&quot;Community Blog for Fine Homes Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Fine Homes Houston Community blog&lt;/a&gt; on educating consumers about the terms we so flippantly use when talking about foreclosure. You are welcome to visit our &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/06/the-f-word-in-houston-real-estate/&quot; title=&quot;Fine Homes Houston Community Blog&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Houston Real Estate Blog for a closer look&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Please view our &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot; title=&quot;Home of the Ultimate Houston Real Estate Website&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston Real Estate website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;br /&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;E-mail: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844&lt;br /&gt;Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:47:19 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/778732/is-the-f-word-being-mentioned-more-often-in-your-real-estate-market-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/621126/real-estate-update-newsletter-august-2008</guid>
      <title>Real Estate Update Newsletter - August, 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Topics in The Zoller Group's monthly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/02/real-estate-update-august-2008/&quot; title=&quot;Real Estate News - August 2008&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;real estate&amp;nbsp;newsletter&lt;/a&gt;, REALTY NEWS UPDATE, include the following:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Mortgage Rate Locks&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Current Mortgage Rates&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;New Information on Bathroom Redesign&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Credit Scores&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Local Market Conditions in Houston, Texas&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We would greatly appreciate any feedback you could provide on the various articles.&amp;nbsp; Jim and I strive to provide as much valuable information to you as possible.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:27:15 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/621126/real-estate-update-newsletter-august-2008</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/527957/houston-market-reports-why-post-them-may-2008</guid>
      <title>Houston Market Reports-Why Post Them?- May 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Why Post Market Reports?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Posting market reports not only helps home buyers, sellers and other interested parties . . . it also helps &lt;strong&gt;me&lt;/strong&gt; to stay on top of what the market is doing.&amp;nbsp; People want good reliable information from their real estate professionals.&amp;nbsp; I want to do everything I can to provide easily understood information in Houston neighborhoods that I'm most familiar.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please Feel Free to Offer Additional Information - I Want to Hear From YOU !!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If at any time you can add to the information I offer . . .please do so.&amp;nbsp; I would love to hear from you.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Current Houston Area Market Reports Available to YOU:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/28/afton-oaks-may-2008afton-oaks-may-2008/&quot; title=&quot;Afton Oaks, Houston, TX&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Afton Oaks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/28/bellaire-may-2008bellaire-may-2008/&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire, Houston, TX&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/28/braes-heights-&amp;hellip;eport-may-2008braes-heights-houston-tx-market-condition-report-may-2008/&quot; title=&quot;Braes Heights, Houston, TX&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Braes Heights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/28/market-conditions-houston-txmarket-conditions-houston-tx&quot; title=&quot;Houston Market Report&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/28/houston-heights-may-2008houston-heights-may-2008/&quot; title=&quot;Houston Heights&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston Heights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;Knollwood Village&quot; title=&quot;Knollwood Village&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Knollwood Village&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/28/meyerland-may-2008meyerland-may-2008/&quot; title=&quot;Meyerland&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Meyerland&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/28/montrosemay-2008montrosemay-2008/&quot; title=&quot;Montrose, Houston, TX&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Montrose&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/28/west-universit&amp;hellip;arket-may-2008west-university-market-may-2008/&quot; title=&quot;West University&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;West University&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For Further Information, Please:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.FineHomesHouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Website&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View Our Website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://realtytimes.com/c/megjimzoller&quot; title=&quot;Newsletter&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;View Our Newsletter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU LIKE TO SEE IN MARKET CONDITION REPORTS?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 23:29:00 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/527957/houston-market-reports-why-post-them-may-2008</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/509408/alhs</guid>
      <title>ALHS</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;I'm so excited that it was decided to form this group.&amp;nbsp; I look forward to finding out how each of you are doing; and, to share ideas with you on marketing, etc.&amp;nbsp; Let's make this a fabulous group!!!&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 09:05:10 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/509408/alhs</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/455043/2008-26th-annual-bellaire-home-tour-benefits-needs-of-the-nature-discovery-center</guid>
      <title>2008 - 26th Annual Bellaire Home Tour Benefits Needs of the Nature Discovery Center</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/cynthia-b3.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/marrakech-b1.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/locust-b.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/holt-b1.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/cynthia-b2.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/bellaire-b1.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/lafayette-b1.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Six &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire Real Estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire, Texas&lt;/a&gt; homeowners have graciously offered to allow the public to view their individually interesting and unique homes this weekend . . . Saturday and Sunday, &lt;strong&gt;April 5th and 6th, 2008, from 1:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M.&lt;/strong&gt;each day.&amp;nbsp;The &lt;strong&gt;26th annual Bellaire Home Tour&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;benefits the Nature Discovery Center at Russ Pittman Park&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The homes vary from traditional to contemporary architecture and from older construction to newer construction.&amp;nbsp; The uniqueness of each home will be enjoyed by everyone who takes the opportunity to view these homes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TICKETS :&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;$12.00 in advance&lt;/strong&gt;- picked up at Nature Discovery Center, Magpies, Teas Nursery and Whole Foods.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;$15.00 on day of tour&lt;/strong&gt; - available at each house&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For pictures, descriptions and addresses of each of the homes please &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/blog/04/26th-annual-bellaire-texas-home-tour-benefitting-the-nature-discovery-center/&quot; title=&quot;Nature Discovery Center Will Benefit From Bellaire Home Tour&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:53:03 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/455043/2008-26th-annual-bellaire-home-tour-benefits-needs-of-the-nature-discovery-center</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/441461/blogging-boot-camp-for-me-how-about-for-you-</guid>
      <title>Blogging Boot Camp For Me . . . How About For You???</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;My friends at &lt;strong&gt;Dakno&lt;/strong&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;Brad and Bobby Carroll&lt;/strong&gt;, are &lt;strong&gt;offering a blogging boot camp&lt;/strong&gt; which &lt;strong&gt;starts today, March 27, 2008&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; It&amp;#39;s &lt;strong&gt;one hour on the telephone every Thursday for the next eight weeks&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; It&amp;#39;s another commitment that&amp;nbsp;I need to make.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I think by participating in the program . . .it will get me pointed in the right direction for areas I need to improve.&amp;nbsp; Maybe, I&amp;#39;ll even become more disciplined and consistent on the time I spend blogging.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I need to go ahead and commit to the program.&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ve been dragging my feet.&amp;nbsp; Education is one aspect of my business that I really like to focus on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have any of you attended or participated in a blogging boot camp or seminar that you found extremely valuable?&amp;nbsp; If so, please let me know.&amp;nbsp; I want to get the most out of this boot camp so I would like to know . . .what are the most important topics you&amp;nbsp;learned that&amp;nbsp;did you the most good?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#39;re interested in Dakno&amp;#39;s program &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bloggingbootcamp.com/the-blogging-boot-camp-express-train-is-leaving-the-station-all-aboard/&quot; title=&quot;Blogging Boot Camp&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; for further information.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thank you for taking your time to share your information with me!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:32:58 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/441461/blogging-boot-camp-for-me-how-about-for-you-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/441442/digital-pictures-set-up-need-help-anyone-</guid>
      <title>Digital Pictures Set-up. . . Need Help Anyone???</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Richard Gordon,&lt;/strong&gt; who specializes in &lt;strong&gt;Architectural and Real Estate&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Photography in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/strong&gt; gave a &lt;strong&gt;short seminar to REALTORS&lt;/strong&gt; recently in a&amp;nbsp;brownstone that was for sale.&amp;nbsp; He had taken the beautiful advertising pictures for the home.&amp;nbsp; My daughter, Kristin, and I took the opportunity to attend.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Among&amp;nbsp;the many&amp;nbsp;topics he discussed were:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Where you&amp;nbsp;can take basic digital photography courses, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Equipment that you really need to take the photographs, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lighting, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Set-up, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Post production.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;The one section that caught my attention the most&amp;nbsp;was the &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;set-up&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt; of the pictures to show the rooms&amp;nbsp;which are photographed in the best possible way.&amp;nbsp; I knew when I was listening to him that this section wasn&amp;#39;t too far over my head.&amp;nbsp; I already knew a few of the tips, but I learned more.&amp;nbsp; He taught us to:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Shoot the pictures from the corners of the room.&amp;nbsp; It makes the rooms look larger.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tell a story about the home by the pictures that you take and how you&amp;nbsp; arrange them.&amp;nbsp; Take them as you would normally proceed to tour the home yourself.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In order to make rooms look larger you need to use your imagination. Plan your pictures.&amp;nbsp; One way was to not take a picture of the corner of the room where two walls meet.&amp;nbsp; If the picture ends before the corner is seen, then it makes the room seem to continue . . .and to appear larger.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;All lights should be turned on.&amp;nbsp; Move lights around to get the best lighting you can if it&amp;#39;s necessary.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Turn off all the ceiling fans so that the fan won&amp;#39;t blur your picture.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Close any blinds upward so that you get better lighting for the pictures.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sometimes it&amp;#39;s necessary to move furniture to get the picture to balance better.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sinks need to be neat and tidy and the faucet should be turned directly forward or perpendicular to the wall.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;There were other ideas that he discussed, but I think these are the ones I needed to focus on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now I have to honestly tell you that when he started talking about DXO Optics Pro, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom/Elements and Paint Shop Pro . . . .he totally lost me.&amp;nbsp; That information will have to be learned at a later date.&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;m sure it will take me quite awhile to learn it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you would like to have Richard Gordon&amp;#39;s contact information . . .please let me know and I&amp;#39;ll happily give it to you.&amp;nbsp; He will take photographs for all your marketing needs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:12:35 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/441442/digital-pictures-set-up-need-help-anyone-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/441421/bellaire-library-book-sale-bellaire-texas</guid>
      <title>Bellaire Library Book Sale - Bellaire, Texas</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;There are many events and activities offered&amp;nbsp;throughout the year in &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire, Texas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; One of my favorites, though, is the&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt; Friends of the Library Book Sale&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Ever since our daughters were little,&amp;nbsp;Jim and I would&amp;nbsp;take them to the sale and we would all stock up on books to read.&amp;nbsp; It has always been a lot of fun to go through&amp;nbsp;the piles of books and the boxes while we each selected those special books.&amp;nbsp; Since the cost was very low for the books, we could each buy quite a few more books than we would if we went to the book store.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Well, it&amp;#39;s that time of year again.&amp;nbsp; The&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Friends of the&amp;nbsp;Library Book Sale in Bellaire, Texas&lt;/strong&gt; is this&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;It will be held in the parking lot at &lt;strong&gt;5111 Jessamine in Bellaire&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Great bargains&lt;/strong&gt; are always found.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Paperback books are 50 cents each and hardback books are $1.00 each&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I hope that you can make the sale and stock up with all the books you desire.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maybe we&amp;#39;ll see you there!!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:21:56 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/441421/bellaire-library-book-sale-bellaire-texas</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/441400/6123-claridge-drive-houston-tx-77096</guid>
      <title>6123 CLARIDGE DRIVE, HOUSTON, TX 77096</title>
      <description>&lt;table bgcolor=&quot;#e8e8e8&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;60%&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;You will take personal pride and pleasure in making &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/property-detail.php?_id=4248&quot; title=&quot;6123 Claridge&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6123 Claridge Drive&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;your new single family home. Located in Fondren Southwest Northbrook Subdivision Sec 1 in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt;. . .this lovely home is across the street from the desirable neighborhood park and pool.&amp;nbsp; It also sits on one side of the cul-de-sac. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Home buyers will appreciate the&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;fresh paint on the exterior&lt;/strong&gt; and&amp;nbsp;will take notice of the&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;immaculate interior&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp;This home&amp;nbsp;has both a &lt;strong&gt;formal living room and dining room&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; The comfortable&lt;strong&gt; family room&lt;/strong&gt; offers built-ins, abundant windows, charming corner fireplace, pretty paneling and a high ceiling.&amp;nbsp; There is a &lt;strong&gt;private wet-bar&lt;/strong&gt; between the family room and the breakfast room.&amp;nbsp; The floor plan flows nicely and is good for those&amp;nbsp;who entertain.&amp;nbsp; You&amp;#39;ll enjoy viewing the back yard while eating in the breakfast room.&amp;nbsp; The &lt;strong&gt;kitchen is well planned&lt;/strong&gt; for the cook.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;fruit trees in the back yard&lt;/strong&gt; which you can enjoy.&amp;nbsp; Both the front and back of this home are nicely landscaped.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Claridge is reported by HCAD to be &lt;strong&gt;2530 square feet.&amp;nbsp; The lot is 8100 square feet.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;The four bedroom, two and a half bath, two car garage home is listed for only $153,900.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-1.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-1.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Trees frame the front of this lovely home which sits in the side of the cul-de-sac.The exterior of this home was recently painted.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-2.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-2.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Second picture of this lovely 4 bedroom home.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-3.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-3.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The nice landscaping and garage can be more clearly seen in relationship to this home.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-4.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-4.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The formal living room overlooks the foyer and peeks into the family room. There are doors that can be closed to offer this room more privacy.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-5.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-5.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The nice sized dining room is off the living room.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-6.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-6.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Formal dining room offers you and your guest a quiet place for dining and conversation.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-7.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-7.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The corner wood-burning fireplace is a beautiful feature of the family room. &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-8.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-8.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Generous built-ins, lovely paneling, gorgeous windows and nice carpeting are also added features of the family room.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-9.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-9.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;A nice sized breakfast room with a breakfast bar is found on this side of the kitchen&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-10.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-10.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The kitchen offers abundant storage space, wonderful counter space, tile floors, and recent appliances.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-11.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-11.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-12.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-12.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Generous sized master retreat is upstairs.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-13.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-13.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;There is enough extra space in the master bedroom to have an office.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-14.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-14.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Much storage space is found in the master bathroom. There is a combination tub/shower.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-15.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-15.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Many fruit trees and flowering plants are discovered in the back and side yards.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/hr2098783-16.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/83/lr2098783-16.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Another view of the back yard and the rear of this home&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:43:42 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/441400/6123-claridge-drive-houston-tx-77096</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/438891/8522-carvel-houston-tx-77036</guid>
      <title>8522 CARVEL. HOUSTON, TX 77036</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;March 2008&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A new listing is being offered in Section 2 of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=852&quot; title=&quot;Sharpstown real estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Sharpstown&lt;/a&gt; Country Club Terrace&lt;/strong&gt; Subdivision in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston real estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Houston, TX&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; The spacious &lt;strong&gt;four bedroom, two bath&lt;/strong&gt; home is situated on a pretty street.&amp;nbsp; Located at &lt;strong&gt;8522 Carvel &lt;/strong&gt;in Houston, TX, the single family residence offers formals, a huge family room, indoor laundry room and a detached garage.&amp;nbsp; Features include tile floors, carpet, recently installed over-sized shower in the master, recent appliances and a number of double paned windows with mini blinds inside the panes.&amp;nbsp; All rooms feel spacious with the air-conditioned space reported by HCAD as &lt;strong&gt;1957 square feet&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;There is a good sized back yard.&amp;nbsp; The total &lt;strong&gt;land area&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;is&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;also reported by HCAD to be &lt;strong&gt;9366 square feet&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; The price for this home is only &lt;strong&gt;$119,900.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is still some cosmetic work being done on this home . . .but don&amp;#39;t wait until it&amp;#39;s done.&amp;nbsp; Take time to view this home right away.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Home Buyers&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;strong&gt;I believe you will enjoy making this your new home.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Call Jim or me anytime to make an appointment to view this home for sale, or for any other information you may need.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;table bgcolor=&quot;#e8e8e8&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;60%&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-1.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-1.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Large, graceful tree shades the front yard of this home.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-2.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-2.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;A freestanding electric range and a built-in microwave were recently added to this nicely planned kitchen.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-3.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-3.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The kitchen and breakfast room show the tile found in these rooms . . . and also in the laundry and huge family room.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-4.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-4.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Abundant natural light is seen in the breakfast room.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-5.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-5.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The family room is huge. It also has abundant natural light. You can enter the backyard through the double doors. The door and windows are double paned in this room and have mini-blinds between the panes.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-6.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-6.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Second view of the family room shows a few of the built-ins and the tile floors.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-7.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-7.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The third view of the family room helps put the space of it in more perspective. There is track lighting.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-8.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-8.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;This living room set utilizes approximately half of the living room space.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-9.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-9.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Shown here is the living/dining combination of the two formal rooms. There is a pocket door between the dining room and kitchen. &lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-10.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-10.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;A large window is in the good sized master bedroom where you may want to position your bed. The floor is tile.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/hr2114738-11.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/38/lr2114738-11.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;There is quite a bit of green space in the back yard for you to enjoy.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:15:35 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/438891/8522-carvel-houston-tx-77036</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/437964/4305-valerie-bellaire-texas</guid>
      <title>4305 VALERIE - BELLAIRE, TEXAS</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;This&amp;nbsp;remodeled&amp;nbsp;two bedroom, one bathroom&amp;nbsp;home is located in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire real estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire, Texas&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; There is a carport and a storage area attached to the home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bellaire is a city&lt;/strong&gt; which is completely surrounded by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; The Bellaire neighborhood is&amp;nbsp; highly &amp;quot;sought after&amp;quot; by home buyers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4305 Valerie&lt;/strong&gt; is in the &lt;strong&gt;Southdale Subdivision&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;which is in&amp;nbsp;the southeast corner of Bellaire, Texas.&amp;nbsp; The majority of the single family homes in this subdivision are situated on&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;50&amp;#39;X102.5&amp;#39; lots&lt;/strong&gt; . . .&amp;nbsp;as is&amp;nbsp;this home.&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Bellaire real estate&lt;/strong&gt; largely consists of both new construction luxury homes, resale homes and properties that are sold as lots for the new construction.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As of March 2008, this home is &lt;strong&gt;priced to sell for lot value at $219,900&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; There is &lt;strong&gt;approximately 1130 square feet of living space&lt;/strong&gt; according to the Harris County Appraisal District.&amp;nbsp; However, it has been &lt;strong&gt;recently remodeled&lt;/strong&gt;. The &lt;strong&gt;home&amp;nbsp;is extremely livable&lt;/strong&gt; and will make a nice home for those that may want to &lt;strong&gt;live in a home now and build their dream home later.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please contact us with any comments or questions.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;table bgcolor=&quot;#e8e8e8&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;60%&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-1.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-1.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Front view of this remodeled home shows an aluminum roof and single carport. Note the new construction next door and to the right back of this home.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-2.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-2.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The second view of the front of this home shows the trees beginning to leaf (3/08). They sure will be pretty in the very near future.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-3.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-3.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Recently installed laminate floors, mini-blinds and fresh paint are noted in the living room. The three windows offer nice lighting to the room.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-4.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-4.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;French doors lead from the dining room into the large paneled den.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-5.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-5.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Granite counters, stainless steel appliances &amp;amp; sink, nice faucet and marble floors are sought after features found in this recently remodeled kitchen.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-6.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-6.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The back bedroom offers nice natural lighting. The laminate floors are carried into the bedrooms, too.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-7.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-7.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Abundant windows in the family room offer nice lighting to show the knotty pine paneling, laminate floors and a bit of the back yard.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-8.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-8.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The dining room can be seen from this view of the family room. This room was probably added to this home quite some time ago.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/hr2111618-9.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/18/lr2111618-9.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;View the deck and back of this home from the corner of the back yard.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:30:04 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/437964/4305-valerie-bellaire-texas</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/435457/4407-acacia-bellaire-texas-luxury-estate-home-for-sale</guid>
      <title>4407 Acacia, Bellaire, Texas - Luxury Estate Home For Sale</title>
      <description>&lt;table bgcolor=&quot;#e8e8e8&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;60%&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of &lt;strong&gt;Bellaire&amp;#39;s oldest luxury estate homes&lt;/strong&gt;, 4407 Acacia, in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire luxury home&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire, Texas&lt;/a&gt; offers a wonderful life style to any home buyers.&amp;nbsp;This single family home is a&lt;strong&gt; 4 or 5 bedroom, 2.5&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;bath remodeled home on an over-sized and much sought after 75&amp;#39;X174&amp;#39; lot inside Loop 610.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;The home offers features such as two downstairs offices, formals, private family room, hardwood floors upstairs and downstairs, balcony off the master suite, large outdoor garden fountain, greenhouse, abundant glass to view the fabulous landscaped yard . . . and so much more.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You must take the time to visit this lovely home.&amp;nbsp; It will be &lt;strong&gt;open on Sunday, March 30, 2008 from 2:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In March of 2007 this home was on the &lt;strong&gt;Bellaire Home Tour&lt;/strong&gt; which raises funds each year to benefit the &lt;strong&gt;Bellaire Nature Discovery Center&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; It is the largest fund-raiser for the center each year.&amp;nbsp; Six homes are selected each year to be on the tour.&amp;nbsp; It is with great pride that the owners of these homes invite&amp;nbsp;the public&amp;nbsp;to visit their home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bellaire, TX is&lt;/strong&gt; a city which is completely surrounded by the city of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston real estate&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; It is&amp;nbsp;a &lt;strong&gt;highly &amp;quot;sought after&amp;quot; community of homes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This &lt;strong&gt;3635 square foot remodeled luxury home&lt;/strong&gt; which was &lt;strong&gt;built in 1940&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;is being offered for $&lt;strong&gt;785,000.00&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You will completely enjoy making this your new home!&amp;nbsp; Feel free to offer comments concerning this home . . . or to &lt;strong&gt;contact me with any questions.&amp;nbsp; I would&amp;nbsp;love to hear from you.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-17.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-17.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The azaleas this year are some of the prettiest ever . . .and just completely opened (3/08). They are a gorgeous compliment to one of Bellaire&amp;#39;s original estate style homes.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-18.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-18.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;This is a delightful home that has been remodeled over the years. Both the home and yard have been given an abundance of love.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-19.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-19.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Abundant windows, deck and balconies add so much personality and enjoyment to this lovely home. The back yard gardens are beautiful, too.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-4.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-4.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Walkways grace the back yard. The deck provides a place for wonderful entertaining or needed serenity. Even the side yard is pretty.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-5.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-5.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Beautiful doors and the wall of glass add so much ambiance to the formal living room.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-6.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-6.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Dine and converse while overlooking the beautifully landscaped back yard.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-7.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-7.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;This picture shows the relationship of the dining room to the kitchen, breakfast bar, breakfast room and sunken living room. Note the gorgeous, recently installed floors.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-8.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-8.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Enjoy preparing meals in this open, well-lit kitchen. Granite counters, two islands, and stainless steel appliances are just a few of the wonderful features of this kitchen.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-9.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-9.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The second picture of the kitchen shows the breakfast bar island, the cooking island and the openness of the kitchen. The kitchen offers a tremendous amount of enjoyment and personality.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-10.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-10.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The azaleas, beautiful flooring, and wall of glass enhance this large downstairs office. There is a wall of built-ins to the right to serve as your library. This is one of the two downstairs offices. The second office is smaller.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-11.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-11.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Beautiful doors adorn the family room and allow you to look out over the lovely landscaped back yard and sunken spa.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-12.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-12.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Presently, this room is being used as a keeping room. It could be used as a breakfast room. The area is adjacent to the breakfast bar and kitchen.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-13.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-13.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The fireplace, high ceilings, dining room and breakfast areas can be seen from the living room. One of the owners is seen in the large office at the front of this home.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-16.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-16.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The upstairs master suite is very spacious and offers gorgeous flooring and windows. &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-14.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-14.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;You&amp;#39;ll thoroughly enjoy overlooking the back yard from this balcony outside the master suite.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/hr2098981-15.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://harpictures.marketlinx.com/MediaDisplay/81/lr2098981-15.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;192&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;256&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Here&amp;#39;s the view of the lush back yard, greenhouse and fountain from the master suite&amp;#39;s balcony.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:45:25 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/435457/4407-acacia-bellaire-texas-luxury-estate-home-for-sale</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/425036/west-university-market-condition-report-houston-texas-march-2008</guid>
      <title>West University Market Condition Report, Houston, Texas - March 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;According to information provided by The Houston Association of Realtors, there are &lt;strong&gt;currently 120 single family homes available for sale in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=602&quot; title=&quot;West University&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;West University Place&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;/strong&gt; a city within &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;,&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;with asking &lt;strong&gt;prices ranging from $257,900 to $3,650,000.&lt;/strong&gt; While the &lt;strong&gt;majority of these luxury homes are of newer construction with a minimum of 4 bedrooms and 3000 sq. ft., there are also smaller homes available with 2 bedrooms that were originally constructed in the 1920&amp;#39;s, 30&amp;#39;s and 40&amp;#39;s, and some properties being sold for lot value.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sellers sold&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;14 properties&amp;nbsp;in February of 2008&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;with prices ranging from $365,000 up to $1,899,000&lt;/strong&gt; for an &lt;strong&gt;average price&amp;nbsp;of $884,642 or $277.06 per square foot.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;The&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;average days on market&lt;/strong&gt; for these properties were &lt;strong&gt;66 days.&lt;/strong&gt; There were &lt;strong&gt;33 properties in various stages of pending at the close of February as well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;For the month of &lt;strong&gt;January 2008 buyers bought 8 properties&amp;nbsp;in West University Place averaging $615,812 or $217.37 per square foot. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ZIP Code:&lt;/strong&gt; 77005&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approximate Location Boundaries:&lt;/strong&gt;Kirby Drive to the East, Union Pacific Railway railroad track to the West, Bellaire Boulevard/West Holcombe Boulevard to the South, and Bissonnet and Law Streets to the North. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location Characteristics:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Commonly referred to as West University or West U for short, West University Place&lt;/strong&gt; was developed by former Tennessee Gov. Ben Hooper. His idea for a community of country homes was conceived in 1910 when Governor Hooper bought a tract of land southwest of Houston out of an old Spanish land grant. The Houston West End Realty Company developed today&amp;#39;s West University Place First Addition and put the first lots up for sale on April 1, 1917. &lt;strong&gt;The name &amp;quot;West University Place&amp;quot; originated from its proximity to Rice Institute (now known as Rice University)&lt;/strong&gt;. The city of West University Place incorporated in 1924 and adopted a formal city charter in 1940.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;approximately 26 subdivisions in West University Place to include Rice Court, Pemberton, Colonial Terrace, Sunset Terrace, Cunningham Terrace, Evanston, Matthews Place, Kent Place, Monticello, Virginia Court, Belle Court, College Court Place, Collegeview, Preston Place, Pershing Place, Academy, Quenby Court, Bissonnet Place, Fairhaven, College Park, and Krenzler Courts and some sections simply known as West University Place. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Students who live in West University Place are zoned to &lt;strong&gt;West University Elementary, Pershing Middle School&lt;/strong&gt;in the Braeswood Place neighborhood of Houston, and &lt;strong&gt;Lamar High School&lt;/strong&gt;, in the Upper Kirby district of Houston.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&amp;nbsp;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:45:49 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/425036/west-university-market-condition-report-houston-texas-march-2008</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/425029/knollwood-village-market-condition-report-houston-tx-march-2008</guid>
      <title>Knollwood Village Market Condition Report, Houston, TX - March 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Knollwood Village, a subdivision in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;consists of older and new construction homes.&lt;/strong&gt; The older homes, many of which have been remodeled, range from around 1300-2000 sq. ft., were built on slabs, and most have hardwood floors. The older homes in poor condition are often sold to builders who are usually building two story, 3500-5000 sq. ft. brick, stucco and stone exterior structures. &lt;strong&gt;The price range for older homes is generally $250,000-$400,000 and $600,000-$850,000 for new luxury home construction.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As of March 10, 2008, our market condition report reflects that&amp;nbsp;there are &lt;strong&gt;5 single family homes for sale in Knollwood Village&lt;/strong&gt; ranging from a remodeled, 3 bed/ 2.5 bath, 2134 sq. ft. home on a 7350 sq. ft. homes &lt;strong&gt;priced at $384,900 . . .&amp;nbsp;to a new construction&lt;/strong&gt;, 4395 sq. ft.,4 bed/ 4 bath home on a 9330 sq. ft. lot &lt;strong&gt;priced at $872,599&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;The average list price per average square foot of living space is $181.11. Two additional homes are under contract and pending sale.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;In &lt;strong&gt;February 2008, 2 homes sold&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;A remodeled&lt;/strong&gt; 1887 sq. ft., 3 bed/ 2 bath home on a 7770 sq. ft. lot &lt;strong&gt;sold for $340,000 . . . &lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;and &lt;strong&gt;a new construction&lt;/strong&gt; 4 bed/ 4.5 bath home on a 9100 sq. ft. lot &lt;strong&gt;sold for $785,000. The average sales price per sq. ft. for both homes was $180/ sq. ft. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ZIP Code:&lt;/strong&gt; 77025&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approximate Location Boundaries:&lt;/strong&gt;Inside 610 Loop, south of S Braeswood , Buffalo Speedway area &lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location Characteristics:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Knollwood Village is a Houston, Texas&amp;nbsp;inner loop, deed restricted, residential subdivision consisting of&amp;nbsp;approximately 600 single family homes.&lt;/strong&gt; It is close to the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=657&quot; title=&quot;Texas Medical Center&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Texas Medical Center,&lt;/a&gt;downtown Houston, the Musuem District, Reliant Stadium and the Galleria. Originally developed in the 1950s, the last few years have seen new construction in the neighborhood. The subdivision is zoned to Longfellow Elementary, Pershing Middle School, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire&lt;/a&gt;High School although one should always check with HISD for boundary changes. Other subdivisions in the immediate area are Braes Terrace, Westridge, Linkwood and Woodside.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:25:56 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/425029/knollwood-village-market-condition-report-houston-tx-march-2008</link>
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    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/425022/braes-heights-market-condition-report-houston-texas-march-2008</guid>
      <title>Braes Heights Market Condition Report, Houston, Texas - March 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Sales in&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=677&quot; title=&quot;Braeswood Place&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Braes Heights&lt;/a&gt;, a Houston, Texas&amp;nbsp;subdivision, can be largely broken down as follows: 1)&amp;nbsp; older homes with few if any updates which are mainly worth lot value, &amp;nbsp;2)&amp;nbsp; older homes which have been remodeled, and&amp;nbsp;3) new or recent construction homes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our marketing condition report uses&amp;nbsp;information that&amp;nbsp;was reviewed on Houston Association of REALTORS Multiple Listing Service. There are &lt;strong&gt;currently 20 single family residential homes on the market priced from $410,000 for a &amp;quot;lot value&amp;quot; home&lt;/strong&gt; on a 9375 sq. ft. lot to an under construction 4 bed/3.5 bath, 4600 sq. ft. home priced at &lt;strong&gt;$1,299,000.&lt;/strong&gt; The &lt;strong&gt;average asking price per square foot is $220.74..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although &lt;strong&gt;no homes closed in February 2008&lt;/strong&gt;, there are &lt;strong&gt;7 homes pending sale.&lt;/strong&gt; The &lt;strong&gt;lowest priced home&lt;/strong&gt; pending is a completely remodeled 3 bed/ 2 bath,1632 sq. ft. home on a 7875 sq. ft. lot, &lt;strong&gt;priced at $429,900&lt;/strong&gt;. The &lt;strong&gt;highest pending sale&lt;/strong&gt; is a new construction luxury home&amp;nbsp;4 bed/ 4.5 bath, 5737 sq. ft. home on a 10,800 sq. ft. lot &lt;strong&gt;priced at $1,500,000. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ZIP Code:&lt;/strong&gt; 77025&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approximate Location Boundaries:&lt;/strong&gt; See Characteristics section &lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location Characteristics:&lt;/strong&gt; Braes Heights is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt;subdivision of mostly single family homes located inside the 610 Loop, west of the Texas Medical Center and south of West University and Southside Place. It&amp;#39;s street boundaries are roughly Holcombe to the north, North Braeswood to the south, Stella Link to the west and Buffalo Speedway to the east. &lt;strong&gt;It is part of Braeswood Place which is composed of seven subdivisions: Ayshire, Braes Heights, Braes Oaks, Braes Manor, Braes Terrace,Emerald Forest, and Southern Oaks&lt;/strong&gt;. It was built in the 1950s and is now mainly composed of the older ranch style homes and new construction homes. There has been much new construction in the last 10 years-mostly 2 story homes from 3200 to 5500 sq. ft.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Recent developments are a library, YMCA, Sheltering Arms senior citizens facility headquarters, McGovern Park ballfields for children, Helen&amp;#39;s Park and Beal Park. Braes Heights is zoned to Mark Twain Elementary (newly built), Pershing Middle School(newly built) and Lamar High School. Children in Braes Heights are placed in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=602&quot; title=&quot;West University&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;West University&lt;/a&gt;Little League. Braes Heights is part of the Braeswood Place Homeowners Association.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 Mar 2008 02:08:29 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/425022/braes-heights-market-condition-report-houston-texas-march-2008</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/425006/meyerland-market-condition-report-houston-texas-march-2008</guid>
      <title>Meyerland Market Condition Report, Houston, Texas - March 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;2006 was a good year for homeowners in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=603&quot; title=&quot;Meyerland&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Meyerland&lt;/a&gt;, a subdivision of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;as we saw 109 properties sold ranging in price from $197,000 up to $1,150,000 with an average sales price of $368,966 or $133.73 per square foot showing a definite upward trend. These figures are based on data collected from the Houston Association of Realtors. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meyerland residents continued to enjoy increased property values as reflected in the following data provided by the Houston Association of Realtors. There were&lt;strong&gt; 89 single family homes sold in 2007 with prices ranging from $200,000 to $1,000,000 averaging $144.73 per square foot. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Currently there are &lt;strong&gt;40 active available homes for sale in Meyerland with list prices ranging from $239,900 to $1,150,000 and there are 16 properties in various stages of pending&lt;/strong&gt;. The wide range in price reflects the new construction; however the majority of homes in Meyerland are 3 to 4 bedrooms, 2 baths between 2000 and 3000 sq. ft. These figures are based on data collected from the Houston Association of Realtors. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In February of 2008 seller sold 5 homes&amp;nbsp;with prices ranging from $265,000 to $847,500 . . . &amp;nbsp;averaging $151.69 . . . &amp;nbsp;and indicating that Meyerland homes continue to appreciate in value.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;For the month of&lt;strong&gt; January 2008 buyers bought 5 homes in Meyerland with prices ranging from $319,800 to $395,000, averaging $147.05 per square foot. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ZIP Code:&lt;/strong&gt; 77096&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approximate Location Boundaries:&lt;/strong&gt;South of Beechnut, North of Bellfort, West of S Post Oak, East of Chimney Rock &lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location Characteristics:&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;Meyerland is a residential area situated on the banks of the Brays Bayou at the outer southwest corner of Loop 610, just south of Bellaire. Just a 15-minute drive (or less) to downtown Houston, the Texas Medical Center, the Galleria, and the Reliant Park complex, the Meyerland community boasts excellent accessibility, beautiful parks, and strong community leaders. Homes range in price from the mid $100,000&amp;#39;s (usually lot value) to the $1,000,000&amp;#39;s and while some of the homes are the original 1950s bungalows, others are new construction from homeowners who like Meyerland&amp;#39;s ease and convenience.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meyerland is the concept of three generations of the Meyer family. In the late 1800&amp;#39;s, Joseph F. Meyer started buying land in the southwest part of the area surrounding Houston, eventually accumulating 6,000 acres of which he paid less than $5 per acre. In the mid-1950&amp;#39;s Joseph&amp;#39;s son, George, saw the possibilities of a prestigious subdivision and after his father&amp;#39;s death, son George took the 1,200 acres he inherited and created Meyerland with 2,700 lots and an 80-acre reserve for a shopping center. George Meyer proceeded to develop homes that were affordable enough to attract middle America. Look magazine called Meyerland a &amp;quot;state-of-the-art neighborhood&amp;quot; while House and Home magazine claimed it was the &amp;quot;ideal plan for a subdivision.&amp;quot; Meyerland might be termed Houston&amp;#39;s first &amp;quot;planned community&amp;quot; in that Meyer held to stringent deed restrictions and strong architectural controls for its development. Characteristic of Meyerland are brick, contemporary styled homes, three and four bedrooms with two baths, an uncommon feature when built.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meyerland Plaza Shopping Center was opened in 1957 as Houston&amp;#39;s second regional mall and was managed by George Meyer&amp;#39;s oldest daughter, Leota Meyer Hess. The third generation of the Meyer family sold the center in 1984. After years of neglect, in the mid-90s it was purchased and renovated by a new owner. The revival of Meyerland Plaza brought 927,000 square feet of new shopping space to Meyerland and the plaza now includes a variety of 50 shops and restaurants, several of which opened spring 2005.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Schools - Meyerland has numerous Houston Independent School District Exemplary schools and is zoned to nationally acclaimed Bellaire High School. Zoned neighborhood elementary schools include Kolter Elementary School and Lovett Elementary School, both located in Meyerland. The neighborhood is also served by Johnston Middle School (located in Meyerland), Pershing Middle School (located in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=677&quot; title=&quot;Braeswood Place&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Braeswood Place&lt;/a&gt;), and Pin Oak Middle School in the city of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire &lt;/a&gt;(pupils zoned to Johnston have the option to attend Pin Oak), and Bellaire High School located in the city of Bellaire.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Houston Public Library system operates the Meyer Branch Library at 5005 W. Bellfort, which serves the Meyerland community.&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;E-mail: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; or &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:33:28 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/425006/meyerland-market-condition-report-houston-texas-march-2008</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/424989/montrose-market-conditions-report-houston-texas-march-2008</guid>
      <title>Montrose Market Conditions Report, Houston, Texas - March 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=860&quot; title=&quot;Montrose&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Montrose&lt;/a&gt; market area residents continue to enjoy stable property values as reflected in the following data provided by the Houston Association of Realtors&lt;/strong&gt;. There were &lt;strong&gt;10 single family homes sold in February 2008&lt;/strong&gt; with prices ranging&lt;strong&gt; from $235,000 to $533,250; averaging $168.62 per square foot&lt;/strong&gt;. There were &lt;strong&gt;17 town house/condos sold&lt;/strong&gt;in the Montrose market area during this same period with prices ranging &lt;strong&gt;from $72,100 to $475,000 for an average of $143.81 per square foot.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Currently sellers are offering&lt;strong&gt; 62 active available single family homes for sale&lt;/strong&gt;in Montrose with list prices ranging from &lt;strong&gt;$259,000 to $1,300,000&lt;/strong&gt;. Buyers have &lt;strong&gt;11 properties pending&lt;/strong&gt; sale.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are &lt;strong&gt;94 active available town house/condos &lt;/strong&gt;in the Montrose market area with prices ranging &lt;strong&gt;from $77,000 to $749,900.&lt;/strong&gt; It&amp;#39;s reported that there are &lt;strong&gt;32 properties pending&lt;/strong&gt; sale.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to data provided by the Houston Association of Realtors, &lt;strong&gt;there were 121 single family homes sold in 2007 with prices ranging from $105,000 to $890,000; averaging $171.51 per square foot.&lt;/strong&gt; There were &lt;strong&gt;167 town house/condos sold &lt;/strong&gt;in the Montrose market area during this same period with prices ranging &lt;strong&gt;from $43,000 to $646,000 for an average of $135.77 per square foot.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ZIP Codes: &lt;/strong&gt;77002, 77006, 77007, 77019, 77098&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approximate Location Boundaries:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Montrose, a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.FineHomesHouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston, Texas&lt;/a&gt; subdivision is generally bound by Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, Bagby Street to the east and Shepherd to the west; Montrose market area boundaries expand beyond the subdivision. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location Characteristics:&lt;/strong&gt;Originally pronounced as if it were two words, that is, &amp;quot;Mont Rose&amp;quot;, Montrose is generally bound by Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, Bagby Street on the east and Shepherd to the west. The Museum District is located in the southern part of Montrose and many bars &amp;amp; restaurants, thrift/vintage/second-hand shops, eclectic boutiques and small galleries maintain the unique flavor of this part of the city. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Initially envisioned as a planned community and/or streetcar suburb and dating back to the early 20th Century, Montrose comes with the most distinctive character of eccentricity and diversity in Houston. It is one of the prettiest areas with renovated mansions, bungalows with wide porches and cozy cottages lining shady boulevards where people can walk and cycle easily. There is even a small pocket of homes called Courtland Place where all of the houses are listed in the National Historic Registry. Other surrounding neighborhoods include Westmoreland, Avondale and Cherryhurst, all generating a Southern, cozy atmosphere. Townhouse/Condos and Lofts are very prevalent in the Montrose area as well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;E-mail: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:16:57 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/424989/montrose-market-conditions-report-houston-texas-march-2008</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/424944/saint-patrick-s-day-balance-is-important-to-everyone-</guid>
      <title>Saint Patrick's Day - Balance is important to everyone!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;There are always many events going on in Houston, but evidently I never can stay on top of them all.&amp;nbsp; I often think there&amp;#39;s not enough to do in town.&amp;nbsp; I like to travel to other places to do things.&amp;nbsp; However, there is always a lot to do in and around Houston.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;My husband, older daughter and her boyfriend went to a Saint Patrick&amp;#39;s Day parade today in downtown Houston while I worked.&amp;nbsp; Then she and her boyfriend went to another Saint Patrick&amp;#39;s Day event this evening in Sugar Land.&amp;nbsp; Both events were thoroughly enjoyed.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I worked during both events . . .but stopped to wonder why I didn&amp;#39;t get to enjoy them, too.&amp;nbsp; Helping people buy and sell real estate 24/7 is not only what life is about.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As REALTORS many of us get caught up in our work and don&amp;#39;t make the time to do something fun for ourselves.&amp;nbsp;All work and no play . . . . HMMMM!&amp;nbsp; We have to remember to balance our lives and take time to be with family, exercise, meditate and continue to educate ourselves.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;It shouldn&amp;#39;t just be &amp;quot;all about&amp;quot; work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tomorrow is a new day and the first day of a new week.&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;m going to make an effort to put more BALANCE in my life this week.&amp;nbsp; How about you . . . .?!?!?!?!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#39;t forget to wear green Monday for Saint Patrick&amp;#39;s Day . . . and do something special to enjoy the day. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HAPPY SAINT PATRICK&amp;#39;S DAY TO ALL!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:55:27 -0500</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/424944/saint-patrick-s-day-balance-is-important-to-everyone-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/413844/bellaire-texas-market-conditions-report-in-houston-texas-march-8-2008</guid>
      <title>Bellaire, Texas Market Conditions Report in Houston, Texas - March 8, 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;According to information that I reviewed on Houston Association of REALTORS Multiple Listing Service, there are &lt;strong&gt;currently 134 single family residential homes on the market in &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire, Texas&lt;/a&gt; priced from $234,900&lt;/strong&gt; for a 1100 sq. ft., 3 bed/1 bath home on a 8190 sq. ft. lot near a highway feeder road &lt;strong&gt;to a high asking price of $2,899,000&lt;/strong&gt; for a 9662 sq. ft., 5 bedroom/ 5 full, 2 half bath, 3 car garage home on a 18,450 sq. ft. lot built in 2004. &lt;strong&gt;The average list price per sq ft is $249.39. Home sellers have forty eight homes for sale for over $1,000,000 and 25 homes&amp;nbsp;priced at $400,000 or less. As of 03/6/2008 home buyers have an additional 32 homes pending under contract priced from $239,000 to $1,795,000.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;During the month of January 2008, 12 single family homes closed with sale prices ranging from $239,900 to $1,864,000. The average sales price per average sq. ft. was $213.24/ sq. ft.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In February 2008, 12 sales closed with an average sales price per average sq. ft. of $203.09. The low sales price was $240,000&lt;/strong&gt; for a lender owned 1763 sq. ft., 4 bed/ 2 bath home on a 8450 sq. ft. lot next to the feeder road and sold &amp;quot;as is&amp;quot;. &lt;strong&gt;The highest reported sales price was $1,425,000&lt;/strong&gt; for a 5 bed/6.5 bath home built in 2006 on a 8450 sq. ft. lot.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;There are presently reported to be 5 townhomes actively on the market, priced from $199,000&lt;/strong&gt; to $325,000. The average list price per sq ft is $159.89.&amp;nbsp; Three sold in February and 2 are pending sale.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New construction in Bellaire is still strong and the prices are increasing due to rising building costs and lot prices&lt;/strong&gt;. For the most part, construction in Bellaire originated in the late 40&amp;#39;s and 50&amp;#39;s. Many of these original homes have been and are being purchased at lot value with the old homes being replaced with larger, new construction homes. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ZIP Code: &lt;/strong&gt;77401&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location Characteristics:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=601&quot; title=&quot;Bellaire&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bellaire, Texas&lt;/a&gt;, located on both sides of Interstate Loop 610 West, is surrounded by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com&quot; title=&quot;Houston&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Houston&lt;/a&gt; and many subdivisions including &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=602&quot; title=&quot;West University&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;West University Place&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=731&quot; title=&quot;Southside Place&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Southside Place&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=603&quot; title=&quot;Meyerland&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Meyerland&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=854&quot; title=&quot;Willow Meadows&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Willow Meadows&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=773&quot; title=&quot;Afton Oaks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Afton Oaks&lt;/a&gt;. It&amp;#39;s a very short distance to the Galleria, Reliant Stadium, downtown Houston, the Theater District, and the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/neighborhood.php?p_neighborhood=657&quot; title=&quot;Texas Medical Center&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Texas Medical Center&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bellaire is zoned for residential,commercial, and light industrial sections.&lt;/strong&gt; The city is &lt;strong&gt;well known as a residential city. The city is well-liked for its police and fire protection, parks and recreation facilities, library, public works department, and recycling center. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;E-mail: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:30:32 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/413844/bellaire-texas-market-conditions-report-in-houston-texas-march-8-2008</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/412159/houston-heights-market-report-in-houston-texas-march-7-2008</guid>
      <title>Houston Heights Market Report in Houston, Texas - March 7, 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Approximately 3500 single family homes exist in the Houston Heights&lt;/strong&gt; with an average sales price per sq. ft. of $175 in 2007. Since 1994, this figure has increased every year. The values were $164/sq ft. in 2006, $156/sq ft.in 2005 and $150/ sq ft. in 2004. These figures were obtained from the Houston Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service, as are the others cited in this article. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Currently, there are&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;141 single family homes for sale in the Houston Heights&lt;/strong&gt; ranging from a 3 bed/1 bath, 1200 sq. ft. home in need of repairs on a 4323 sq. ft.&amp;nbsp; lot listed for $135,000 to a new construction, 4 bed/3 bath, 4080 sq. ft. home on a 13,200 sq. ft lot and priced at $1,490,000.&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;The&lt;strong&gt; average list price per sq. ft. is $187.73.&lt;/strong&gt; Many of the homes for sale are new construction ones on small lots.&amp;nbsp;However, there are a good selection of older homes.&lt;strong&gt; Home buyers have another 39 homes under contract as of 3/07/2008 but they haven&amp;#39;t closed to date.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In January 2008, there were 18 single family homes sold at prices ranging from $94,000 to $1,677,000 with an overall average sales price per sq. ft. value of $187.06.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In February 2008, 18 home sellers sold their single family homes at prices from a low of $130,000&amp;nbsp;on a that sold as a short sale, 4 bed/2.5 bath, 1740 sq. ft. home on a 6600 sq. ft. lot to a high sales price&amp;nbsp;of $860,000 for a new construction, 3406 sq. ft., 4 bed/3.5 bath home on a 6600 sq. ft. lot.&amp;nbsp; The overall average sales price per sq. ft. was $165.92. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;ZIP Code: 77008&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Approximate Location Boundaries: &lt;/strong&gt;Downtown Houston, Memorial Park, Oak Forest &lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location Characteristics:&lt;/strong&gt; This historical neighborhood, with a mixture of bungalow, Victorian homes, and new construction (as well as some industrial and commercial property) was originally established as a planned community in the late 1890s. The location was partially chosen because it was 23 feet higher than downtown Houston, located 4 miles away. In 1918, Houston Heights residents voted for annexation by the city of Houston. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The single family home market in the Houston Heights consists of older Victorian era homes, older bungalows, and new construction. Many of the older homes have been remodeled and over 100 Houston Heights structures are registered in the National Register of Historical Places. The newer construction consists of everything from contemporary designs to Victorian&amp;nbsp;style homes.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;E-mail: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:38:30 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/412159/houston-heights-market-report-in-houston-texas-march-7-2008</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/412122/houston-texas-market-condition-report-march-7-2008</guid>
      <title>Houston, Texas Market Condition Report - March 7, 2008</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Note: Due to the large volume of homes sold, I usually need two months to compile data. So &lt;strong&gt;in March, I&amp;#39;ll be using January data which I&amp;nbsp;obtained from the Houston Association of Realtors.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At the present time the &lt;strong&gt;mortgage company and loan problems&lt;/strong&gt; you have been reading about&lt;strong&gt; have affected Houston housing much less than most other areas of the country.&lt;/strong&gt; The year &lt;strong&gt;2007 was the second best year in Houston on record based on the HAR statistics&lt;/strong&gt;. Total property sales were lower than 2006, but the total dollar volume was a record high which is greatly appreciated by home sellers. So in a nutshell, &lt;strong&gt;there were less homes sold in Houston, Texas, but the ones that did sell sold for more money.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, &lt;strong&gt;January 2008 sales declined 17.2 % from January 2007, to the lowest level in three years.&lt;/strong&gt; January is usually low while folks recover from the holiday season, but &lt;strong&gt;this year we may be affected by the nation&amp;#39;s real estate and sub prime mortgage problems.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;The good news is that in Houston the January average sales price increased over last year by 4.9% to $190,233.The median price which is a price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less was $139,000, a 2.8 % decrease from last year. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Townhomes and condo sales were down in total sold, but higher in sales prices. In January 2008, the average sale price was $160,455. This is a 9.1 % increase in price over January 2007.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In closing, the &lt;strong&gt;Houston housing market is still stronger in pricing than other areas of the country&lt;/strong&gt;, although the foreclosures and sub prime lending problems appear to have affected us all. In Houston, &lt;strong&gt;in recent years, you have been able to purchase a home for less than in many other cities and the value has increased. According to the National Association of Realtors, Houston&amp;#39;s current median sales price for a single family home is 35.1 % less than the national average. We had the second best year on record in 2007. &lt;/strong&gt;This indicates the great value of living in Houston. If your credit is good and you look on the bright side, &lt;strong&gt;this mortgage mess has caused interest rates to decline, making this a good time for home buyers to find their new homes&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://img.realtytimes.com/whitebox.gif&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;5&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Location Characteristics:&lt;/strong&gt; Known as both the Bayou City and Space City, Houston was founded in 1836 and named after General Sam Houston. With a population of close to 2 million, it&amp;#39;s the 4th largest city in the United States. The city has been a dynamic center of business since the early 1900s and is also the leader in space technology, being home to NASA and the Johnson Space Center. The port area is thriving and connected to the city by the Houston Ship Channel. Other well known areas are Interstate 10&amp;#39;s Energy Corridor, the Galleria, and the world class Texas Medical Center. Houston&amp;#39;s feel is diverse, with both a high rise skyline and waterways like the Buffalo Bayou, which winds through the city. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Recently, downtown Houston has been transferred into a dynamic area of the city for both entertainment and &lt;strong&gt;residential living&lt;/strong&gt;. Many new &lt;strong&gt;lofts and townhomes have been built in and near downtown and other buildings have been converted from commercial to residential use.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Houston has major league football, baseball, basketball ( men&amp;#39;s and women&amp;#39;s), and soccer teams, as well as AHL hockey. It also has separate horse and greyhound racing tracks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For the theatre lovers, Houston is one of the few cities that has permanent ballet, orchestra, opera, and theatre companies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Houston, Texas&amp;nbsp;offers most everything you could possibly desire in real estate.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;E-mail: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:11:47 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/412122/houston-texas-market-condition-report-march-7-2008</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/409814/did-you-intentionally-make-the-decision-to-not-renew-your-domain-names-</guid>
      <title>Did you intentionally make the decision to NOT renew your domain names?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;My &lt;strong&gt;new &lt;/strong&gt;GoDaddy representative called me yesterday morning and asked &amp;quot;&lt;strong&gt;Did you intentionally make the decision to not renew your domain names?&amp;quot;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This question really &lt;strong&gt;got my adrenaline charging&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; I hesitated on my response with a &lt;strong&gt;very sick feeling in my stomach&lt;/strong&gt; . . . please don&amp;#39;t tell me they have expired . . . I worked so hard to get them.&amp;nbsp; How can I sell real estate in Houston, Texas without those domain names?&amp;nbsp; I finally answered, &amp;quot;&lt;strong&gt;Oh nooooooooooo&amp;nbsp;. . .they&amp;nbsp;can&amp;#39;t have expired.&amp;nbsp; I need them.&amp;nbsp; I worked too hard to find those names.&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;representative quickly calmed me down&lt;/strong&gt; and told me that I had 4 more days before they expired.&amp;nbsp; I was so relieved.&amp;nbsp;I renewed them for a couple more years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;I never thought to put the expiration date for my domain names on my calender.&amp;nbsp; I will from now on.&amp;nbsp; I can&amp;#39;t expect people to call me every time something that important is due.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;HAVE YOU KEPT&amp;nbsp;UP WITH&amp;nbsp;YOUR DOMAIN NAMES???????&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;E-mail: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:03:21 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/409814/did-you-intentionally-make-the-decision-to-not-renew-your-domain-names-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/409570/daylight-savings-time-what-why-</guid>
      <title>Daylight Savings Time - What???   Why????</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine told me today that Daylight Savings Time&amp;nbsp; was started because &lt;strong&gt;farmers needed the extra daylight&lt;/strong&gt;.&amp;nbsp; I thought that was quite strange.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;My grandfather and his parents were farmers in Nebraska.&amp;nbsp; The farm is still in the family.&amp;nbsp; I don&amp;#39;t believe that&amp;nbsp; they ever worried about what a clock told them when it came to farming.&amp;nbsp; I remember my grandfather being up and out doing chores long before breakfast and late into the night.&amp;nbsp; He came in to eat breakfast, dinner and supper . . .after working before and after each meal.&amp;nbsp; The work never seemed to be done.&amp;nbsp; I think he could have cared less about Daylight Savings Time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Therefore, I started researching the origin.&amp;nbsp; There is a tremendous amount of history concerning &lt;strong&gt;Daylight Savings Time&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;in the United States&lt;/strong&gt; that I knew very little about until I started researching it tonight.&amp;nbsp; I was amazed at the history and found&amp;nbsp;it to be quite interesting.&amp;nbsp; One of the sources I discovered is one that I will share with you if you have any interest in the origin and history of Daylight Savings Time . . . &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time&quot;&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time&lt;/a&gt; .&amp;nbsp; It was very informative and had a list of many other sources&amp;nbsp;for information.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Now I&amp;#39;ll get back to the whole point of this post . . . &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday, March 9, 2008 you need to remember to turn your clock ahead by one hour for Daylight Savings Time!!&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;You can always remember which way to move the clock by the saying &lt;strong&gt;&amp;quot;Spring Forward and Fall Back&amp;quot;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;E-mail: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:19:28 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/409570/daylight-savings-time-what-why-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/409546/folks-it-s-time-to-rodeo-in-houston-texas-</guid>
      <title>FOLKS - IT'S TIME TO RODEO IN HOUSTON, TEXAS!!!!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;2008 - It&amp;#39;s that time of year again . . . when you see &lt;strong&gt;trail rides on the feeder streets of the freeways&lt;/strong&gt; with people proudly mounted on their &lt;strong&gt;horses, hayrides, chuck wagons&lt;/strong&gt; . . . and people waving to everybody they can see.&amp;nbsp; Obviously, traffic can be a bit of a problem in Houston during this great rodeo event, but it&amp;#39;s worth the hassles.&amp;nbsp; The folks who run the rodeo have really made it fairly easy to get in and out of the facilities for the rodeo.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;rodeo offers music, food, great shopping, bar-b-que contests, ribbons galore for judged animals that&amp;nbsp;children have raised, a great carnival, roping events, riding events, calf grabbing for kids . . . and, oh my goodness . . . so very, very much more.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; There is something for everyone.&amp;nbsp; I hope you have the opportunity to make it to at least a few of the events this year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is a &lt;strong&gt;great music program during the Houston rodeo&lt;/strong&gt; that is always very well attended.&amp;nbsp; Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Kevin Fowler have already performed.&amp;nbsp; Don&amp;#39;t worry, though . . . there are many other performers to see each night of the rodeo.&amp;nbsp; They are:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Thursday, March 6 - &lt;strong&gt;Alan Jackson&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Friday, March 7 - Black Heritage Day - &lt;strong&gt;John Legend&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Saturday, March 8 - &lt;strong&gt;Martina McBride&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Sunday, March 9 - &lt;strong&gt;Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Monday, March 10 - &lt;strong&gt;Sugarland&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday, March 11 - &lt;strong&gt;Rascal Flatts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday, March 12 - &lt;strong&gt;John Fogerty&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Thursday, March 13&lt;strong&gt; -&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Toby Keith&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Friday, March 14 - &lt;strong&gt;Clay Walker&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Saturday, March 15 - &lt;strong&gt;Brad Paisley&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Sunday, March 16 - Go Tejano Day - &lt;strong&gt;Duelo and Los Horoscopos de Durango&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Monday, March 17 -&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Miranda Lambert&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tuesday, March 18 - &lt;strong&gt;Big &amp;amp; Rich&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Wednesday, March 19 - &lt;strong&gt;Fergie&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Thursday, March 20 - &lt;strong&gt;Dierks Bentley&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Friday, March 21 - &lt;strong&gt;Pat Green&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Saturday, March 22 - &lt;strong&gt;Brooks &amp;amp; Dunn&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can you even imagine this much talent being in one place during this short interval of time?!?!?!&amp;nbsp; What a great opportunity to go see your favorite entertainers!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is always something going on somewhere at the Houston rodeo. You will thoroughly enjoy being a part of it.&amp;nbsp; However, &lt;strong&gt;at the end of the day . . .IF you can take off your boots . . .you&amp;#39;ll really enjoy putting your feet up and resting.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; You&amp;#39;ll have had a wonderful day!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Meg and Jim Zoller - The Zoller Group of Keller Williams Realty, The Metropolitan&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Please view our website, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;http://www.finehomeshouston.com/&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt; . Also, feel free to contact us at:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Direct: 713-661-0884&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Toll Free: 800-808-6153&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;E-mail: &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Meg@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&quot;&gt;Jim@FineHomesHouston.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cells: Meg - 713-875-4844 Jim - 713-545-6338&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:25:03 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/409546/folks-it-s-time-to-rodeo-in-houston-texas-</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/406740/texas-votes-today-your-vote-definitely-counts-</guid>
      <title>TEXAS VOTES TODAY - YOUR VOTE DEFINITELY COUNTS!!!</title>
      <description>&lt;strong&gt;TEXANS - PLEASE TAKE TIME TO VOTE TODAY!!!!!!&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Your vote is so very important.&amp;nbsp; This may be a pivotal point for the Democratic parties&amp;#39; presidential candidate.&amp;nbsp; Delegates are important to McCain. There are other positions and candidates that need to also be decided upon.&amp;nbsp; It is hoped that this is the largest turnout for a primary election in the state of Texas.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Please take a part and make your vote count!&lt;/strong&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Meg Zoller Houston Fine Homes (Keller Williams)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:41:30 -0600</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/406740/texas-votes-today-your-vote-definitely-counts-</link>
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