Do you understand why the newspaper business chose to Kill their own business?  You would think that they would have noticed the advent of the computer and IPhones and other forms of communication. I think that they never got their heads out of the sand and thought it would always be as always.

The change in the funeral march actually came a long time before the little black boxes on our desk's. First of all when the classified ad rates jumped 200 percent and reduced the numbers of people using this form of marketing  was the first notes of the funeral march.  They did not stop to think this move out very well. About 50 percent of the paper sales came from people reading the classifieds.  Good thinking guys and gals, we will just increase the price of ads so much we won't need to publish all of those little old ads and we won't need to print all of those copies.

The latest brain waves rippled through the business when most of the papers decided to increase the prices by twenty five percent. Good thinking again this will surely increase our sales, what did you say.  Most Sunday papers went from $1.50 to $2.00 per copy that will work.

Just a clue to the newspapers get back in the advertising business, cut ad prices it will increase circulation.  If you need to save ink cut out some of the funny papers, that's old business and way out of date. They say print advertising does not work anymore for real estate but I think if we could afford the type of ads that we used in the past it would work for the real estate companies and the newspapers.  

Fix Housing First is a coalition of 600 organizations led by the National Association of Home Builders, are urging Congress to take quick and decisive action to stimulate the housing market and stop the decline in home values which will ultimately create more jobs and help lift the American economy. 

According to the coalition, this can be done through a significant tax credit and implementation of an interest rate buy-down for 30 year fixed rate mortgages.

THE TAX CREDIT:  In July,President Bush signed into law the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 which authorized a $ 7,500 tax credit for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing homes on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009.  However, due to a wave of financial disruptions during September and October, the economy has worsened, credit has tightened further, and spillover to the general economy has been much deeper than anticipated.  This means a more robust economic stimulus package is necessary to get the economy moving again.

Specifically, a more significant credit is needed to enable families to buy homes and help strengthen the economy of their local community and the nation.  In the plan that the coalition is recommending, the credit amount would be substantially increased to 10 percent of the price of the home, up to $ 22,000.00.  Unlike the currant credit, it would not be limited to first time home buyers and the home owner would not be required to repay the credit.

THE INTEREST BUYDOWN:  The coalition is also recommending a mortgage interest rate buy-down which will help get buyers back into the market and further stimulate the economy. Interest rates recommended by the coalition range from 3.99 to 2,99 percent for home purchased before the end of December 2009.

The coalition also supports continued intensive efforts to prevent foreclosures. and keep people in their homes.  The combination of these stimulus actions would increase demand for housing, help stabilize home values, reduce foreclosures, restore and save tens of thousands of jobs and turn the housing and the economy back in the right direction.

For more information about Fix Housing First, visit www.fixhousingfirst.com  This article written by Fred Elsner, president of The Greater San Antonio Builders Association and appeared in The San Antonio News; posted by Don Eichler,Broker, with permission by Fred Elsner. 

Most Board of Realtors in each part of the state are losing membership as of the middle of Janurary.  How is your board doing membership wise?  We are in the Kerrville Board of Realtors (KBOR) in Kerr County.  As of our board letter today the board membership has lost 47 members.

I do not know what the membership loss will be by the end of this month but for this size of board I think this is a very large amount.  At this time this is about fifteen percent of last years member list.  There is always a loss in membership when the real estate business is in recession. However most of uis do not think that this slowdown is going to be for the long haul. 

 So how is your board membership holding up as far as member loss? When do you think the bottom will be or are we there now?

I have been tagged by my good friend Amy Boehm and like I have Nothing to do so here we go. When tagged with this 7 MEME it is to be 7 things about me.  I think 7 would just about cover things that people are not that interested in about me.  However for Amy I am going to do it.

Things you might not want to know about me.

1. I was born in Texas, only second generation American on my fathers side of the family.

2. I have been in the real estate business since I bought my first new home at nineteen years old.

3. Side note: I won't say anything about Amy's Ohio Buckeye football game with Texas last night.

4. I love the Frio River and all of The Hill Country.

5. I am married to another real estate broker, twenty five years.  A lot of people know Ricki.

6.I have one pet, Jaggi our talking cat.

7. I have seven grand children.  The oldest just graduated from TCU on December 20th.

8. I am doing eight to make up for number 3 above.  I love to help other people, people that I don't even know is the most fun..

The Rules To Pass On.

1.Create a blog post with a link to the one who tagged you. See at the top.

2. List all of the rules in the post.

3.Share 7 things hat others do not know about you or have had a life outside real estate.

4. ID 7 friends or near friends, contacts or enemies which to adorn this MEME. Tag them at the end of  the post.

5.Contact each frend to let them know that you tagged them and were fast enough to catch them with the tag no matter how they say you missed them! No schoolyard rules in this MEME, you gotta do it. Sorry, 7 friends.

 YOU ARE IT:

Ronda Jones

Tiffany Cloud

Robin Rogers

Karen Ann Stone

Carl & Ceil Winters

Shirley Parks

Km Daugherty

Here are some before and after photographs of a small 1500 sq ft house that we rehabed early this year. The house set on a very beautiful ten acre tract of land with great views of the hills and the valley below.  The land at the time of purchase was worth more than the house.  We completely removed everything in the house except the drywall and doors.  Replaced all windows, roof,of course new paint outside and inside. All new appliances, floor covering and carpet and new cabinets.  This was a very worthwhile project on this house and we were able to sell it to the first prospect within one week.

 Kitchen                                                                            Kitchen

 Sun Room                                                                            Sun Room

        Living Room                                                                       Living Room

 Utility Room/Well room                                                      Now just utility room

                                                      Front View                                                            

                  Front View                                                                                                                 

 These before and after pictures are just a small amount of pictures that show the changes in this house.

YES, OR IS IT NO! It is no because I don't like any Winter day unless it is like today, 74 degrees and sunshine.  Almost like Spring, except we have about three more months of Winter weather ahead. But Yes, because December 21st, the first day of Winter  is the shortest day of sunlight and therefore the longest day of dark or would that be night?  

Anyway, December 22nd begins the process of adding daylight hours to each day.  Yes, it is only two minutes each day but just think, in 30 days we will have one more whole hour of daylight. I just do not like dark days and when it is six o'clock in the afternoon and it seems like it is nine o'clock at night I cannot wait until we have long days of daylight. Even if it rains in the daylight hours I like it better than dark day-nights.

OK, YOUR DOLLARS ARE WORTH A LOT MORE NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BUY?  You say what my money is worth more now with all of the deflation going on.  Yes, your dollar is worth almost double what it was a year ago and you can buy a lot more now than you could a few months ago.

How does this work.  Well money is worth more now because of deflation of products and goods.  You can buy gas for more 63% less than just a few months ago.  You can buy a new pickup for $17,000.00 that was marked $ 25,000.00 six months ago.  You can even buy a house for 50% of the listing price of a few months ago.  So your money is worth more now than at any time in most peoples life time.

If you have anything that you want to sell in the way of personal value now is the time to turn it into dollars. Good old cash talks when we are covered up with deflation.  For the investor in real estate the near future is a investors dream.  You know the story buy low sell high at a latter date.  One of the best investments after the first of the year will be in dollars.  The other money markets are going to fall and again the dollar will lead the way.  Put all the cash you can into a safe place even if it does not return that much interest at this time.   

THERE IS A NEW SIGN OF A STROKE IN PROSESS THAT CAN HELP SAVE LIVES IF CHECKED. First let us review the standard test to check for a stroke in progress.

S * Ask the person to SMILE.

T* Ask the person to Speak a simple sentence (Coherently) i.e. It is sunny out today.

R* Ask the person to raise both arms.

If he or she has trouble with any one of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

THE NEW STROKE SIGN--------STICK OUT YOUR TONGUE.  If the tongue is crooked or goes to one side or the other  that is also an indication of a stroke.

If ten people get this message at least one person will be saved.  A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke....totally. The trick is getting the stroke recognized, diagnosed, and getting the patient medically cared for in the shortest time possible.

Pass it on ...SAVE A LIFE, it may be your own.

Yes, we have deer everywhere, in the bird bath, the bird feeder, the water sprinkler, the front yard and the back yard.  We have about 30 Axis and 12 Whitetail that use our back yard for a place to bed down at night.  There so many deer and antelope in The Hill Country that many of them get killed just crossing the highways to either get to the river for water of to the ranchers hay fields to eat. The largest Whitetail buck that I have seen here was two blocks from the police station in downtown Kerrville walking right down the middle of the street.   Here are a few pictures of the deer that make a home in our backyard.

 I could sped a lot of time photographing the wildlife but there are just so many hours in a day.

 Don Eichler -Kerrville

Well, my good friend Dale just tagged me on the Book Tag that is making the rounds so here is the response.

It became summer when Meusebach persuaded D.K. Klaener to write the mayor of Bremen and tell of the verin's financial plight, the summer when the Monken family made their desperate and deadly trek from Carlshaven to New Braunfels.

As we know, Count Castell responded to Kalener's embarrassing plea by sending $60,000. to Texas.  The money came in a note carried by Castell's special agent, Phillip Cappes.  There is an air of skullduggery about Cappes; his correspondence with Castell refers to the "complicated purpose of my coming."  He was sent to gather dirt on Meusebach; Count Castell was making sure that there would be someone to blame for the colony's plight.

The above from "The German Settlement of The Texas Hill Country".  A very interesting book by Jefferson Morgenthaler first edition October 2007.  A very interesting book about the first Germans to settle in the Texas Hill Country, the hardships of the people, so many died shortly after landing in Texas.  The founding of New Braunfels, Castell and Fredericksburg and the large land grants never developed.  The first to arrive from Germany in 1845 had a very tough time in the process of landing in a new frontier.  The first eye surgery for cataracts was performed by Dr. Ferdinand Heff on a Comanche Indian in 1847 on the open land along the Llano River. 

So there you have my book.  The above does not do it justice because the history of the Hill Country is so much more than a few words can express. 

Now to tag someone that least expects it.