Texas Hearing & Service Dogs is a great organization that pairs dogs with people with disabilities. THSD does such a great job they were recently awarded "the Best in America", which signifies they are one of the nations leading charities. This group rolls up their sleeves and spends over a year to train each dog to be a good assistant and companion to the disabled people they serve. Upcoming events to benefit the Texas Hearing and Service Dogs: Dec. 13th, 2008 Holiday Open House 11-2 … (1 comments)
Texas Hearing & Service Dogs is a great organization that pairs dogs with people with disabilities. THSD does such a great job they were recently awarded "the Best in America", which signifies they are one of the nations leading charities. This members of this group roll up their sleeves and spend over a year to train each dog to be a good assistant and companion to the disabled people they serve. Melchers Bliss and her trainer Sondra Parris Each dog is trained in a one on one environment. At the moment there are ten Service dog Teams in Training. … (2 comments)
buyers agent: OMG!! I just got the best Christmas present ever!!! I am taking a sleigh ride to the top!
- 12/13/08 03:50 AM
Oh my goodness! I just received the best Christmas present, I am now the number four Realtor in Austin!! Woo Woo! I am so excited about this milestone! OK, reality check. I am sure it will be short lived because once the old #4 realizes it happened, he will blog his brains out to get the spot back. I am simply going to enjoy it as long as it lasts! Be it thirty minutes or thirty days. They say the best things in life are free, and this little gift was! Thanks for spending the time with me as the number … (9 comments)
buyers agent: What do Studio 54, Area 51 and Hanger 25 have in common???
- 12/11/08 10:11 AM
What do Studio 54, Area 51 and Hanger 25 have in common? Why they are all cool places to hang out with space age innovations!! Most of you know Studio 54 was the hip happening disco and party ground zero in New York in the 70's. Area 51 is/was the secret space station where aliens were supposedly studied and a secret alien aircraft was stored. Hanger 25 you ask, why that is the cool new "green" airport hanger in Los Angles!
Hanger 25 reportedly cost about $17 million dollars and has the latest space age"green" technology! … (3 comments)
buyers agent: Big problems for homeowners... Austin is fairing better than most.
- 12/11/08 09:26 AM
It seems that everywhere you look people are talking about foreclosure. Bankers and the media seem to always have this topic on their lips. I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but it does seem to be a reality for most large American cites. Luckily Austin is not on the top of the list. To see foreclosures in your neighborhood check out www.Hotpads.com. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association the problem is big and the $700 billion dollar bailout has not done much to fix this problem. Before September 30th there were about 10% of homeowners that were behind on their mortgage. The … (1 comments)
buyers agent: What to do for the holidays??? Let me help!
- 12/08/08 07:28 AM
Are you looking for some hioliday fun this season? I know where you should go to have a good time! Check out the list of a bunch of holiday events that are happening in the Austin area.I promise you will have a good time if youattend any of these events! Throughout December: The 37th Street Neighborhood Lights. A famous Austin neighborhood street known for its outstanding display of lights. Walking through is suggested as the traffic is very bad. Lights are typically on until the day after Christmas.37th St. at Guadalupe 1st and 2nd weekend in December: Main Street in Bethlehem. Burnet … (3 comments)
buyers agent: Angie's List is giving Realtors a gift this holiday season!!
- 12/07/08 07:55 AM
If you have not heard of www.Angie'sList.com, brother you are missing out! This is a great website to find a contractor o to work on your home. What makes this site different than any other is the contractors have to be nominated by customers to be listed. You heard that right, contractors get on the list because satisfied clients nominate them to be included. The contractors are graded on a variety of factors: punctuality, price, quality of work, time to project completion on time or not. When a contractor really goes above and beyond some customers nominate them for a "Page … (4 comments)
buyers agent: Designations, do they really make a difference? Why?
- 12/07/08 04:47 AM
As a Realtor I must continually educate myself on what is new in my industry. Loan programs change, what buyers want changes, building standards change, what is expected of Realtors changes, educational requirements change. OK "the only constant in life is change". Actually these were great words of wisdom from my Mother. You know what she was absolutely right, change is the only constant in my life and that is a good thing. The reason I embrace change is I am constantly working to improve my education and my skills as a Realtor. To that end I am working towards my goal of obtaining … (14 comments)
buyers agent: New Blog Auto Save feature!! AR IT guys I totally love you!! Thank you AR Gods!!
- 12/07/08 02:33 AM
I blog a little and as a newbie I was so excited by the "posting" or publishing of my ideas . To think somebody wanted to read my thoughts was kind of thrilling. I love to share so putting my thoughts out there was very gratifying. As a Realtor I feel it is part of my job to help first time home buyers learn the process. I loved that I was helping others be more prepared to buy or sell a home. The thing is sometimes I would slave over writing the blog in AR format and include some pictures and spell … (17 comments)
buyers agent: Local Austin Musicians given Grammy Nominations, we really are the live music capital!!
- 12/05/08 04:06 AM
Living in Austin the "Live Music capital of the world", we are truly blessed. Finally the rest of the country realizes it, by nominating some Austin homegrown musicians for Grammy's. It was just announced that the following local Austinites were nominated: Redd Volkart for Best Country Instrumental In fact I had dinner last Monday at the wonderful Evangeline Cafe on Brodie Lane and Redd was sitting at the next table having dinner too! Redd is a regular performer at Evangeline about once a month. He just played there last Friday! Pinetop Perkins and Friends were nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album. He … (0 comments)
In these challenging economic times more people are trying to save money. If you are a homeowner one way to save is to refinance your home. You may be able to save a few hundred dollars a month by utilizing this option. Some homeowners elect to take some cash out to pay off credit card debt or school loans.
The interest rates have dropped all summer and are between 5-6% for most. The Fed is talking about dropping it to 4% which has not been seen since the 1960's! this could be a great thing for every homeowner... … (2 comments)
The Austin Chord Rangers are having a Carol Fest to be held at the Capitol again this year. They will be singing all the old classic holiday songs in a barbershop quartet style starting at noon on Sunday December 7th! This free event will take place in the Capitol Rotunda. Classic tv holiday specials will be running through the season. … (1 comments)
buyers agent: My favorite house of the month in beautiful Travis Heights!!
- 11/30/08 02:00 AM
My Favorite House of the Month in beautiful Travis Heights! This amazing modern home has a ten year builders warranty and too many upgrades to mention them all. I will try to get most of them listed here for you. Take a look at the photos, the woven bamboo floors are both "green" and beautiful!
1. Faces Big Stacey Park and creek in sought after Travis Heights neighborhood. 2. No HomeOwners Association fees. 3. Stained Concrete floors and Strand Woven Bamboo floors. 4.Granite counters and KitchenAid stainless appliance package. 5.Enormous master closet opens to dressing area. 6. Separate Shower and spacious … (4 comments)
buyers agent: Unique homes in Central Texas
- 11/29/08 05:06 AM
In my business I see many homes each week. On occasion there are some real standouts in the unique homes category. I want to share one of those homes with you today. There is a Cobb house in Bastrop county for sale. This homes construction is unusual in Texas, but very common in England. When I went to England this spring I saw Cobb houses all over the countryside. This style of home has been around for hundreds of years. The walls are thick and curved and the roof is constructed of traditional thatch. Here are a few pictures to peruse on … (9 comments)
buyers agent: The list you really don't want to be on!! The ten most dangerous citys in the USA from CQ Press.
- 11/29/08 03:37 AM
CQ Press an independent publisher just released a list of the ten most dangerous cities in the US. Thankfully Austin Texasis not on this top ten! It seems to be the only one we are NOT on! In this day and age we all want your families to be safe and it gets harder everyday. The weak US economy is making things difficult on more people. The holiday season intensifies things, as fewer people can afford necessities much less luxury items. the holidays also tempt thieves with cars full of shopping bags. Crime rates are on the rise across the country … (4 comments)
buyers agent: How walkable is your home city? Zilker Park scores 82 out of 100
- 11/28/08 09:12 AM
My hometown is Austin Texas and it is fairly walkable, it really depends on what part of town you live in. If you live downtown or in Zilker or Travis Heights or Hyde Park neighborhoods it is very walkable. My house in Zilker is rated as an 82 out of 100 being a perfect walking city score. If you live in the burbs, you may require a car for those trips to the store. Here is a nifty website to see just how walkable your neighborhood is. www.WalkScore.com.
If you are in the market for a new home and are not … (7 comments)
buyers agent: No good deed goes unpunished... and Lessons learned.
- 11/24/08 03:39 AM
A good friend asked me to watch her dog over the weekend while she was away on business. Of course being a dog lover I said yes. Zoe is a sweet black Lab that loves just about everybody. On the first day of pet sitting I printed the email with the doggy instructions and most importantly the alarm codes. About nine thirty I went to the house and unlocked the door and ran to the alarm pad. I entered the numbers and nothing.... the alarm started beeping loudly. So I tried it again. Still nothing but louder beeping. I tried the … (18 comments)
buyers agent: Quick Delivery/Inventory homes from KB Homes in Austin area
- 11/24/08 01:30 AM
My associate at KB Homes just sent me a list of quick delivery homes in several neighborhoods in and around Austin. There are three homes in Circle C under $300K!! Please take a look and if any of these homes appeal to you, please give me a call and I will send you more details on the homes and take you to go see the homes in person. Remember the Seller pays for my service as a Buyers Agent. So having a Realtor help you with your home purchase still costs you zero. Call me if you want to buy a new … (1 comments)
buyers agent: Are there really convicts on convict Hill- Betina's Austin Trivia blog III
- 11/20/08 06:50 AM
People always ask me where the convicts are or where the prison is on Convict Hill. Lucky for the people who live in the neighborhood, there is no prison and the convicts are long gone. It was much different back in the 1880's the cost of labor was astronomical. Consider the going rate of .17 cents per hour to work in a quarry. Well some ingenious person decided that the prison was full of able bodied men who could provide "free" labor. So those prisoners were sent to the area now known as Convict Hill to work in the quarry. The prisoners … (1 comments)
buyers agent: Barton Creek in the begining..... Betina's Austin Trivia blog
- 11/20/08 03:48 AM
This is the second installment of Austin Trivia. I hope you find it interesting and worth reading. A number of my past relocation clients have enjoyed a mini Texas history lesson while riding around looking at homes. Barton Creek is our topic today. The neighborhood was named after the creek. It was created by John Connelly and Ben Barnes under a partnership agreement in 1974. There was a conference center, country club, and golf course. In 1988 the partners went bankrupt and sold the development to Freeport McMoran incorporated. The Freeport McMoran CEO was Bob Moffett developed the 4,000 acre housing and commercial … (1 comments)
This years fundraising events for the Texas Hearing and Service Dogs. Join us won't you! 
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