Real estate blog entries tagged with texas by Robin Rogers, CRS, TRC, MRP - Real Estate Investment Adviser (Robin Rogers, Silverbridge Realty, San Antonio, Texas)

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texas: Sold! another great home in my old neighborhood, Woods of Shavano - 05/07/09 01:07 AM

The sellers are being transferred out of state, so this one-story home is ready for new owners!

The sellers have taken great care of it in the 3.5 years they have lived there. They updated the bathrooms and the kitchen, and added a lovely patio accessible from the sunroom. The landscaping, green grass, and trees are beautiful, and Woods of Shavano is a great place to live, as I've said before!
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texas: Sold! Remodeled home in my old neighborhood: Woods of Shavano, San Antonio, Texas - 04/30/09 02:46 AM

I still miss living in Woods of Shavano! We moved away a couple of years ago so my husband could be closer to his job in San Marcos. It's a wonderful neighborhood, convenient to everything but easy to get to. This is another terrific remodeling job, updating a home that already had good bones to start with. The huge back yard is full of mature, shady oak trees--perfect for summer get-togethers. Click the Details tab on the Real Estate Shows window for more information.
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texas: Sold! Home on Silver Charm (love that name!), San Antonio, Texas - 04/30/09 02:33 AM

This well-maintained home is located in the small gated section of Churchill Estates. (In case you're wondering, the streets are named after races and racehorses.) The sellers put in a beautiful flagstone patio, and you can enjoy views of the surrounding hillside there as you sip margaritas. Or you can have them in front of the fireplace in the living room and still see the view!

If your browser doesn't reveal the Real Estate Show, you can click here to see it. Check out the Details tab for more information.
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texas: The hummingbird moths are back in my garden - and in someone else's - 04/22/09 01:20 AM

Ever since I got back from my cruise to Hawaii, I have been busybusybusy. That is my excuse for taking so long to post more photos from my trip. But first, the news flash: the hummingbird moths are back! They have been visiting the lantana blossoms in the evening, making it tough for me to get a sharp photo of them in low-light conditions. I did my best:

Now, here's the cool thing. A couple of days after I took these pictures, I got an e-mail from Sandra, who lives on the southern coast of South Africa. She was visited by … (5 comments)

texas: Sold! Beautifully transformed home at 2831 Little John in the Northwood neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas - 03/28/09 10:08 AM

The seller did a fabulous job remodeling this home, and she and her mom staged it beautifully when it was finished, too. The Northwood neighborhood is a great place to live--one of my favorites! Click the Details tab on the Real Estate Show window for more information on this lovely home.
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texas: Rosemary loves company - bees, damselflies, and butterflies - 03/02/09 12:23 AM

I took these photos in my back yard on a warm, sunny morning in January. I wandered over to my raised bed of rosemary and found it to be a popular place.

A damselfly basking in the sun on a sprig of rosemary.

This bee has gathered a good supply of pollen already, helping to keep its hive going over the winter.

Several hairstreak butterflies were gathering nectar from the rosemary flowers. This one opened its wings and held still long enough for me to get a photo.
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texas: Welcome to Universal City, Texas - a great place to live - 02/24/09 02:17 AM

Universal City, part of the San Antonio MSA and located on the northeast corner of Bexar County, starts at Randolph Air Force Base's north gate. The main drag through the city from the entrance to Randolph is Pat Booker Road, which connects Loop 1604, San Antonio's "outer loop," to State Highway 78 and the all-important Southern Pacific Railroad that parallels 78. The city was named by a developer to designate the universal importance of the air base, which opened in 1931.
The photo shows workers sprucing up the "Taj Mahal," the control tower at Randolph AFB.
Pat Booker Road (SH 218) was … (9 comments)

texas: Newly remodeled home in quiet cul-de-sac: 838 Boulder Drive, Universal City, TX - 02/10/09 03:17 AM

On a personal note: my client did an incredible job remodeling this home. His attention to detail is amazing, and I am referring him to family members and other clients. He also found me a new landscaping team that I'm looking forward to working with. This project turned out to be a total win-win!
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texas: "Red sky at morning" - photos for your opinion, please! - 01/27/09 12:48 AM

I got up last week and saw a beautiful colored light coming through the shutters in my home office. I ventured out back onto the deck in my bathrobe and fluffy slippers to quickly take a few photos. Naturally, the flash came on at first (hey, I'd just gotten up and hadn't had my coffee yet). But after adjusting manually, I got two shots that I really liked out of half a dozen before the light changed.
Trouble is, I can't decide which one I like better. I cropped the first one to frame it better, but that's all.

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texas: San Antonio's housing market expected on improve in 2009 - 01/07/09 02:36 AM

San Antonio's housing market should get better in 2009. This prediction is based on reports made at the annual San Antonio Board of Realtors' Housing Forecast on January 6. However, the median home price in San Antonio and Bexar County is expected to stay pretty much the same.
Chief Economist Mark Dotzour of the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center noted, "In 2008, San Antonio had job growth, cheap mortgages and positive price appreciation but declining volumes. It tells me local economics are not the issue. It's a lack of confidence in our government. And when that is repaired, buyers will start buying … (3 comments)

texas: More MLS photos! Special edition: double/triple vision - 01/05/09 01:16 AM

Imagine my crushing disappointment when I eagerly click the link to see the next photo of a listing, only to discover that it was taken from two feet to the left of the first one. Or when a cloud passes over. Or at a lower resolution.

Sometimes two photos aren't enough to tell the whole story of a room.

Here's a panoramic view of the front of this house:

Aargh! … (11 comments)

texas: New Years Day in downtown San Antonio - Margaritas at La Margarita - 01/04/09 02:07 AM

I had to go check on a rental property before the tenants moved in, and afterwards my husband and I headed downtown to see what was open for lunch. My favorite place, the Liberty Bar, was closed. The Pig Stand was open, but since we were already fairly close, we went to see if El Mirador was open. It wasn't.
But I knew that Mi Tierra would be open, since's it open every day. I've been going there since I was a kid--it's a San Antonio institution across from the Mexican Market. We parked in a lot down the street and headed to Produce Row … (4 comments)

texas: Orb photos - one night in downtown San Antonio at the Menger Hotel - 12/07/08 06:02 AM

I went with a couple of friends one evening to see if we could get any photos of ghosts or orbs at the Menger Hotel. The bar is supposed to be especially active, but I didn't get anything there. I did get some interesting shots in the hallway and a room off the main lobby.

You can see the orb sneaking up on my friend from the left.

Gotcha!

I had to brighten the first three above, since the hallway was rather dark.

The photos were taken with my old digital camera, now retired because it obviously didn't cope with low … (12 comments)

texas: "Blue carpet is the kiss of death" - things that make houses sit there and not sell - 11/11/08 08:32 AM

Real estate is local, of course, and I have noticed certain things over the years that make a house stubbornly cling to its sellers instead of taking in new owners. At least in my area, and maybe in others, these issues can cause the house to take longer to sell.
One of them is blue carpet, as per my soon-to-be trademarked slogan in the title of this post. Emerald-green carpet isn't great, but it's not as bad as blue. (Below is an actual photo from the MLS.)

Another thing that keeps houses from selling is bad feng shui that comes from … (35 comments)

texas: Some rental home possibilities for investment in northwest San Antonio, Texas - 11/11/08 05:16 AM

I recently showed a small sample of potential single-family rental homes in northwest San Antonio near the Medical Center, USAA, UTSA, and west towards Lackland AFB, Sea World, and the financial and data centers off Highway 151. My client was only in town for the afternoon, and had been delayed to boot. I only had time to show a sampling of homes out of the list of candidates I had made in the representative neighborhoods that I drove through.

I only included homes and neighborhoods that attract tenants who can afford to pay from $1,000 to $1,400 in rent. Less than that, and there can be income … (2 comments)

texas: Photos and information on some of the last autumn butterflies in my garden - 11/09/08 02:25 AM

I loved the way the late-afternoon sunlight looked shining through this giant swallowtail's wings. The butterflies have been feeding on the last flowers of the lantana, buddleia, and even the basil.

What appear to be orange fur or feathers on this bordered patch are actually scales. Butterfly scales are like shingles and are both transparent and iridescent. The scales come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes.

A sulphur feeding on the buddleia. Its wings practically vibrate with color against the sky! Unlike many other species, the sulphur caterpillars and adult butterflies don't secrete toxins gathered from the host plant. This makes them more attractive to predators. Fortunately, they're pretty … (15 comments)

texas: What's the buzz? Bees! Photos of bees on the flowers in my garden - 11/01/08 09:56 AM

Some of the bees' favorite plants in our garden have finished blooming or died back, like the batface and the hyssop. But there are plenty of other flowers to keep them busy (as bees, of course)!

Look at all the pollen in those saddlebags! Actually they're called pollen baskets, or corbicula. (I'm sure I've seen that word used as an ActiveRain graphic for posting comments.)

Basil flowers are a big hit with all kinds of insects, including ladybugs and hoverflies, but especially bees.

A shot of a bee's butt. She is really digging into that aster blossom.

The iceplant (lampranthus) … (11 comments)

texas: San Antonio real estate market slowing, but employment holding steady - 10/29/08 11:30 AM

Admittedly, residential real estate in San Antonio doesn't look as good as it did last month, with the pace of sales slowing 9.5% in September. The median home price dropped to $145,700 from last September's $147,700. This comes after several months of 1% to 2% appreciation, though, compared to other cities. However, the economic prospects are good for a turnaround next spring.
Employment growth in health care and government, including the military, continues to help keep San Antonio's real estate market stable. The unemployment rate in September was unchanged at 5%. The job market gained 3,500 jobs, mostly "back to … (7 comments)

texas: Lackland AFB in San Antonio, the Gateway to the Air Force: bigger and better - 10/28/08 11:28 AM

The Pentagon is planning to spend $3 billion on various projects in San Antonio over the next few years, only partly as a result of 2005 Base Realignment and Closure recommendations. The Air Force will break ground next spring on a $900 million Airmen Training Complex at Lackland AFB, on San Antonio's southwest side.
This will be the biggest USAF construction project anywhere for the near future, and by 2014, 20 new structures will be built. They include a dormitory and eight 1,200-person training complexes that will be served by four dining halls to replace the Recruiting, Housing & Training facilities, … (1 comments)

texas: You know you want them: butterfly photos! This week in my garden - 10/18/08 03:19 AM

A monarch on the jatropha bush, stoking up before the big migration to Mexico.

A giant swallowtail feeding on the flame acanthus. It may have been one of the caterpillars on the lemon tree.

A bordered patch, "one of the most variable butterfly species in the world," according to my butterfly book.

I only got two shots of this beautiful white-angled sulphur before it fluttered away.
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