Real estate and other stuff

It's not officially spring yet, but there are already some signs of life, so I got my camera out and toured the garden to see what was blooming. Then I made a show out of some of the blossoms in my garden. Some are from trees, such as the peach and gorgeously fragrant mountain laurel. Some flowers are from perennials in the beds, such as salvia and honeysuckle. And some just came up in the grass, namely the wild onions! I thought they were just as pretty as the others in their own way.

As more blooms appear, I'll be out taking pictures of them. I'll also be trying to get photos of the butterflies, moths, bees, and hummingbirds that appreciate them as much as I do!

If you can't see the show below in your web browser, just click the link underneath. Enjoy the show!

Pre-spring flowers in Cibolo, Texas

Isn't she a beauty? I quickly snapped off four photos of her as she paused on my deck to eye me, but this is the only one that turned out. A few seconds later, she raced for the fence and jumped up and over into my neighbor's yard. I took the photos from inside the sunroom, because I didn't have time to get outside.

Some facts about roadrunners:

1. They are members of the cuckoo family.

2. They eat bugs, lizards, bird eggs, fruits, seeds, and snakes, including rattlesnakes.

3. They live alone or in pairs, and often mate for life.

4. Both parents raise chicks, with the male sitting on the nest at night.

5. They don't migrate, but stay in desert-like, scrubby areas.

Our neighborhood isn't particularly desert-like, but I did see one last fall about a mile away from our house where there are some cow pastures. They must have had to expand their food-gathering range because of the exceptionally cold winter.

Roadrunners are welcome in our garden. Since we don't use pesticides or chemicals, there are a lot of things for them to eat. About the only creatures we don't welcome are raccoons and rats, only because they can try to get into our attic. And my husband is not fond of fire ants. Maybe the roadrunner will come back and eat them!

I ran across this listing while hunting for a home one of my clients might want to buy and remodel. She has done an excellent job with her other projects, what I call slow flips, and is ready to start on another one. First I check out the obvious foreclosures and distress properties, but there is starting to be a lot of competition for the good ones. It takes a lot of research and trolling through listings on my part to come up with a short list of homes to look at. Only a few make the cut: those that home buyers would shy away from in horror, but that have good bones and need to be repaired, cleaned up, and updated.

This home might just be one to consider. It has been on the market since November 2009 with this particular listing agent.

[ Placeholder where a photo of a house was originally shown in my post. The photo has a date stamp of June 1, 2003, and the copyright notice of the San Antonio Board of Realtors from 2009 that is automatically put on photos uploaded to the multiple listing service. I read through the copyright rules of the MLS, of which I am a member, and was still not able to figure out whether I can display a photo in a blog post, although it is clearly marked with their copyright, and I am obviously not claiming it is of one of my listings. Some people commented that they felt I should not have included the photo, so I have removed it. ]

Anyway, I was trying to make a point in my post that I thought the photo would achieve more quickly than words. The photo is the same one that was used in a previous listing of this house in 2007 (by a different listing agent, and before the automatic MLS copyright stamp) and the property has been listed for sale and rent by even more listing agents since then. For some reason, the current listing agent has not driven by to take an updated photo of the house. There are three other photos, another exterior shot and a shot of a hallway and a bedroom, all from 2003.

To me, this indicates that the house is a possible candidate for remodeling and flipping, since most home buyers are going to skip right over a home that they can't even see recent photos of. If there are no photos from the last 6 years, then the house might be pretty scary inside. This is the kind of thing I look for by reading between the lines when I research properties on the MLS.

So what do you think? Should I schedule a showing?

I got a new camera for Christmas, and it has made taking macro shots a lot easier. I can't make butterflies sit still, so I have to take 10 shots for every usable one (see the previous blog post), but things that don't move around too much are easy.

This winter was so cold in south Texas that many of our plants died, including several that we had just put in while xeriscaping part of our back yard--two days before the first freeze hit. So this week I was delighted to see that the little peach tree had survived and was putting on a great show of blossoms. Maybe we will even get peaches this year!

The first gulf fritillary of spring appeared in my organic garden yesterday! This species of butterfly prefers to lay eggs on passionflower vines, which are already popping up despite the freakishly cold weather we had this winter. I followed this one around for a while, but she didn't settle on the passiflora long enough for me to take a picture. Instead, she went to the white salvia and basked for a few minutes, slowly opening and closing her wings. I loved the way the afternoon sunshine made her wings look like stained glass. 

If you love butterflies, you might also enjoy the show I did a couple of years ago. There will be more photos and shows to come soon, since spring appears to be on the way to South Texas--finally!

Woods of Shavano is such a nice neighborhood on the northwest area of San Antonio. It's close to shopping, places of worship, movie theaters, bakeries, and restaurants like Cool Cafe, one of my favorites! It is in a convenient, yet quiet, location near Shavano Park and south of Loop 1604. The neighborhood association is voluntary, so if you want to use the swimming pool or tennis courts, you can become a member. It is a great neighborhood for walking, too, with lots of friendly neighbors.

So without further ado, may I present a lovely home that has just come on the market there! After watching the Real Estate Show, you can click the Details tab for more information.

If you can't see the show above, just click here to view it.

Don has some great information that he goes over with his sellers to get them ready for the process. I work very hard to help my clients get their home ready for showings, in addition to staging, and topnotch marketing. But Don's post reminds me that I need to discuss these other issues in more detail with my clients, too.

In many areas of San Antonio, there are several neighborhoods where buyers can look for homes in a particular price range, so I show my sellers that there is more competition than just in their particular neighborhood. Also, homes in good condition here can sell at full price, or no less than about 97% of the asking price. All too many times, the sellers will need to act quickly to adjust the home's price position to the market conditions. But if the home does sell in less than the average amount of time, or for more than the average sales price, let's celebrate!

San Antonio is known for the Alamo, great Tex-Mex food, and now: cyber security.

Yes, it's true. When you think of San Antonio, think of spies and spooks and computer nerds. The military and the US government desperately need better security to protect their networks from hackers. It is a growing part of the IT industry, generating $8 billion annually, according to the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. There are already more than 60 computer security firms located in the San Antonio metro, employing an estimated 6,000 workers. 

Recognizing this, the US Air Force has selected San Antonio as its headquarters for its cyber command. There are currently 750 personnel located at Lackland AFB, and 160 more are expected to be added to the 24^th Air Force, as the new command is known. Lackland AFB is located in the southwest part of the San Antonio metro.

The former Sony microchip manufacturing facility in northwest San Antonio has been the location of a National Security Agency data center since 2007. New buildings are under construction to provide space for more personnel and contractors to fill top-secret positions, for an estimated total of 5,200 staffers.

Thus, it's no secret that more jobs are on the way, helping to keep the San Antonio economy marching along.

This is one of the units at the Seaside Inn in Corpus Christi that I have available for lease (the other is a studio). This is a really cute apartment, fully furnished and decorated in a funky beach style. The window treatments, linens, and laminate flooring are new, and it has just been repainted as well. It is in a great location convenient to the universities, Medical Center, the Naval Air Station, and shopping and dining. It's only 3 blocks from elegant Ocean Drive, and a short drive from the beach at North Padre Island.

Check out the virtual photos in the Real Estate Show, and click the Details tab for lots more information!

If you can't see the Real Estate Show above, click here to view it.

I am excited to be marketing another remodeled and updated home for sale in Churchill Estates. This one has dual master bedrooms, three full baths, a huge covered patio and extended deck, plus a swimming pool. Even though it has not exactly been warm in San Antonio the last couple of months, the pool already looks quite inviting! Some home buyers are going to be very happy in this home come summertime.