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Houston, TX

It's Official - Houston Single Family Sales up 13.8% in October

Tom D.  Plant, GRI, QSC: Real Estate Agent in Houston, TX
Tom D Plant - 5754 Stillbrooke

HAR has just released the results for October. Sales of Houston single family homes increased 13% compared to October 2008. This follows an increase of more than 32% in September. While Hurricane Ike affected the sales in these months, the nations economic problems found Houston in September as well. The months following October 2008 did not increase substantially. We should see double digit improvement for each of the next three months.

During the first five months the average number of single family homes sold in Houston is 3,925. The average number sold in the most recent five months is 5,155, a 31% increase.

I continue to see clear and convincing evidence that, while Houston is not soaring out of the market decline, we are experiencing solid, slow improvement.

The detailed statistics should be released tomorrow. I will post some detailed analyses of the data over the next few days.

Olympic National Park -- Coastline Pictures -- Oct 09

11-16-09
Liz Flint
Liz Flint: Real Estate Agent in Houston, TX

olympic nat park -- coast #1

Olympic National Park -- coastline pictures. These pictures are from some of the 73 miles of coastline in Olympic National Park. It is only national park that has mountains, rain forest and an ocean in the same park.

olympic nat park -- coast #2

It was a foggy day, but the pictures have the feel of black and white photos.

Sometimes off the coast were these islands (called sea stacks) covered with plants and trees. They looked really out of place towering out of the ocean. The three most popular coasts to visit in the park are Shi Shi Beach, Rialto Beach and Ruby Beach.

Another view of a sea stack.

A collection of of wonderfully shaped rocks from the beach. I just took a picture, instead of taking the rocks. Does anyone know what the white streaks are in the rocks?

After this beach we went back into the rain forest. Most of the beaches in the park can be reached from Highway 101. The next time you are in Washington state, I hope you have the time to explore some of the beauty that Olympic National Park has to offer. For more information about the park go to: www.nps.gov/olym/index.htm or call (360)565-3130 to speak to someone at the visitor center.

When you are ready to buy, build or sell in the Houston or Tomball area, give me a call -- I can help.

Helping Texans achieve their dreams -- one home at a time!

Liz Flint, Century 21 Hardee-Team Realty, Houston & Tomball, TX 832-816-8066, sales_by_liz@hotmail.com

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

11-16-09
Liz Flint
Liz Flint: Real Estate Agent in Houston, TX

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The park service has done a good job of making nice signs for the park. While the cute puff of smoke above the volcano in the picture looks harmless, the eruption in the 80's was very destructive in terms of loss of life and property.

Mt. St. Helens #1

mt st helens #2

Here is what's left of a tree after the eruption. It is inside the observation center and is across from the volcano. The park service has a wonderful movie about the eruption, make sure and make time to see it. This observation site is dedicated to David A. Johston (who died in the eruption). mt. st helens #3

Facts about the Mt. Saint Helens eruption on May 18th, 1980 at 8:32am PDT:

  1. Fifty seven people (including innkeeper Harry R. Truman and geologist David A. Johnston) and thousands of animals were killed.
  2. Hundreds of square miles were reduced to wasteland, causing over a billion U.S. dollars in damage ($2.74 billion in 2007 dollars), and Mount St. Helens was left with a crater on its north side.
  3. At the time of the eruption, the summit of the volcano was owned by the Burlington Northern Railroad, but afterward the land passed to the United States Forest Service.
  4. Mt. St. Helens remained dormant from its last period of activity in the 1840s and 1850s until March 1980. Several small earthquakes beginning as early as March 15, 1980, indicated that magma may have been moving below the volcano.
  5. A 5.1 magnitude earthquate (from 1 mile underneath the volcano) triggered the eruption.

To learn more, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._St._Helens_eruption.

When you are ready to buy, build or sell in the Houston or Tomball area, call me -- I can help.

Helping Texans achieve their dreams -- one home at a time!

Liz Flint, Century 21 Hardee-Team Realty, Houston & Tomball, TX 832-816-8066 sales_by_liz@hotmail.com

The Houston Symphony & Grace Mass Choir-"The Sounds of Christmas"

Cindy Bryant~Houston's Home Staging & Professional Home Stagers~RVP RESA~ASHSR: Home Stager in Houston, TX

This is a family event that will get you in the mood for Christmas. The acoustics at Grace Church are fantastic, so combine that with the Houston Symphony and the choir, and it should be a night to remember!

Houston Symphony & Grace Mass Choir in concert together at Grace Community Church south campus. Friday, December 4 @ 7:30pm. All tickets are general admission.

If you have trouble purchasing tickets or would like more information about this event, please call 713-363-2515.

Start time: Friday December 04, 2009 at 7:30 PM
End time: Friday December 04, 2009 at 9:00 PM
Where: Grace Community Church, 14505 Gulf Fwy, Houston, TX 77034 map it

"2012" A Movie Review.

11-15-09
Liz Flint
Liz Flint: Real Estate Agent in Houston, TX

2012 a movie review. I saw the movie 2012 on Friday night 11/13/09, its first night out. It had lots of stars I recognized, and some that I'd seen before but didn't know their names. John Cusack has starring role, as does as a man named Chiwetel Ejiofor. While most of us know John Cusack, many may have seen Chiwetel before in movies such as "Redbelt", "Talk to Me" and "Tonight at Noon". Both characters are heroes in their own way. Other actors in the movie are Woody Harrelson (who plays a wonderfully wacky role), Danny Glover (who plays the President) and Oliver Platt. Beatrice Rosen has memorable part as a Russian girl who is the girlfriend of a rich Russian ex-wrestler.

The special effects were wonderful. It would have been awesome if this movie had been 3-D. Critics give it 3 out of 5 stars, but the general public has rated it 4½ stars out of 5. Hope you enjoy it. If you liked "Earthquake", "Volcano" and "Towering Inferno" or any disaster movie -- go see this one, you will like it.

When you are ready to buy, build or sell in the Houston or Tomball area, call me -- I can help.

Helping Texans achieve their dreams -- one home at a time.

Liz Flint, Century 21 Hardee-Team Realty, Houston & Tomball, TX 832-816-8066 sales_by_liz@hotmail.com.