Donna Harris, REALTOR® & ASP - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes

It's official, the George W Bush library is coming to the campus of SMU, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, TX. There has been much heated debate about this library and what it would stand for. The campus was split on wanting it and not wanting it.

This will be the 13th Presidential Library across the country. Construction is to start in 2009 and they expect it to take five years to complete. That sounds like quite a project!

SMU is also where the First Lady, Laura Bush, graduated from. Dallas is also going to be where the Bush family makes their home after his term is up. There have been rumors on what part of Dallas he'll live in. He used to live in a very modest home in Prestonwood. I'm sure he'll be moving his price range up a few hundred thousand dollars from that home.

Here is the rest of the article posted.

Graphic courtesy of SMU's website.

This is so crazy!! Nothing ever really happens around here! I went to JJ Pearce High School in Richardson, TX. I was part of the graduating class of... hmmm, I know you guys think I'm young, but do you know how young? Age doesn't really matter when you've been in this industry for 8 years, so I can proudly say, I was part of the class of 1994- graduated with Advanced Honors which isn't too shabby if I do say so myself....

Anyway, premiering on March 5, 2008, they are putting a lot of alumni from JJ Pearce on a "sun- drenched multi-million dollar Hawaiian estate" to see how they have changed, or not changed over a 20 year period. By saying 20 years, I assume it's the alum from 1988. But they could be leaving it broad like being around 20 years.

The site lists the cast of 14 people, but no last names. It's hard to tell if I know any of them. My year books only go back to 1991, and my brother's only go one year further into 1990. I have emailed the information to my high school friends as some of them have older siblings and they might be able to figure out who everyone is.

This is just so exciting. I'm surprised I haven't seen it on the local news... maybe the cast behaves immaturely and Richardson doesn't want to lay claim to them... who knows. Either way, I'm going to try to watch or Tivo it. Sounds like it could be interesting!

HERE is the link for further information.

It's funny how I found this. Tom Burris wrote a blog yesterday about Google Alerts, so I set one up for Richardson TX and perfect timing for today's announcement of the show. Thanks, Tom!

Graphics from the JJ Pearce website...

Jason Kidd was previously with the Dallas Mavericks in 1994 where he played a couple of years before being traded to Phoenix. It seems like we trade everyone to Phoenix as that's also where Nash went.

There are many things involved with this trade, and I could possibly explain it all, but the main thing is that we get Kidd, Malik Allen, and Antoine Wright. We also gave up a couple of first round draft picks for next year.

Jason will be ready for today's 3pm practice and ready to start.

Read more details of this trade on Dallasnews.com.

It has just been announced that Barack Obama will be making a stop in Dallas on Wednesday before his debate with Hillary Clinton on Thursday in Austin. The place has not been announced. I guess that's too small of a detail to have that when you make such an announcement, but I'll update this post when I hear.

From The Dallas Morning News, " "Sen. Obama is committed to campaigning in communities across Texas and will ask the people of Texas to stand for change with him," Adrian Saenz, the Obama campaign's Texas state director, said in a prepared statement Saturday. "

The primary in Texas is March 4. We're one of the last states to vote. The state is typically Republican on a whole, so I'll be watching very closely to see if people vote party lines and for issues, or if they vote for just a person.

Clinton has made no announcement of a stop in Dallas.

The latest report is out and it shows DFW has a surge of 27% in foreclosures going up for auction in March. However, the number 27 doesn't mean too much in an average. I say that because it takes into consideration Denton County that had a 42% increase. But, at 42%, there were "only" 464 foreclosures for the entire county. When you look at the number 464, you think, that's a lot of homes. It's not really that many homes when you look at the population (2006 estimated population of 584,238) and how 464 is a very small percentage of properties in the area.

Then, you have a 20% increase in Collin County (2006 estimated population 698,851). To get to that 20% increase, it's "only" 495 foreclosures.

The Dallas Fort Worth area had over 43,000 foreclosure for 2007. DFW is ranked 11th across the country. We were in the top 10 for so long, so it's good to see we're out of that grouping.

D-FW AREA FORECLOSURE POSTINGS

Remember, I work all of North Dallas County and Collin County including Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Garland, Rowlett, McKinney, etc... my car will take us anywhere you need to go!!

ARE YOU PACKED YET?!

If you find yourself in a bad situation and need to talk to someone about your options, call/email me and we can go over your concerns.