Mary Benton

The Tech Terrace neighborhood in Lubbock is just South of the Texas Tech University Campus. As such it is a favorite place to live, eat, play for TTU students, faculty and staff. Tech Terrace is just East of Covenant Hospital so it is also an area that many Covenant personnel and physicians call home.

Truly, what is or where is Tech Terrace. Many Lubbockites consider Tech Terrace to be boundaried by University Avenue on the east and Indiana Avenue on the west; 19th Street on the north and 34th Street on the south. There are two parks located here as well as Roscoe Wilson Elementary and Hutchinson Jr. High School. My grandchildren attend these schools! A quaint shopping center on 26th and Boston features a cafe, dry cleaners, art supply store, and coffee & gift shops. The delightful Cafe' J's, a hotel, a bed and breakfast, and various other businesses are located on 19th street.

Some people further define what constitutes Tech Terrace. I have heard some folks say Tech Terrace is the sub-neighborhood from 19th through 25th Streets, and Boston to Indiana Avenues. These streets have many large, impressive and historic homes. While many of the homes were built as early as the 1920's, there are also some homes in the neighborhood that are new or recent construction. Some of the older homes are fixer uppers but many have already been updated throughout.

I lived in Tech Terrace from 2002 through 2008 and treasured my home, the tree-lined streets, and some very special neighbors. Since then I have been privileged to work with buyers and sellers in the area. Even though I have moved to Ransom Canyon, Tech Terrace remains one of my favorite neighborhoods.

If you need any information about the area, would like to sell your home, or tour Tech Terrace homes please let me know. I can also send you emails regarding the current inventory in homes for sale and notify you when new listings in Tech Terrace come on the market.

I'd love to assist you with any real estate needs. If you want a home in Lubbock, Ransom Canyon, surrounding communities or Tech Terrace in particular, contact me today!

I am so grateful that Lubbock received much needed moisture this week in the form of rain, sleet and even a few flakes of snow. Things are beginning to green up - a few blossoms and leaves unfurling on the trees.

March is a natural time to think about going green. I am not an environmental wacko, but with water issues, rising costs, and down turn economics one would be remiss not to consider conserving. I am planning to go paperless in my office this year. (save a tree!) I'll do most of my communicating via email. And I have friends who are "environmental" gurus who are going to help me with a rain barrel.

Just two days till St. Patrick's Day! Don't forget to wear green on March 17th. A few years ago I bid on an antique shamrock pin. The photo of it looked awesome - a real one of a kind bit of bling for the season. I won the auction! When the package arrived I opened it to find a tiny version of what I thought I had won. The pin is still absolutely adorable, but lots smaller than what I anticipated.

The same thing often happens with photos of homes online. An estimated 80% of people today begin looking for a new home on the internet. But we know that the photos can be misleading - for better or worse. Pictures of a house can make a house seem darker than it is in person or can make a room look larger than in reality. Most often the photos don't capture a charming ambience or the feel of a neighborhood. And certainly a photo can't convey a strange smell. Definitely start with internet shopping - I love to do that. But you will need to do your leg work and/or Lubbock shoppers can let me do some previewing for you. Below are tips I like to share.

Tip list for home buyer -

* Develop a list of what you need in a house
* Add a list of some 'wants'
* Get pre-qualified with lender (let me know if you want a referral)
* Call or email me and let me know what you are looking for and your time frame
* Get a customized online home search set up - I can do that for you
* If you want a particular neighborhood, drive it and note homes for sale
* Do some internet shopping - stick to your needs at this point
* Make a list of homes of interest
* Do a bit of driving - check out the home's exterior and the neighborhood
* Ask me to investigate homes you like to see if they fit your criteria
* Make an appointment - call me to arrange a time to go see the house


If you need to sell your house in order to buy a new home, get your house on the market BEFORE you get seriously interested in a particular house. It is taking an average of 90+ days for a home in Lubbock to sell. And with close to 1200 single family homes and garden homes on the market it will likely take lots less time to find a great home than to sell one.

Hope you all have a great Spring Break week!

I showed two homes at Vintage Township today. If you have ever wanted to see the community or tour homes there I'd love to meet with you and show you around. From now til the end of the year (and maybe beyond) I think they will be making some great deals. They are getting ready for the Summer 2009 Parade of Homes! The home we toured today had also been staged by Michelle Snodgrass - kudos to Michelle because it looked gorgeous. The address is 11505 Topeka and the price is $459,000.00 for 3656 square feet of ahh-mazing house. There is an efficiency above the garage that is mind boggling - this is just a HUGE bonus considering the home itself is incredibly spacious and attractive.

Vintage Township will have a Christmas Home Tour this year! On December 13, from 2-5pm, several of the "lived in" homes will be open for the evening and decorated for the season. Tickets are $15.00 And their Vintage Winter Wonderland, with Santa, falling snow, and sleigh rides, will be each Friday and Saturday evening from 6-9 pm, from December 5th through the 20th.

I got the cutest postcard today from Lubbock Abstract & Title Co. It says "Did you read the good news?" An adorable bassett hound is offering the newspaper. The card goes on to congratulate Lubbock for having the 2nd strongest US real estate market (according to Business Wire) and the 11th best US recession market according to Business Week! Yea Lubbock. And thanks to this great Lubbock title company for reminding us of the good news!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mega thanks to Rick Geha who was in Lubbock today, speaking to and motivating area Realtors. Keller Williams team leader Debbie Frapp had invited Rick to come speak and gave him quite a build up. Well deserved! It was fun to have fellow Realtors and agents from Midland and Amarillo attend as well as a few Lubbock Realtors from other real estate companies. Rick was a super instructor!

I had a few AHA's and my number 1 AHA was to have deeper, probing dialogue with my buyer clients before getting in the car and going to look at houses. With gas prices being high (I'll stop saying that when the price drops to $2.25 per gallon!) and my time being precious, I want to work with motivated buyer's. In addition to loving my real estate business, my husband and I have our Moms, our wonderful kids and fabulous grandkids and we can't live a balanced life without carving out time for family. To top that I have dear friends, love to do arts and crafts, and have just agreed to be a partner in a booth at a local gift mall. So driving all over Lubbock looking at homes that aren't really what my client wants anyway makes no sense. To drive clients around town all weekend with buyers who aren't ready, willing and able to buy is detrimental to my social, emotional and financial well-being.

Understand though, that I do love showing people homes and love to meet my friends, colleagues, and prospects at homes they have an interest in. These folks don't have to pass a litmus test. That is an entirely different proposition. This AHA is just about what Rick taught which in this case boiled down to working smarter, not harder.

I look forward to taking a number of friends on a fall home tour in November. Last year I (tongue in cheek) called it Tour de Lunch. I will choose a variety of vacant homes in different neighborhoods and price ranges and take my girl friends on a custom tour. Last year we squeezed in 3 or 4 homes during a lunch break and I provided brown bag lunches. It was so much fun, gave me a chance to stay in touch with past co-workers, and them a chance to see some cool homes. This year we may go for an evening after work so we will not be so rushed. Then either drinks or dinner on me. Last year two transactions stemmed from the Tour de Lunch, directly or indirectly.

Doom and gloom still dominate the national mediat when it comes to the housing and real estate industry. Again, Lubbock's market is stable and for that we are all grateful.

Good news surfaced today about our real estate market. Lubbock is the second best housing market in the nation. That's according to a forecast from Veros Real Estate Solutions. And a nod to our neighbors to the north - Amarillo was ranked 4th. We have been telling folks not to listen to all the national bad news, that Lubbock is stable! I am anxious to talk to friends, clients, and prospects to see if they have heard the good news. And on another positive note - mortgage officers in Lubbock say they have money, they are making loans, home loans have not dried up.

I spent the last 4 business days in GRI 3. Thanks and kudos to instructors Gayle Ninemire and Pat Strong. The classes with Pat are always incredible fun in addition to being educational. What an amazing instructor and person. I learned lots and got so many ideas. Trying now to narrow it down to what to implement. I'm wanting even more fun ideas of little drop by gifts that realtors take to clients.