Suzy Flute

Well, the start of an entire new year, a blank slate! Ever wonder if everyone had a little more positive thinking in the their minds, what it would do to the economy? The media wants to turn everything into a 3 ring negative circus! My challenge to everyone out there is to find at least one good thing to say or to think for every day in 2009. That is only 365 good thoughts! I think that should be easy to think, one a day to keep the chaos away! And challenge everyone you run across to do the same. Maybe, just maybe it will create a ripple effect and maybe it will impact more than our own little worlds! Pay this forward and see how far we go!

OK, so the market isn't turning over as rapid as it has been in the past! Big deal! Let's take a look at the bigger picture. We have lots of buyer's inventory. The interest rate is still hovering in the lowest range it has been for the last 20 years or so (somewhere between 5-6% interest rate for a 30 year mortgage). Buyers quit waiting for it to be a better time to buy!!! You've got a line of every type and shape of house on the market. Sellers are very motivated to get their homes sold so get qualified for a home loan, go looking, and make an offer. But please be serious about making that offer so you don't waste your Realtor's time. You will get a little discount but not pennies on the dollar! At least not in Texas anyway! If you wait much longer, you will miss the boat all together and we will be on the way back to a seller's market.

If you have a smaller house to sell and are trying to get a bigger one for about the same money, this would be the best time to go for it. You still might take a little hit on your sale but you will more than gain it back on the house you are buying at a lower amount than the normal market. The market always swings back to normal and get back to a stability mode. Also if you watch the studies done particularly in Texas by the Texas A & M University real estate group, we are still gaining at least somewhere between 2.5-5% appreciation a year (even with it being a little slower than usual.) So why are you waiting to put in your order to "Upsize" My House?

Being a 2 university town (with University of North Texas and Texas Women's University), it was no surprise to hear that Denton High School in the moderate sized town of Denton, TX was accepted into the International Baccalaureate of North America. This will make it a part of the IB World School community which will allow it to offer a Diploma Programme (DP). Much time was spent by Denton ISD personnel in getting the faculty and the curriculum in place to be able to offer this program to the local students of Denton ISD. This is a highly acclaimed program where the students are focused on learning about other cultures, languages and are given little more universal view of the world. They encourage students to have a lifelong understanding of different cultures other than their own. Texas public colleges and universities are mandated to give the students who graduate and earn the IB Diploma up to 24 credit hours. That's a pretty big 'leg up' for anyone trying to get a start on college these days. An informational meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 7pm at the Professional Development Center at 1212 Bolivar in Denton for any parent or student looking to get more information on this program. Also check out the Denton Independent School district site at www.dentonisd.org. There are some News releases on it if you scroll down to the bottom. Or you can call Dr. Lynn Singletary over at Denton High School who is the IB Coordinator at 940-369-2238. You can read up more on the International Baccalaureate at their website at www.ibo.org.

RE/MAX hot air balloon came to present their "How Hot Air Rises" program to Hawk Elementary School in Corinth, TX in late February. My broker, Kelly Hudnall of RE/MAX North Associates of Denton, generously donated the funds to allow the RE/MAX balloon to come out to the school. The kids learned about thermodynamics and some plain fun stories about hot air balloons. This particular balloon could hold the equivalent of 65,000 basketballs (65,000 cubic feet) of air Huge, huh?! Nothing pleased the kids more (or scared them more) than when the balloon pilot would fire it up and it let out a loud burst of fire breathing air! The kids all had a blast! This event was set up to celebrate the completion of their science fair earlier that week. Many thanks to Kelly and Jennifer for setting this up!

Welcome to my new blog for the North Texas area! I thought I'd share the rare occurrence that we had last week. We saw about 8-9 inches of snow which is totally unheard of in this North Texas area (around Denton and Corinth, TX). It happens about only once in 10 years and lasts for only one day usually. So build those snowmen while you still can. The kids loved it! Of course, in Texas it brings a full standstill to traffic and businesses. People go home early and act like it was the blizzard of the year! And we don't know how to drive on it so at least 10-12 cars were in the ditch on the way home. Always lots of craziness around a storm like this but lots of fun since we have very little time with it. By the way we are less than a week out from this snow storm, but today we had 80 degree weather. Expect the unexpected and prepare for everything weather-wise if you are planning to move this direction!