About Harris County, TX

Kid's Night Out
Kingwood Fitness & Sports Center

• Offered the third Friday of every month.
• From 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
• Offered for ages 6 months to 11 years
• Fee $20 for first child, $15 for each siblingL
• LIMITED TO 25 CHILDREN
• Make reservations up to 10 days in advance
• Call (281) 348-2205

This is just one of the many activies offered by The Clubs of Kingwood. They offer an awesome calender filled with a variety of dining evenings, cooking classes and sports events. The Clubs of Kingwood has a menu of membership choices. Contact Membership Directors Lori Becknell (281)348-2216 or Kirk Wilkinson (281)348-2289 for membership information and options.

Susan Brown, Your Texas Connection sells real estate in Walden on Lake Houston, Eagle Springs, Summerwood, Atascocita, TX, Kingwood Greens, Royal Shores & Kingwood, TX - just to name a few! Susan's the team leader for Your Texas Connection at Keller Williams Realty NE. Visit their website for more in depth info about the team and what they can do for you. Or call Susan direct (281) 415-1454 if you'd like her to start working on your behalf today!

The Humble ISD Cosmetology Program is awesome. Not only does it provide opportunities for the students but the community benefits with inexpensive cosmetology services. How does a $7 ladies haircut sound? Add $2 more for blow dry and style.

The Humble ISD Cosmetology Program helps prepare students for employment right out of high school. The students generally spend three hours a day preparing for a state license, in lieu of taking an elective or P.E. classes. And where certification in Texas normally requires 1500 training hours, the high school students are only required to complete 1000 hours, due to credit being applied for their other academic classes.

The Humble ISD Cosmetology Program is not just fun and games. The students are also educated on bacteria, bones and the skin. And don't forget the chemistry involved in the various hair processing also. To stay in the program, students must maintain a C average in all courses. If they do that, they are eligible for the state examination. And the pass rate for the state exam is 100 percent! Much higher than the 50% average passing rate for post high school students.

The instructors are Marla Ubernosky & Teresa Hand. Ms. Ubernosky has 22 years of teaching experience in Humble. Ms. Hand, a new instructor, is a former Humble ISD Cosmetology Program graduate. These instructors bring enthusiasm and professionalism into the Salon Classroom.

State inspectors come by often to keep standards high at the Humble ISD Cosmetology Program Salon. And the clientele is growing. Senior center residents have come by the busload. Plus the Salon offers Glamour Girl Parties, complete with glamour treatments, karaoke and photos for the younger set. If you're interested in making an appointment, call (281) 641-6535.

The program is part of the vocational classes provided by the Career And Technology Education Center, or CATE. The Humble ISD Cosmetology Program is available to all junior and senior students enrolled in Humble ISD. The course requires three class periods. However, if travel is involved from another campus, arrangements can be made. For any further details on how to enroll in programs at CATE, students should check with their school counselors.

Susan Brown, Your Texas Connection sells real estate in Walden on Lake Houston, Eagle Springs, Summerwood, Atascocita, TX, Kingwood Greens, Royal Shores & Kingwood, TX - just to name a few! Susan's the team leader for Your Texas Connection at Keller Williams Realty NE. Visit their website for more in depth info about the team and what they can do for you. Or call Susan direct (281) 415-1454 if you'd like her to start working on your behalf today!

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.

Staging is the best thing I ever offered to my clients. It brings in a third party to keep me from offending the client and the stager is much better at staging a home than I ever want to be. I use the same stager on every home and every home she has staged has sold within 14 days and close to list price, sometimes over list price due to multiple offers. She is really good.

I explain to my clients that the better their home looks, the higher price it will bring and the faster it will sell. I use two pictures to demonstrate the difference between staged and not. I simply ask which photo of a living room looks better? I show them photo one, which is the staged home, then I show them a photo of a home that looks nice but is not staged. The second photo is not bad but people always choose the first photo after comparing the two side by side. Then they are generally sold on the idea, get the staging, and are amazed at how nice the home looks even to them than before it was staged. If they don't want to use a stager, I offer them the use of a staging DVD. Not as effective but a step in the right direction. To me, there is simply no question anymore about whether to stage a home or not.

Dale Ross RE/MAX Fry Road in Katy, Texas

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For this month's Walden on Lake Houston Market Report, we decided to change it up a bit and give you a comparison of Sales Price Ranges for the last three years. It is always interesting to see not only how many homes are selling but what price range seems to have the most activity.

The criteria used for this Walden on Lake Houston Market Report came from HAR (Houston Association of Realtors). And the price range breakdown used was in $50,000 increments. And here are a few more pieces of information to ponder, along with the chart.

The sales for Walden on Lake Houston broke down as follows:

• May through October 2007 totaled 92
• May through October 2008 totaled 72
• May through October 2009 totaled 63

Of those 227 sales, the majority, 108, almost 48%, were in the $150,000 to $200,000 price range. Second was the $200,000 to $250,000 price range, with 56 sales, and 25% of the total. The under $150,000 price range accounts for 18% of the total, with 42 sales. And the over $250,000 price range had 21 sales, or 9% of the total.

Walden on Lake Houston, in Atascocita, is a country club community offering golf & tennis memberships, as well as other activities for residents. This market report will give you an idea of what is current in the home market in Walden.

Susan Brown, Your Texas Connection sells real estate in Walden on Lake Houston, Eagle Springs, Summerwood, Atascocita, TX, Kingwood Greens, Royal Shores & Kingwood, TX - just to name a few! Susan's the team leader for Your Texas Connection at Keller Williams Realty NE. Visit their website for more in depth info about the team and what they can do for you. Or call Susan direct (281) 415-1454 if you'd like her to start working on your behalf today!