Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy has been downgraded to a severe storm that still is impacting parts of the Northeast U.S. with wind, rain, and flooding.

Our thoughts and best wishes are with all of you that experienced Hurricane Sandy's brutal force and are still experiencing the after effects of the hurricane. We hope for swift relief, speedy recovery and rebuilding efforts for all who have been impacted. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected.

Nondelinquent Borrowers Soon to Be Eligible for Short Sales

Daily Real Estate News | Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have issued new rules, which will take effect Nov. 1, that will allow short sales for underwater borrowers who have never missed a mortgage payment. Previously, Fannie and Freddie allowed only home owners who had missed payments to qualify for a short sale.

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On Parade

by Celia Hayes

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The son of our neighbor whom my daughter encouraged to enlist in the military graduated last Friday from basic training. And because my daughter is close to Sylvester's family, we both went down to Lackland for the graduation parade. There is certainly a great deal more pomp and circumstance laid on for these things now. When I finished basic, early in the spring of 1977, they did nothing much more than hand us our orders and travel vouchers, and tell us to pack our duffle bags and clear out of the training squadron dorm ... which we were quite happy to do, let me tell you. I've never since been able to endure the sight of concrete block walls and industrial linoleum with out the miserable

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Road Trip: Fredericksburg by Bulverde, Sisterdale and Luckenbach

by Celia Hayes

Some time ago, my daughter and I discovered the back road route from our North-East San Antonio home, to Boerne; basically, going up 281 to Route 46 and then west to Boerne. This last weekend, we went a step farther, by going north up Bulverde Road and bypassing the horrendous 1604-281 nexus entirely. Really, as they get closer and closer to completing the interchange, traffic just gets worse and worse. And once we got to Boerne, we decided to take Ranch Road 1376, or the Sisterdale Road north to the Pedernales Valley – this turned out to be a fantastic way to get to Fredericksburg; scenic, little traffic and just about as rapidly as by the highway ... except for

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Winterizing Our San Antonio Backyard Garden

For all your San Antonio Real Estate needs, contact Team Randy Watson of Mission Realty at 210-319-4960

by Celia Hayes

So, now that it is cooling off a bit, and maybe the seasonal trees are about to start thinking about the possibility of perhaps changing color sometime soon, it's time to sort out the garden for winter. A few of the hanging tomato plants still had a few slowly-ripening tomatoes on them, but the rest were pretty well done for the year. So this last week before the rain kicked in, we pulled them up, and tossed them into the mulch pile, and moved the hanging frame around to hang facing the kitchen window. Oddly enough, the eggplant, okra and various Bell and jalapeno pepper plands are

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Guten Tag, Y’All - This is Texas!

by Celia Hayes

When I first came to Texas, at the express request of the US Air Force some (mumble) seventeen (mumble) years ago I thought I knew all there was to know about the place: the Alamo of course, and the Riverwalk, too. I knew that Houston had a Grand Opera, that Lubbock was a flat as a pancake griddle with some Monopoly houses set on it, I had read Edna Ferber's Giant, and I knew about cattle drives and the King Ranch, and that Texas was called the buckle of the Bible Belt ... I knew pretty much what any well-read traveler could pick up through the medium of pop culture and the base library.

What I did not know, until well after I got here and began to look around – was how very much more there was.

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