Real Estate Blog - KW Commercial - Scott Nicholson

Inflation

We all hear the word but do we all know what “inflation” means?  When most people think of inflation they think “higher prices”.  Well, that is true…but sorta backwards…  Prices are higher during times of inflation but let’s talk about what is really happening.Prices are higher during times of inflation not because “things” are worth more…it’s because dollars are worth less!  It takes more dollars to buy “things” because each dollar is worth less…!  So, if a shirt costs $10.00 today and we go through an inflationary cycle and the Dollar loses 10% of it’s value that same shirt effectively costs $11.00.  The “cost” of the shirt goes up 10% because the purchasing power of every Dollar in your wallet (or bank account, or 401K, or SEP, or Money Market, etc, etc) drops by 10%!  Prices are forced to rise because it takes more Dollars to purchase goods during inflation.Inflation sucks!  It sucks because while we sleep/eat/live our money & savings lose value….and we are virtually powerless to stop it.  When money is produced at a more rapid pace than a given economy grows the value of that money (currency) drops. Our national economy is slowing lately and there has been a tremendous amount of currency thrown onto the market lately. 

Inflation, while not currently imminent is certainly forecast……ouch!  The best way to hedge yourself against the loss of value in your savings brought on by inflation is to buy real estate or other “hard” commodities.  Some people buy gold or silver…but I propose that you’re better off buying real estate. 

Consider….

• Real Estate is “real”…ie, it doesn’t ever completely lose it’s value. 
• Real Estate usually experiences appreciation over time.  I’m not talking about artificially high appreciation rates like those we’ve seen over the past 5-10 years…I’m talking a reasonable appreciation rate of 5%-10% annually. 
• Real Estate ownership has some very advantageous tax implications….depreciation, expense deductions, etc…
• Real Estate can create income in addition to the tax benefits & appreciation.
• Real Estate provides pride of ownership.  Sure you can own stocks or bonds but you can actually drive by and see your real estate investment!
• Real Estate purchases can be leveraged.  Buyers with clean credit and sufficient income can leverage their cash wiith a mortgage loan to purchase & own real estate.

All the experts are warning that we’re in for a bout of inflation…nobody knows when or for how long….this recent Worldwide Financial Shakeup has everyone sorta bamboozled! When inflation strikes the best strategy is to invest in Real Estate!!!  The real estate you buy with Today’s Dollar will automatically be worth more “dollars” during an inflationary cycle….because each inflation-striken dollar is worth less!!BUY REAL ESTATE NOW!!!!

Think about it.  Power and Endurance are two very different species with 98.9% common DNA.  Lemme tell you about it on a multi-platform scenario….I’ve been thinking alot about this stuff lately. 

Power happens NOW while Endurance happens LONG.

Another way to think about it is that Endurance is comprised of many many short-term Power events, or that Power is a demonstration of the maximum short-term Endurance one can muster.  Either way you break it down they’re inextricably linked even while they’re distinctly seperate.  And, as such, each can be trained simultaneously.

Power is the inspirational motivation that compells me to write, for instance.  Endurance is the committment & discipline to write regularly.  Power is Love and Endurance is the committment & discipline to a relationship. 

Power is Belief and Endurance is Faith.  Call the ability to sustain Power for Endurance….Stamina.

 In the gym, as in everyday life, it hurts to train ‘em.  Hard work Power for long time Endurance.  It’s painful.

Following is a great example of a Power Endurance (Stamina) gym workout which we did several weeks ago…courtesy of Rob Shaul.

Warm up: 3 Rounds
                  Mini Leg Blaster
                  5x Mr. Spectacular
                  10x Seated Russian Twist @ 25#

Training:

15 Rounds
10x Jingle Jangles (5x round trips)
10x Alligator Push up
5x Sandbag Getups (10x total, M-65#, W-45#)
5x Pull ups (3x Women)
10x Dips (5x Women)

ciao…….scott       Scott@DiscoveryAustin.com         512-947-2688      www.DiscoveryAustin.com    

….like a great song.  Tell me important stuff, in a unique/creative/concrete way, so that it’s profound and familiar yet amazing and real-life-happens-daily-invisible.  It leaves you shaking and nodding your head at the same time and more often than not, you either laugh or cry (or both) when you hear it.  We all know songs like that, right?

That’s how our workouts are… 

Rob Shaul (the smart guy behind MtnAthlete.com) composes fantastic workout/songs!  Seriously, I won’t try to fully break down his philosophy on strength and conditioning…because I’m not capable…but I’ll try to give you my best take down on why Shaul’s workouts are such beautiful compositions.  We almost always laugh…but we always wanna cry.    

My partner in my Quest to Get Ripped is my friend Ricky.  He’s currently the Head Athletic Trainer at St. Stephen’s Academy and we use their gym for our workouts.  Ricky has a huge background in strength & conditioning…including the University of Texas Longhorn Football Program and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics…bottom-line…he knows his shit.  He’s the ideal workout partner! 

OK.  So I “discovered” MtnAthlete.com about 9 months ago and immediately went to Ricky so we could check it out together.  The workouts were too intense for us to jump right into so we began doing our own hybrid versions and had great results….we got noticeably stronger and our aerobic endurance increased dramatically!  Those of you who’ve been reading my blog during the last 8 months may remember my mention that my running has gotten stronger as my overall fitness has increased.. 

After about 6 months we started trying to do Rob’s workouts in their entirety….OUCH!  We stuck to it and struggled through it and now have been following the daily workouts exactly as they are published!!!   The strength and endurance we’ve gained is Off The Hook!!  Amen..!

My interpretation of the genius choreography is this:  Build a strong core and a strong aerobic base and reinforce those in every workout as you add the strength-training component!  The subtle (or not-so-subtle) aspects of Rob Shaul’s training philosophy are just dawning on me as we’ve progressed into our current phase of Total Immersion into the MtnAthlete.com workouts.  I’ll provide concrete examples over the coming weeks but the general concept is one of active stressful recovery. 

Looks like this:  Do a hard heavy set of a metabolic fullbody movement that makes you gasp for breath…then….immediately go into a less intense exercise that, although less intense, causes you to tense your core & torso (restricting your ability to take deep breaths) when you most want/need to take deep breaths!  Voila!  Active & stressful recovery…very very painful but also very very effective in getting your ass into shape!!!  Akin to running hard intervals but in a weightroom setting.  Genius!

More later………gotta go revel in my post workout Dopa-Dorph-Aline buzz!

ciao……scott        Scott@DiscoveryAustin.com     512-947-2688(m)      www.DiscoveryAustin.com 

8/8/08 was a landmark date in my life.  Truthfully, on 8/8/08 I began a journey to restore Scott, man to man…chest to chest, I made a solemn vow to myself to get off my 5′ 11″, 195lb ass and get back into some semblance of “shape” and start a fitness program.  8/8/08.

Laura, Austin, and I left Cedar Park, TX on 8/8/08 and headed North for a very very cool backpacking trip to the Pecos Wilderness just outside of Cowles, NM…less than an hour from Santa Fe, NM.  Our plan was to drive to the trailhead in Cowles, camp for a day (or two) to acclimate to the altitude, backpack to Pecos Baldy Lake and camp for 3 nights, day hike to summit Pecos Baldy Peak and Truchas Peak, then pack down to the car and drive home.  Since we hadn’t really trained, my agreement with Laura was that I’d carry a heavier-than-usual-share of our gear…after all, I’ve always had adequate residual backpacking-strength, right??  I figured my pack would be in the 65#–75# range…well within my limits even considering the altitude, topography, my history, and my flabby couch-ready body.  Turned out that my pack was closer to 80# and my body more couch-ready than trail-ready….OUCH!!!

We camped 2 acclimation nights at the trailhead and then headed up the trail for the long hard uphill to Pecos Baldy Lake.  The hike damn near broke me.  I was 98.5% Whipped by the time we reached our campsite!  Then I had to set up our tent, filter some drinking water, and prepare our evening meal….My Ass Was Kicked.  Had we encountered any kind of emergency we were Hosed……I was a brain-dead spaced-out helpless vegetable-person. 

Dangerous stuff.  Not life threatening, but we were in the mountains and ”exposed” to a certain heightened level of risk.  It was humbling and scary when the stark realization of just how weak I was creeped into my addled zombie-brain!  WTF??

We ended up camping 2 nights and Austin and I summited Pecos Baldy…but. alas, we opted to pack down to the car a day earlier than planned due to my ass kicked-ness.  Embarrasssing and motivational in the same instance.  It was then that I realized I’d already had the psychic premonition of my weak and compromised state of fitness several days prior, on 8/8/08, but needed, in true Scott fashion, to prove it to myself by attempting (and failing) the test of this backpacking trip. 

Upon our return home I started a rudimentary fitness program, determined to get back into some semblance of the elusive “shape”.  I joined the YMCA and began to run….. 

Then, one glorious day I visited the online version of The Alpinist magazine and found links to 2 climbing specific gyms:  One in Salt Lake City, UT (GymJones) and one in Jackson, WY (MtnAthlete).  I had been running and working out on the weight machines at our local YMCA for about 2 months when this information appeared and changed my life.  These guys were climbers, MMA fighters, soldiers, and industrial athletes and the daily workouts, posted on-line, were the most challenging, inventive, daunting, scary, impossible, intriguing, creative, hardening, and logical workouts I’d ever seen.  I have become a practicing and proselytizing Disciple of mtnathlete.com!!!
 
Two key words in this essay….one is 100% measurable and the other 100% subjective.
Gut and Religion.

Gut:  My gut is gone.  I’m a 31″ waist, 5′11″, 168# guy today.  Empirically measurable.  Along with the de-mergence (aka disappearance) of my mid-section insulation came HUGE increases in my aerobic endurance, core strength, muscle mass, aerobic endurance, core strength, repeat 50 times!  I’m the same weight I was 20 years ago…only now I’m 50% stronger overall and have off-the-hook core strength.  It’s impossible to explain without 10,000,000 words…..so I’m working on a website where we’ll share our workouts via short HD videos.  I figure if a picture is worth 1000 words, a video is worth at least 100,000 words!  Picture this: I’m not quite ready to be a actor in the movie “300″….but I’m a definite call-back for the movie “800″…..LOL!!!  I’m not bragging, although I’m damn proud of the results of my hard work…..mentally, emotionally, and physically.  In challenging & changing myself, I’ve sorta become “more” than me…..I know that sounds trite and weird.  But it’s true.

Religion:  I may have finally found my religion.  Hmmm.  How does any person, especially and specifically Charles Scott Nicholson, actually “find” something so 100% subjective as religion?  Hmmm.  Well, I wonder also…..BUT….I know that the purity, honesty, transparency, enlightenment, strength, trust, and self-discovery I’ve found in this recent journey to self-fulfillment is more profound than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life.  Posers are readily revealed.  Dishonesty is obvious…either you did the work or you didn’t.  We don’t have mirrors in our gym…nobody cares what you look like, only that you came committed to work and be honest with yourself and support/encourage each other.  Our gym is a dogma-free zone with no titles and no need for faith in things unseen.  No church I’ve ever been in even comes close to the purity and sanctity and safety and self-awareness and un-adulterated worship that we have.  Baptised in blood, sweat, and tears we push our limits of commitment and devotion…and, having thus fought and struggled, broken and spent, we emerge strong yet humble, devoid of ego and full of passion and compassion. 
Win, lose, or draw, we grow. 
Amen!!!

Oh, and there’s the added benefit of a killer Dopa-Dorph-Aline buzz for hours afterwards….!!!!
Stay tuned as I chronicle the creation, growth, and refinement of my new religion at the Church of Dopa-Dorph-ALine. 

ciao…….scott     Scott@DiscoveryAustin.com             512-947-2688            www.DiscoveryAustin.com   

Random thoughts outa my brain as I ran through the relative artic-blast temperature of 96 degrees through Milburn Park in Cedar Park, TX.  Some of these random thoughts were actually about real estate (believe it or not!) but most were just a free-flow of cleansing cathartic random thoughts…..outlined below.

1.  My phone has been ringing alot more lately.  Check out our Commercial Listings and you’ll see we list lotsa local dirt (undeveloped land) and an up-tick in our sign-call-volume is a soft indicator of good news and potential “recovery” in the Austin MSA real estate market.  But I’m an optimist….we’ll see what happens….stay tuned! 
2.  We’re getting alot more buyers lately too, and listing appointments….both residential & commercial….for me and our agents…!
2a.  And…….Jim Gough is flat-out Rocking!! 
3.  Someone once challenged Earnest Hemingway to write a story in 6 words or less……..in a bar, late one night.  Hemingway responded….(he said it was his best work!!)…”For Sale, baby shoes, never worn.”  Amazing to me.
4.  I’m 100% convinced that running (and strenuous exercise in general) creates a change in brain chemistry.  Curious?
4a.  Dopa-Dorph-Aline is a phrase I coined to describe the resultant neurotransmitter mix.  Dopamine, Endorphins, and Adrenaline are the major components.  
4b.  Runner’s High is a phrase generally used to describe the effects of Dopa-Dorph-Aline.
5.  Beyond the euphoric manifestations of my theorized changes in brain chemistry I propose that there are emotional and intellectual components at work as well.  Whenever I run or workout to the extent that I am physically challenged to the limits of my ability (think….I’m trying not to puke…!) there is a profound psychological struggle that occurs.  Those of you who’ve ever done serious exercise know how badly it can hurt…and that pain translates into an overwhelming desire to STOP.  The physiological basis of this pain are the metabolic by-products of muscle exertion:  Lactic Acid makes you sore and carbon dioxide buildup makes you breathe hard…I won’t bore you with a full description of the Kreb’s Cycle but can summarize it simply/quickly.  Cells have tiny powerplants inside called mitochondria.  Muscle cells have lots of ‘em!  They use oxygen, glucose, and water (and some other stuff) to make ATP which is the fuel of the cell.  As this ATP is ”burned” energy is produced and heat is generated…..carbon dioxide and several acid-compounds are also generated. 
5a.  ZZZzzzzzzzzzz…….bottom line is that hard exercise hurts and if one can “work through the pain” there is a tangible psychological benefit that is realized.  Clear thinking, positive mental vibes, a general feeling of well-being, intellectual energy, and an overall increase in good head-based mojo are a few of the good things that come from exercise!
6.  Having said that….please let me digress from my usual running-focus to venture into a description of the fitness program I started just over a year ago as an ending point for this blog diatribe.  LOL!!!

Check out Mountain Athlete.    This is a gym in Jackson, Wyoming and Boulder, Colorado where elite climbers, mountaineering guides, alpine skiers, bicycle racers, and other “industrial athletes” train.  You will be scared at first….then, if you chose to follow the daily workouuts, you will be Changed.  Forever.  Stay tuned as I begin to chronicle my Journey Into Ripped-Ness using the genius of Rob Shaul and Mountain Athlete!  It’s a brilliant system (the workouts are genius in their choreography and scaleability) and I’m a walking/running Disciple!

Oh…almost forgot:  Dead Presidents.  Actually, only one dead President…Calvin Coolidge, “Silent Cal”.  As so often is true among those folk of few words, the few words he uttered are full of gems.  One story has it that Dorothy Parker, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.”  His famous reply was, “You lose.”  Germaine to this, and every one of my blog posts was his famous statement when asked about his decision regarding the upcoming Presidential election (1928, during which, if he were elected, would have made him a 10 year President….he was VP when Harding died in office and so stepped-up into the Presidency and then was elected into a 2nd Term…his first complete term in 1924)), “I chose not to run”

I, however, chose TO run.

ciao…….Scott       Scott@DiscoveryAustin.com       512-947-2688(m)   www.DiscoveryAustin.com     

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If you’ve already voted for me please just visit my website for all your real estate searches…..forever! 
And….check back often HERE to read my blog……

Scott Nicholson       www.DiscoveryAustin.com        512.947.2688 SCOTT’S BLOG HAS MADE THE FINALS IN RECON’S FAVORITE BLOG CONTEST Thanks everyone for voting for my blog several weeks back…the result was… I MADE THE FINALS!!   Please vote for me one more time…it would be a great honor for me to win…and I need your help. Feel free to send this to your entire database, so everyone can vote!!  :-) There’s still time to vote, so send in your vote for Scott TODAY by emailing Associate Editor Bryan Pope at bpope@mays.tamu.edu To see the complete article click here http://recenter.tamu.edu/recon/ (Blog contest is toward the bottom of the page). To read Scott’s blog click here http://www.discoveryaustin.com/scotts-blog-.asp Thanks in advance for your vote! And as always…your referrals are greatly appreciated. 101 E. Old Settler’s Blvd., Suite 190 • Round Rock, TX 78664 Phone:  (512) 439-6800 • Fax: (512) 341-2310 www.DiscoveryAustin.com

ciao……scott     scott@DiscoveryAustin.com   512-947-2688(m)    www.DiscoveryAustin.com

Anyone of you who’ve been here to read my blog more than once or twice can testify that there are Two recurring themes:  I am In Love with ATX (Austin,TX)….AND…..I’m completely Addicted to Running.  So, it was a special evening Sunday for me:  I was Running through Downtown ATX!  It doesn’t get any better than that.  HA!

Austin,TX is home to one of the finest urban trail systems in the USA…and the Crown Jewel of this amazing trail system is the Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake) Trail which follows the Colorado River (Lady Bird/Town Lake) through downtown Austin,TX!  It can be run in varying distances by using the numerous bridges (Mopac, Pfluger/Lamar, 1st St., Congress, IH-35) which cross the river.  Wide crushed granite, water stations (Thanks RunTex!!!), mostly flat, mostly shaded, well maintained, beautiful people scenery, and beautiful scenery in general with crazy views of downtown Austin,TX!!

We load up and drive the quick 20 minutes from our house to the parking lot below the RunTex Lake Austin Blvd. store.  Austin is sleeping over at his friend’s house so it’s just Laura and I….here to meet Ricky for an evening run.  Laura planned 3 miles while Ricky and I were running 4 miles. It’s 7:30pm CST when we step out of the car into what the dashboard thermometer says is 100 degrees of pure Central Texas heat!  The trails are full of people running & walking…Laura takes off while I wait for Ricky…within 10 minutes he pulls up and we jump onto the trail and start our run. 

Our first mile passes in a 7:15 min/mile pace and our conversation wanes….after about 15 minutes (and +/-2 miles) we slow down to a more reasonable pace, given the extreme heat, in the 9 min/mile range.  It’s much easier to talk at 9 min/mile!!  As we cross over the 1st Street bridge we are comfortably cruising and enjoying a great workout…and good conversation.  One topic of discussion is training for some triathlon events in Spring 2010.  We’re both interested and so tentative plans are made to “just pick one and do it”!!  Stay tuned for updates….LOL!  Depending on how that goes there is a chance that I will begin training for a full-blown Ironman Triathlon!  In 2012 I turn 50 years old (YIKES!!!!)…that and the Mayan calendar ends!  Those two events in conjunction MUST mean something….HAHA!  Seriously, over the next few months I will make a decision as to whether or not I will commit to the level of training & self-discipline it takes to participate in (and finish) an Ironman Triathlon in 2012!! 

REAL ESTATE INFORMATION ALERT:  Downtown Austin,TX, besides being home to the Hike and Bike Trail, is also home to an exploding number of high-rise condo projects!  One, in particular, is noteworthy:  The Austonian, when complete, is rumored be the tallest residential structure in the USA west of the Mississippi River!!!  Much has been written about the relative strength or weakness of the downtown Austin,TX condo market recently.  While the number of units being constructed far exceeds the number of units being purchased/absorbed today….the consensus seems to be that, over the mid-long term, the downtown condo market will do just fine and lotsa folk will be living/working/wining/dining all without having to leave the paradise that is we already know and love….Downtown Austin,TX!

Ciao…..scott          Scott@DiscoveryAustin.com        512-947-2688(m)           www.DiscoveryAustin.com

I have an old rocking chair…and I wrote this several years back. 
_____________________________________________________________________________

My old rocking chair is elegant in its simple sturdiness…utilitarian… beautiful.  At first glance one deems it spindly and fragile: Perhaps those kids shouldn’t be playing on it…surely it’ll break.  Over a hundred years later my old rocking chair is still rocking and generations later than now, hopefully somebody will appreciate it’s story as much as I do as I watch it sit, patiently as only an old soul can, waiting to do it’s job of rocking.

Borne West by prairie schooner to the wilds of Tennessee long before Lee and the South rose against their Northern brothers in the Civil War, the story of my old rocking chair is the story of my heritage.  A story sadly lost to time…the only evidence of it happening is the old rocking chair itself,  watching me patiently.  Ancestors long gone before my time were the keepers of the early chapters in the story of my old rocking chair….ancestors whose eyes I share, whose genetics I share…whose heritage I carry forward.  They, in turn, were borne by my old rocking chair…..young babies suckled (me included…in this very chair), young lovers pledged together, new mothers learning, old dying thinkers contentedly rocking and remembering…my own son nursed and rocked. 

My earliest memory of my old rocking chair is on the front porch of my Great-Grandmother Little’s antebellum house in Cloverport, TN when I was a boy.  That house, though in truth not as grand as my memory of it, was Tara in all its splendor.  Tall white columns, grand porches, towering trees, multiple barns, and sprawling grounds.  Slaves called this place home before the Civil War and it’s certain that slave nannies rocked the master’s babies in my old rocking chair.  I fought with my siblings for the right to rock in my old rocking chair (although it wasn’t my old rocking chair then it was obviously destined to be…) on the porch and many hours were spent gathering fireflies and hanging on every word of tales of lost Civil War soldiers and grand parties of yore told by Virginia Little….my Dad’s Grandmother, she herself not yet alive when my old chair came West to Tennessee….as she rocked in my old rocking chair.

Fast forward through fragmented memories of my childhood….partly lost, these images include my old rocking chair.  The chair sat in the living room of every house in which I grew up.  A fixture of daily use, inconspicuous, and welcoming…patiently present.

Spindly and elegant…simple and beautiful, although I didn’t appreciate it then, my old chair is Art, on every plane.  It’s rhythmic ‘wreak…wreak…wreak’ is the soundtrack of American life before even radio (my old rocking chair was there), the classic design evokes visions of  bonneted matrons rocking and knitting under kerosene lanterns (my old rocking chair was there), and the fine maple wood, polished smooth by the very skin of my ancestors is performance art, stripped bare…and my old rocking chair is still there. Patiently waiting to rock.

ciao…..scott   Scott@DiscoveryAustin.com       512-947-2688(m)     www.DiscoveryAustin.com

Having been a lucky resident of ATX since 1967 (I was a 5 y.o. kid when IBM moved my family here) I am admittedly biased….ATX Rocks! 

Back then ATX (aka Austin, TX) was a sleepy college town and State Capital….and that’s about it.  The influx of IBMer’s in the late 60’s was the first wave of what would become the Technology backbone of our current economy.  ATX was a well-kept secret then….the lakes were quiet idyllic places filled with the rush of sailboats, the downtown music scene was local & rocking, traffic was easy, and life was generally good in ATX.  With several notable exceptions (the UT Tower Shootings is one) ATX was as close to paradise as one could get.  Especially as a kid growing up here as I did…

Our first home in ATX was a new Nash Phillips Copus (NPC) 3/1 near Pecan Springs Elem. off Manor Road.  Little Walnut Creek tumbled over rocks and then gathered in deep calm pools just a long block away and so we spent hour after hour swimming & exploring miles of this creek.  I still have one of the fossils we found there!   

In 1972 we moved waaaaaaaaaaaaay out into the country to the Cedar Park area…..which soon incorporated into Cedar Park, TX….on the first day of school my 4th Grade year.  Our neighborhood was bounded on one side by Brushy Creek and on another side by a multi-thousand acre State-owned ranch/wilderness…all of which we explored for countless hours!!  We caught thousands of fish, shot bow and arrows/wristrockets, hunted with .22’s and shotguns, built forts, and later, rode motorcycles over almost boundless undeveloped land.  It was the most perfect place for kids to grow up imaginable!!  I’m not sure a comparable place exists anywhere today.  ATX was a full 20 minute drive from our house:  Today it’s impossible to distinguish…the cities blur into each other with growth.

The little country school I attended back then, Leander ISD, while not a “one-room-school” by any means was, by any definition, a little country school…a 2A school with graduating classes of 40 (in 1972) to 120 (in 1980) students.  Today, Leander ISD is 21 Elementary Schools, 10 Middle Schools, and 5 High Schools!  For reference sake please consider that my 4th Grade class in 1972 (one of four 4th grade classes in the entire LISD district) had 18 students…less than the number of Elementary Schools (each with Five 4th Grade classes of 20+ students)….!!!!  Clear as mud??

The subtle overall impression I’m trying to make is that my old & current neighborhood, ATX, has somehow managed to grow, yet stay cool and inviting.  Lotsa reasons to Love ATX, no???  Check out my website www.DiscoveryAustin.com for links to Swimming Holes in ATX…!!!!   

OK, Warning:  I’m talking about Real Estate now!!  If you own a home in ATX, Congratulations!  We have a very stable rate of appreciation here…..we tick along at a pretty steady 5%-10% annual appreciation.  We have a strong & diverse local economy and that, combined with the fact that people just like to live here in ATX, make for a pretty steady rate of overall population growth.  The result is….ATX Rocks!!!  OK, so the last 18 months or so the local real estate market has been in the doldrums…BUT….the deal-pace has been ticking upward lately and the residential housing market is picking up!  The commercial market is ripe with office space deals for tenants!!!

Call me with all your real estate questions…..I’ll be glad to help in any way I can!

ciao…..scott   Scott@DiscoveryAustin.com          512-947-2688(m)     www.DiscoveryAustin.com

I’m not sure how or why, but my blog (welcome by the way!) is one of 25 real estate blogs in the Great State of Texas to be named as a Finalist in the Texas A & M Real Estate Center blog contest!  How do the Aggies say it?  “Whoop….!”  I prefer “Hook ‘Em!!”  HAHA

Those of you who take the time to read my blog know that I write relatively little about real estate.  Of sure, I mention some real estate related piffle now and again but mainly I write about my life, family, and ’stuff’……  It dawns on me that I use this blog as a diary of sorts, or even as a therapeutic medium.  Hmmmm.

 So, Scott’s Real Estate Blog is not really about real estate….fitting for those of you who know me.   

You see, real estate thoughts consume most of my days & nights.  When you’ve been in this business as long as I have it sorta seeps into your psyche.  In fact, if I’m not careful, I’ll slip into real estate hypnosis and disappear between my ears mulling over deals and scenarios and prospects and startegies ad nauseum….blah blah. 

So, in a valiant (some might say vain) effort to preserve what little sanity I have left I blog about my life.  Given the sporadic frequency with which I write blog entries it’s a wonder I’m sane at alll.  LOL

Running is another of my passions.  I use my time running to work through “issues” between my ears…I run alot!  In fact, I was running yesterday evening (in dangerous 99 degree heat) when I passed a group of people playing kickball at Milburn Park.  They were obviously not experienced players as the kicks were weak and wobbly and the catches were practically nonexistent…but it was very obviously apparent that they were having a Great time together.  Laughter rang through the park and I was able to hear them the entire time I ran.  It dawned on me that they, like me, had stumbled onto a fantastic discovery:  It doesn’t matter if you’re a worldclass runner (or kickball player)…just get out and do it as best you can!  The results will be real and tangible and manifested in health (mental & physical) and well-being…and…if you’re lucky, laughter will ring out and those around you will benefit as well.  Their energy propelled me through the heat and made my day just a little bit better.  I hope I can return the favor!!

Vote for my blog to win!!  There’s still time to vote, so send in your vote TODAY by emailing Associate Editor Bryan Pope at bpope@mays.tamu.edu.

THANKS…..ciao  scott@DiscoveryAustin.com       www.DiscoveryAustin.com       512-947-2688(m)