Clay Lee
Broker/Realtor®
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Archive for September, 2008
Timber House Just Minutes Away From Texas A&M Football
September 23rd, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
As the football season gets underway, everyone is reminded just how hectic game day traffic can get. Parking can be a nightmare, and, if you are hungry, you had better get your fair share of hot dogs during the tailgate party because getting seated in a restaurant after the game lets out is an extremely time consuming endeavor. Is there any way to come and enjoy a day of Aggie Football at Kyle Field without having to conquer the gauntlet that is post-game traffic? The answer is, simply: Yes. Crowley Homes is currently in the process of custom remodeling a beautiful home in the Historic District of College Station, which is within walking distance of Kyle Field and The Texas A&M Campus. The flexible floor plan, which includes 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, and an extra deep 2-car garage with tons of storage, is 3,500+ square feet. The wide open rooms and 3 enormous covered patio areas make this the perfect place to entertain guests. Also, the formal dining room has French doors that can be closed off to create a library or study using the large dining in the great room instead. Top of the line amenities through out the house include hardwood floors, custom molding, state of the art audio/video wiring, and appliances by Sub-Zero and Wolf. Upstairs features a gameroom and 2 guest suites complete with walk-in closets and en-suite baths. There is even a large storage room that could be finished as a home theatre. While this house is not move-in ready now, it will be by next season and, being just a short walk from Kyle Field, won’t stay on the market for long. So next season, instead of sitting in long lines of traffic and fighting for a seat at a restaurant after the game lets out, enjoy a short walk home and a cookout in your own backyard. There is not better way to spend a Saturday.
If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839
College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!
| Discussion: 7 Comments »
Obama/Biden’s Dream for the Economy is a Nightmare for Mortgage Companies
September 16th, 2008 Categories: Buying Real Estate, Foreclosures, Politics
This morning, September 16, 2008, Senator Joe Biden was responding to the questions about what his and Barrack Obama’s campaign would do if elected to help restart and recover the economy. His answers scared me and strongly concerned me.
1. He wants to take away all the tax cuts for big earners and give tax cuts to the middle class. My concern with this is the money available to hire those middle class earners. Am I crazy to think that if a company has to pay higher taxes that they won’t have to reduce their payroll? Would this not mean lower salaries and fewer jobs for the middle class?
2. He claimed to want to pump $70 billion dollars into the countries infrastructure to help upgrade roads and bridges immediately. While this sounds like a lot of money, when you divide that by 50 states, that is only $1.4 billion per state. Now it probably would not be split fairly among states, but for the most part, it would give states less than $2 billion each. A road widening or replace for roughly 5 miles can cost anywhere from $10 to $20 million. When you add on Major Bridges, those can reach $100 to $150 million very quickly. At $15 million per 5 mile stretch, that would only fix 500 miles per state with $500 million in bridge repairs. The number that will be reduced even more by costs for analyst, management, and other costs associated with distributing government funds. It really is a joke.
3. He stated that he wanted to give bankruptcy courts the ability to reduce mortgage balances and reset rates to keep people in their homes! I value home ownership as much as any other American; however, if he thinks this will increase home ownership and stabilize the housing economy, he is strongly mistaken. If bankruptcy courts have the ability to reset balances and interest rates on home loans, banks will react in their lending practices. It will cost more money to get a loan, and it will be harder for borrower’s with questionable credit to get a loan. Those borrowers with less than AAA perfect credit may not even be able to get a loan or will have to pay interest rates that will be the highest we have ever seen. It would essentially remove a lenders ability to foreclose on properties and protect their assets. If we think Fannie and Freddie are in a bad place now, imagine that all people have to do to save money on their mortgage is to file bankruptcy, have their loan balance and interest rate reduced and watch the mortgage company sit back and drown to the bottom of the lake with their hands tied behind their backs.
While disagree with the Republican Campaign’s stance on many things, I have to look past those personal preferences to the issues that will affect me for the next 20-30 year as I work and save for retirement over the next 4-8 years under a new regime. If the economy is made even worse, my ability to save for my retirement and the future is diminished which means I would not have enough money for a wedding anyhow!
If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839
College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!
| Discussion: 6 Comments »
College Station: Fun for the Whole Family! (Part Three of a Three Part Series)
September 12th, 2008 Categories: Community Events
Here is the final installment of this three part series, where we will look at places that parents can take their younger kids for a day out.
Entertainment Facilities
If you are really looking for a way to keep the kids busy all day, at a place they will love, try one of these places:
Gattitown- With things like a game room, sports room, theatre, café, and, of course, pizza buffet, Gattitown insures that the kids will never run out of things to
do.
Chuck E Cheese- This has long been known as a great place to book a birthday party for the kids. Tons of games, rides, and plenty of food is sure to put a smile on the kid’s faces. Plus, their new kid check program makes sure everyone is well looked after; so mom and dad can sit back and relax without having to chase the kids around. Don’t forget to get a picture with Chuck!
Grand Station Entertainment- Locally owned and operated, Grand Station has more of an aggie feel when you walk through the doors. This great family entertainment center was recently remodeled to include 40 lanes of bowling, laser tag, glow-in-the dark mini golf, birthday party rooms, conference room, arcade gallery, sports bar and food court. With so much to do, no one will be left out.
All of these are relatively inexpensive and can be fun for the parents as well.
If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839
College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!
| Discussion: 4 Comments »
College Station: Fun for the Whole Family! (Part Two of a Three Part Series)
September 11th, 2008 Categories: Community Events
Here is the second installment of this three part series, where we will look at places that parents can take their younger kids for a day out.
The Park
With over 50 different parks in College Station, you are never far away from an afternoon of fun. Each park offers a different set of activities for the family to enjoy, such as: jungle gyms, slides, swings, basketball courts, baseball/softball courts, walking trails, and even disc golf. With so much to do, it is no wonder the city takes such pride in their parks. The College Station Parks and Recreation Department’s mission statement pretty much says it all about their parks, “To provide a diversity of facilities and leisure services which are geographically and demographically accessible to our citizens.”
Here are a fe
w of the parks I recommend:
1. Anderson Park- This park was initially created to alleviate the overcrowding of soccer fields in College Station. It now contains five youth soccer fields of various sizes, along with two basketball courts, a playground, a shelter with rest rooms, and parking for 30 cars. With tons of room, this is the perfect place for the kids to go and get plenty of exercise and sun!
2. Lemontree Park- There is plenty to do here, with a half basketball court, girl’s lighted softball fields, ¾ mile concrete jogging exercise trail, playground, open play area that is great for football or soccer, picnic units, pedestrian bridge, and a 30 car parking lot. There is even a nature trail that leads right through the disc golf course!
3. Wolf Pen Creek Park & Amphitheater- Come here during the day and enjoy the 9 hole disc golf course, playgrounds, and bike/walking trails that lead all through the park. Also, keep an eye out for showtime listings, and bring the whole family to come enjoy a live concert or performance while relaxing on the hill.
Next time, we will look at some of the Entertainment Facilities around town that are great for the kids.
If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839
College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!
| Discussion: 4 Comments »
College Station: Fun for the Whole Family! (Part One of a Three Part Series)
September 10th, 2008 Categories: Community Events
Attention families: College Station is a place with seemingly infinite attractions for your kids…provided they are college age. Parents, if you think that most of the extra curricular activities in this town are meant for kids in college, you’re right, they are. But don’t be discouraged, there are still plenty of things in College Station for Mom and Dad to do with the younger kids. Here is a list of places you can take the kids on the weekends that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
College Station has several pools that are open to the whole family. Adamson Lagoon is an Olympic size swimming pool complete with a large serpentine water slide, a stump slide, tadpole slide, lilly pad walk, and water basketball. Cindy Hallaran Pool is the perfect pool for the younger kids with curbless entry in the shallow end and a gentle slope to an overall depth 
of 4 feet in the deep end. It even has a cool clam slide that all the kids will love. Thomas Pool is great for the older guys with a diving board and lap lanes, but also has a shallow area so that the younger swimmers can still touch bottom. Hours and locations are listed on the websites and party packages are available for any of the pools.
Keep an eye out for the next blog, where we will look at a different option for family outings.
If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839
College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!
| Discussion: No Comments »
Google Intorduces New Web Browser: Chrome
September 6th, 2008 Categories: Tech Review
Google recently let “slip” a comic strip outlining their new web browser, Chrome. This is not the kind of comic strip you are used to seeing in the Sunday paper; the lengthy and informative comic strip uses pictures and practical explanations to help the average Joe decipher exactly what the new web browser is meant to do and how it will be faster and more useful. The actual comic strip is close to 100 pages long and is mostly written in tech jargon that would, without all the nice pictures and explanations, go way over the heads of most readers.
So what exactly makes this web browser different from the ones running today? Google goes to great length to answer this question in their comic strip, but it can be summed up in a much shorter amount of time for anyone just trying to decide, “Is it worth downloading?” When the first web browser was created way back in the stone-age, it was primarily meant to read text files, emails, and your basic online news. There have been countless updates to these programs over the years and even the introduction of new browsers, such as firefox, safari, etc, but these updates are still based Read the rest of this entry »
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Zimbabwe: A Country of Billionaires
September 6th, 2008 Categories: World News
What would you do with $100 billion? Buy a house? A car? Your own country? How about a loaf of bread. Zimbabwe recently released a new bank note to the tune of $100 billion, which, according to government officials, is not quite enough to pay for one loaf of bread. With an official inflation rate of 2.2 million percent since 1980, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate is by far the highest in the world. New high dollar bank notes are being introduced as a temporary solution to this long standing problem. These temporary notes are not meant to take the place of official currency. However, Zimbabwe has not had official currency since the temporary notes were introduced in 2003. As long as the inflation remains high, cash shortages will persist. Inflation is best combated by increasing production, but this has proved difficult for the country in recent years. With an expiration date of December 31, it seems that even this new $100 billion dollar bank note will soon become nothing more than pocket change, and a new larger bill will Read the rest of this entry »
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