College Station’s water is ground water from deep wells in Simsboro Sand about 3,000 feet down.  The water is pumped from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer.

Is the water hot or cold when it comes up? Would you believe that the temperature for the water is 118 degrees Fahrenheit? The cooling towers at the Sandy Point Pump Station help reduce the temperature down to 85 degrees.

From the Sandy Point Pump Station the water travels about 13 miles to the Dowling Road Pump Station. At this Pump Station chlorine is added to disinfect and have fluoride added. The storage tanks at Dowling Road hold about 8 million gallons of water for College Station residents!

After the chlorine is added and the water is disinfected it goes to the to one of the 2 elevated storage tanks. These tanks provide us with the water pressure we want and need and for extra water in case of a fire.

Now you know where your drinking water came from.

Green Lawn Mower

BRYAN, TX — The Texas Municipal Power Agency encourages homeowners to use electric lawn mowers rather than gas to promote cleaner air.  They are offering vouchers worth $150 toward the purchase of an electric-powered machine, corded or cordless.

You’re thinking, I gotta push this reel mower or work my way around power cords?  That’s a big sacrifice for clean air.  Well, Black and Decker does have a handy 24V battery mower but it will only cut up to 1/3 of an acre at a time.  Then there’s a solar powered cordless from Solaris - that sounds neat.

Either way, you only have until August to pick up a voucher, or until they run out.  Sears associates will hand them out to customers with a current driver’s license or your BTU bill.  For more information on these and other rebate programs offered by the local utility company, call or email…

Happy Gardening,

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

P.S.  Check back next week for my commentary on community chickens!

Gray and his wife and two children have lived in the home for ten years, purchased in 1999 for $200,000. In 2005 the family came onto tough times, with Jeff losing his security job and his wife’s income being significantly decreased. Credit card bills started to pile up and just when it seemed like there was nothing they could do, Jeff learned that he could refinance his house and pull the equity out to help pay his bills.

He would not have qualified for this refi, except for the fact that he claimed that his monthly income was more than 20 times what it actually was. Under these falsified loan documents, which the mortgage company helped him fill out, Jeff was  able to double their mortgage and pull over $175,000 dollars out of the house. This money was used to pay off creditors among other things, but not a penny of the money went back into the house. In over four years, Jeff has not made one single mortgage payment towards his newly refinanced home. Not surprising since this last year on his taxes, he claimed only $7,900 of taxable income. His current mortgage payment is over $2700 dollars.

So far Jeff has avoided three foreclosure notices by filing for personal bankruptcy, and the lender is not willing to work with him unless he first pays $10,000 towards back payments, money he does not have.

Should the mortgage company work with him or should he be throw out of the house? Is this the kind of thing that has gotten this country into the trouble we are in? How do we draw a line between who gets bailed out and who gets thrown out?

See the whole story here on CNN.com

If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839

Clay Lee

College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!

Property Tax Assessment

you do? Make sure that your tax value is decreasing, as well. Brazos County mails out estimates for the year 2009 in June. That’s four months away, you exclaim. Yes, plenty of time to investigate your property’s current market value and to prepare your tax appeal, I say.

Your case for a request to lower the property’s value is not simply based on your feelings about higher taxes. You’ve heard Benjamin Franklin say it - in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. So don’t be shocked to find yourself in a recession and asked to pay higher property taxes this year.

There are several options when appealing your tax value. One is to hire representation. You could pay a licensed property tax consultant to analyze the tax records, perform an appraisal of your property, and represent you before the county appraisal district review board.

Another option is for you to do the research yourself and represent yourself at the hearing. As a property owner, you will still need an appraisal from an expert to enter evidence in your hearing. Kelly Seaton with Verdad Valuation Services
can provide you with that appraisal.

You may view your county tax information at the appraisal district, 1673 Briarcrest Drive. Request to see your complete record. Note the comparable properties on the record card. See why the tax district thinks your property is worth more.

When you file for your appeal, pay attention to the deadlines and remember to show up for your hearing! Take all of your documentation from the appraisal and your notes. You may want to practice your testimony ahead of the scheduled hearing. The burden of proof is on the property owner - you have to give facts as to why your property is not worth the assessed amount. Facts, not feelings.

If at any point in the process you have questions call your REALTOR for advice and information. Hopefully a bit of research and persistence will decrease your property tax value and possibly your monthly mortgage.

Kind regards,

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

P.S. Some lenders may only credit your tax escrow for future increases(reserves the bank holds to pay your annual tax bill) and keep your monthly payments the same. Reserve the celebration until you know all the deets from your mortgage company.

As the real estate market picks back up, so does the progress on new home building. Crowley construction is nearing completion on two if its custom builds, 3515 Matoska Ridge and 303 Timber, and if you haven’t stopped by lately to take a look at either of these, it’s about time you did.

The house on 3515 Matoska is a beautiful farmhouse style home set on 1.27 wooded acres in Indian Lakes. The house is painted both inside and out and the installation of the flooring is nearly complete. Many of the appliances and amenities have already been installed, such as the custom light fixtures, master tub and granite countertops, with the rest of the appliances to be installed soon.

303 Timber is a one of a kind build in the College Station Historic District, featuring huge covered patios, a flexible floor plan and wide open rooms that make this house perfect for entertaining. The exterior was just finished being painted, and the interior will be done within a week. This floor plan is completely unique and if you have not seen it since the drywall went up, you will hardly recognize it!

These great custom builds, priced at $699,900 and $600,000 respectively, will both be completed soon and if its’ been a while since you’ve seen them, you owe it to yourself to go see how far they have come. If you have never taken the time to go check out these homes, located in two of the best areas of College Station, then there has never been a better time to go see what you’ve been missing.

If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839

Clay Lee

College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!

Home Equity and PMI

PMI has been a large money-maker for the mortgage lenders. The amount of the insurance (usually $40/month for a $100k home) is commonly rolled into the mortgage payment. Given the size of the overall note payment, this additional fee is often overlooked. Homeowners continue to pay the PMI even after their loan balance has dropped below the original 80% threshold. This occurs naturally, of course, as the home owner pays down the principal on the loan. On a typical 30-year loan, however, it can take many years to reach that point.

Lenders were under no obligation to tell home owners when they had reached a point where the PMI can be dropped. That all changed back in 1999 when the Homeowners Protection Act took effect. In most cases, this law now obligates lenders to terminate the PMI when the principal balance of the loan reaches 78% of the original loan amount. Savvy homeowners can get off the hook a little sooner. Upon request of the owner, the PMI must be dropped when the principal balance amount reaches 80%.

Here are the disclaimers: this only works for homes purchased after 1999 and wwners must be current on their loan payments. For buyers prior to 1999, they must initiate the process to have it removed. Lenders are under no obligation to remove it, but most will.

There is another way that your home equity can reach beyond the 80/20% ration. Raise your hand if you know the answer…actually leave your ideas below in our comments section.

Here’s tricking you,

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

How dangerous is an uninformed voter? When asked about the power of voting in a democratic government, Abraham Lincoln replied, “A ballot is stronger than a bullet.” As Americans, we are all armed with bullets to fire in the upcoming presidential election, but it seems many voters don’t even know what they are shooting at.

Recently on the Howard Stern Show, a correspondent went out to Harlem to interview Obama supporters and ask which policies of his they agreed with. Many of them were recorded saying they thought Obama’s plan to stay in the Middle East for as long as it takes was spot on, and also that they supported his decision to select Sarah Palin as his running mate…What? While this hardly stands as a litmus test for the entire country, it has to make you wonder: Just how many people are voting without knowing much more than their candidate’s name?

The semi-famous interview of Matt Damon ripping on Sarah Palin has accumulated over 8 million views on youtube.com. Add that to the number of people who tuned in to the SNL episodes guest starring Sarah Palin and John McCain, 15 million and 12 million respectively, and you have an audience well over half the size of the 57 million viewers who tuned in to the last presidential debate! Is it possible that people are making decisions on who to vote for based on sketch comedy or celebrity endorsements?

The bottom line is this: If we, as a people, choose to elect our next president based on anything other than the issues that matter most to us, then we have done our nation a disservice and should not be surprised if things do not go the way we would like them to. People are turning out in record numbers this election season to cast their votes and fire their democratic bullets. I just hope we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot.

If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839

Clay Lee

College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!

If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839

Clay Lee

College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!

If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839

Clay Lee

College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!

If you have any question, feel free to contact me anytime at rclaylee@yahoo.com or 979-255-1839

Clay Lee

College Station’s #1 Luxury Lifestyle & Real Estate Expert for over a Decade!