San Antonio's Rockstar Turned Realtor®: January 2009

photo courtesy of Brian Struble

(photo is of JW Marriott in Las Vegas, NV as I don't have permission to use photos from the San Antonio site)

If you've never been to a JW Marriott, prepare yourself.

I've had the pleasure of staying at a few of the JW Marriott hotels in my life and they are always gorgeous.  Taking their hotel brand to the luxury level, JW Marriott is a cut above your average hotel.  Spas, gorgeous grounds, luxury rooms, high end service and absolutely amazing restaurants are what you come to expect from the JW Marriott brand.  And now, San Antonio will soon boast its own taste of the good life.

Nearing completion.

Construction of the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa (a 600 million  dollar project) is coming along and the first guests to the hotel are expected in January 2010.  Although that's a year away, time seems to fly by these days.  Situated in the Cibolo Canyons master-planned community in San Antonio, the resort will provide 1,002 guest rooms, seven restaurants, 26,000 square feet of spa space, 140,000 square feet of conference space, two PGA Tournament Players Club courses (situated on 2,800 acres), and a thirteen million dollar water park.  Over 80 groups have already lined up for future conferences and meetings.

For more information on JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa visit their site at www.jwsanantonio.com.

For more information on Cibolo Canyons visit their site at www.cibolocanyons.com or to get more info on the homes available in the master planned community, call me at (210) 240-6222.

For more information on PGA Tournament Players Club visit their site at www.tpcsanantonio.com.

photo courtesy of Tony The Misfit

All real estate is local.

Its a mantra repeated daily.  Especially here in San Antonio, where we have fared better than some other spots in the country.  Whenever I'm speaking to people about real estate, you can sense the elephant in the room and eventually someone says it.  Foreclosure.  Short sale.  Listings aren't selling.  The bad news.  The news that is on the news every night.  Night after night after night.  Twenty four hours a day if you turn to the news channels.  Its permeated every corner of the globe and is the topic on many lips in many languages.  We deal with it everyday and try to explain why our local area is different than the one's they see on the news.  Its an uphill battle sometimes as evidenced by Amber Noble-Garland's recent blog post on the subject (the photo is actually a nod to her state of New Jersey).

The light bulb over the head comes on after a little bit of reading.

I was flipping through my latest issue of Texas Realtor magazine and reading through the articles, when I saw the most amazing quote, that I actually rushed straight to my computer to write this post.  It summed up everything we try to explain to people (and sometimes spend time on convincing ourselves when we're feeling burnt after watching the news after a long day of talking with consumers on this very issue), but in such a way that it made that little light bulb glow like mad over my head.  I think I blinded myself with it as I sat in front of my computer and it reflected on my laptop's screen (which by the way, needs a good cleaning).

Don't keep it to yourself Matt - what did you read?

Ready for this?  Its so simple, that if you've never thought of it this way, you may just smack yourself in the head in a true "I could have had a V-8" moment.  In an interview with our the new Chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors®, Brooke Hunt, she talks about the her history, the issues we all face, what her goals for the Association are and in the midst of it all - dropped a bombshell of simplicity on this agent's head.  When asked what message she would give to every Texas Realtor® if she could grab our attention for a few moments, she went through the typical "its a great time to buy" stuff and said this:

"Remember, all real estate is local.  You don't watch the weather in Boise, Idaho, to decide what to wear tomorrow, so why watch the national news to make your real estate decisions?  This is the message we need to get to the consumer."

Go back and read it again.  Its so simple and so easy to see when you explain like that.  Its clear as a bell and sums up what we all want to show the world.  Our mantra.  Our way of life that we hope everyone can understand so that we can help them buy and sell the homes of today and tomorrow.  I'm still reeling from the simplicity of it.  Thank you Brooke Hunt.  With that simple quote; you've inspired me, given me a reason to believe in our Association under your leadership, and (hopefully) inspired a few people outside of Texas that may not have seen your brilliant message.

photo courtesy of j3ku

A friend's birthday leads me to Howl At The Moon.

I don't go downtown to the Riverwalk nearly enough considering how much I enjoy the area.  If you've never been the the Riverwalk, I suggest you go.  You'll love it.  Gorgeous scenery and lots of bars and restaurants all in once convenient location.  This past weekend, since it was my friend's birthday, she was able to choose where we were heading.  So we gathered our friends and wound up at Howl At The Moon.  I had never been to one, although I had heard of them before and seen a few in my travels.  They're a chain (I believe there's 11 sprinkled throughout the US) and the premise is "dueling piano bar."  Two pianos sit on a stage in the center of the bar and live music plays all night long.  A combination of oldies, new songs, classic piano hits, TV show theme songs, and a bit of comedy all in one.  Behind the piano players sits two large mirrors (you can see them in the photo above) on which various phrases are written.  The idea is, you tip the piano players the current going rate (the prices go up as more people "bid") and you can have them write your phrase up on the mirror.  When we went there were several military groups in the bar, so a lot of the phrases revolved around who was better - Army vs. Air Force.  Each mirror has its own price, one being higher than the other as the phrase stays on there longer.

The atmosphere.

The bar was a fun, upbeat place with lots of people having a good time.  Sing-a-longs were constantly going on and several spontaneous dance floors were created by people wanting to enjoy the music a bit more.  I felt the band could have been a bit louder as there were times I could barely tell what song they were playing over the noise of the crowd, but much louder and it would have been too much like a rock club.  Its all about the balance I guess.  They did charge a $10 cover to get in which I can't stand, but of course, I'm cheap.

The bar.

My beer was always only lukewarm, which was a huge let down for me, especially considering the price.  When I'm buying overpriced beer, I like to at least know they'll be ice cold.  I hate going downtown for the prices.  There really is no need for $4-5 domestic bottles or a shot of tequila (the birthday girl loves tequila) for $8, I don't care how good it is.  I'm cheap like that though, so please ignore me if you find those prices "normal."  I'm grew up in an area where we could still find 75 cent draft nights though, so blame it on upbringing.  The bar staff were all really friendly and quick to get drinks (I hate waiting too!), so that was a plus.

The music.

I already mentioned the low volume, but that's just me...I like it loud (probably because I'm half deaf from 14 years of playing guitar at ear-splitting volume).  Overall, I was pretty let down by the musicians.  One of the piano players looked miserable the whole time, another was a terrible singer, and none of them seemed like they had practiced together on a lot of the songs (missed melody changes, people stopping playing and looking confused, bad notes).  It was just a bit too sloppy I thought.  They also skipped a lot of the idea of dueling pianos and it was more tandem pianos.  I've been to a few dueling piano bars in my life and the fun was always the back and forth between the two musicians, not just that they played together.

Final outcome?

Not my favorite (I'd rather go have a few beers on the patio of the Hard Rock Cafe), but I can see why people love it.  Its fun, different, and upbeat.  Most people probably wouldn't notice some of the musical things I did - I tend to be a little over critical when I see bands play (old habit from nightly thinking about what I messed up onstage).  The lukewarm beer was pretty inexcusable, but its not the first time I've gone and experienced it.  My call - if you're looking for something interesting, different, and to have a good time - go visit the piano players at Howl At The Moon.  If you hate it, just go downstairs to the Hard Rock Cafe.  If you love it, then stick around and sing-a-long.

Howl At The Moon

111 W Crockett St # 201

San Antonio, TX 78205

(210) 212-4695

Tonight 8PM Central - I do an interview that doesn't involve my favorite albums.

In just a few moments, I'll be joining the Tech In Twenty crew over on Blog Talk Radio for my first ever real estate interview.  I've done a million interviews over the years in the music industry, but this one is going to be exciting for me.  Its my first chance to talk about real estate in this kind of situation.  I'm looking forward to it.  I encourage you all to listen and hang out for awhile.  Interesting enough is that the topic is social media and how did I meet one of the people from the show?  Twitter.  If you can't make it tonight, you can always stop by and listen later.  Hopefully I want sound as bad as I do on answering machines...I hate the way that sounds.

In case you missed it, here's the interview.

photo courtesy of Yogi

I was still half asleep, but there he was.

I've been following the tale of Richard Bowman lately as he blogs about his daily work on the streets of San Antonio.  Richard is a local agent, just like me, but he's opted to do something a little different in order to generate interest, leads, and clients.  At first I thought it sounded a bit crazy and odd, but the more I read his blog, the more I started to think of the simple genius that his idea really is.  For those of you too lazy or too busy to run over and read through his blog to understand just what I'm talking about, Richard has been standing on a local (very busy) street corner with a sign proclaiming his status as an agent and stating his intention of looking for more work.  When I first thought about it, I thought it sounded a bit like he was out there begging and it might look bad.  The more I read Richard, the more I saw the potential in what he's doing as he's got the right attitude and approach.  He's not out there crying about the economy and saying how bad things are...he's out there interacting with people and getting names of possible future clients.  He's handing out cards, smiles, and waves.  He's disseminating brief bits of his real estate knowledge when someone has a question and works to get the follow up call or email so that he continue opening up that conversation.  Like I said...simple and genius.

So this morning, after I stopped in Valero to get my cup of coffee, I started on my way to the office.  I take the same route everyday and had spotted Richard from a far more than once.  Today, I didn't see him.  Not at first.  Seems Richard is still out there, he just had a bit of a change in plans on position.  So when I saw him, I gave him a honk and a wave.  He waved back and I could see he recognized my name on my car signs.  He strolled over as I sat at the red light and we had a brief conversation shouted through my open window.  It was exciting to me to speak with a guy who's blog I had been reading.  Someone who's up to something a little different.  Someone who got me thinking of ways to stand out from the crowd and do things just a bit left of center.  It was a mini-ActiveRain meetup, right there on Bitters Road and 281.  He even mentions it in his latest post, which I think is one of great things about ActiveRain...Richard may be the competition, but there's no need for us to not share our thoughts and ideas.

Thanks Agent Bowman.  I'll see you tomorrow.

photo courtesy of uhuru1701

Talk about a windfall.

You know the feeling you get when you find a couple dollars in quarters in the couch cushions?  Or that rumpled twenty dollar bill that you just can't figure out how you didn't notice it was missing.  Well imagine finding a lot more than that.  A lot more.  $29,999,980 more.  That's just what the city of San Antonio recently found.  It appears that varying amounts from city projects has been left in accounts after the projects were closed out and all this money has been floating around in the banking system, earning interest the whole time.  The money is from over a thousand different projects dating back 25 years.

How did it happen?

Apparently, the city would finish a project and have a surplus of money that had been ear-marked for the project.  Instead of pulling the last bits of change out of the account, they would move on to the next project.  A $1,000,000 project might wind up under-budget for $1,000, so that money sat there earning interest the whole time.  How the accountants for the city didn't notice this is beyond me, but in some ways, its nice that they did.  Everyone likes some surprise money, don't they?

Where will it go?

The City has decided to collect all the money and reinvest it into the city on various projects that had been shelved or were waiting for funding.  Each city council district will receive a share of the collected funds to complete various public works in their pipelines.  I wonder if they'll forget to account for any under-budget surpluses this time?  City Manager Sheryl Sculley has said new procedures will be put in place to make sure this doesn't happen again.  I'm not sure if I think that's the best idea though...what if we could find another $30 million in 25 years?  Let's start a city loose change jar and use it once every 25 years on something big, instead of just dividing it up on smaller projects.  Perhaps a city wide party every 25 years to thank all of us citizens of San Antonio.  "Fiesta 25" (my new name for my proposed city-wide event) - Bigger, better, and with tons of cash!  Forget the Oyster Bake, let's have a Lobster Boil every 25 years and make it a free event!

Open house, come on over and say hello!

I'll be holding an open house at 2903 Zurich, San Antonio, TX 78230 (KB Home's Woods Of Alon - NW Military, just south of Wurzbach Parkway) this weekend (January 17-18) from noon-3PM.  This is not my usual house in Woods of Alon for those of you that know my affinity for open houses there, but a larger 1.5 story/4 bedroom/3 bath/2,787 sq. ft. home on a corner lot with views of the man made lake and the green belt out back and to the side.  Feel free to stop in and say hello.  If you'd like to visit 2903 Zurich while you're there for a comparison, we can get that one opened up for you to view as well.

photo courtesy of Great Valley Center Image Bank

The Department Of Housing and Urban Development makes more changes.

I reported back on November 25, 2008 on the REPSA changes coming from The Department Of Housing and Urban Development involving builder incentives and the use of "preferred" lenders.  This morning, in my inbox, I discovered that although the change was scheduled to take effect on January 16, 2009, it will now be pushed back 90 days.

HUD's stance has been that home buyers are being penalized if they choose not to use the builder's "preferred" lenders.  The National Association Of Home Builders (NAHB) feels that these incentive programs boost competition, reduce costs and give consumers a "full range of options to explore the best possible deal to purchase a home."  I have to say, I feel like I'm missing something there, as I don't see where this would boost competition, as they are reducing competition from lenders by getting people to use one lender instead of letting them choose from multiple lenders in a free market.  What frustrates me is that those incentives are built into the pricing of the house, allowing them to shave it off the price when they want, but in this case, only if you use their lender.

If you're thinking of buying a new house.

Apply for the builder's "preferred" lender's loan as you would normally.  In the meantime, shop the loan around and see what other lenders will give you.  Sometimes the rate may be better on one or the other, but the upfront costs will be more.  You really need to weigh the differences between the loans and a good agent should be able to assist you if you find it all confusing (loans can be, you're not alone).  You need to know what matters to you more.  Do you have cash upfront or little cash and know you could afford a slightly higher monthly payement?  Does the incentive balance out in the long term with the costs associated with the loan?  These are all things you need to consider before signing on the dotted line and I encourage you to speak with an agent who can be objective (and knows their way around a loan) and/or your financial advisor.

photo courtesy of Marcin Wichary

It only happens once every ten years.

In 2010, we will be facing the next Census.  Happening once every 10 years as mandated by the Constitution (Article 1, Section 2), the U.S. Census' goal is to gain a headcount of every person in the United States.  Its quite an unbelievable project is you consider just how many people there are to count (305,614,489 people as I write this according to the U.S. Census Bureau's population clock).  Population data is used to decide each state's Congressional representation as well as help determine funding from the government level on many projects.

San Antonio is hiring.

With the office opening today to begin preparing for the 2010 Census, San Antonio is looking for hundreds of temporary workers for the office (located at 7042 Alamo Downs Parkway, San Antonio, TX 78238) with pay starting at $11.75/hour.  People looking for more information are encouraged to call the U.S. Census Bureau Job Hotline at (866) 861-2010.

The machine pictured in the photo is a Hollerith Census Machine, designed by Herman Hollerith and used in the 1890 Census to help speed the process of tabulating the data.  This made it possible to get the results in a year as opposed to the eight years it took to tabulate the results of the 1880 Census.  His early work later helped build what is now IBM.

photo courtesy of Seth Gaines

Obama's inauguration causing a stir in San Antonio (or at least with me).

While people search, beg, and plead for the hottest ticket in D.C. this month, some San Antonio City Council members are taking flack for their appearance at the inauguration.  Out of the six members reported to be attending the January 20th event in Washington, D.C., two are using San Antonio taxpayer money to fund their trips.  District 6 Councilwoman Delicia Herrera and District 2 Councilwoman Sheila McNeil will each cost San Antonio around $2,500 for the three day event.  Although I value City Council's efforts to attract the attention of the U.S. Government, I'm afraid I have to disagree with the Council's ability to attend the inauguration on our dime.  While I agree that the members could make relationships that would benefit San Antonio, it seems to me that an event like this should be done at one's own expense (especially considering that City Council will be back in D.C. in February for their annual trip to meet with congressional leaders).

Shelia McNeil (District 2 Councilwoman) was quoted as saying, "As a council member representing the city, and chairing all the committees I chair, it's not unusual that the city takes care of us when we go.  We get paid $20 a week, I'm not sure we could really represent the city like we would want to if we had to pay for it out of our own pockets."  Immediately when I heard this, I was taken aback.  If you're going to throw the $20 a week salary back into the taxpayer's faces, you shouldn't be serving our city.  You decided to go for a Council position, if it was a salary you didn't like, you shouldn't have taken the job.  I don't work at McDonald's because the pay is crap.  I would enjoy the easy life of flipping burgers (I did it for many years), but the fact is, it doesn't pay my bills.  Please don't use your choice in job against us.

Two Council members I applaud.

District 1 Councilwoman Mary Alice Cisneros and District 3 Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos will be heading to Washington, but without the assistance of tax dollars.  Ramos, in a statement to KSAT 12 News, said, "Although I feel this trip is well-warranted, there will be times when city business will not take place and a more political tone ensues. It is for that reason I feel taxpayer funds should not be utilized on my behalf for this trip."  Well put, Councilwoman Ramos, I applaud your decision and reasons for it.

I hope San Antonio's residents thank the two Councilwomen above for thinking of the City, not just themselves.