Austin TX Real Estate - Hill Country Austin Lakeway Homes for Sale: September 2007

Today is the official opening of this year's Texas State Fair!

The Fair will run through October 21.

Something that they have been working on for the past few weeks is trying to get more of their vendors to use No Trans Fat Oil.  I mean, most everything at the fair is fried, so why not try to help some people who aren't going to help themselves by gorging everything they see.

Personally, I do have a weakness for Funnel Cakes, which is basically just fried pancake batter, but they smell and taste so good... and I eat mine the traditional way with the Powered Sugar... no fruit topping for me!!

There are many days where there are discounts so check out their website to see which day is which.

The Dallas North Tollway is finally opening today from 121 north up to highway 380.  This is a huge expansion, 9.6 miles,  in which the NTTA predicts it will save drivers 10 minutes each way verse driving on the access roads.

Even though the tollway is open, not all the ramps are open.  You get your chance to get on, but don't miss it because you might not be able to get on at all.

Also, the project is not even near complete.  It's only complete enough to finally allow drivers on the roads, but medians aren't done, shoulders aren't done, signs aren't done...  most of the project is not done, but they set a date and they wanted to stick to it.

You can go to http://www.ntta.org/ for more information.

I represent a seller on a property that went under contract on August 24.  We were supposed to close last Friday.  The buyers' agent asked us for an extention through today, Sepember 27 because she was told by the lender that they were a little behind.

My sellers are out of state, so in order to fund on time, docs need to be available at least a day ahead of time so they can be emailed out, the sellers get to a notary, and then FedEx'd back for a next day delivery to have originals for funding. 

As the week went on and on, I kept calling and kept getting voicemails.  I would email and get no responses.  I finally called the loan officer instead of the processor and she actually answered the phone.  She tells me some very interesting news that I wish we would have learned a few days ago.

The buyers are doing an FHA loan, which typically requires 3% from the buyer.  However, they moved here because of Katrina and FHA has offered Katrina victims 100% financing.  However, apparently no one new the expiration date, and they just realized that the Katrina 203H FHA loan expired on August 31!!! 

Right now, the lender has emailed HUD and they're awaiting an exception to the expiration date since the contract actually executed before the expiration date.  It's a waiting game, but hopefully they'll approve it.

Anyone else have experience with the Katrina loan?

You know how you plan and plan for your vacation, and for a couple of weeks before your vacation, you try to tie up loose ends and make sure everyone is happy while you're gone?  As you get closer and closer to the time to get in your car and head to the airport, your phone keeps ringing off the hook and you receive endless emails...

One fire after another.  One new client after another.  You think to yourself, where did these people come from?  Why do they all of a sudden want to buy and/or sell when you've been following up with them for months and they wouldn't ever return any calls or emails?

Having a baby is kinda like that, thus far... I plan on taking November and December off which means I'm starting to wind things down so I don't all of a sudden have a ton of business during those two months. 

In the past week, I've had to refer off 4 people, 2 listings and 2 buyers.  One buyer wanted something by Thanksgiving, and the other wanted something by the end of the year. I figured it was more fair to them to not start looking for me, and then me having to pass them off to someone else if they didn't find something in time.

The same with the sellers since our average days on the market are about 3-4 months, I don't want to list it now and then work an offer during November and December, or tell the sellers that I have to pass them over.  I rather them start working with the agent now, so the transaction is smoother, and then I just get to collect a referral fee...       

I've been so busy lately, I told my husband that I needed to get pregnant every year... or at least go on more vacations!!

Today was the first time in my 7 year real estate career where I wanted to reach across the table, slap the seller, and give him several pieces of my mind with a few choice words... Boy, was it hard to restrain myself!  I ended up just gathering my things, wished him luck, and walked out, but I did get him with one last jab as I walked out.  Here's what happened.

I got a call yesterday about 5pm.  This seller wanted me to come meet him right there and then that evening.  First, I'm not a "Pop-Tart" Realtor who can drop everything and run out the door with the snap of a finger.  Once you give them that control, they'll have it the entire time you're working together.  I suggested two other times, neither of which worked for him, and his attitude was "I guess you don't have time and we need to do something."  And let me preface this with saying, he gave me one option and then said he was leaving town for over a week, but wanted to meet before leaving town.

I finally suggested this morning at 8:30am.  Calling at 5pm last night (with my Father-in-law in town) didn't give me much time to prepare for an appt first thing the next morning, but I did stop a couple of things in order to make it happen before he left town.

I got to the Condo, and was greeted by a massive cloud of smoke.  WOW, was it bad!!  Not only do I suffer from migraines in which cigarette smoke is a big contributer, but I'm 8 months pregnant trying to hold my breath as much as possible.  The man that comes to the door looks to be about 5 foot nothin' and about 70 years.  He takes me around the Condo and every time I ask him about updates or repairs, he shrugs.  He says he bought it from him father who was elderly and too old to do much.  I'm thinking, if this guy is 70, his dad must have been REALLY old!

Anyway, we sit down to talk about numbers, the average Condo that has SOLD in the area in the last 8 months sold for about $61k.  The average Condo for SALE is currently listed at about $82k.  The SOLD properties sold, on average, in 88 days at 90.68% of asking price.  The ACTIVE properties are currently active on the market for 105 days.  The Active properties have already had price reductions of about 2%.

Looking at these numbers tells me that the current sellers are not looking at any of the sold activity and are grabbing numbers out "of the air" for lack of keeping this clean.  The seller has already bought a property in Oklahoma and wants to sell immediately.  I explained to him that if his goal is to actually sell his property and to sell it quick, we needed to price according to the sold prices and not the currently active prices since the active prices aren't moving.

He raised his voice at me saying that I can't come into his home and tell him he needs to sell for such and such amount when he wants such and such amount.  I hadn't even told him the price I was thinking yet.  Everything had been in general terms at that point.  I reminded him that a seller can price their property at whatever they want, but if the buyers don't like the price, and if the appraisers can't appraise that high, it's not going to sell.  He reiterated that his property was worth way more than any of the others, and he would only look at this one particular property as a true comp, and it sold for $88,600.  I reminded him that an appraiser must turn in at least 3 comparables and sometimes up to 5.

He got a little irrate, and I thought to myself, "Donna, why bother fighting for this?  He's not happy now, he wasn't happy when you didn't jump and meet him last night, he's never going to be happy no matter what you do for him.  Get up and walk away."

I sat there for a second, and then just reached across the table and gathered all my paperwork.  He tried to reach for the piece of paper with the questions he was supposed to get answered by the HOA, but I wasn't going to leave him any information to help him with whomever he ends up working with.

As I started walking towards the door, I turned around and said one final thing, "This place smells!  How do you expect to sell it when most buyers will just turn around and walk out!"  Yes, I know, shame on me, but I'm 8 months pregnant and I'm allowed to say it how it is!!

The city of Frisco, TX has noticed more and more crime these days.  Their solution? Get the teens off the streets and see if that helps.

The curfew is for anyone under 17 years of age, Sunday through Thursday at 11pm with Friday and Saturday going until 12 midnight.  What about those high school kids who are 18?  They're considered adults, but yet, they're still in school.  Maybe it should be extended to also include 18 year olds who are still in high school?

There are a couple of other cities that already have curfews, and I don't recall ever seeing any results of crime decreasing.  If teens are going to get into trouble, they're going to get into trouble no matter what.

Anyone in Frisco or Collin County with an opinion on this?

Arlington's Divine Consign is happening on October 5 from 9am-8pm with the half price sale following the next day on October 6 from 8am-noon.

It's held at the Arlington Convention Center. 1200 Ballpark Way.  This is between Road to Six Flags and Convention Center Dr.

I went to the Plano one yesterday and there was so much stuff.  This is definitely the place to go to save some money, especially if you're wanting duplicate items for Grandma's house!  Get there early or all the good stuff will be gone!

Grapevine's Divine Consign is happening on Sept 25 from 9am-8pm with the half price sale following the next day on Sept 26 from 8am-noon.

It's held at the Grapevine Convention Center. 1209 S Main Street, Corner of Main and Vine.

I went to the Plano one yesterday and there was so much stuff.  This is definitely the place to go to save some money, especially if you're wanting duplicate items for Grandma's house!  Get there early or all the good stuff will be gone!

THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!!!

This is where I spent my evening last night.  Plano's Divine Consign is like a huge garage sale for parent's to get rid of their kid stuff without having to worry about organizing a garage sale or haggling prices.  I had never heard of this before, but why should I have when I haven't had kids before.

A friend told me about this a couple of months ago, so I registered as a First Time Mommy.  First Time Mommies were allowed in the sale last night at 9pm (sept 18) before the general public today (sept 19).  It was a mad house!  I didn't get home until after 11pm last night.  I bought so much stuff for under $100!

Most of what I bought is to stay at Grandma's house as I rather have new things at my house as they'll get the most wear and tear and need to be in great condition, however, everything I bought was in great condition.  I got a jogging stroller for only $45!  I got a $100 activity center thingy for only $10!  I got a bouncer for $7!!

I also got many books.  I've been told you can never have too many books.  I'll be going back on Thursday morning for their 1/2 price sale.  Basically, everything that doesn't sell today at the no haggle prices, get marked down tomorrow from 8am-noon for half price.  There probably won't be much left at that time, but there were many things over priced, so I'm sure there will be somethings available at 1/2, even if it's just more books that I can get for a buck! 

This isn't just for First Time Moms.  This is for everyone with younger kids as they had things from remote control cars to kitchens to bassinets to clothes to wagons, and so much more...

I will state right up front that I understand that this is different in the different markets across the Country and Canada.  I'm writing this blog focusing mainly on my market, here in the Dallas area.

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, here is my marketing plan for your house.  Will I do Open Houses?  Did you see Open Houses as part of my marketing plan?  Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I do NOT do Open Houses.
                                                                                                                

In today's market, qualified and approved buyers are not the ones walking into Open Houses.  If a buyer is serious about buying a house, 94% of them start their search Online looking at pictures and price ranges.  They will then do a couple of different things.

One of those things is they will contact a Realtor and ask to view some of the houses they saw online.  Pretending that they contacted me, my first question to them is if they are approved for a loan.  They then get flipped to one of my mortgage guys for full loan approval, not just pulling the credit and giving a thumbs up.

Another scenario is that the buyers then turn around and call a mortgage person and tell him/her that they have seen some houses online and were wanting to make sure they were approved and for what price range.  This mortgage person will then flip them to a Realtor who will direct them in the right direction.

When one of the above steps doesn't happen, you have people aimlessly driving the streets on a Sunday afternoon, seeing a sign and thinking, "I wonder if that house is in our price range..."  They walk in, hear the price, and they grit their teeth while smiling and nodding trying to leave but the agent in the house tries to keep them there as long as possible. 

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, do you want unqualified and unapproved buyers walking through your house?  If the house is shown by appointment through a buyer's agent, 9 times out of 10, that buyer has already been approved for a loan as most Realtors don't like to spend gas money these days by putting a buyer in their car to show them houses unless they're able to buy.

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, do you want all your neighbors walking through your house?  For the most part, you won't really even see any buyers in your Open House.  What you'll see are your neighbors wondering how you decorated and wondering what price you're asking and things like that. 

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, do you want me to spend my time generating leads for your property? or do you really want me to spend 3 hours on a Sunday sitting in your house while you have to leave and entertain yourself?

That's a rhetoric question, because no matter how you answer it, I will NOT be doing Open Houses as part of my marketing plan for your house.  I rather have approved buyers walking through your house, not unapproved.  I rather people walking through your house that have already been pre-screened with a credit check at minimum, rather than someone just off the street who might be looking for the good stuff and come back later to rob you.

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I understand Open Houses used to be the way to go, but with the technology of multiple photos and virtual tours for your listing, buyers rather sit in the comfort of their own home in their underwear looking at houses than drive around aimlessly as they usually don't want to waste gas either.

Remember, I work all of North Dallas County and Collin County including Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Garland, Rowlett, McKinney, etc... my car will take us anywhere you need to go!! 

 ARE YOU PACKED YET?!

Here's another long awaited BabyHarris update!

I went to the doctor's today with an entire list of questions.  I love my doctor.  He spent over 30 minutes with me going over all my questions and even gave me another ultrasound to ease a couple of my concerns!  Most doctors are like in and out in under 5 minutes.

BabyHarris is currently 30 weeks and 5 days.  One of my concerns was the amniotic fluid because it measured low at my 21 week ultrasound, so he did a quick measurement today and I'm at 14 cm.  Amniotic fluid should be between 5-25 cm, and to be only 9 cm at week 21 and then supposed to lose fluid in the third trimester, I was a little concerned.  She's made up for it by now being at an acceptable level.  Blood Presure is back normal again at 102/52.

It was also confirmed for the third time that BabyHarris is definitely a SHE and not a he!

My itchiness is still very much there, but the rash has subsided.  My OB said today that he really doesn't think it's PUPPP because I don't have stretch marks, but 3 conversations with the dermatoloigist says it is PUPPP.  Either way, I'm still on antihistamines and cortisone cream to help with the itchiness.

I asked about inducement at 38 weeks because of the miserable itchiness, but my doctor doesn't believe in "social inducement".  Apparently, the hostpital about 10 minutes from here is #1 in the state for social inducements.  One of his reasons being that first time births are harder to induce and typically lead to C-Section and he rather not do that.  He said he could check at 36 weeks to see how things are going before agreeing to any time of inducement... shucks!!

Anyway, BabyHarris is moving a lot.  Her head is currently in the "ready" position pointing down, but he said she could still move around.  Also I measured at 31 weeks so I'm measuring 1 week ahead of schedule right now. I'm not even going to tell you what my weight gain was in just these 3 weeks because it's a very disturbing number.  I mean, I thought the baby was supposed to help burn calories, but apparently not!!

Will you post my house in the Dallas Morning News?

NO!

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, people don't read the newspaper like they used to.  Many people have switched from the actual news paper to the online version of the paper.  Yes, with the online version of the paper, your ad will appear in the online portion of the classifieds section, however, that's not where you want to be, as there is a new and separate online section for listings that are automatically fed from the MLS.

First, when an ad is placed in the paper, you're getting about 3-4 short lines to grab someone's attention.  If I get absolutely no calls, does that mean that no one saw the ad?  So, problem number one is that I can't track how many people the ad was put in front of like I can with my internet ads.

Second, do you really think serious buyers are looking in the paper with today's technology?  The people who are looking in the paper are typically lower income and they're looking for rentals.  They might call on your ad just to see if you would consider renting it, but they are not a qualified buyer inquiring on your house.

I say serious buyers aren't looking in the paper because there is a National statistic that shows about 80% of buyers are looking online when searching for a house.  However, Texas has done their own research, and they show that over 94% of buyers are looking online for houses... that means only 6% of buyers are looking in the paper and at open houses and other "old school" methods of house hunting.

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, would you rather me spend my marketing money and efforts on capturing 94% of the Buying population, or would you like me to spend my time marketing your house to only 6% of buyers?

Third, people want information and they want it now.  A short 3-4 line in a paper does not offer pictures or tours, or any details about the house.  The typical interactive buyer is not interested in any information where they can't see a little more details before inquiring further about it.

Did newspaper ads work a few years ago, yes, of course they did.  Do they work in today's market?  No, they do not.  Will I post an ad in the paper just to appease you?  No, I will not.  I can use that $100 on something more productive.

Remember, I work all of North Dallas County and Collin County including Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Garland, Rowlett, McKinney, etc... my car will take us anywhere you need to go!! 

 ARE YOU PACKED YET?!

Do you create an actual marketing plan for your listings that works?  Or do you do whatever it is that the sellers ask you to do even when you know it doesn't work?

The way you answer this question will show if you're in control of your own business or if you do and say things to and for the sellers just to win the listing.

When I go on a listing presentation, I lay out everything I do for their listing in front of them.  This includes, Just Listed cards to the nearest 200 homes, Virtual Tours,  Talking House, Property Water bottles, Property Candy, Reverse Prospecting through my database, and the majority of the rest is internet advertising... and you can't forget the staging of the property is included in my fees.

When I'm done, I ask if there are any questions.
Do you do open houses?  NO!
Do you put flyers in my front yard? NO!
Are you present for each showing? NO!
Do you advertise in the local paper?  NO!

I then have to go into detail on each of those questions as to why I don't do them and how they're not effective in our market and I do what's effective in order to sell a house.  I point out, as always, I'm here to "sell" their house and not just "list" their house.

I hear more and more from people saying that Open Houses are a waste of their time as well, but they still do them to please the seller.  Why??  If you can show them that they are not productive, you should not need to waste your time on this avenue.  You need to walk into your listing appointments with your plan in hand and stick to it.  Are there times you'll have exceptions, yes, occasionally.  But overall, we are the professionals and we know what it takes to sell a house in today's market and we shouldn't be afraid to tell a seller NO!

Have I lost listings because I wouldn't do an Open House?  Yes, but did I really lose anything?  If that seller was going to "force" me to go outside my marketing strategy into an avenue that was going to be a huge waste of time for me,  and for them, I need to be able to weigh how valuable my time is verse how badly I want to work with sellers that aren't going to respect my opinions right out of the gate.

Do you hang swingers on your yard signs when you adjust the asking price of one of your listings?  I, personally, do not do this because I think it screams out to the consumer "Look!!  I priced this house wrong to begin with, but come by and check it out now!!"

Yes, I understand that in today's market, as a listing sits longer and longer, we need to be providing our sellers with updated comps at least once a month, in which that might warrant a price adjustment.  I never use the word "reduce" when talking with my sellers.  I always say "adjustment."

So, back to the subject line... when I'm walking or driving around the different neighborhoods, the most common swingers are "Price Reduced" and "Reduced Price".  I go back and forth on which one sounds better than the other.  The Reduced Price sounds more like a sale price, like when you go to a car lot and see all the red tag stickers on the cars and advertising that says reduced price.  Price Reduced just doesn't speak to me as a consumer like the other.

This sign definitely jumps out at me when I'm shopping... maybe it would work on a house also:

Any thoughts on why it's good to use these swingers?  Which one do you use if you use one?  There is one in my neighborhood that says "New Low Price".  It's not low, it's still a little high, but does that hit a nerve with a consumer to check it out?

Let me know what you think!

An offer was submitted on one of my listings a couple of weeks ago.  The showing consisted of the buyers and their entire family.  I know this because they didn't make an appointment and just knocked on the door in which my sellers let them in because they were with an agent.  They arrived in 3 different cars, that's how many people there were looking through the house!!

I received an offer on the property the next day, YEAH!  Along with the offer, I received a pre-approval letter.  Great!!  I read through it, and it had the terms of the loan, including mentioning that it was a Stated Income loan, and it was on letter head for a company...

We countered the offer and received no response... I called the buyers' agent a couple of days later, and asked about the counter and he said he had not talked with the buyers.  "Can you call them?"  He says he will.... no call back...

I let a few more days go by.  "Have you spoken with them?  My sellers and I would like to work this out.  We all have the same goal.  They want to sell and your buyers want to buy."

His response is that they haven't found a house they like. "But, Angel, they submitted an offer on my sellers' house.  They must have liked it, right?"  His reply, "Yes, they really liked that house."

"Why have you not talked with the buyers about our counter offer."  His reply, "I tell you, these are difficult buyers and I haven't heard from them since we submitted the offer."

So, I decided to go ahead and call the mortgage guy on the approval letter.  I typically call the mortgage person on the pre-approval letters before we counter or accept an offer, but decided this approval letter looked more detailed than the typical one and it should be fine... DON'T EVER ASSUME ANYTHING!!

After a couple of calls to the mortgage company today to ask them if they've spoken with the buyer to see if they would like to move forward on this offer they submitted, this is how the last conversation went:

Receptionist- "You're the listing agent?"
Me- "Yes, I'm the listing agent.  I'm calling because I received an offer on a listing from this buyer and they attached an approval letter from Bob and I would like to talk with Bob to discuss this approval letter."
Receptionist- "But we don't have a contract for that buyer."
Me- "I know you don't have a contract.  They submitted an offer to my sellers, we responded to that offer, and the buyers have not responded back.  There is no contract right now, so you would not have a contract."
Receptionist- "I don't understand."
Me- "Can I please speak with Bob?  He wrote the letter."
Receptionist- "But that's the problem.  He said he didn't write a pre-approval letter for this buyer you mention.  What does the letter say?"
Me- I read the letter... "Can I just talk with Bob and try to get this cleared up."
Receptionist- "Can you fax me the letter you have so we can look into this?"

This conversation went on for about 15 minutes.  I did fax the letter and they were supposed to call me right back, and I haven't heard a thing from them, but they were also supposed to call me back a couple of times today when I left previous messages...

Bottom-line, even if the approval letter looks really good and is really detailed, don't take it as anything other than paper until it can be verified.  I broke my own rule on this one as I've blogged before about calling the mortgage person as soon as an offer comes in.  Bad, Donna!!  Bad, Donna!!

Then, I had to call the sellers and tell them that even if I get a returned call from the buyers' agent or the mortgage person, that we probably wouldn't want to move forward with this situation as it doesn't sound like there would be enough communication on the other side in order to facilitate an on-time closing...

What do you think?  Would you reconsider this buyer if they all of a sudden reappeared??

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately about how people are having problems controlling their sellers and getting showing on their properties for some reason or another...

Why do you allow this?  When I list a property, I tell the sellers how it works, I don't allow them to tell me how it's going to work.  I'm the professional and I know how to get people into looking at their house.  They don't understand how Realtors and Buyers actually work and how they want to make appointments.

In the listing agreement, there is a place to enter the showing information.  I tell them showings will be set up through a company called CSS- Centralized Showing Service.  I tell them that they will get a call on behalf of the agent wanting to show the property and that they will be given a showing window.  I tell them that part of their contract with me is that they will help facilitate the sale of the property which means they should not decline any showings.

In the summer time when I know kids will be home, I tell them I will request a 1 hour notice for everyone to have time to leave the property.  On the weekends, I tell them that I will request a 1 hour notice. 

However, I also tell them that I am making their showings as "Courtesy Call" and not "Appointment Required" (yes, there are sometimes exceptions, but very vevry rarely).  This means that they must leave the house every morning in showing condition so agents and buyers can come by at any time with a courtesy call to the showing service.  This also means, if the seller doesn't answer their phone, no one has to wait for a returned call!!!  I remind my sellers that they need to keep their phones on at all times, and they need to check their messages often in case they missed a showing call.

I do not allow my sellers to dictate when a showing can and cannot take place.  Some sellers need a little more showing notice like 2 hours instead of 1, and that's ok.  But, when I see instructions that say, No showings on Wednesdays or Thursday... or No Showings on Sundays... or No Showings before noon on a Saturday... and things like that, those usually don't get shown because they usually won't work in the route I take with my buyers.  If I can't show them, my buyers can't buy them... I use this same theory with my sellers and they quickly understand that they need to do something with their pets or kids in order to have plenty of showings and the times that work for the buyers, not just the sellers.

If you educate the sellers at the time of the listing appointment, showings will not and should not be a problem.  Take control of your listings, don't let them control you.  If you can't show the property, you can't help sell it, and if you can't sell it, you need to cancel the listing and part with the seller.

Each year, the second Tuesday of August, the country celebrates National Nite Out.  NNO helps neighbors get together and get to know each other, and in turn, this is supposed to help promote safer neighborhoods as people start looking out for their neighbors and new friends.

I was on the Social Committee in my neighborhood this year, and it was a blast!  We had 51% of our neighborhood present, which is huge!  We have Crime Watch signs up throughout the neighborhood and one of the criteria to keep those signs is that we must show at least a 40% attendence at the NNO each year.  As people arrive, they must sign in for their address in order for us to get credit for the attendence, even if that family can't stay and have fun.

The other part of NNO is a canned food drive.  The City of Richardson collected over 10,000 pounds of canned food.  Each family who attends is encouraged to bring 2 canned goods.  There were over 200 parties across the city, and for a population of just under 100,000 people, that's A LOT!

Remember, I work all of North Dallas County and Collin County including Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Garland, Rowlett, McKinney, etc... my car will take us anywhere you need to go!! 

 ARE YOU PACKED YET?!

The Richardson Independent School District in Richardson, TX (some residents in Dallas, TX) have achieved the "Recognized" status for its second straight year.  This is very hard to do.  Richardson is the largest urban district in the state of Texas to achieve this accomplishment!!

Each year, the different campuses, Elementary, Junior, and High Schools, are all ranked based on the TAKS Test (Texas Assessment of KNowledge and Skills).  There are 24 rated categories throughout the tests and each category must be passed by each student group in order for the school to pass in order for the district to pass.

In addition to this great achievment, Richardson ISD, on a whole, improved drastically over last year.  The "Exemplary" Rating was increased by 50%!!  That's amazing!  Overall, 81% of campuses were rated either Recognized or Exemplary compared with only 79% last year.

Here's a link to a list of all the schools and their ratings.

This puts a big smile on my face because I grew up in the Richardson School system, and it warms my heart to know the system is still doing well after all these years.  I'm currently a Richardson resident, however, my house sits within the Plano SChool District, but I have a few years to worry about what school BabyHarris will attend since she's not even arriving for another couple of months.

Remember, I work all of North Dallas County and Collin County including Richardson, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Carrollton, Garland, Rowlett, McKinney, etc... my car will take us anywhere you need to go!! 

 ARE YOU PACKED YET?!

This is hilarious... there is no copyright information on where it came from, so if someone reads this and claims, I will more than happily recognize you.

Driving in Dallas,Texas

First you must learn to pronounce the city name. It is DAL-LUS, or DAA-LIS depending on if you live inside or outside LBJ Freeway.

Next, if your Mapsco is more than a few weeks old, throw it out and buy a new one. If in Denton County and your Mapsco is one-day-old, then it is already obsolete. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere.  (Frisco has screwed everything up.)

Dallas has its own version of traffic rules...   "Hold on and pray." There is no such thing as a dangerous high-speed chase in Dallas . We all drive like that.

All directions start with, "Get on Beltline," which has no beginning and no end. (It REALLY DOESN'T!!!)

The morning rush hour is from 6 to 10. The evening rush hour is from 3 to 7. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning.

If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear-ended, cussed out and possibly shot.  When you are the first one on the starting line, count to five before going when the light turns green to avoid crashing with all the drivers running the red light in cross-traffic.

Construction on Central Expressway is a way of life and a permanent form of entertainment. We had sooo much fun with that, we have added George Bush Freeway and the High Five to the mix.

All unexplained sights are explained by the phrase, "Oh, we're in Fort Worth !"

If someone actually has his or her turn signal on, it is probably a factory defect. Car horns are actually "Road Rage" indicators - and remember, it's legal to be armed in Texas ..

All old ladies with blue hair in a Mercedes have the right of way. Period. And remember, it's legal to be armed in Texas

Inwood Road, Plano Road, NW Highway, East Grand, Garland Road, Marsh Lane, Josey Lane, 15th Street, Preston Road all mysteriously change names as you cross intersections (these are only a FEW examples). The perfect example is what is MOSTLY known as Plano Road On the south end, it is known as Lake Highlands Drive, cross Northwest Highway and it becomes Plano Road, go about 8 miles and it is briefly Greenville Ave,
Ave K, and Highway 5.  It ends in Sherman ..

The North Dallas Tollway is our daily version of NASCAR. The minimum acceptable speed on the Dallas North Toll Road is 85 mph. Anything less is considered downright sissy. It also ends in Sherman.

The wrought iron on windows near Oak Cliff and Fair Park is not ornamental!!

A trip across town east to west will take a minimum of four hours, although many nort h/south freeways have unposted minimum speeds of 75.

It is possible to be driving WEST in the NORTH-bound lane of EAST NORTHWEST Highway. Don't let this confuse you.

LBJ is called "The Death Trap" for two reasons: "death" and "trap."

If it's 100 degrees, Thanksgiving must be next weekend. If it's 10 degrees and sleeting/snowing, the Fort Worth Stock Show is going on. If it has rained 6 inches in the last hour, the Byron Nelson Golf Classic is in the second round (if it's Spring) - and it is the Texas State Fair if it's Fall.

If you go to the Fair, pay the $8.00 to park INSIDE Fair Park . Parking elsewhere could cost up to $2500 for damages, towing fees, parking tickets, and possibly a gunshot wound.  If some guy with a flag tries to get you to park in his yard, run over him.

Any amusement parks, stadiums, arenas, racetracks, airports, etc., are conveniently located as far away from EVERYTHING as possible so as to allow for ample parking on grassy areas.

Final Warning: Don't Mess With Texas Drivers ... remember, it's legal to Be armed in Texas 

Starting September 1, Texas Dog Owners need to keep their pets on a shorter leash and closer to them.  A new law has passed that makes Dog Owners more responsible for their pets.  I don't know if I quite agree with the harshness of the sentences, but I'm glad something has been done.

If a dog attacks and seriously injures someone, the owner can face up to 10 years in jail.  If the dog attacks and it's fatal, the sentence is 20 years!  Yes, 20 years!!  Make sure you know where your dog is at all times.

What's interesting is that if the attack happens on the Dog Owner's own property, nothing happens because it's personal property.  We're talking only about attacks that happen if a dog has gotten loose or possibly at a dog park, or anywhere else that is not within the confines of the owner's property.