This week we have spent all our spare time learning the area around Lake Conroe in Montgomery County TX.   Right now it seems that we might like to semi-retire and work in this area.  They have all our favorite fast food places, a health food store, historical places, antiques and it is a pleasant place to spend time.   We might find some other folks who would like an opportunity to escape the maddening crowds, so it seems to be in our best interest to learn the area as well as the areas we have shown in all these years.  Now mind you it's not a completely new area for us as we've worked around the area for years but now we're shifting our focus to the area so that the transition will be quick and painless.   The area is growing quickly.  The word about the tranquility felt there has sp... 08/02/2011

What is it about bodies of water that speak to a need within us?  Having grown up on the gulf coast of Texas,I do not have any desire to live near a major body of water.  This is due to having witnessed what water can do to structures in the paths of storms.   On pretty days however there is a certain magnetic pull toward Lake Conroe.  If we find ourselves appointment free, one of our favorite destinations is a Starbucks which has views of the lake inside and out. Watching ripples on the water and boats cavorting about close to the marina serve to tranquilize and create a sense of calm and well being.  Actual participation in the water play is not a remote desire.  Perhaps a result of too many years of lifeguarding in my late teens is the delighting in just watching. The why of my facin... 07/31/2011

During the course of this economic turn down we all have to minimize the potential damage to our businesses and to our personal financial conditions. Until about a year ago, I never believed that this bubble could actually burst. Now, don't get me wrong...it hasn't totally but it is threatening to. Since my husband and I work TOGETHER in our Real Estate business and Agency, we are finding less and less to do! The leads are coming in yet the bulk of the quality of leads are shaky at best. People are still wanting to purchase a home or to sell a home but practically everyone either does not meet the new Lending Standards, or they want more money for their homes than the Market will bring. Personally, all I want to do is to sell homes and write a blog or two thousand. I seem to be accompli... 07/29/2011

Today's Lenders Are... Tough to deal with, right? Tightening their requirements as tight as possible. Being scrutinized by Government. Under a microscope. Swinging a totally opposite direction. Slower than ever. Under pressure themselves. More heavily regulated. Overwhelmed. Worried. Under staffed. And so... I am going to repeat myself about the "NEW LENDER" we must all consider. The HomeOwner! Your Client. Your new Listing! Of the last 4 leads that have come to us, 3 of the people were looking for "Owner Finance" or "Lease to Own". Are you getting these too? Do you have anything to offer them? So, what are we forgetting? Do YOU ask the question: "Do you carry a note on the property or is it free and clear of liens?" When you list a home are you discussing the alternate financing possib... 07/28/2011

ANOTHER CHEVAUX GROUP SUCCESSFUL CLOSING ~ 142 FINCHFIELD ~ MONTGOMERY, TX 77316 Chevaux Group is pleased with yet another successful closing!  A brand new home in the magnificent Woodforest Development now boasts yet another new family to the area! This Lennar home is fantastic!  Four bedrooms, fully loaded with huge kitchen with granite, tumbled stone back splash, wood floors, study, game room and lovely lot all under $300,000! Believe it or not, the clients found the home and closed in a record 11 days!  Unbelievable in this market!  It is always good to have a smooth closing every once in awhile. Congratulations to the Fox Family on your beautiful new home! 07/10/2011

ANOTHER CHEVAUX GROUP SUCCESSFUL CLOSING ~ 15605 QUEEN VICTORIA ~ MONTGOMERY, TX 77316 It is always good when another great property closes and there are new, happy homeowners.  This fantastic home is located in the neighborhood Crown Oaks.  A wonderful 3 acre lot with a fantastic custom home, this listing didn't last long. Chevaux Group successfully listed and sold the home in less than 120 days.  Not bad in this tricky market.  The good news is that we are seeing sales up significantly along with days on market going down.  Both are indicators of a recovering market. If you are interested in purchasing or listing real estate, Chevaux Group can assist you!  We can help you with residential, commercial or farm and ranch properties.  Give us a call today. 07/07/2011

Or do they? Our community is built upon exchanges. Exchanges of ideas, knowledge and friendship. Referrals play a large part of our exchange between one another and are helpful to us all including our customers. This brings us to the Main Introduction of our Profile! It is imperative that you take the time and effort to maximize your Profile for the Members of our Community, your Clients and last but not least...GOOGLE. And, of course we love comments from our Community Members! I know a lot of you by name with a glance of your picture. This is how it should be. Recently some of the Members leaving comments do not show their name. Now, this makes it truly difficult to get to know you! Not just for Active Rain Members but for the Potential Clients that will click through to your Profile.... 06/30/2011

I'm just feeling all mushy and happy to be here. I have been enjoying re-connecting with all my friends and colleagues here in the rain and I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I have a site on Lake Livingston that has been at the top of Google in all my KeyWords for the last 6 years. It has brought us wonderful leads, customers and clients and many friends to boot! Recently we began selling Lake Conroe too and have relocated to this area. We are still selling on Lake Livingston but now we had the challenge of expanding our Market to yet another lake. We had to decide between 2 sites or expanding the existent site to include another lake. What a dilemma! We didn't want our Mother Site to drop by diluting it with information from one area so we began feeding it little by little and watching... 06/29/2011

How many times have you heard this? It is one of my personal pet peeves and it's getting worse and worse. I remember the days when all I asked was, "How's your Credit?" and with the right answer off we would go! Even I felt comfortable showing homes without an Approval Letter. No biggie. Obviously, today is totally different. Yes, I would love to show them houses if they are able to BUY! How many times has your "potential client" said, "I am not going to have any trouble getting a home," in response to your questions? I then go on to explain just how turbulent the times are and how our Qualifying Requirements have tightened and changed and they come back with the proverbial answer like, "yeah, but I'm good friends with my banker", or "my family will loan me the money" or "I have perfect... 06/29/2011

WELCOME TO SAM'S BOAT! Welcome to Sams Boat! One of the joys of Lake Conroe is living and playing by the lake.     I have had the pleasure of dining at Sams Boat many, many times. Why do I keep going back?     Let me count the ways...good food with great menu choices, fun surroundings with a feel of "Welcome to everyone", happy and helpful wait staff, expansive outside deck overlooking the blue waters of Lake Conroe, Drive Up Boat Docking to drive up, park, hop out and eat, Full bar, Live Bands on the weekends all summer and games and dancing and I'm out of breath! It really is good and is really this fun! I dropped in the other day and a wonderful band was playing and had EVERYONE in the isles dancing; plates of yummy food were flying out of the kitchen and the bartenders were busy as ... 06/27/2011

I recently taught a class for Realtors on Social Media at the Charles B. Stewart West Branch Library in Montgomery, Texas.  Libraries are a very important place for any community.  I loved my library growing up.  But the Charles B. Stewart West Branch Library in Montgomery  has something most libraries don't have.  A beautiful pond, located behind the library.  I did not get a lot of time to enjoy the pond, but did get to take some great photos.  Enjoy.  For more Information: Charles B. Stewart West Branch Library in Montgomery, Texas   06/27/2011

Montgomery is becoming an eating paradise!  Not just for fancy or gourmet, the area is becoming a serious place for lunch or dinner choices out!  Now, not only is the beauty of watching sunlight dance on the water a draw to make your inner child want to be around the lake.  There is an affordable place where you can get sensible burgers and eat them on a patio overlooking the lake..There is the added attraction of being able to observe the "wild" life on the neighboring patio which is a part of “Sams Boat.”  (food not yet tested)    One of our new favorite spots on Lake Conroe just a few miles east of Marvelous Montgomery is “Five Guys, Burgers and Fries.”  It is a fairly new addition to the area, at least we had not seen it before a few weeks ago.  As we were driving up Hwy105 headed ... 06/22/2011

One word says it all. LOCALISM...Whether you are a Newbie or Oldie here in the Rain you must learn the value of Local and Hyper-Local posts. I have discovered over the years, 4 to be exact, that there is no better way to hit GOOGLE and their "happy spot" and we can thank Active Rain for the strategic placement. My past Localism posts have been geared for Local postings instead of Hyper-Local. What does this mean? A Local Post is Keyword Optimized for an "AREA" instead of a particular neighborhood. Living in the Piney Woods of Texas (currently fighting a violent fire demolishing over 15,000 arces) our neighborhoods are rather obscure. Possible Buyers would not know a name of a neighborhood to type it into GOOGLE. They would simply type the "AREA" name. In larger cities where you have co... 06/21/2011

CHEVAUX GROUP ~ TWO NEW HOME CONSTRUCTION SALES IN WOODFOREST! It was a great weekend in NEW CONSTRUCTION SALES for Chevaux Group!  Woodforest Development is a gorgeous Master Planned Community located north of The Woodlands along the new Fish Creek Thoroughfare.  With a fabulous golf course, this development offers so many things for new families. Chevaux Group is proud to be introducing families to this wonderful area.  With the great schools and amenities offered, this is a great place to raise your family and to purchase a beautiful new home.  The location offers a quiet respite from the hectic pace of city life. Highland Homes builds a fantastic new home with plenty of outstanding floor plans to choose from.  This is the third Highland Home that we have helped a buyer with in the l... 06/20/2011

Have you scratched your Niche? Have you been concentrating on a particular Niche Market within your Real Estate business? If you are then now is the time to strengthen your position within your chosen market. Our economy may be faultering but there is no better reason than to recharge your Niche. What is a Niche Market? Definition: Specialized Market~A market in which a limited and clearly defined range of products or services is sold to a specific group of customers. (*) How does or can this apply to Real Estate? In so many different ways! You can specialize in first time home buyers, Golfing Communities, new builds, Waterfront Homes, Lake Properties,  condos, commercial sales, commercial brokerage, Ranches and so much more. Just look around you to see what there is that would or could... 06/17/2011

Southern Texas is being reported as "critical" when referring to lack of rainfall and in our Lake Areas we are experiencing one of the worst droughts in recent history! The University of Lincoln, Nebraska publishes a DROUGHT MONITOR that shows us to be in the Highest Level of Drought. They have labeled us "EXCEPTIONAL". With our temperatures soaring over three digits and the power of the sun even watering is not providing our vegetation with enough to survive. We have, from the beginning of 2011, only been blessed with 15% of our normal year to date rainfall. We are on catastrophic ground. My husband and I live in a lovely subdivision on Lake Conroe by the name of Bentwater Yaucht and Country Club. We found it to be our perfect location as it was on Lake Conroe, a 23,000 acre lake and c... 06/17/2011

Are you ALL in Texas? Or, possibly in a wonderful temperate climate? Jeesh. I climbed into my car in the garage this evening to run to the store and the car showed the temperature at 89º and I thought...hmmm...not too bad! As the car pulled out of the driveway the temperature climbed and climbed and climbed. I don't mean to be repetitious but it climbed to 103º at which moment I was questioning my good judgment about leaving. I am imagining that the summer here in Texas is a great deal like the winter in Michigan! I am beginning to feel cabin fever. I feel the dread of showing properties in this heat but I DO want to show properties! The Lake is drying up so it's a great Buyer's Market! Where are the buyer's? They are at home getting cabin fever! At this time of night people are usuall... 06/14/2011

I have been here in the Rain, Active Rain that is, for 4 (four) years now. I cannot believe that it's been that long! It seems like yesterday that my husband said, "hey Deb, there's a cool blogging site for you to look at." My answer at the time was, "what's blogging?"  Seriously! I had no clue. After bringing up the site and discovering all the wealth of information, commeraderie, excitement and humor I just couldn't resist! Thus, my addiction. Active Rain. I was scared half to death to post the first time. I had no clue what anyone wanted from me or what good it would do me or even why I was here! I have never been one to read "instructions".  I have always been the Bull In The China Shop that would rush right in even if something breaks. That's me. All of a sudden, I wanted to know E... 06/12/2011

When I first received my license to sell Real Estate I immediately became a Realtor®­ and I felt as if I had found my calling in life. I was right. I love this business. All of this business. I have become stronger and have found that I can even say "no" when I need to. I love the people I run across even if they don't become a buyer. When I took this photo and viewed it what I thought of was just this. I love what I am doing. I took to the Real Estate business Like a Duck to Water! And, I love selling Waterfront Homes! I just want to share this. Hope you like it! 06/10/2011

WOODFOREST REALTOR APPRECIATION LUNCHEON Woodforest Development is a premier master planned community that is experiencing tremendous growth!  I was fortunate to sell two homes side by side coincidentally in this community last year.  The staff at Woodforest treated the real estate agents who sold in Woodforest last year to a fabulous luncheon last weekend. Hubbell & Hudson catered the event and real estate agents from all over enjoyed the delicious meal and hospitality.  Thank you Woodforest for treating us to a very special day! Woodforest is seeing a surge in new home construction sales which is a welcomed site for all of us in the industry.  The community has now exceed a population of 300!  It is fun watching the population sign on Fish Creek Thoroughfare as it changes frequently. ... 02/23/2011