Susan Hilton College Station Real Estate
Realtor & Vice President of Sales of Bryan College Station Real Estate
Read my blog below
Using HomePath to Purchase Foreclosed Real Estate
May 3rd, 2012 Categories: Foreclosures, Investment Real Estate, Market Trends
There is no great wonder regarding the effects of the nation’s latest mortgage crisis both in Bryan College Station, Texas and the nation as a whole. Loans were left unpaid, and homes were abandoned as banks and the government foreclosed on them. The question is: what became of all those homes that various banks confiscated? With all the lost finances and the economic downturn, there has got to be a stockpile of these homes just waiting to enter the market at steal prices. Fortunately enough for Realtors and home-buyers, even those in the Brazos Valley, there is such a stockpile. And, through a new program instigated by the great mortgage giant Fannie Mae, these homes are now available for inspection and purchase online.
That’s right. As if the web wasn’t growing fast enough, now prospective home-buyers can evaluate and even place offers on homes via the world wide web (through a licensed Realtor, of course). But first, let’s consider Fannie Mae and how this program came to be.
Fannie Mae is in fact the largest lender throughout the United States. And the current exponential growth of their real estate ownership is primarily due to the incredible number of recent foreclosures. It is a reality of the market that when a bank forecloses on a house, businesses like Fannie Mae stoop in to relieve the Bank of their loss, while turning a small profit of their own in return. However, with the drastic quantity Read the rest of this entry »
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Sidewalks of Castlegate
May 3rd, 2012 Categories: Community Events
This might be one of the most overlooked amenities in the Castlegate Subdivision. If you, live there and have not utilized them, you are missing out. These sidewalks cover most of the neighborhood and provide a shortcut to Forest Ridge Elementary. Dogs, kids, and runners love them.
You have seen them, dogs and their owners. Dogs love the the sidewalks as they lead the way on their leashes. Most dog walkers have real doggy bags on their leashes. It is exciting to see and know that the sidewalks are clean of debris for everyone. The sidewalks are wide enough for dogs and their owners can walk and still give way to other pedestrians. If you have a beagle, like me, you know that having a wide sidewalk helps. I promise, my beagle Riley-Puppy, does not lift his nose from the ground the whole time we are on a walk. Sometimes I think he is hunting for a beagle that smells just like him. He will always leads the way around the 2.25 mile sidewalk straight to our front door.
Kids love the sidewalks because it leads them straight to Forest Ridge in the morning. It is thrilling to see all the parents that ride their bikes next to their kids every morning. Kids need sidewalks to ride bikes. Recently, I saw that the sidewalk was cleared of all the underbrush that was between the sidewalk, fence and Forest Ridge. This way kids can be seen. Thank you, city of College Station and Castlegate HOA!
You may not know this, but the sidewalk changes in elevation more than you realize. You do not notice the hills in the car, but when you are running your legs will not miss them. These sidewalks are so much better than running on graded street. There is a half mile downhill, and you guessed it, a half mile uphill around the northeast sidewalk. There are flats, curves, wooden bridges and lots of turn offs that lead to other streets in the neighborhood. Read some of the shirts people are wearing while running. You will see several people with running event shirts while training on these sidewalks. 5K, 10K, ½ marathons and marathons shirts are running past you all the time.
Hopefully, if you have not utilized the sidewalk in Castlegate, you will now. Spring is among us so get out there and walk your dog, ask your kid if they want to be a bike rider today or go for a 10 K run.
Keep them clean and keep it classy.
Steve Santos “My REALTOR”
PS - I’m Steve Santos, I do what I say I will do, some times more just never less
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First Friday in Downtown Bryan Includes Arts Council & Great Restaurants
May 1st, 2012 Categories: Family
Soft music playing in the air, the buzz of the local people around you, artists on corners of the street, antique shops, modern art galleries, and family entertainment mix together on the first Friday of every month in downtown Bryan.
From 5-10 p.m. downtown Bryan offers First Friday, an event for the cities of Bryan and College Station and surrounding areas to join together and have an enjoyable evening. Whether your evening consists primarily of dining out and visiting with friends or bringing the kids along for a carriage ride and movie, the choice is yours.
Madden’s Casual Gourmet is a popular favorite spot for dinner. All of their food is made from scratch, including every soup and mayonnaise on the menu. Chef Madden is constantly seeking to widen the variety on his menu and challenging himself to find additional flavorful combinations for customers. Madden’s uses top quality products and their presentation of food is nothing short of artistic. The restaurant strives to provide only the freshest ingredients for their customers. Relationships with local producers and manufacturers, as well as a garden of their own, provide Madden’s with top quality food. Madden’s also hosts a movie night for families on First Friday. Movies such as Alice in Wonderland, Thumbelina and the Blind Side have been played in the past.
Wine bars and coffee houses are hotspots at any time in downtown Bryan but take on a certain quaintness on First Friday. The Village Downtown Read the rest of this entry »
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OPAS in the Brazos Valley
April 26th, 2012 Categories: Community Events, Living Here
Bryan College Station is known for being a down-home Southern town with locals who are all about going out of their way to show hospitality. Home cooked meals, evenings spent out on the back porch, and walks through the green pastures are all part of this small town country life and evenings are often spent together with family around the house or in the back yard. But that doesn’t mean this community doesn’t enjoy getting dressed up for an evening out of performances by MSC OPAS (Opera and Performing Arts Society).
These elegant events are held in Rudder on the Texas A&M University Campus and offer a place of amusement for visitors and locals alike. OPAS was initiated as a student organization with the intent of serving the community by offering a variety of performances and serving students by granting them the performing arts program they needed. Theatre productions, music and dance programs inform and entertain the audience, exposing them to a night of fine arts not found elsewhere in the Brazos Valley. This contributes to enhancing students’ appreciation of the arts and results in a much more cultured city.
OPAS is internationally known for its performances by Yo Yo Ma, Les Miserables, Rent, and the world premiere of the Bolshoi-Grigorovich Ballet (covered by The New York Times). Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Color Purple, Beauty and the Beast and Mama Mia! have been performed at OPAS in seasons past. This season is filled with many hits that are straight off of Broadway. There is no longer a need to drive to Houston or some other large city for a dressed-up show. The hits are brought straight to you here in Bryan, College Station, eliminating the necessity to take up an entire night with driving to and from a big city and spending too much on gas money.
OPAS programs are funded entirely by revenue generated from ticket sales and contributions, so low ticket prices are a priority to encourage as many community members as possible to attend. The organization’s focus is not to make a profit, they instead focus on bringing the community together through their shows and through other activities. They offer musicals for families to attend accompanied by ice cream socials catered by Blue Bell, a great opportunity to get the whole family together for a night of fun. Family night doesn’t have to be routine. Change it up and try visiting an OPAS performance after a family dinner.
OPAS serves a wide audience from children who come to see the OPAS JR performances such as Charlotte’s Web and ImaginOcean, to seasoned veterans who have been participants for almost 40 years. Different events are offered to appeal to these different audiences. The array of performances range from Broadway, to Main Stage, to Intimate Gatherings to OPAS JR. While OPAS does offer high culture events for the individual who enjoys a fancy night out, they also provide performances such as Jeff Corwin from the Animal Planet and the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. There truly is something offered for everyone.
The real value of the performances comes after the entertaining show. A post performance reception is offered for viewers who are interested in interacting with the performers and asking them about their hometown, asking how they were introduced to performing and learning about their life. This personal interaction is where memories are made and stories exchanged. Socializing with the artists after the performance is an uncommon opportunity that you won’t want to miss out on.
The 40th season of OPAS is about to open and announce their list of performances. Don’t miss out on this wonderful community experience!Bryan College Station is known for being a down-home Southern town with locals who are all about going out of their way to show hospitality. Home cooked meals, evenings spent out on the back porch, and walks through the green pastures are all part of this small town country life and evenings are often spent together with family around the house or in the back yard. But that doesn’t mean this community doesn’t enjoy getting dressed up for an evening out of performances by MSC OPAS (Opera and Performing Arts Society).
These elegant events are held in Rudder on the Texas A&M University Campus and offer a place of amusement for visitors and locals alike. OPAS was initiated as a student organization with the intent of serving the community by offering a variety of performances and serving students by granting them the performing arts program they needed. Theatre productions, music and dance programs inform and entertain the audience, exposing them to a night of fine arts not found elsewhere in the Brazos Valley. This contributes to enhancing students’ appreciation of the arts and results in a much more cultured city.
OPAS is internationally known for its performances by Yo Yo Ma, Les Miserables, Rent, and the world premiere of the Bolshoi-Grigorovich Ballet (covered by The New York Times). Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Color Purple, Beauty and the Beast and Mama Mia! have been performed at OPAS in seasons past. This season is filled with many hits that are straight off of Broadway. There is no longer a need to drive to Houston or some other large city for a dressed-up show. The hits are brought straight to you here in Bryan, College Station, eliminating the necessity to take up an entire night with driving to and from a big city and spending too much on gas money.
OPAS programs are funded entirely by revenue generated from ticket sales and contributions, so low ticket prices are a priority to encourage as many community members as possible to attend. The organization’s focus is not to make a profit, they instead focus on bringing the community together through their shows and through other activities. They offer musicals for families to attend accompanied by ice cream socials catered by Blue Bell, a great opportunity to get the whole family together for a night of fun. Family night doesn’t have to be routine. Change it up and try visiting an OPAS performance after a family dinner.
OPAS serves a wide audience from children who come to see the OPAS JR performances such as Charlotte’s Web and ImaginOcean, to seasoned veterans who have been participants for almost 40 years. Different events are offered to appeal to these different audiences. The array of performances range from Broadway, to Main Stage, to Intimate Gatherings to OPAS JR. While OPAS does offer high culture events for the individual who enjoys a fancy night out, they also provide performances such as Jeff Corwin from the Animal Planet and the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. There truly is something offered for everyone.
The real value of the performances comes after the entertaining show. A post performance reception is offered for viewers who are interested in interacting with the performers and asking them about their hometown, asking how they were introduced to performing and learning about their life. This personal interaction is where memories are made and stories exchanged. Socializing with the artists after the performance is an uncommon opportunity that you won’t want to miss out on.
The 40th season of OPAS is about to open and announce their list of performances. Don’t miss out on this wonderful community experience!
PS - Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station,
Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate
agent career building so if you need help –
CALL! 979-219-3970
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Recent Growth of Real Estate Sales in the Brazos Valley
April 17th, 2012 Categories: Careers, Market Trends
The recession hurt our nation’s real estate industry. There’s no way around it but thankfully the Bryan College Station market has not been hurt anywhere near the rest of the country. Unpaid mortgage loans were a large cause of the recession, and echoes from the plummet of real estate values following this crash are still being felt nation-wide. So, perhaps an infrequently asked question in recent months: how have Real
Estate Agents been faring? The answer is, surprisingly — quite well. With the turn of the economy and the gradual climb of home sales, Real
Estate Agents are returning to the top. With Texas, and particular areas in the Brazos Valley, spearheading this recovery.
US News has rated Real Estate Agents as one of the best jobs of 2012, with high flexibility and a high employee satisfaction rate. And, if this isn’t surprising enough, the market for positions as a real estate agent is expected to grow at an unusually high rate of 12.2% over the next eight or so years. Luckily for up and coming employment seekers, obtaining a license has never been more simple. The only real requirements are a high school diploma, and a passing grade on a state administered written exam (although a college degree will assuredly help agents to move forward in their field). So we can be sure to see the expected growth in this industry over the next several years.
But how is all of this happening?
To begin with, the economy is recovering. In fact, recently revised employment data for Texas suggests that the State economy is undergoing
“a more solid economic recovery than before.” Unemployment rates in Texas are down to 7.2%, a full 2% decrease from the National average
just one year ago. And to top it all off, the annual growth rate of non-agricultural jobs in Texas increased 2.6% from last year (compared
with only a 1.6% increase across the nation). Texas’ economy is in good shape, and improving.
What myou can optimistically take this to mean is that the economy in Texas (and across the nation) is more stable than it was in the spring of
2011, when the first real signs of recovery started (ending in another brief market collapse). This only means good things for the real estate
industry: but, in laymen’s terms, it means there’s more money out there for people to buy homes. More money to buy homes means more homes sold. And more homes sold means more business for Real Estate Agents.
However, this prospect does not only suggest that the market for real estate is returning to its previous state. Instead, research shows that the
industry is growing, making room for thousands of new positions over the next few years.
So let’s rationalize for a moment.
Over the span of the recession, and the several months before, the market for selling houses did not slow. Only the market for buying houses came to an abrupt halt, as people began conserving cash and deciding it in their best interest to postpone home ownership (as well as the process of obtaining loans became more difficult). Neglecting the percentage of investors who took full advantage of the reduced home sales, most homes have remained on the market since, as more homes have joined the market over the past few years. And now, as the economy climbs back to stability, people looking once again to own homes have entered a vast market. This means extra business for Real Estate Agents. And as Texas’ economy is performing well above the national average, it is no wonder that the market for real estate agents has reached the Best Jobs list of 2012.
But, of course, homes are not the only aspect of real estate that agents thrive off of. Business real estate, as well, is a heavy factor of an agent’s success. And Texas, particularly the Brazos valley, is not short on business growth. For instance, College Station’s business district, Northgate, is experiencing a prime period of development as old business and real estate make way for new opportunities. New student housing complexes are leading the way, the first of which, called “The Stack,” being immediately followed up by a second new high-rise to be constructed just feet away. This second complex will be 18 stories tall, housing over 175 student apartments, as well as a grocery store in the
ground level and a 400 space parking garage. Construction for this new development should begin over the next few weeks, and marks only one aspect of a real estate explosion which is occurring all over the state.
In fact, evidence shows that all but four Texas Metropolitan areas have increased in the number of jobs available over the past year, and several of the lowest unemployment rates across the nation are in Texas cities. Exciting things are happening for the real estate industry,
especially in Texas: and real estate agents are (and will be) reaping the benefits. So when you are ready for a career in real estate…. CALL SUSAN HILTON!
PS - Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station,
Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate
agent career building so if you need help –
CALL! 979-219-3970
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