McKinney TX Real Estate

I would be remiss if I did not announce my recent engagement to Texas Rangers starting pitcher, CJ Wilson, to my ActiveRain "family".

We have been "engaged" for a few months now...

And by "engaged" I mean....

 - watching every one of his pitching starts, including being there in person for two of them

 - watching every OTHER game so that I could see him cheer on his teammates while in the dugout...all the while hoping they might have to go through the entire bullpen and get back to CJ so that Washington can give him a head nod prompting him to walk on the field with his SuperMan cape (insert slow motion footage and wind machine) and save the day for the Rangers! 

-Friending him on Facebook.

-following him on Twitter 

-reading about him on Wikipedia, MLB.com, TexasRangers.com, and any other Rangers dedicated website including his own website www.leftylefty.com

-changing my Facebook profile picture to HIS picture before they even went to the ALDS with a vow that I would not change it back until they had won the World Series.

-purchasing and "girl-ifying" my very own CJ Wilson #36 shirt

-blowing through money wisely investing in memories of me and my family/friends/loved ones so that we could go to the ALDS, ALCS (games 2 and 6) and World Series game 5.

So there, my ActiveRain family.

Say hello to your newest In-Law!!!!

As for me...tonight...I will be watching, ever so intently, from my home (can't be AT the game - I'd be TOO big a distraction) - as he pitches the Texas Rangers to their first of four wins on the road to win the World Series!!

And a final FYI - to all of you who think that my definition of "engagement" sounds an awful lot like "stalking", I have one thing to say to you: NUH UH!!!!!!! It's love. And it's real. ;-)

Signed,

The soon-to-be Mrs. Wilson

P.S. We'll write from Disney World after the World Series to let you know how the honeymoon is going!

Wahoo! Fall weather has FINALLY made it's way to North Texas! If you are reading this blog and you happen to be researching the area because you are considering moving to McKinney or the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, then take a mental note that today, October 19, is approximately when you can start sporting your cute fall boots, jeans and other incredibly cute and comfy fall clothes.

But...our lovely fall weather is NOT the topic of this post.

What is? CHILI!!!

Yes, chili. The 2nd Annual Chili Cook Off, benefiting Collin County's only homeless shelter The Samaritan Inn, has been planned for Saturday, November 12, 2011. Festivities will begin at 11:30 and run through 1:30.

We're inviting everyone to have fun while tasting and judging all different flavors & styles of chili, participating in family games and networking with the businesses, friends and family that the agents at d + b consider our “team”.

How do you sign up? Easy! Just go to our website, www.RealFamilyRealEstate.com to find our registration form and rules. The entry fee is only $25..and $40 for those businesses wanting to also promote their business at the event.

Don’t feel like cooking? It’s OK to be lazy. Be our guest and sample ALL of the chili for FREE! One canned good gets you into all the food and festivities. We’re counting on YOU to be our judges. We will be accepting cash donations if you would like to purchase a bowl of chili and other delectable bites!

ALL proceeds will go towards The Samaritan Inn in an effort to bring awareness of National Homeless Awareness Month. We appreciate your support!

More info on our Facebook Page:

2nd Annual Chili Cook Off!

There are a lot of cool perks to being a REALTOR. For me, I like being a "go to" person when someone needs a recommendation for a quality service provider or vendor. As it would turn out, being in real estate means I get my fair share of interaction with home inspectors, lenders, appraisers, surveyors, title companies, plumbers, electricians, structural engineers, flooring companies, home stagers, and on and on and on...

TODAY I'd like to highlight a vendor that comes in handy when you want to update your home with something that makes a bold, classy and timeless statement:

DFW Stairs!

DFW Stairs specializes in installing custom wrought iron spindles, hard wood stair steps, rails and posts. They also make custom baby gates for your stairs and pet gates!! NO MORE PLASTIC UGLY BABY GATES!!

And get this...they also install hardwood floors and hand-scraped hardwoods on site!!

Fernando Montoya is the owner of DFW Stairs, and he is one of the most friendly, honest business owners that I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Whether you are updating your North Dallas area home to sell, or to make your house your home, you should give Fernando a call for a free quote and consultation. Tell him that Kim Daugherty sent you! ;)

Visit their Facebook page for lots of great Before and After pictures!

misdGO - McKinney ISD -

Are you a parent of a McKinney ISD Student? If so, have you ever done the following?

• woken up at 5:30 am to log on to your computer to find out if the snow that has fallen overnight will delay or cancel school?
• fumbled through a giant stack of papers looking for a school lunch menu to see if you should pack a lunch or risk having your child go hungry if they don't like what's being served that day?
• tried to find the football schedule to see who is playing at Home on Friday night?

If so, and if you're like me who can't go ANYWHERE without my Droid smartphone, then YOU. ARE. IN. LUCK!!!!

Introducing..... misdGo! From the MISD website: "misdGo offers students, parents, and anyone interested in the McKinney Independent School District access to a comprehensive suite of apps developed to provide timely and helpful school and district information. The app provides tools like lunch menus and maps to schools. It also provides access to critical student information including password protected parent access to student attendance, grades, progress reports, and assignments. You can even watch highlights from football games, theater and musical performances, and high school graduations!

App Features:

• News - Check out the latest McKinney ISD news alerts and press releases.
• Events - Find out what’s happening at campuses throughout the district.
• Map - Get directions to a campus, visit school websites, or call a campus.
• HAC - Students and parents can safely and confidentially access student attendance, grades, progress reports, class assignments, and other valuable information.
• Dining - Check out breakfast and lunch menus for the upcoming week.
• Library - Access the online libraries to see if a book is checked out, over due library books, and library resources.
• Videos - Watch McKinney Education Television directly from your phone! View highlights of sporting events, theater performances, student and faculty interviews, graduations, and other features.
• Photos - Get a glimpse of what’s happening around the district.
• Directory - Locate contact information for faculty and staff.
• Fine Arts - Check out the latest fine arts performances including band, orchestra, choir, and dance.
• Athletics - Get updated scores for football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer and just about every other middle school and high school athletic event.
• Employment - Search job openings throughout McKinney ISD.

 

Pretty dang cool, if I do say so myself!! Anything that will make my families school day an easier one is a winner to me! Just go to the McKinney ISD website to download misdGo for your iPhone, Android and Blackberry (coming soon).

 

Have you used misdGo? What do you think?

However, do you know what TIME your child needs to be at school???

Since there are so many schools within the McKinney School District, they have staggered the Start / End times to lessen the number of buses, as well as traffic. Below are the the general hours for the different schools and here is a link to the MISD School Calendar.

Elementary Schools (includes Kindergarten) •8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Middle Schools •8:45 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. for all middle schools

High Schools •7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Now that you know what Time School Starts & Ends, how about all the other things ... Do you have all the required School Supplies? Do you have the proper clothes that follow the MISD Standardized Dress Code? If not, you have 1 more week and don't forget the Texas Tax Free Shopping Weekend, Aug 19-21!

School Supplies – McKinney ISD!

Not that I’m counting down or anything – but did you know that you can now count on TWO HANDS the number of days left until school starts???!!!!

And if you’re like me, you can’t wait to send their “whining, “I’m bored”, fighting with their sibling over who looked at whom”, little tush BACK. TO. SCHOOL! So, the only thing that would prevent your child from entering the school’s doors (without fear of them being sent home) is that they have the proper registration forms, vaccinations, and of course, the EASIEST(but not necessarily the least expensive) - school supplies!!!!!

If you’re the parent of a returning McKinney ISD student, allow me to offer you a word of advice: at the end of the school year, when they send out those “pre-order your school supplies for next year NOW” forms, DO IT!!!! You might think that the prices they are asking seem a little high – but let me tell you – it’s worth the extra $5 to $10 you think you MIGHT be spending. And I emphasize the word MIGHT! Why?

True Story:

When my oldest was in Kindergarten and first grade, I thought I would be thrifty like the women on "Extreme Couponing" and SAVE some money by purchasing the list of 20-25 items myself. I thought, “How hard can this be? I’ll just hit up Walmart and reap the savings”.  

Ha. Ha. Ha.

The last laugh was on me. I must have driven to 3 different Walmarts and 2 different Super Targets before I finally found everything on the list. So, with gas at ~$3.50 per gallon, and driving around the entire city limits of McKinney, Frisco and Allen, I’m not so sure I SAVED anything! Lesson learned.

Pay the higher price…save time…and support your school’s PTA by purchasing the school supplies at the end of the year. Write the check right then and there and don’t worry about it again until Meet the Teacher night when the supplies MAGICALLY appear on your child’s desk. Then you can smile and relax while you look at all the other parents show up with a half smile and a “Thank God THAT’s OVER” look on their faces.

However, let’s say you’ve just relocated to McKinney or are new to the district and didn’t have the great fortune to purchase them back in May. Never fear. Here’s a link to the McKinney ISD School Supply list, based on school and grade.

Dissecting the Collin County Foreclosure Market - Q1 2011

Everyone loves talking about the f-word in real estate. That's "f" as in Foreclosures, people. Get your mind out of the gutter! You just can't have a decent conversation about real estate anymore without dropping that four eleven-letter word. So I might as well give the people what they want, right??

Let's look at how the North Texas area that comprises the North Texas Real Estate Information Services (NTREIS) area fared for our first quarter of 2011.

Overall, the number of available foreclosures in the Collin County Region dropped from the previous quarter, but remains 10.2 percent higher than at this point in 2010. Seems about right...for every ten houses I show it seems that at least ONE of them is a foreclosure but what you don't see in these numbers are the homes that are being sold as a Short Sale. There's at least one of those for each ten homes shown as well.

One price range in particular has seen all of the foreclosure inventory growth: $149,999 and Below. The mid-priced homes seem to be leveling out somewhat...and the number of homes in the $300K+ price range dropped by half!! Woo hoo!

The Median Sales Price of single-family properties, that were noted as being a foreclosure, was at $110,000 in the first quarter, compared to non-distressed single-family homes which came in at $202,500.

But how long is it taking to sell both Foreclosure and Traditional homes? In all categories, the numbers are up, from 94 days up to 115 days for Foreclosures and a little longer for Traditional homes from 120 up to 147 days. These numbers will go down for Q2 & Q3 as the market historically picks up.

Spring has SPRUNG in McKinney and the local North Texas area!

I could not be happier! While I love the cooler temperatures of the fall and winter, I don't feel fully alive until I can break out my flip-flops (and not feel weird about it).

The month of April and a good portion of March were busy for this girl. Part of the reason included the natural shift in the "busy-ness" that this time of year brings as sellers begin to ready their homes for the market (=more listing appointments) and part of it was my 10 Year Anniversary Vow Renewal that I masterminded/coordinated/organized. All very good things, but not so good for the blog readership!

So, what's new in my world this Spring?

This Spring I find myself venturing into the new world of organic, locally raised produce and have been intrigued by the Vegan lifestyle. I think I can blame the following for my new interest/hobby:
 
    * High gas prices (about $3.75/gallon in my neck of the woods)- eating locally grown produce reduces the carbon footprint and supports farmers in my own backyard! And I LOVE to remind everyone to SHOP LOCAL!

    * My recent love affair with Patina Green - a newer restaurant/shop on the square WAY TOO CLOSE to my office to be good for me...or maybe it IS good for me. They specialize in using ONLY locally grown and organic produce to create their lunch menu each day. I love that I only have 4 or 5 choices each day and not a gargantuan menu to choose from. I'm now much more aware and in tune to what I put in my body and what I buy at the grocery store...and in turn what I end up putting into my KIDS bodies!

    * And while we are on that note, from the reading I've done a Vegan lifestyle can help one to drop weight (always a good thing) and ward off diseases. Maybe it's just me, but I'm reading about WAY too many kids and friends dealing with losing loved ones to Cancer. I can't help but to connect the dots and think that it's all about what we put into our bodies. So, I'm on a mission to research as much as I can into a new, healthier way of eating (that will also somehow allow me to enjoy my love of sweets and carbs).

    * Finally, I need more energy. Spring =  good weather = no excuse for NOT getting out there and running or enjoying time at the park with the kids. What else can bring about good energy that putting the right kind of FUEL into our bodies!

Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op has set up shop every Saturday at local meeting spots in McKinney and Frisco. For $15 each week you get about $50 worth of LOCALLY GROWN produce - 50% fruit, 50% veggies with other offerings including whole grain breads, cookies or even olive oils. The produce selection changes each week based on what is in season.

I have not personally picked up my first basket yet, but Saturday morning at 7:15 I get to experience this first hand. My sister, Laura, picked up her first load last week and I was TOO impressed!

So, if you're looking for a way to experience a more healthy lifestyle and want to positively impact our local economy (remember, shop LOCAL!) then check out Bountiful Baskets! I'll take some pics and post about my experience this Saturday! My goal will be to use each piece of produce in a very healthy green menu next week. Hope the kids (and hubby) are ready for some new dishes!

And to all of YOU...happy Spring! Our family will be celebrating and rejoicing that it is Easter this coming weekend. If you're looking for a church to celebrate at, I'd like to invite you to join me at Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church in Allen, TX.