Sylvie's Blog

For people who try to shop at farmers' markets and to eat more locally-grown foods, there's a new website and blog out there. It's still very much under construction as I try to gather information about local growers and markets in the San Antonio area, but it's a good start. You can find the sit...

This morning a friend of mine emailed me a link to point out to me that real estate prices in San Antonio are down. He sent this to me because I had told him that "prices sold" were up by 2.05% for the first quarter of 2008 from the first quarter of 2007. So I opened the link and started to look ...

If you haven't been involved in a real estate transaction over the past 3 or 4 years, you may not know about buyer representation. In the past, a listing agent represented only the seller, and the buyer had no representation. Nowadays, buyers can have their own real estate consultant to protect t...

Have you had few or no showings on your property? You might want to verify the following information with your listing agent. If your house is listed with the wrong price or in the wrong area, I won't be able to find you. Your house might be my client's dream home, and I can't find you. MLS is a ...

DOn't forget to take one important step in your search for the perfect property: try to find out if the neighborhood has major pollution or other environmental problems. You can do this by going to this website: http://www.scorecard.org I find it best to use the zipcode search feature, but feel f...

You always hear that at a 7% interest rate your money doubles every 10 years. At 10 %, your money doubles in 7 years. But what about money earning 5% or 6% interest per year? The calculation is very simple if you have a calculator with an ln key: enter ln(2)/0.05 for 5% or ln(2)/0.06 for a 6% int...

I tasted Gene Griesemer's goat cheese at the Grey Forest Farmers Market last spring. After years of eating the disappointing store-bought product, Gene's cheese was so refreshingly natural and delicious that I drove all the way to West Wind Dairy Goats in Seguin to buy more! Gene makes fresh chee...

When you move to SAn Antonio, you'll most likely be opening accounts with City Public Services, our electricity, garbage service, and natural gas provider, and the San Antonio Water System, our water and sewage provider. Check out their websites. CPS energy and SAWS offer a variety of rebates tha...

I recently met someone who thought the market value of his house was equal to the county appraisal value. It turns out he was off by $48,000, and he could sell his house for $48,000 more than he previously thought. That was good news for him. If you want an accurate figure for the value of your p...

If you like Texas Hill Country wildflowers, you might want to visit the wild seed farm and buy the seeds you need to bring a little piece of the Hill Country to your own garden. The farm also has a Butterfly Haus, which opens for this seasom on the 21st of March. Plan on going during blooming sea...