Fun in Fort Bend: Fort Bend Home & Garden Show brings home improvement to life | Community

Fun in Fort Bend: Fort Bend Home & Garden Show brings home improvement to life | Community

by Home And Garden

If you have ever wondered what goes on at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds when the Fort Bend County Reasonable is around, the answer is: plenty. 

The most modern event — the Fort Bend County Household & Back garden Show  — was hosted principally indoors very last Saturday and Sunday and was effectively-attended even with gusts of wind that arrived at speeds of 40 miles for every hour or extra in some parts when I made my way to the fairgrounds on Saturday afternoon. 

The home and backyard garden clearly show featured booths from vendors devoted to dwelling advancement, decorating and inside design and style as properly as landscapes and out of doors entertainment. 

It also showcased a winter present market place with boutique outfits, jewellery and home goods, as very well as beer and wine sampling, and an additional developing devoted fully to foods samples.

There ended up also free seminars for attendees on a range of subject areas. Lauren Sotomayor hosted a charcuterie board course and Madeleine Banks held a primer on how to use custom made-established materials to personalize your home’s inside. Rob Stress of Austin-dependent LALO Tequila held a “Tequila 101” class for people searching for the best approaches to use the spirit in cocktails. 

Food trucks Crazy Cookers, International Policy and Tacos y Gorditas Rioverde marketed their fare on the grounds as very well. 

One particular of the to start with distributors I achieved was Sharon Hoermann of South Texas Pecans in Yoakum. Her partner Jason Hoermann has been running the family’s pecan orchard given that 2015, which was started off by Jason’s grandfather in 1971. 

“We care for about 500 acres,” Sharon claimed. “We have a commercial kitchen area on web site that everything receives processed in. We shell our have pecans, we make our have flavors. We press our own pecan oil as perfectly.” 

Sharon instructed me she attended a market place at the fairgrounds in Oct and designs to return yet again in March. She mentioned her most common product is most likely her cinnamon-glazed pecans. 

“It’s not also crunchy,” she mentioned. “The little ones convey to me it preferences like cinnamon toast crunch cereal.” 

Up coming, I met Danessa Yaschuck. Danessa and her partner Brent Yaschuck are beekeepers and honey purveyors dependent in Damon. 

In 2015, the Yaschucks were dwelling in Sienna, when they began their beekeeping as a pastime. Now their honey can be uncovered in 15 neighborhood H-E-B grocery outlets. 

“We had been advertising honey off of our golf cart up coming to the elementary university in the corner,” Danessa mentioned.”Everybody was like, ‘what farmers marketplaces do you go to?’ And we are like, ‘oh, we will not go to any.’”

Due to preferred demand, the Yaschucks begun their possess farmer’s market, and then their business took off. Three a long time later on, they moved out to the countryside, and now they control more than 300 hives at SweetNes Honey Apiaries & Beetique near Brazos Bend Point out Park. 

At SweetNes, you can buy uncooked regional honey, bee pollen, honey sticks, candles and beeswax, and a lot more. 

A different service provider at the marketplace I achieved on Saturday was a newcomer to Rosenberg. Julie Montoya, a retiree from the Travis County Clerk’s Workplace in Austin, advised me she’s been retired considering that 2020, but currently had “put her foot in the door” attending markets throughout Central Texas for the very last five several years with her boutique enterprise, Jules and Coco. At her booth, I found Texas-shaped necklaces, wooden earrings, and decor sporting the logos of a variety of Texas universities.

“I like executing new activities in different metropolitan areas,” Montoya stated. “So that’s my objective for 2022.”

Subsequent up at the fairgrounds is the spring marketplace, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, March 11-13. 

For extra information, pay a visit to homefortheholidaysgiftmarket.com.

Mansion Global Daily: How to Enjoy a Luxurious Life at Sea All-Year Long, Half-Built Homes Plague China’s Beleaguered Real Estate Market, and More

Mansion Global Daily: How to Enjoy a Luxurious Life at Sea All-Year Long, Half-Built Homes Plague China’s Beleaguered Real Estate Market, and More

by Luxury Real Estate


Life at Sea: Superyachts That Make Permanent Vacations on the Water a Reality

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Seychelles Villa Comes With 27 Bedrooms and Three Large Pools

Perched over the Indian Ocean, the 10-acre property offers proximity to Mahé Island’s best-known beach. Read More

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Parisian Furniture Family Bets on Craftsmanship and Modular Design

Nicolas Roche, creative director for Roche Bobois, reflects on 50 years of the iconic Mah Jong sofa. Read More

NEWS BITES

Half-Built Homes Plague China’s Beleaguered Real Estate Market

China is now home to tens of millions of half-built apartment buildings as the country’s real estate boom ground to a halt this year. The shifting market has dashed dreams of homeownership for many Chinese, who were only allowed to own private property 20 years ago, and shattered confidence in a sector in which the urban population has tied up most of its wealth. The meltdown mirrors the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis in the U.S., though with Chinese builders, rather than individual borrowers, facing loan defaults and other hurdles. Bloomberg

Tasmania Suburb Was Australia’s Fastest-Selling Property Market in 2021

A small Tasmanian suburb has been crowned as Australia’s fastest-selling property market this year, with homes there taking just eight days to sell, on average. Goodwood, just north of Hobart, was ranked as the No. 1 suburb in the nation for having the quickest sales, according to Domain’s 2021 End of Year Wrap report. Property in Killarney Heights in Sydney’s northern beaches took just 10 days to sell, as did homes in Diamond Valley on the Sunshine Coast and Sassafras on the outer eastern edges of Melbourne. Domain

A Record-Breaking Year for Luxury Real Estate in Hawaii

Hawaii’s luxury real estate market soared to all-time highs this year, fueled by several factors, including pent-up demand from the pandemic, record-low interest rates and rising equity markets. In the first three quarters, homes valued at $3 million or more saw sales volume rise 234.5{d4d1dfc03659490934346f23c59135b993ced5bc8cc26281e129c43fe68630c9}, compared with the same period in 2020. Deal volume hit a record-breaking $3.7 billion, according to Hawaii Life’s Luxury Market Report. In the ultra-luxury segment, there were 64 transactions totaling $1.06 billion in sales—a 602.9{d4d1dfc03659490934346f23c59135b993ced5bc8cc26281e129c43fe68630c9} change in dollar value over the first three quarters of 2020 and more than six times the number of transactions. CNBC

Five-Bedroom Penthouse in San Antonio Asks $3 Million

A modern penthouse in San Antonio, Texas, has hit the market for $3 million, making it among the priciest apartments for sale downtown. The condo, which spans more than 5,600 square feet, at the Alteza building has five bedrooms, six bathrooms and views of the city’s iconic Tower of the Americas. The building also offers residents a rooftop pool, concierge services, housekeeping and room service. mySA.com

AROUND NEWS CORP

Why I Regret My Pandemic Panic Property Purchase [The Times of London]

6 Home-Selling Hopes and Dreams That Can Easily Turn Delusional Today [Realtor.com]

Zillow Flopped at iBuying, but Rivals Still Have a Chance [Barron’s]

Real Reason Young People Can’t Buy Homes [news.com.au]

‘TikTok changed my life.’ Real estate agents find huge success on the app

‘TikTok changed my life.’ Real estate agents find huge success on the app

by Real Estate News
Last year, a Zillow survey showed that 36{d4d1dfc03659490934346f23c59135b993ced5bc8cc26281e129c43fe68630c9} of buyers would even purchase a property sight unseen. But despite all the desperate buyers willing to skip the in-person showing, most people still expect to actually see a home first.

During the height of the pandemic, real estate agents across the country discovered that social media platform TikTok was an ideal way to safely show prospective buyers homes. Now, some are saying the video app has revolutionized the way they sell real estate — and it is here to stay.

Madison Sutton is a 25-year-old agent in New York City. She specializes in off-market deals and what she calls “hidden-treasure apartments.” But during the pandemic, she was scraping the barrel for leads because so many people were moving out of the city.
Sutton created her TikTok account, @TheNYCAgent, in early 2020. She had “no expectations for it whatsoever,” citing the pandemic as the catalyst for starting her account. But as soon as she started posting apartment tours on the app, she said interest in her TikTok and her properties spiked.

“There were days I was getting two or four hundred inquiries for one apartment,” she recalled. “What TikTok did, I couldn’t have expected or planned or calculated in my entire lifetime. It’s completely changed my life.”

Sutton said 100{d4d1dfc03659490934346f23c59135b993ced5bc8cc26281e129c43fe68630c9} of her business now comes from TikTok, and her commissions have almost doubled.

New York real estate agent Madison Sutton started showcasing homes on TikTok at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, she gets 100{d4d1dfc03659490934346f23c59135b993ced5bc8cc26281e129c43fe68630c9} of her business from TikTok.
Nearly three-quarters of TikTok users spend more than an hour on the app weekly, according to Statista. The endless scroll and use of algorithms keep users coming back for more. It’s this format that Sutton finds an asset. “Where else in New York City could you see 10 apartments in 10 minutes other than TikTok?,” Sutton said.

And while typical house hunters fret over scheduling in-person tours, online-savvy ones can view in-depth videos that Sutton makes with the flick of a finger.

America's 10 most expensive zip codes have median home prices over $4 million

Part of what makes TikTok so useful for real estate agents is the quick-fire video interface and algorithmically curated For You page. Videos that appear on a user’s For You page are collected according to their unique interests, region, search history, and interactions with advertisers. Because TikTok uses such engagement metrics to determine interest in a video, a new content creator does not need a large following or paid promotion for their video to go viral and reach a broad audience.

It took Fort Worth, Texas, realtor Prince Whiting just a week on the platform to get his first hit. Since creating @TheHouseofWhiting in January 2021, he has amassed 2.2 million likes on his videos. The exposure he gets on his content is virtually free, unlike his previous method of paid print advertising.
The hashtags on TikTok related to house hunting have gotten millions of views.

“I’d say about 90{d4d1dfc03659490934346f23c59135b993ced5bc8cc26281e129c43fe68630c9} of the views are on the For You page and not the people that follow me,” said Whiting. “Everybody has an opportunity to go viral. It’s not because you have a 100 million or a million followers and that check mark to verify.”

Whiting said that unlike other social media platforms, the popularity and consistency of TikTok hashtags like #homesforsale (24.4 million views) and #luxuryrealestate (556 million views) make it easier for him to reach people who are ready to buy.

As with all new social media, there is of course a learning curve. With six years of experience in real estate and zero knowledge of TikTok, Dallas real estate broker Joseph Felling admits it took him a few tries to find his niche on the platform.

Felling said he’s found the most success by showcasing Dallas’ low home prices relative to other major metropolitan areas in the US. More than any other platform, TikTok has allowed him to reach clientele from outside of Texas.

“I think Covid really made people experience what more there is,” said Felling. “It’s so crazy how many California buyers I have had in the past year because they’re able to sell their million-dollar property in California, move to Texas and get a much larger property for $500,000.”

He said he now gets about 75{d4d1dfc03659490934346f23c59135b993ced5bc8cc26281e129c43fe68630c9} of his leads from TikTok, and his sales have nearly quadrupled. As a result, Felling has stopped marketing his properties in print publications.

Dallas-based real estate agent, Joseph Felling, says TikTok is a great way to reach out-of-state buyers seeking more affordable homes.

The future of real estate

The brokers CNN spoke with all joined TikTok within the past two years, and they all believe the app is the future of real estate.

It has certainly garnered a huge following: in September 2021, TikTok hit 1 billion monthly active users.

“We live in such a visual society,” said Felling. “Video is the wave of the future. That’s how you’re going to get people’s attention.”

How much house can I afford?

Sutton also said that a more visual medium allows possible buyers to imagine themselves living in a particular town or city. She often mixes local video content into her feed, showing her favorite restaurants and markets in nearby neighborhoods.

Most of all, realtors can use TikTok to engage their buyers in a conversation. Sutton said she’s created lasting relationships with clients over TikTok who often return to her for the next step of their house hunting journey.

“[TikTok] is creating this relationship that’s much more long-term,” she said. “I may not have had access to these clients, or they may not have been exposed to someone like me.”

According to Sutton, there are no downsides to starting an account. “If you’re a realtor, you should be on TikTok. No questions asked,” she said. “Even if a video performs poorly, it’s not about the performance. If one of those people who sees that video finds their home … I’ve done my job.”

A look back on the life of the first lady of Dallas real estate

A look back on the life of the first lady of Dallas real estate

by Real Estate News

Editor’s note: Take a look back into The Dallas Morning News Archives.

Imagine having one of the most ubiquitous names in not only North Texas, but also in real estate. Ebby Halliday (1911-2015) was a galvanizing businesswoman who built one of the largest residential real estate firms in Texas before it was sold to HomeServices of America in 2018. Since 1945, the woman behind the name was a part of her company until her death and proved to be a dynamo on and off the market.

From a single woman selling undesirable concrete homes to having almost 2,000 employees and handling billions of sales, Ebby Halliday remains a Dallas legend. Take a look back at The News archives for the headlines and highlights of Texas’ real estate queen.

The beginning

Photo of Ebby Halliday, published in The Dallas Morning News Dec. 11, 1957.
Photo of Ebby Halliday, published in The Dallas Morning News Dec. 11, 1957.(The Dallas Morning News)

Halliday moved to Dallas in 1938, originally selling hats from a department store and then her own shop before moving into real estate, starting her business in 1945. In just over a decade, The News billed her as “the national queen of her profession” on Dec. 11, 1957, to capture her growing reputation. That year alone, she “made 60 speeches and traveled over 70,000 miles” for engagements.

Two years later on Dec. 20, 1959, Halliday peered over the Dallas skyline, “which symbolically is ‘hers’” due to her prowess of running $12,000,000 in annual sales, which is roughly the equivalent to $107,000,000 in today’s dollars.

‘70s and ‘80s

Ebby Halliday photographed with her "computerized property listing" equipment. Published in The Dallas Morning News, Sept. 19, 1971.
Ebby Halliday photographed with her “computerized property listing” equipment. Published in The Dallas Morning News, Sept. 19, 1971.(The Dallas Morning News)

Never one to fall behind, Halliday used the best resources available to further improve her real estate services. On Sep. 19. 1971, Halliday showed off the latest technological equipment of Realtors Computer Service Inc., “a computerized property listing service offered to realtors across the nation.”

By the 1980s, Halliday became a bonafide real estate magnate with her billion-dollar corporation. In a feature published Sep. 9, 1983, the businesswoman spoke candidly to The News about her life and revealed that the iconic name Ebby Halliday was not her birth name, rather, it was Vera Lucille Koch.

Name change

Ebby Halliday pictured next to her husband, Maurice Acers. Published in The Dallas Morning News, Sept. 25, 1983.
Ebby Halliday pictured next to her husband, Maurice Acers. Published in The Dallas Morning News, Sept. 25, 1983.(The Dallas Morning News)

Born in Arkansas, the future multimillionaire caught the entrepreneurial bug at 10 years old by selling salves. She credits her stepfather for instilling a strict work ethic, which she carried throughout her career, and also passed along to her employees.

After graduating high school, she moved to Kansas City to sell hats at a department store, which was the last time she went by Vera Lucille. She recalled when “one of the buyers who I admired a great deal told me I had to get rid of Vera Lucille. She said it was the silliest name she’d ever heard. I needed something more sophisticated. I thought about it and came up with the name Ebby.”

By the early 1940s, Ebby had moved to Dallas and opened her own shop, Ebby’s Hats. She came across an opportunity in 1945 that would change her life and a whole industry. A customer who liked the decorations of her store asked Halliday if she could help her husband sell 52 concrete houses. She sold them all within 14 months.

The secret? “‘I just picked one of the houses and decorated it,’ she says. ‘I guess it was the first model home in Dallas. This really worked well. People liked the finished product.’”

Perfect success

Despite all her success, Halliday considered her biggest accomplishment “getting Maurice to marry [her].”

Maurice Acers, whom Halliday married in 1965, was a prominent attorney. She credited him as being an indisputable part of the story of her company’s growth. Maurice had a work ethic to match his wife’s, to the point where they brought their accountants and secretaries to their honeymoon in Mexico.

Ebby Halliday, real estate magnate. Published in the Dallas Morning News, Mar. 9, 2006.
Ebby Halliday, real estate magnate. Published in the Dallas Morning News, Mar. 9, 2006.(The Dallas Morning News)

Age could not stop Halliday from running the largest real estate firm in Texas by sales, and 23rd in the nation. In 2006, her 95th birthday party was the talk of the town, as were all the tributes for her 100th in 2011. For her 99th birthday, her favorite Dallas Mavericks’ player Dirk Nowitzki presented her with a signed basketball. In 2012 on her 101st birthday, she attended the dedication of Ebby Halliday Elementary in southeastern Dallas.

Halliday died on Sep. 8, 2015, in Dallas, where her legacy continues to prove the adage, “Everybody loves Ebby.”

Interested in learning more about local history? Become a Dallas Morning News subscriber at dallasnews.com/archives.

FALL HOME AND GARDEN: New life for nearly 100-year-old home | News

FALL HOME AND GARDEN: New life for nearly 100-year-old home | News

by Home And Garden

Remodel for Castle family’s ‘castle’ with enable from pals, contractors

LYNDEN — The 1920s house has been through some freshening and updating in the middle of Lynden for Dawn and Chuck Castle. 

Purchased  in 1997, soon after Chuck still left military services lifestyle to be nearer to his kids dwelling in the area, from previous Lynden Tribune Editor Cal and Melinda Bratt, the Whatcom County Assessor’s documents present the dwelling currently being designed in 1925. It originally had a person bedroom and the smaller attic was used for sleeping space when the Bratts experienced their then-youthful young children. 

Now it has effectively been rebuilt soon after a quarter century remaining there. 

Chuck now has been at Lynden Doorway for 25 years. Dawn has been an employee of the Metropolis of Lynden in various departments for a full of 20 decades. 

The very first action was an addition to the smaller home in 2006 with Ray Huizenga contracting and involved removing of an old garage/coated carport, previously employed by a cobbler for his enterprise in lots of days gone by. A new garage was built. A delay by the economic downturn of 2007-08, Dawn explained, triggered them to put their total plans on maintain. 

Other changes then and now have incorporated a new master suite and laundry upstairs,  an enlarged kitchen area with much more beneficial counter house with a attractive backsplash, discreet lighting in the stairs to shift about at night time without the need of turning on the lights, a new porch, a new rest room and changing the entrance to the initial flooring bedroom from the living room to the corridor. 

Dawn and Chuck did demoing on their own for the duration of COVID and labored with Hudson Reworking of Lynden this time close to.

Susan Silva of Hudson gave them design and style concepts. It took time. For example, as wallpaper arrived down, they located distinct elements beneath and continued on.

They also experienced their day careers. As the season adjusted to tumble, the pair centered on inside projects. Tucson Crimson paint was obtained by Terry’s Paints. Engineered wooden was put in the now greater area.

Their outdated furnishings were donated to Like Inc. to be repurposed. 

The two of them fundamentally shut off the upstairs and lived in that house in between December 2020 and Might 2021. 

Even though pointing all around the area, Dawn spelled out the older property needing to be opened up by removing partitions, relocating staircases and ensuing in areas not only far more snug but more logically configured.

The unique stairwell was really slender and located by a bedroom. It is long gone. The downstairs bedroom now has a window seat surrounded by two closets. The now seen stairwell driving the eating desk is wider, and the wall by it is applied to display spouse and children shots. Radiant heat has been utilized in the addition. 

A volunteer for the town, and pal of Dawn’s, Stephanie Stewart, “has very good taste” and was satisfied to supply furnishings by way of Fb Marketplace and by term of mouth to help you save revenue for them.

Stewart also came up with the concept to convert their household images into black and white images to make a bold assertion by the stairs and eating area table.

Altogether they selected 19 photographs from 4 generations and utilized Lynden’s Print Stop to develop them for below $10 before framing them in matching frames. 

“Stephanie knows the bargains,” Dawn explained. She was a little bit hesitant with using Facebook Marketplace at first but improved her thoughts. “I love it all … I dealt with pleasant, honest folks.” 

The moment done they had an informal open up household in the course of the summer season to display the Bratts and other good friends and family members what they experienced accomplished.

HOME & GARDEN: Southside Master Gardeners offer Landscape for Life | County Life

HOME & GARDEN: Southside Master Gardeners offer Landscape for Life | County Life

by Home And Garden

Are you a gardener new to Southside? Have you at any time desired to just take the Learn Gardener system but are nonetheless functioning or never want to dedicate to the volunteer obligation?

The Southside Learn Gardener Association’s Landscape for Everyday living could be just what you need to have. Landscape for Lifetime is based on sustainable landscape tactics. Assume of it as a mini-Grasp Gardener schooling.

The six courses will get started on March 4 and be held on the each individual Friday in March and the initially and 2nd Friday in April from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Boston – Halifax County Museum.

The Landscape for Lifetime collection begins off on March 4 with an introduction to soils by Kathy Conner Cornell. Most occasions folks really do not give soil any thought. But, Cornell suggests soils are every thing to the plant.

“It is via the conversation of roots and the soil that crops acquire their nutrition and drinking water. Balanced soils are the basis of a attractive backyard,” claimed Cornell.

Attendees are questioned to provide a compact baggie of soil from their garden to the course.

H2o quality will be mentioned on March 11. Leaders of the course come to feel storm drinking water management is extremely critical no make any difference in which an personal life. Attendees will learn exclusive techniques to correctly control rainwater in their landscape.

On March 18, Cornell will assessment how to decide the right plant for the appropriate location. It is significant to keep away from invasive alien vegetation that disrupt their natural habitats. Native plants can often be a good choice in the sustainable yard but not essentially the only option. Attendees will understand what to consider as they make the best plant selections for their backyard garden.

Southside Grasp Gardeners will have a specific take care of on March 25. A powerful layout is the spine of any landscape. An particular person shouldn’t place a shovel in the ground right up until he or she has assessed their room and determined what features a person desires their landscape to serve such as enjoy place, private location or entertaining region. The structure growth will be an ongoing task but to assist with the system Jean Blanton, Southside Grasp Gardener, will guide people today by the fundamental principles of landscape style and design concepts.

Elements, ordinarily imagined of as hardscape, will be talked about on April 1.

In the landscape, hardscapes are often employed for things these types of as fencing, arbors, trellises or pathways. This will be a entertaining session chock comprehensive of concepts on how to use repurposed/recycled resources to define areas in the garden. A key way an individual can recycle and repurpose is to compost. Attendees will be guided by means of the actions to produce black gold that is so essential to soils. Cornell will lead a presentation on Integrated Pest Management. Utilizing chemical pesticides must be the past resort for back garden pest problems. The IPM approach specifics the techniques to be taken ahead of at any time reaching for a pesticide and what incorrect pesticide use is undertaking to our wildlife especially bees.

The previous course on April 8 will be devoted to every member’s own style and design and their particular problems. Some patterns will be mentioned in the course and anyone will have the possibility for a own consultation. Attendees will go away the method emotion assured that he or she can have the landscape of their goals and enable defend the surroundings for enjoyment of foreseeable future generations.

There will be a $25 cost to cover the components for the 6 sessions. Contributors are encouraged to attend all sessions to get the highest benefit out of the lessons. Having said that, if this just does not get the job done into your timetable, person courses will have a $5 price. The cost is for a household – partner and spouse, parent and experienced little one or buddies. This would make a fantastic Xmas reward!

Progress registration and payment is demanded. Space is constrained. To register, go to the Halifax Extension Workplace to decide on up an application kind or e-mail inquire@ssmga.org to request an software form. Mail completed sort and check out produced out to SSMGA to Halifax County Extension Business office, PO Box 757, Halifax, VA 24558. The six lessons will be held on March 4, March 11, March 18, March 25, April 1 and April 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the South Boston – Halifax County Museum, 1540 Wilborn Avenue, South Boston. For far more data, email check with@ssmga.org or simply call the extension office environment at 434-476-2147, solution .