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Another tour of duty

10/24/2018

I have just spent another tour of duty with Facebook. I was taken captive for a short while, but I escaped. I am now out and unscathed.......kinda.

Generally, Facebook is safe, with general announcements, commentary, ads for help, and general neighborliness. However, danger lurks in it's bowels. There is a vile infection among some of Facebook's citizens.   Some of the infected, maybe most, can be successfully treated. Some, unfortunately, can not be treated. These persons have been infected for life.   The persons that can be treated have a rather strenuous program ahead of them of reading, talking with knowledgeable persons, and research of various topics. When successfully treated, these patients become informed.   They are no longer infected with ignorance.   Sadly, others either will not, or cannot, perform these functions, and remain uninformed.   Some people call this inability or affliction "stupidity" rather quickly.   I am not quite so quick to judge. I feel that the infected's complete anger at the whole world in general, and their town in particular, often clouds their judgement.   They are probably still ignorant, but their refusal to learn might be because of anger at everything, not stupidity.   I prefer to refrain from calling anyone "stupid" until treatment becomes completely futile.

The Facebook banter that I escaped from was a recent "discussion" about Bayside.   I shiver when I think about all I read. Then, I found myself engaging in conversations with door knobs.   Luckily, I soon realized I was about to become infected with much the same malady. I quickly escaped before permanent damage was incurred.

Man, war zones are tough. I was a medic in service. I was a preventive medicine technician. My duty was to help save service people before they got sick. It is in that same spirit that I urge you to inform the ignorant when you can, try to find some room to help the "stupid" whenever possible, and isolate them when all else fails. How do you do that? You'll figure it out. You're smart.   You're reading this blog.

Ignorance can be helped. Stupidity can't.   Try to learn some math of real estate development. What's "highest and best use" mean? Things become much clearer.

Go find the Facebook chatter about Bayside and read the commentary. The infection is much more prolific than I thought.   On the other hand, maybe Rowlett is blessed with an unbelievable number and assortment of extremely qualified real estate analysts. Nah.

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An HFC footnote

10/22/2018

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I have received some complaints, or resistance, about the city giving free land to "owners" of the HFC.

Let me explain. There are no stockholders of the HFC. Therefore, there are no persons in which profits can be distributed. "Profits" (fees) are retained for future development of additional statute approved projects.

One could make the case that the "free land" is donated to the final property owner in the form of lower prices, then paid back to the city by the home's purchaser in the form of property taxes. Or......the city can do nothing. Remember, 100% of zero is still zero. .

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Rowlett's blossoming HFC

10/18/2018

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Folks, I apologize for the lengthy article below, but it's necessary to "flesh out" some issues about a Housing Finance Corporation before the flames of inaccurate rumor gets fanned by lack of information.
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The above article appeared in the Lakeshore Times on October 18, 1918, and was written by Anny Sivilay. It's a pretty good article and describes pretty well the current status with Rowlett's Housing Finance Corporation and "cluster housing."

However, your local blog writer has much more space in which to write, and perhaps a bit more real estate knowledge to share. Also, I'm beginning to get some inquiries that essentially say, "What's going on?" Below might help you understand what's going on. There are some issues that need explaining.

First, the whole idea of a Housing Finance Corporation is to provide safe, clean, modern, and affordable housing for a group of citizens we now refer to as "workforce."   You remember "workforce" don't you? It's where perhaps 90% of you came from. I know I did. My parents were neither wealthy nor poor. They worked for enough money to pay the bills, provide comfortable housing that we called "home," built a family they loved and valued more than their balance sheet. At the end of their working career, they had a loving family, a small little nest egg, a paid off house, and could live on their Social Security. I was most fortunate to grow up in such a family. Folks, they were "workforce," only we didn't have a word for it then. There is a high probability you came from a "workforce" family, also.

But, a funny thing happened while we were working to improve society, and making our world better than our parents had. Our demands of achieving better jobs, bigger houses, swimming pools, golf courses, bigger lots, stone countertops, copper sinks, and forever striving for higher wages to pay for such things, plus vacations to get away from it all, created a problem. The homes such behavior demanded priced "suitable housing" beyond the reach of the great people we now call "workforce." They are the ones with good manufacturing jobs, small business managers, policemen, firemen, etc. These are good people working in good jobs, and caring for their families.

It is absolutely imperative that we, as a responsible city, provide proper housing that these well meaning and deserving citizens can afford. By that, I don't mean cheap, unimaginative, and pedestrian housing designed for low income groups. That's a different story. I mean something that assures that the resale values of the homes are quite safe, because of their desirability.    Success in providing such housing would establish Rowlett as a "great little town." It would be great for all Rowlett's real estate values. The whole town would benefit. To deprive our citizenry of such housing is nothing less than fictitious elitist snobbery. Snobbery doesn't sell well when people are shopping for a home.

Well, how do we do it? Well, it ain't easy. Of course the math is easy, but the creativity, upscale knowledge of new energy saving systems, innovative financing, and the ability to soften financing costs, great designs and upscale creature comforts all contribute to success. Perhaps most important of all is the support of city government and citizens.   Without them, Rowlett deserves what it gets.

The HFC is a tax free entity, however it stands apart from the City. The HFC is not a branch of city government, although the city was needed to incorporate the HFC. Because of liability issues, the city and HFC are kept apart.   Translated another way, The city is not responsible or liable for the debts or decisions made by the HFC. All you tax payers can breathe a sigh of relief. Furthermore, no tax payer checks are written for any HFC incurred costs. There was a small loan made by the city to the HFC during the formation period. It has already been repaid. The HFC has already concluded a multi-family project for Senior citizens. It is now under construction.

Anny Sivilay's article above presents a couple of facts, but allows no room to expand upon them. First is the request of "free land" from the city.   That is accurate. However, there is more to the story than just the HFC is asking the city to donate the land. In fact, some cities donate land to their HFC as a matter of course. I believe Garland does.

Rick Sheffield, President of the HFC Board, and I, was given a preliminary list of locations around the city in which the city owned land. There were two or three dozen locations. Most were rights of way, parts of drainage easements, unusual shaped parcels or too small for typical development. After reviewing all the sites, it was determined that three or four might accommodate "cluster housing." I only liked three. Please be advised, these were not prime sites. They would be hard to sell. They were definitely not commercial sites. They were too small to attract a major developer. They had unusual shapes whereby typical subdivision design was very difficult. In short, they were not very marketable sites.   Yet, the city was spending no small amounts of money each year keeping them mowed. An average cost to the city might be $1,000 to $1,500 per year. The city has owned them for years, but apparently no one was interested in buying them.

One of the good things about "cluster housing" is that the houses can be configured very acceptably on small and irregular shaped pieces of land. It's not magic. That benefit is derived mostly from the adaptability of smaller lots and the configuration of the smaller houses on the lots, all on smaller parcels of land. The HFC can use the land effectively that others can not.   Can other developers do the same thing? Well, kinda.......except you can't get the big developers to do it, and a smaller developer would not have the free land, tax free material purchases, and the loan financing aids the HFC would have. They would not be able to meet the market demands that the HFC could. Their prices would be approximately $20K to $25K higher.   Therefore, the proposal submitted to the city was that the HFC could take a few pieces of land that was only costing the city money each year; develop it and sell houses, then returning it back to the city in the form of TAX BASE. Then, the land was improved and provided revenue instead of expenses. It's conceivable that a 3 acre site that was costing the city $1,500 per year in mowing expense could now produce $18,000 per year in tax revenue. Folks, that a good business decision.

You can not build acceptable "affordable" housing with junk. The homes still have to be pretty, livable, and designed to maintain property values.

There is a misconception about the term "zero lot line" houses and "cluster houses." Many think "cluster houses" are attached housing. They are not......unless otherwise designated. Attached fee simple houses are nearly always defined as "townhomes," not "cluster houses." Condos are condos, and apartments are apartments. Another misconception is that zero lot line houses are attached. They are not. In fact, zero lot line houses and patio homes look identical from the street, to an untrained eye. However, a patio home is placed in the center of a lot and a zero lot line house is placed exactly on the deed line of one side of the lot. About the only way to tell the difference from the street is that the zero lot line house will have no windows on the side of the house that is on the deed line. Also, the fencing will follow that side of the house into the back yard. Driving down the street, they look much the same. Neither is attached to any other structures.

The market for the "cluster housing" is two fold. First, and foremost, the housing must be highly desirable, with excellent curb appeal. You can't save money on the specifications of the houses. You save in other areas.

By designing the homes to be very desirable, two markets are satisfied. One is for seniors who want to downsize. Many are trapped in their $500K house. They can sell that house, but there nothing desirable to buy in it's place. Therefore, they're stuck in their homes that require a lot of work for a senior citizen. When they "buy down" they don't want junk. The second market we've already talked about.......the "workforce" market.

The HFC is a good thing for Rowlett. I am solidly behind it. It serves many needs. It will make Rowlett a better place.   Not only does the HFC provide superb housing, it also aids in preventing "slum lording" from getting a foothold.

Folks, don't tell stories until you know what you're talking about. It's okay to disagree, but you need to know why.

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Conservatives are lazy.....and a question.

10/17/2018

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Haven't written for a few days. I've been down on the Texas coast. I really like Port Aransas.

Even tho I was nearly out of Texas, I still was within reach of TV news. The last two weeks of news have convinced me that conservatives are lazy. Why don't conservatives have a mob to chase Chuck Shumer and his wife out of a restaurant? Why don't conservatives have people looking into the windows of the residences of Nancy Polosi and Dick Durbin? Why doesn't our Attorney General say to kick liberals when they "go low?" Why doesn't George W. Bush say conservatives don't have to be civil to liberals? I guess the conservatives are just too lazy to be uncivil. I suppose some case may be made that the conservatives are somewhat more mature. They don't resemble a two year old bawling and thrashing around on the floor threatening to keep crying until Trump resigns.

I got another question. Who is funding the Honduran's march on the USA? Did 3,000 Hondurans wake up one morning, and all at once decide to march 2,000 miles to the USA.......for something. Are they being paid? By who? Who buys the food and water during the trip? Who organized this thing? You surely aren't naive enough to believe it was all spontaneous. Ask yourself who benefits? The Marchers? I doubt it. Opponents to the wall? Probably. Who funds the opponents to Trump's wall? You don't suppose that silly ole George Soros is playing Monopoly again, do you?

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A Speed Bump

10/6/2018

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I have been hopelessly hooked on the drama surrounding the Judge Kavanaugh appointment to the SCOTUS. I have hung on every word of testimony, including both for and against arguments.   Nothing has captured my interest in recent years as much as this debate.

Being a conservative, it is easy to understand why I resented some of the commentary of the right leaning Senators. However, that doesn't mean I didn't have respect for some Democrat Senators. I had respect for Diane Feinstein, as well as many others. That doesn't mean I agree with them, which certainly includes Booker, Durbin, Schumer, and others. However, that respect now has been totally dashed. How can one human being, presumably intelligent, inflect so such damage and harm to another innocent family and career? The slander aimed at Judge Kavanaugh came from all corners of the Democrat Party and all it's far left followers. They didn't stop the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh, but they certainly dashed any respect I had for the Democrat Party. It is gone.

Not only were there 49 Senators against the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh, there were thousands of protesters marching in the streets, restaurants, and the halls of Congress, plus in the face of all Republican Senators.    It seemed that every major city had protesters 24/7. Also, appearing in the news were photographs of protesters accepting money, presumably salaries, for marching and protesting. In addition, there were films of protesters being schooled by their leaders and practicing their shouts and slogans to be chanted whenever opportunity presented itself. It was kinda a University of Protest. The thought occurred to me, "Who is paying for all these protesters?" Also, who is paying for many left leaning organizations and websites? Even the most rudimentary research would reveal that the billionaire, George Soros, quickly surfaces.   It is agreed that Soros is a very wealthy man. However, would you even guess how much it cost to raise such an army of so many protesters and still fund so many organizations? Is Soros so passionate about the future of the United States that he would spend the multi-millions necessary to fund the marching army that the far left puts into play, as well as other endeavors, including political races?

Mr. Soros loves the United States, but not the same way you do. You generally like being an American and much of what that stands for. Mr. Soros likes making the money that the U.S. permits, and wants to control the country. In fact, Mr. Soros made his money on the ashes of failed countries after WWII and the vastly reduced value of their currency. Mr. Soros could care less about George Washington, Daniel Boone, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights. That's not his thing. He wants to own the USA and install a government that he controls.   There's more money to be made in that plan. George Soros is an immigrant. His formative years growing up in Europe was in a totalitarian government. He couldn't give a flip about the U.S. Revolutionary War.

Now the question becomes, "How much money does Mr. Soros have? I will return to the question posed above. How much would Soros spend each month to keep his organization fully funded? Folks, it has to be an enormous amount of money. Now, we all know of the multi-billionaires in this country that donate large sums to their favorite charities and as much money as the law allows to their favorite political candidates. This money would pale in comparison to the money that Soros would have to spend each month. It probably wouldn't pay for George Soros' hot coffee stands for his protesters.

George Soros is a businessman. He is not going to spend money unless it has appropriate rewards......or, its not his money. He will take some controlled risks, as all business people do. However, would he take the risk of millions of dollars a month, gambling on the eventual "take over" of the USA? I doubt that. Soros is too smart for that.

So.........where's the money coming from? Is George Soros going to deplete his fortune?   Nah. Who else benefits from an American failure in government? China? Russia? Is George Soros a conduit for Russian and Chinese money? Both China and Russia would much prefer to find an American conduit that make direct payments to protesters, websites, and clandestine political contributions rather than themselves.   The American people, both right and left, would go ballistic if it was ever discovered China and Russia was funding a "new" U.S. revolution. Therefore, an American with reported billions of dollars of wealth is a logical choice for a "partner." It would be a clever subterfuge. It's okay for an American to fund protesters. However, not a totalitarian government. Of course, it would have to be an American that doesn't give a flip about the Constitution. Someone like George Soros.

So, just for discussion, let's say Russia and China are funding George Soros, and George is funding the many needs of protesters, websites, politicians, and hot coffee stands. If so, all the people that are protesting, supporting leftist ideas, promoting on websites, some Democrat politicians, and builders of coffee stands are unwitting agents of Russia and China. They are not smart enough to know they are being duped.

Can you think of anything more enjoyable to the leaders of Russia and China than the "new" revolutionary war being waged by the far left in this country? Some polls say about 40% of this country are okay with Socialism. That's an interesting number. Let's look at it.

It would appear that about 33% of the USA are Conservatives, 33% are Liberals, and 33% are Independents. It would only take a few Independents to cast their lot with the left to make the 40% above. Now let's look at another number. If you take an IQ test, your score will indicate where you are in relation to all others. If you score 100, half of the population will score higher than you, and half will score below you. That means 50% of the USA population will be dumber than the upper 50%. Where do you think most of the 40% that think Socialism is okay fits? If you look hard enough, you may find some IQ's in the 80s.

Does that mean that all leftists have IQ's of less than 100? Not at all. Let's say that 10% of the Leftist 40% are pretty darned smart. Let's say they know how to control the other 90% of the Leftists, and then sell some additional Independents on their glorious ways. Let's say they conned a full 50% of the 33% of the Independents. They now have enough to win all elections. The USA will then start moving pell mell to the left. Therefore, you now have 10% of the 33% of the leftists running the entire USA. Their brain dead followers will do whatever they have been told. They have been practicing their protests for years. Of course, with Leftists in control, there may be some layoffs in the protester's ranks. Actually, there will be layoffs in every business in the USA. You know, kinda like Venezuela.

Is the above scenario in place? I think so. In fact, if Hillery had won the last presidential election, I think the final step would have been in place to spend another eight years setting up the return of Barack Obama to the White House as a President for Life. You remember Obama, don't you? He's good friends of George Soros. Obama didn't retire to Chicago or Hawaii. He's in a house just a short distance from the White House. It keeps the moving expenses down.

However, there was a speed bump. That speed bump was Donald Trump. No one planned for that. Personally, I probably don't like Donald Trump all that well. I think he's arrogant and self centered. Not my type of guy. However, I sure do like the help he's given to my 401K, my business, and my house value because of the robust economy.

If you missed Senator Collins' speech on her reasons for voting in favor of Judge Kavanaugh, you missed a piece of history, and a refresher course on American civics.    You should look for it. To not look for it will reveal your IQ.

Do I have proof of everything I've written above? Absolutely!!!   My proof has the same credibility as the proof proving that Judge Havanaugh is a gang rapist and a beer drunk with an aggressive attitude, or he cries too much.

   .

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Another tour of duty

An HFC footnote

Rowlett's blossoming HFC

Conservatives are lazy.....and a question.

A Speed Bump

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