Johnson City Lumber Yard Stewed Tomatoes

Coming back to Dallas from a weekend in The Hill Country, we stopped for lunch at a cafe and antique mall in a former lumber yard in Johnson City.  I ordered a plate lunch special with meatloaf, stewed tomatoes and something that wasn't very memorable.  The tomatoes were off the charts wonderful.  Sweet and savory with an under-layer of heat.  I came straight home and made up a batch before I forgot the flavor mix.  The recipe that follows pretty well nails it.  This recipe is going to become my standard accompaniment for meat loaf.  I have decided that what I want to go with it is mashed sweet potatoes.  Those 3 together will suit one another just fine.

Johnson City Lumber Yard Stewed Tomatoes

Drain the juice off a large can of diced tomatoes.  Reserve the tomatoes.  Put the juice into a pan on medium heat and reduce.  You will need to watch it because tomatoes have an unhappy way of scorching...so, stir the juice every few minutes.  When the juice has been reduced by half, add the tomatoes and 3 heaping Tbsp of brown sugar (I used brown sugar Splenda and it was just fine), 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar, 1/8 tsp cinnamon and just a trace of cayenne.  Return to the heat and allow flavors to mix.  Serve and enjoy.

Levitt Pavilion in Arlington

I recently came across a Live Music Venue in Arlington that has a whole lot going for it. It is the right price (free). They obviously focus on providing a variety of musical genres. It doesn't matter what sort of music you enjoy, they are going to have someone on their calendar that does it!




Check 'em out!



http://www.levittpavilionarlington.org/

Pear Chutney and Pork Loin

Chutney is a traditional sauce used on the side of Indian food. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Grey's_Chutney  I developed a taste for chutney as a child.  I can tell you where I was sitting the first time anyone fed me a curry.  I was hooked. 

The main problem with chutney is that it is expensive.  Major Grey's is a little bitty bottle with a great big price.  I have substituted mango preserves into recipes that called for chutney, but it isn't the same.  My friend, Jennifer, has often told me how easy it is to make chutney.  I just have never done it, not until now.  Recently as I was walking into a friend's house, I noticed that she has a pear tree in her yard that was covered (and I do mean covered) with fruit ready to pick. Pears don't ripen on the tree. They need to be picked and brought inside and watched over as they ripen. She let me have about 5 pounds of fruit. I came home and made Pear Chutney with it. http://www.food.com/recipe/ginger-pear-chutney-100006

So, now, here I am with over a gallon of Chutney. I will be giving friends half of that and I will use a fair amount of it as my contribution to covered-dish events through the Christmas Holidays (chutney over a block of cream cheese + water crackers and I have something to take to every covered dish event I get invited to for the next 4 months!). But, I need to do something else with the chutney. What I did was I used it to cook pork loin steaks in my small crock pot.

The Recipe:   You will need a medium sweet potato and 4 slices of pork loin or 4 pork chops.  Peel the sweet potato and cut it into wedges.   Put a teaspoon of chutney into the bottom of a small crock pot.  Add half the potato wedges to the crock pot.  Slather potatoes with just a bit of chutney. Cover potatoes with half  the pork.   Spread a teaspoon of chutney on each piece of pork.  Repeat the layers.  Cook  on high, for about 3 1/2 hours, or on low for 7 hours. 

This combination would freeze well.  Sweet potato will freeze, unlike the Irish Potato.

When I buy a whole pork loin, I cut it into "steaks" about 3/4th of an inch thick.  Then I freeze the "steaks" in bundles of 2 servings.  It makes it easy to use.  The next time I get a pork loin, I think I may go on and make up the pear chutney pork loin and sweet potato mix so I can freeze cooked portions and have my own version of Meals Ready To Eat!  All I would have to do is cook a side vegetable or make a salad and dinner is d-o-n-e!

Great Menu Planner Website

How about a website that knows what is on sale at your neighborhood grocery store and has recipes that take advantage of those sales!  Is that cool or what?  FoodOnTheTable is a subscription service that also has a  free teaser membership that gives you a chance to test drive the service.  The Teaser membership limits you to 3 grocery stores.  I chose a Tom Thumb, a Kroger and Central Market.  I tried to add Whole Foods which is how I found out about the limit of 3 stores.   Once those stores are identified, you specify which meats appeal to your tastes.  The website then does a side-by-side list of which store has those items on sale, giving you a choice of which store you want to shop in.  I asked the website to give me 3 menus.  The recipes generate a grocery list that can be emailed to yourself so it shows up on your phone as a list.  Now, THAT is a feature I can use!

http://www.foodonthetable.com/

The grocery list also has coupons for in-store specials.  I couldn't find how to print the grocery list, but obviously there has to be a way to do it!

North Texas Traditional Dance Society

Should you find yourself with a free Saturday night, consider going Contra Dancing with the North Texas Traditional Dance Society (NTTDS).   http://www.nttds.org/  It is fun. It costs very little.   It is good exercise without being being too far off the charts in terms of physical effort. 

NTTDS has been around since the early 1980s.  They have a dance pretty much every Saturday night with live music.  Check their calendar for location.  They welcome strangers.  You don't have to show up with a partner.  The group encourages everyone to change partners for each dance.  There are usually more women than men so it is common for women to dance together.  These people don't let much stand in the way of having a good time!

What is Contra Dancing?  It is sort of like square dance, kind of like the old fashioned English country dancing they show in the Jane Austin movies.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_dance.  You will want to take a bottle of water with you.  Dress is casual.  Ladies wear skirts mostly because it feels good to dance in a skirt!  Show up early and they will walk New-comers through the basics (currently between 7:30 and 8 when the dancing begins).

Foreign Parts

I love my job. I get to learn something new just about every day!   I have had 3 situations recently that required me to think about how things done locally have to mesh with things done in Foreign Parts.

In the first instance, a Canadian National wanted to buy a condo in Dallas.  What I found out is that for her to do that, she would have to pay cash.  In order for her to borrow money, it could only be with a US lending institution.  And, her Canadian credit history won't help her.  She has to establish credit in the US.  And, it would take 2 years for that to happen.

The other two deals both involved a real estate sale by a US citizen who is currently working out of the country.  In both cases, it was necessary for the seller to travel to the closest US embassy to have papers notarized in a form that is recordable in the US.  One of my sellers decided that he didn't need to travel that distance.  He got the papers executed by a local French notary and then paid to overnight those papers to the title company.  That set off the Tilt Meter at the title company.  The seller got to do it again, this time traveling 200 Km to the embassy.

Buying a Condo? Are you getting a Mortgage or Paying Cash?

If you are buying a condo and you plan to get a mortgage, you need to find out if the complex is FHA Approved.  You need that information even if you are getting a Conventional Loan. It used to be possible to get FHA “spot approval” for an individual unit. That option has been completely eliminated as of February 2010. Now the complex has to get approved. It didn’t used to matter at all because there really weren’t that many differences between FHA and Conventional financing. Currently, unless you have 20% to put down, the only kind of condo financing reliably available is FHA.

I recently had a deal where the buyer paid cash for the condo. He told me that it doesn’t matter to him that the complex isn’t FHA Approved. I told him that he may not care now, but eventually it will matter because he will need to sell it. The bigger the pool of potential buyers, the higher the demand there will be for the property. The higher the demand, the more likely the sales prices will go up. The more difficult it is to get a loan for units in the complex, the more likely it is that prices will be stagnant, or Heaven Forbid, go down.

To find out if the complex is on the FHA Approved List,

https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/condlook.cfm

Dramatic Downtown Views

I was showing property to someone yesterday in Oak Cliff. He is a photographer. We began to talk about locations in The Cliff where it is possible to get dramatic views of downtown. I showed him my 3 personal favorites.

1. Commerce and the Levee. The City has put up an awning on the western Levee, just south of Commerce Street. The City did it to help people visualize the Trinity Project. I have always intended to stop but never have until yesterday. Good view (go figure). The photographer decided that for his purposes, from that perspective, fully 1/3rd of the view is consumed by the brown mass of jail buildings located at Commerce and Riverfront. He preferred the view from the Visitor Parking garage associated with the jail complex. It can be accessed from Riverfront. I have never gone into that parking garage, but the signage indicates that it is accessable to the public.

2. The Belmont Hotel. I don't know if there is any more scenic bit of real estate in Dallas. I know from experience that it is possible to ask the desk clerk to let you tour rooms until you find the one with the view that makes you happiest. http://www.belmontdallas.com/index.aspx There are two cheaper ways to enjoy the view. One is from the patio of the Belmont Bar. The other is to drive up along the bluff just north of the hotel. Both have great views of downtown. Interesting Preservation Tidbit. The Belmont was designed by Charles Dilbeck.

3. North-bound on Hampton Road as it crosses over I-30. It is obvious that it is possible to access the areas off-road, but getting there on foot is going to require some focus and determination as well as extreme caution. Dallas drivers don't expect to encounter foot traffic anywhere close to City Streets. Historic Tidbit. This bit of very high ground is the general neighborhood of the Utopian Colony, La Reunion. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/LL/uel1.html

"Hip Pocket" Listings

A "Hip Pocket" listing is a property that can be bought but that isn't being openly marketed at the moment. The listing agent has it in their "hip pocket". The most common reason for a property being in "hip pocket" status is that it isn't in "market-ready" condition. I currently have several of those we are working on. In the case of a Lakewood classic, the elderly owner has been relocated but the 17 cats are still in residence. We are working on those cats. That home can't go into the Multiple Listing System (MLS) until we get the cat situation under control.

I almost always have 2 or 3 hip-pockets that are condos around Central Market. It is common for me to get phone calls from other agents who are looking in the area and haven't found what they need. They call me.

The flip-side of that happened recently when I had a client who wanted something in one of the highrises. I phoned 3 agents who work in those buildings. Sure enough, I found a hip-pocket that we were able to go see.

Before MLS was put into use, the only way to find out what was on the market was to contact each and every real estate agent and ask what they had to sell. It was like going booth-to-booth at a flea market. Commercial real estate is still largely that way. You have to know what agent works in the area in which you want a bit of commercial real estate. Then you have to phone that agent and ask. On one level, it feels slow and cumbersome. On another level, I like it better because it is a much more personal way to do business. Real estate is a relationship-based business. Even in the age of social media and text messages, it is still about relationships, first and foremost.

Blondes vs Brunettes

My precious friend, Jenn Thompson, is part of a really amazing group of women who have found a way to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association of Greater Dallas. They will be playing a football game Saturday night. In the last 2 years, the game has raised right at a quarter of a million dollars. They are on target this year to raise about $200,000.

If you don't have other plans, consider coming out for the game! I will be there, partially because Jenn is going to be at the gate with an Attendance Check List and partially because there is going to be "free" beer at the after-party (having paid for two tickets, it isn't "free" free...but, it is easier to call it "free" than to call it "at no additional expense").

Ebby herself is going to be there, doing the coin toss. And, watch for the Blondes' QB....it will be Jenn!

http://www.bvbdallas.org

How to crochet: lesson 1

Developing An Offer Price

I have a check list that I use when I am getting ready to make an offer for a Buyer-client.

The single most obvious factor is what have other properties in the area sold for. I check by subdivision as well as geographical area.

Condition. Just because two sold properties are on the same street as the subject property doesn't mean that those homes are truly comparable. You have to compare Apples to Apples and not to Bananas. In older neighborhoods, one also has to determine the condition of the subject home as well as of the other properties sold. It is common for one home to be almost a tear-down and the house next door to have granite counter-tops and updated bathrooms.

Tax Valuation. The Taxman isn't always right. However, it is a quickly available source of some one's opinion of value. The Tax Assessor does NOT have access to the interior of the property. Also, their square foot number is not always correct. Their number is just one of many factors to consider.

Length of Time on the Market. A Seller who has been anxiously waiting for a Buyer to appear for 120 days is going to behave very differently than someone who only put their home on the market a week ago.

Type of Seller. An owner-occupant is going to need to be handled very differently than where the owner is a bank. It is much easier to offend an owner-occupant with a low-ball offer. Banks aren't going to take it personally. Banks are just talking numbers.

How much did the Seller pay to buy the house? Buyers always ask this question. As the Buyer's Agent, I don't have access to that information but I can frequently make an educated guess. The information is only relevant in trying to get inside the Seller's mind. If a home has sold in the last 10 years, the sales price will be in the MLS system. The Tax Office keeps information about original mortgage amounts.

What is it going to cost the Seller to Close? In addition to paying off the mortgage, the Seller has to pay their closing costs. No Seller wants to have to write a check at closing. Typically, it costs a Seller 8% of the sales price to sell. The Seller pays the Real Estate Commission (typically 3% to the listing agent, 3% to the buyer's agent), the Title Policy (1%) and another 1% in misc costs such as escrow fees, attorney fees, filing fees

Seller Motivation. It isn't always possible to measure the Seller's Motivation, but there are signals. For example, if the home as been on the market for a while and the Seller hasn't reduced the price at all, that is not a motivated Seller. Another signal is whether the home is occupied or not. A vacant home means that the Seller has "moved on" in the truest sense. It typically means that the Seller is making payments on two properties. Vacant homes have their own problems.

Money Isn't Everything

There are lots of things to think about when you decide to make an offer on a house. Price is one, but only one, consideration. There can be factors that are extremely important to the Seller, things that in their own way can be as important as price. There are a number of contingencies in the typical

When I am acting as a Buyer's Agent, I always phone the Listing Agent and ask questions. Sometimes I get useful information, sometimes I don't. I ask questions that are directed at figuring out what things matter to this specific Seller. For example, when can the Seller move and where are they moving? If my client can make it possible for the Seller to continue to live in the house for a few days or weeks, that is something the Buyer can offer to do that may have value to the Seller. In Seller-Leaseback, the Seller reimburses the Buyer the daily cost of the Buyer's Mortgage.

The single best example of correctly identifying something the Seller wanted more than money was the time that the Seller was a Compulsive Hoarder and my client offered to deal with everything that was left in the house that the Seller didn't want. My Buyer-Client was one of 3 offers, his offer was $50,000 less than one of the offers, and we got the deal.

Another example? I am currently assisting in finding homes for a litter of kittens, something that the Home Owner needs to have happen before she can move. Finding homes for those kittens is extremely important to her. Consequently, she is more focused on those kittens than she is on the actual sales price.

Typical terms that may tip the scales for the Seller:

Moving after the closing. Giving the Seller a lease-back means that the Seller gets to see the Buyer's money before they actually commit to the purchase of their next home. You haven't see misery until you have seen a situation where the Seller has closed on the next house and then the sale of their current home doesn't close. Miserable. Totally miserable for everyone associated with the deal.

A short Option Period or no Option Period (Sellers worry about the Buyer backing out until the Option Period is over)

Lots of Earnest Money. Typically, Earnest Money is about 1% of the purchase price. If the Buyer wants to get the Seller's attention, put up more money.

Loan Pre-Approval. If the Buyer is completely pre-approved for the loan, it is possible to eliminate the financing contingency.

Make-Ahead Sour Cream Coffeecake

From America's Test Kitchen'd "The Best Make-Ahead Recipe" CookbookMakes two 9-inch cakes, each serving 6-8

Streusel

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 Tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces and chilled
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup pecans, almonds, or walnuts, chopped

Cake

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sour cream
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled.

1. For the Streusel: Using your fingers, mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the nuts and set aside.

2. For the cake: Coat two 9-inch cake pans with vegetable oils spray. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the sour cream, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and melted butter together until smooth. Gently whisk the egg mixture into the flour mixture until the batter looks smoothed and well combined but do NOT overmix.

3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of both cakes.

4. To Store: Wrap the pans tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours or freeze for up to 1 month. Do no thaw the frozen cakes before baking!

5. To serve: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the cakes and bake until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes if refrigerated or 40-45 minutes if frozen. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.

To Serve Right Away: Bake the cakes as directed in step 5, reducing the baking time to 25 to 30 minutes.

VARIATIONS

Apricot-Orange: Stir 1 teaspoon grated orange zest into the flour mixture in step 2 and 1 cup chopped dried apricots into the finished batter in step 2.

Cranberry-Orange (dried cherries can be substituted for the cranberries). Stir 1 teaspoon grated orange zest into the flour mixture in step 2 and 1 cup dried cranberries into the finished batter in step 2.

Dean Schmelling's Beef Stew

This is a Crock Pot Recipe. It makes its own gravy, its own WONDERFUL gravy. When it is cooked, I portion it out into 1 or 2 cup servings, put it in ziplock bags and and freeze it. Then, when I want beef stew, I will cook veggies until tender (carrots, potatoes, English peas for example) and then add the cooked beef stew portion. It is also pretty good over a baked potato, topped with grated cheddar cheese.

This recipe makes great single servings. Just freeze it in snack-sized ziplocks!

____________________________________________

Trim 2-4 lbs chuck roast, removing as much fat as possible. Cut roast into cubes and place in crock pot.

Measure out 1/2 c flour. To that flour, add 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. Sprinkle flour mix over beef cubes. Stir to coat each piece with flour. It may take more than 1/2 cup of flour to effectively cover all the bits of beef. If so, just keep adding heaping tablespoons of flour until the beef looks "covered".

Combine 3 cubs beef broth, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 3 cloves garlic, 2 bay leaves. Add to crock pot.

Cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low 8-10 hrs. If I am at home while this stew is cooking, I will stir it periodically, making sure that all the meat is submerged below the sauce.

Appraisals

People tend to only just barely have a vague notion of what it is that Appraisers do. It is common for people to confuse an appraisal with an inspection.. People commonly have an expectation that an appraisal is going to tell them the "True Market Value".

An appraisal is a report ordered by the lender. The focus and purpose of that report is to assure the lender that if they have to foreclose on the property they are not going to loose money on the resale of the foreclosed collateral.

"An appraisal is a valuation of the property. An appraiser renders an estimate of value as of a certain date under assumptions and conditions stated in the appraisal report. Typically, a buyer's lender requires an appraisal to verify that the loan is secured by property that is worth a certain amount. An appraisal is not the same as an inspection." From the Texas Association of Realtors "General Information and Notice to a Buyer".

Under recent changes, there is an entire new insulating administrative layer between the lender and the person doing the appraisal. Having that layer has not been the enormous headache that was originally predicted. It does, however, take longer to get an appraisal than it used to.

Annexation

"Annexation. If the property you buy is outside the limits of a municipality, you should be aware that the property may later be annexed by a nearby municipality. You may find information on the boundaries of nearby municipalities by contacting the municipalities directly" (from the TAR Form 1506 "General Information and Notice to a Buyer").

If a rural property is within a few miles of the city limits of a municipality, it may also be subject to limited amounts of regulation by that town because it is within the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of that town. Again, check it out.

One of the unexpected consequences of Annexation is that a home may have been built when the area was rural and was subsequently annexed....but, it may not be completely connected to City Services such as sewer. I know an area of homes along a creek in Oak Cliff that were built with septic systems. As those systems fail, the homes owners are being required to tie into city sewer lines at a cost of thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars.

After the Home Inspection

I spent today helping an agent evaluate a Home Inspection. We ended up with a 2 page list of repairs that she is going to be asking the Seller to do. That is the longest list of repairs I have ever seen. None of the proposed repairs were big things, it is just that there were a lot of them.

Here are the steps. After the Home Inspection, the agent sits down and reviews the report. Hopefully, the Inspector has a summary of items at the end of the report. That makes it easier to come up with the list of things that need to be addressed. The Buyer's Agent usually will send a copy of the report to the Listing Agent so that agent can also see the list and can begin anticipating what needs to be addressed. On one of my listings recently, we had all but one of the listed repairs completed before the Buyer's agent brought us the proposed Repair Amendment! That is unusual, but it does happen. In that case, I had a good Seller who had worked on getting the property ready to market before it was listed, so there weren't that many things wrong with the property!

So, the Buyer's Agent and the Buyer put their heads together and come up with a list of things that they believe are the most important to get fixed. That list of repairs is converted to a "Repair Amendment". The Buyer signs that document. Then that document is sent along to the Listing Agent to submit to their client.

Many times, what happens next is that the Seller will counter with a suggestion of "cash in lieu" of the repairs. That cash is represented in the deal as either a reduction in the sales price or as an increase in Seller's Contribution to Closing Costs. The best reason to take cash is that way the Buyer can have the work done after closing and can supervise the work.

The Terrace Condos

The Terrace Condominiums are located on the extreme southern edge of the Central Market Condos area. They fill the block formed by Matilda Street (west), Sandhurst (north) and Amesbury (east). The complex is gated. There is one pool and a community room. The HOA includes all bills because the heating and cooling for the complex come from a central chiller/boiler.

There are a total of 108 Units in the complex. Most of the units are 1 bedroom units. All the one bedroom units are inside the complex. There are some 2 bedroom units as well as a very few 3 bedroom units. The 2 and 3 bedroom units face Sandhurst. These larger units have two bathrooms. The shower in one of the baths is e-n-o-r-m-o-u-s! When the units were built, no one expected to have washer/driers in their unit. There are coin-op units throughout the complex. Some units have retrofitted washer/drier connections.

Parking is covered, assigned and gated. Additional parking is available along the street. The complex can be accessed through a pedestrian gate along Sandhurst.

The pet policy is one dog, with a weight limit of 20 lbs.

The complex is one of 7 built in the area by the same company during a period from 1968 to 1972. Those complexes are Sandhurst Manor, The Terrace, Sandhurst Plaza, Williamsburg I (aka Caruth Manor), Williamsburg II, Birchbrook Manor (aka Birchbrook I) and Birchbrook II.

The property is managed by Alternative Management Group Inc, whose office is in Garland.

Crockpot Red Beans

Pick through a 1-lb sack of red beans. Rinse. Put into crockpot.

Add: 3 ribs celery, chopped
2 bell peppers, one red, one green, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Creole seasoning
7 cups water.

Cook on low for 4 hours. Add 3/4 lb smoked turkey sausage, sliced. Continue to cook for another 4 hours or until beans are tender.

Serve on rice. Garnish with chopped red onion and chopped green onion.

Oven-baked Brisket

My traditional brisket recipe is more of a technique than an actual recipe. I have been using this technique for 20+ years. Line a roasting pan with enough aluminum foil, leaving enough overlap to be able to completely enclose the brisket once it is in the pan. Add enough carrots and celery stalks to the pan to create "logs" that will support the brisket and keep it up out of the juices. The idea here is to steam the meat, not boil it. Trim as much of the fat off as you feel like doing...you can remove it once it is cooked. It doesn't hurt to take it off now, but there are better ways to spend 20 minutes of your life..... Salt and pepper the brisket and add to the pan.

You could wrap the brisket and bake it at this point. The results would be just great. What I usually do is add a sauce but there have been times when I just cooked the brisket plain. You are still going to end up with a really good sandwich meat.

My sauce: 1/2 bottle commercial Chili Sauce, 1/2 bottle Pic-a-Peppa Sauce, 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar, 1/2 c brown sugar. Cover the brisket with the sauce. Wrap up the aluminum foil bundle. Bake for 8 hours at 275 degrees. Summer time, I do this recipe over night.

When it is cooked, let it cool enough to be able to handle. Remove the cooked fat and discard. Drain the juices and let the fat rise to the top. Remove the fat. Shred the meat. I freeze the meat in 2-serving bundles, with some of the juice in the bag.

Another variation: Crock-pot this recipe.

My current favorite way to serve this recipe: Warmed up and served on top of Central Market's Russian Rye bread. Even better with a vinegarette cole slaw on top.

Birchbrook Manor

Birchbrook Manor is a Dallas condo complex located between Lovers Lane and E University, east of Central Expressway. There are 62 units in the complex. Most of the units are approximately 1050 square feet, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, with one living area. Some of the units have a larger floor plan that has two living areas. The complex has 2 assigned covered parking. The HOA covers all utilities other than electric (and phone, cable, Internet...but, you would expect that). The HOA also includes the wages for a porter who picks up the garbage twice a week from the back door of each condo. He is also very conscientious about sweeping the common areas. He keeps the place looking nice. Each unit has its own heating and cooling system. The cost of upkeep and replacement are the responsibility of the individual homeowner. There are pet limits (dogs have to be smaller than 40 lbs and there can't be more than two pets per unit). There are coin-op washer-driers in the back hall of each "stoop". Those appliances are shared by only the 4 occupants of that "stoop". Some unit owners have retrofitted washer-drier connections into their units. To do that requires HOA board approval.

The complex is one of seven built in the area by the same company in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Those complexes are Sandhurst Manor, Sandhurst Plaza, The Terrace, Williamsburg I (aka Caruth Manor), Williamsburg II, Birchbrook Manor and Birchbrook II.

Birchbrook Manor is 3 blocks from the Lovers Lane Lightrail Station and a block from Central Market. The complex is in the DISD attendance zone for Stonewall Jackson Elementary. It is a great place to live!

"Drive Until You Qualify"

There is an old expression in real estate about "Drive Until You Qualify". Homes located further out from the center of an area cost less the further away you go. There is a reason. The further out you go, the more likely you are going to have to spend lots of time commuting in.

I came across a great website that calculates the cost of that commute as part of the cost of the home. http://www.cnt.org They have an interactive map with 330 metropolitian areas in the US. It makes sense to include that cost just as one would include the cost of the utilities. If you have to spend $120 per month to use a toll road to get to your job from your new house...well...you will want to factor in that cost.

To see how much it actually costs to own your car, go see http://www.edmdmunds.com/apps/cto/intro.do

Getting Keys Made

If you need a duplicate key, don't take it to the grocery store or to a Big Box Store to have it made. I am not naming names but you know what I mean. We are talking about those big chain stores that have put local hardware stores out of business.

It doesn't cost more to take it to a professional, a lock smith. They charge the same price. The difference? Their keys always work. Always. Not so the keys from the Big Box Stores.

Let me tell you how many times I have had a property owner duplicate a key and bring it to me, only for us to discover that it doesn't work. I currently am working on a listing where the owner lives in another state. They over-nighted the keys to me. I drove over to the property once, only to discover that I had left the gate code at the office. I drove over to the property a second time, got inside the gates, found the unit (which is identified with a unit number not in the tax records or supplied by the owner so I got to intuitively locate the unit and hope that I wouldn't get shot in the process). The keys don't work. I am about to go back over with someone else and a a can of WD-40 just to make absolutely certain that the problem is the key.

Water Heaters: Tank or Tankless?

For a really great review of the pros and cons of hotwater heaters, Taunton Press has a great article entitled Water Heaters: Tank or Tankless. The article can be found at:

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/articles/choosing-water-heaters-tank-and-tankless-options.aspx

Public Expectations

I am working the Property Desk at the office today. What that means is that I am sitting here, waiting for possible clients to phone in, usually off yard signs. My job is convert those callers into clients. Usually, they are Buyer clients. Not always, but usually. Converting those calls is one part Science and about 43 parts Art. Part of the Art is making a decision about whether or not I want the caller to be my client.

I just got a phone call from someone who gave me the following information: He is moving to Dallas as quickly as possible, someone had told him that there was a property on the market but there wasn't a sign out in front, that he wanted to see the property and he wanted to see the property in the next hour. I asked him a few questions. He was resistant. The only thing he wanted was to get into that specific property and he wanted to get in now. It was obvious that his perspective was that my only role in his life was to get him what he wanted and to get it now.

I was clearly talking with someone who mistakenly believes that the sum total of my job is to unlock doors. Period. That always tells me that the person hugely misunderstands my relationship to a real estate transaction. It also tells me that they are not going to be receptive to the possibility of a different perspective. I can change that perspective, but not quickly and almost never on the phone.

By this point in the conversation, I have already pretty much made the decision to let this fish go on down the river. However, there is no reason to not try and make it possible for him to get what he wants. He obviously has a very low opinion of real estate agents generally. There isn't any reason to actively make that opinion lower if I can avoid it.

I looked the property up for him. It wasn't even listed by our company. Where I have no obligation to show the property, the listing agent does. Part of the duty of a listing agent is the obligation to show the property to any qualified buyer who wants to see it. There is an obligation to prequalify the buyer, but that it about it.

The Caller needed to know that if he is dealing with the listing agent, he is unrepresented. I asked about his experience level. He told me that he has bought and sold real estate in the past. This guy wasn't going to listen to my lecture on the Laws of Agency. I gave him the phone number for the listing agent and wished him the best. Phone call ended.

Judith's Standard Brisket Recipe

This isn't as much a recipe as it is a technique. You make a sauce, put the sauce over the meat and then cook it. Easy. Sometimes I cook it overnight in a slow oven. Currently I am doing it in a crock pot. I portion out the meat into one or two servings containers, put those servings into the freezer. Serve as an open-faced sandwich on a nice, dark Russian rye, topped with a vinaigrette slaw or sauerkraut salad. Makes a great lunch sandwich. Very portable.

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The Sauce: 1 bottle commercial chili sauce, 1/2 bottle Pic-a-Peppa, brown sugar (about 2/3rds cup), 1/4th cup cider vinegar.

To cook in the oven: Line roasting pan with heavy duty aluminum foil, leaving enough foil on the sides to be able to create a sealed package. Add three or 4 carrots to the bottom of the pan to act as lifters to get the roast up out of the juices that are going to accumulate on the bottom on the pan. Salt and pepper a trimmed brisket. Place it on top of the carrots. Gently pour the sauce over the brisket. Seal up the package. Cook 8-10 hours at 275 degrees.

To cook in a crock pot: Salt and pepper a trimmed brisket. Put some of the sauce on the bottom of the pan. Begin folding the brisket into the crockpot, adding sauce in between any folds created. Cook on low setting 8-10 hours.

When done (using either cooking technique), let the meat rest for at least 30 minutes. Remove meat to cutting board and remove and discard any remaining visible fat. Chop meat. De-fat the broth. Combine chopped meat and broth. Portion into individual serving containers. Freeze.

Crockpot Red Beans & Rice

I tend to cook in large batches and freeze most of what gets cooked. I portion out the results into one or two servings. That way, I have lots of main-dish meals in the freezer, in small portions, just right for one or two people! With the red beans, I cook the beans in my large crockpot. I freeze all but one or two cups of the beans.

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Pick through a one pound bag of red beans. Wash. Put into crockpot.

Add: 3 ribs celery, chopped
2 bell peppers, (one red, one green), chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Creole Seasoning
7 cup water

Cook on high setting for 5 hours.

Add: 3/4 lb smoked turkey sausage, casing removed and sliced

Continue to cook another two hours.

During last 30 minutes cooking time, cook small batch of rice. Serve beans on top of rice.