Girls Night Out

An old fashioned holiday spirit awakens in the tiny town of Comfort .

Grab your girlfriends and join local merchants for a magical evening of shopping and yuletide refreshments!

Tuesday, November 15

4:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Fabulous door prizes

814 A Texas Bistro

Accents and Flowers

Antiques on High

Antiquities, Etc.

Blackbird Antiques

Comfort Antique Mall

Comfort Candle Company

Comfort Cellars Winery

Comfort Common

Comfort Crockery ~

Comfort Stampede

Cypress Creek Antiques

High’s Café and Store

Juniper Green Antiques

Kat’s Unique Gifts

Stuff ‘N’ More

Sweet Comfort

The Plaid Goat

The Heart Cottage

The Tinsmith’s Wife

Turkey Ridge Trading Company

Wilson-Clements Antiques

Folks, in case you haven’t heard … There’s a NEW burger in town.  Conveniently located on the corner of  7th and High Street in downtown Comfort,” 7th Heaven” is serving up burgers out of a fire truck red trolley car .

I spent a little time talking to the owner, James Billingsley.  Being a burger fan, he wanted to make sure that their burger would make a memory with folks.  I put the burger to the test and let me tell you it passed! With 1/2 lb of  savory beef and a delicious  jalepeno cheese bun it was reminiscent of  Alamo Springs Cafe’s legendary burger.

Opened now for about a month 7th Heaven is already gaining great respect around the community for a great place to grab a meal.  Be sure and check it out!

www.singingwatervineyards.com/

On the other hand, residential sales are down so far this year. As I quickly look through the residential sales so far in 2010 (14 so far compared to 16 last year during the same time period), I am reminded that many of them were at deep discounts from original list price. The average list price to sales price ratio was 88.4%

As for the outlook for THE ENTIRE HILL COUNTRY for the balance of the year, here are some things to consider:

Tax rates are set to increase next year. Current land owners: This year may be an opportune time to realize gains on real estate at lower tax rates.

There is currently a “glut” of residential properties on the market.  Since there is so much competition, homes that are “average” just aren’t selling.  Prices are being reduced time and time again in order to get market attention. As such, we believe that by end of year there will be some great “buys” on homes that need a little TLC.

We’d love to serve you whatever your real estate needs are.  We work from Leon Springs to Mountain Home, Bandera to Johnson City.  Give us a call!

• Workshops
• Exhibits
• Demonstrations
• Family Friendly Kid’s Learning Activities
• Live Music
• Belgium Beer & Ales
• Healthy Cooking Demos
• Natural Organic Food Cafe

Over 7500 people are expected to attend this gathering.  You won’t want to miss it!

Hours:

• Friday, 9/25 – 12-6p.m.
• Saturday, 9/26 – 9-6p.m.
• Sunday, 9/27 – 9-3p.m.

A 3-day pass is available at $20.  Daily passes are:

• $10 – Friday, Sunday
• $12 – Saturday
• Children under 12 are free

For more information, Go to www.TheRoundup.org

Beautiful Creek View in the Hill Country (available with Cabin www.hillcountryvacationrental.com)

The Texas Hill Country is full of beautiful hills, valleys, rivers, and creeks (like the one pictured to the left).

You’d think that every one moving to the Hill Country would want something like that.   Beautiful, Live water! Ahhhhh…. You can almost feel your blood pressure falling, can’t you?

Well … Maybe. Maybe not!  For some it might actually increase their blood pressure.  So .. it just depends!

As with many things in life, with every plus, there is a minus and with live water comes the possibility of flooding.  You just have to weigh the good with the bad and determine if it is right for you!

I had someone call me not too long and say that they wanted a live water property that was not in the flood plain.   Kindof a problem, you think?

In some places, especially here in Comfort, a very large portion of the community is in the flood plain.    The river and creek that caused the original settlers to settle there also caused those settlers much difficulty through the years.  In fact, Comfort’s “main” street (e.g., the place where the majority of the town’s businesses are located) is now “High Street” because businesses relocated to “higher” ground after numerous floods.

So .. for many properties in the Hill Country, including properties in Kerrville, Bandera, Center Point, Fredericksburg, etc., you will have to weigh flood insurance into the overall budget.

When faced with flood plain issues, one term can be especially confusing.

100-Year Flood – The term 100-year flood is misleading. It is not the flood that will occur once every 100 years. Rather, it is the flood that has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. Thus, the 100-year flood could occur more than once in a relatively short period of time. The 100-year flood is also known as the base flood or 1 percent annual flood.

So, how do you know whether the property you are looking at is in the floodplain?  You will want to locate the the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) for your area.  Here is a portion of Comfort, Texas (Panel 90 in Kendall County):

Flood Insurance Map for Comfort, Texas

What you will notice is that there are different zones shown as wells as various numbers.  For areas in the Hill Country, you will be concerned with Zones A & B.  Zone B is considered to be in the “flood fringe area” (e.g., the risk of flooding is less than 1%; however, still a possibility).  Many mortgage companies still require coverage for properties in Zone B.

Zone A is definitely in the high risk portion of the flood plain.  Often, Zone A will be broken down into subareas ranging from Zone A-1 to Zone A-30.  If your property is in a Zone A area, you will definitely need flood insurance and the Flood Insurance Rate Map will tell your insurance agent how to price your premium.  Flood insurance premiums are federally regulated. Often, individuals and lenders will ask for a Flood Insurance Certificate in order to better define the risk of flooding and can help save in premiums.

A Flood Insurance Certificate is prepared by a surveyor who certifies the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) that the property is in, the Lowest Floor Elevation(LFE), and the Lowest Adjacent Grade (LAG).

Base Flood Elevation (BFE) – The Base Flood Elevation is the height of the base flood, usually in feet, in relation to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929, the North American Vertical Datum of 1988, or other datum referenced in the Flood Insurance Study report, or average depth of the base flood, usually in feet, above the ground surface.

The other two terms, LFE and LAG give perspective as to where the house is relative to the BFE.  If it is above the BFE, insurance rates could be less than standard FIRM rates.  If the house is at or below the BFE, the insurance rates likely will remain at the FIRM rates.

Whether your house was built (or substantially improved) prior to the community’s first Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) or not will factor into how much you pay in flood insurance premiums.  Ask your insurance agent.

For other terms related to flood plain, go to:

nfipmapterminology

Or if you would like information on a specific area or property, we’d love to help you.  You can draw on our expertise of Hill Country real estate and the dynamics related to it.

We’d love to be your Hill Country Home & Ranch Team!  830-995-2511.