Obama Supporter Slashes Offer Price on Austin Mansion

Every morning during coffee, after I've run the children out of the kitchen and onto the bus, I browse my hot sheets. The Austin Board of Schmealtors charges me upwards of $1000 a year to have access to the "MLS", a proprietary software program that connects all real estate agents that choose to participate and pay. Agents enter the data into the application and it is available to all real estate brokers that have paid for the service. Every time an individual hires a real estate agent in the area, the agent may choose to place his listing into the MLS and offer a portion of his commission to a sub-agent or the buyer's agent. Hot sheets are lists of homes and properties that have been entered into the system. I run hot sheets every morning to keep a specific eye on the market and look for properties that may have potential for my clients.

Today, I found one that is interesting on several levels. First, it is on Mt. Bonnell road overlooking Lake Austin. Austinintes know Mt. Bonnell as one of the more famous, beautiful points in the city. It offers spectacular views of Downtown and glorious sunsets.

The Mansion has been on the market for 30 days at a price of 3.7 million dollars. Today, the price was slashed almost a million dollars to 2.95 million. That is a reduction of over 20% in only one month. Owner, Joe Moran, is a securities banker with Tejas Securities Group in Austin. Mr. Moran is also, along with Tejas Securities CEO John Gorman and several other Tejas associates, a maximum donor to the Obama Presidential campaign.

On the Tejas website, the company advertises "the firm specializes in the analysis of distressed debt, emerging growth equities and special situation securities." I wonder if this mansion on Lake Austin is considered "distressed debt". I wonder if these bankers are donating to Obama because of his social strategies or his economic strategies. The website claims the Group specializes in "Government and government agency securities and municipal securities."

Those securities must not be selling. Mr. Moran, however, is selling....and at a cut rate price.

The point is to be wary of price de-stabilization in Austin for the next few months. If you must sell, you may want to follow the lead of this high dollar Democratic investment banker, and drop your price 20%.

Hutto Remains a Cloud Over County

T. Don Hutto is a prison. It detains children and families while they await immigration proceedings. None of the people being detained at the facility have been charged with any crime. None have been determined to be a threat to homeland security. Williamson County facilitates the private corporation responsible to the federal government(ICE)for the detention of immigrant families.
In my opinion, and many people like me, T Don Hutto is a shameful outrage that spits in the face of freedom.
On December 23, the contract between Williamson County and Corrections Corporation of America will be up for renewal. The vote in commissioner's court will determine if Williamson County persists in the complicit support of this disturbing practice of capitalistic incarceration. Please join me in letting our county officials know, "We do not wish to renew the contract. We want CCA out of our county. We would rather use the facility to allow the sheriff to arrest, charge, and incarcerate illegal immigrants and the employers that hire them."
I urge you to contact the County Judge, and our county commissioner. You can do so by simply clicking on their names and sending them an e-mail. Give these families an early Christmas. Show these children that there are still Americans that believe we are the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. I also urge you to write brief letters to the Williamson County Sun and Round Rock Leader to express your hopes that our commissioners do not extend this accursed contract. It will only take a moment.
Our county judge is a an incredibly polite, thoughtful man with a rich Texas history. His family is prominent and his background is steeped in rodeos, cowboys, and politics. He knows that it is in his best interest to follow his de-facto leader, John Carter, and continue the incarceration of these innocent babes. But underneath that cowboy exterior, I believe, he is struggling with this issue. His own trials and tribulations weigh on his mind and he is bound to understand the persecution these children are enduring. I believe he will stand tall if we supply enough input, letting him know how precious each and every day of freedom means in a life that can change and end in the blink of an eye.
The people ask the Judge. Please sir. Do your part to set these children free. You can be a Santa Claus this Christmas. Do not renew this contract. Put this political nightmare to bed, quiet the clatter, and be a hero to children that may never know your name. I think the true meaning of Christmas and the Christ, the Prince of Peace, will descend upon your soul and give you a one-way ticket to the Promise land.

Iraqi Foot Soldier Misses his Mark

The USA has created a generation of anger with our war in Iraq. We can be sure that for years to come there will be hostilities between the Persian offspring of Muhammed and the capitilistic freedom fighters of America. What a stinker President Bush has created for all of us. The President was as a nimble as a cat when he ducked under two shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi reporter this week-end. He remained calm and collected as the two size 10 tennis shoes sailed over his head, missing their mark.
The reporter made his point though. Iraqis are ready for our troops to go home. We have won the war. Saddam Hussein is dead. The country is clear of WMDs. The surge is being performed by approximately 30000 troops while the other 100000 are sitting in the Green Zone eating Whoppers and watching NFL games.
Iraq is full of orphans that will always blame the Bushes and America for the loss of their families, friends, and homes. Human memory is short and Iraq has quickly forgotten the terror reign of Hussein.
The reporter screamed to the President, "This is a farewell kiss for you, you Dog,"
as he was pulled, kicking and screaming, from the room. I was proud of Bush for being able to maintain that damn smirk of his throughout. Even as the shoe sailed right for him, President Bush grinned like a school kid playing dodgeball on the playground.
Iraq is detaining the reporter and charging him with a 'barbaric' act. I hope the President will urge the Iraqi government to free the reporter. It was an insult. But, as Americans, we like to say that free speech is ok. Now, if the shoe would have been on target, we would definately have a different story.
I would have made my shot count if I were flinging shoes at a visiting politician. I'd love, for instance, to throw my size 12 riding boot at that madmen Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I would not have missed. Growing up in the Hood, we liked to fling shoes up on telephone lines. If people left there shoes outside their project door, we borrowed them for shoe flinging. If you have ever driven down a road where tennis shoes are hanging from the utility lines, you know some poor American urchins were practicing their chance at glory. If ever a power hungry, conquering ruler should ever make a farewell tour through our broken nation, we need to be ready to cast the right shoe. And then the left, if our aim is off.

Turds Runneth Downhill

Rent isn't easily collected these days. Property management has never been a walk in the park. It was a natural fit for me from an early age. I like people. I like property. I like putting people in property. So, as a profession, real estate was fun. I like baseball too, but my fastball topped out at about 75 mph and I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a pitch. Now I'm having to chase tenants around with the baseball bat.
The problem is serious and getting worse. Good people with outstanding references are losing jobs all over. They fall behind on credit cards first. Car payments get behind and now they can't pay the landlord....and he can't pay the homeowner....and they can't pay the mortgage company. And the lender can't pay the note holder so the banks scream for help.
We are in a time when all people must find whatever it is they can do, and do it. Fight through this time with your head held high and soon our country will again prove to be the greatest nation on earth. And if that doesn't work, if we're still in the doldrums, we must look at new industry and new ideas. We will discuss, in depth, one of those industries in next weeks blog entry.


All you folks out there not paying the mortgage. You're not alone. Word came down yesterday that 1 in 10 of American homeowners are behind on the house payment. Looks like homeless shelters and soup lines are good investments. The KKK will be screaming, in the guise of the NRA, that poor folks are stealing the money from the rich when Obama's tax hikes on the mega rich are necessitated.
Annie get your gun...or your pool que.

Turkey 2008

My daughter,Mary Blake, has three little brothers. No sisters. Just "three stinking brothers." This Thanksgiving she has tormented them all with continually pestering to the point of physical violence. Luckily I was able to save her from Gunnar's wrath and send her to her room for some parent imposed convalescence.
This Thanksgiving was a tough one here at the Gnarlee Rute. Sara's grandmother succumbed to old age and passed into the light. Mrs. Leotta LeBleu was Sara's last remaining grandparent and she will be missed terribly. Sara left me alone with the four kids and has gone to Louisiana to pay her respects. I wished I could be there but Sara thought it best I stayed home with the children.
It was the third death this year of an immediate family member. First, my grandfather passed in July after battling neuropathy. He had gone into the hospital for a procedure to battle his prostate cancer. The procedure produced a horrible reaction, he was infected with staph and spent six months in a world where he could not talk, walk, or eat much of anything. My mother and grandmother cared for him day and night. They were in misery, seeing this happy, free-spirit wither and die before their eyes. The grief and pain was far too much to bear for my dear mother. She took her own life just six weeks after her father died. Suddenly my grandmother had lost a husband and a child. My sister, brothers, and I were distraught. Wounds like these take time, love, and faith to heal. We work together to keep our heads high when the crying times come.
The world seemed in disarray all year. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan linger on and the promise of the newly elected President to end the Iraqi invasion is highly anticipated. We will be blessed if the hope lives up to the hype. It will be difficult to bring this country out of the self-inflicted doldrums of this economy. I doubt the general public realizes or wants to face the fact that a core change in behavior is necesarry. True conservatism has been smeared and defaced by a sitting President that faced impossible circumstances. The sociological chaos that surrounds us makes fiscal conservatism downright impossible. We have raised a herd of calves we cannot ween. Too many people are under the impression that being an American somehow entitles them to more than just a piece of the pie. They want the pie, the plate, the oven, the resteraunt. The fight to restore confidence in this Nation must start with the people. It is not about the individual anymore. Sure, we need the brains, brawn, and brass of certain individuals to promote industry. But more importantly, we need to realize, America is the land of the free. Free to do well, free to get by, and free to suffer in indolence for the ones that choose that path.
Mary Blake continues to pester the brothers. She refuses to believe all three will soon be much bigger and stronger than her. We're still standing and thankful for one another and our network of supportive friends. We wish you well this Turkey Day.
What did the Daddy turkey say to his disobedient children? If your mother could see you now, she'd turn over in her gravy!
Bonne Chance, mes amis.
J'aime vous tous.