Sam White's College Station Real Estate Blog

Dear readers,

The highlight of the upcoming weekend, at least in our industry, is the 2009 Home, Garden and Recreation Expo. It will be held at the Brazos County Exposition Complex this weekend, Feb. 28 - Mar. 1.

In addition to the great exhibits at the show every year, there will be several useful seminars throughout both days.

Saturday February 28, 2009

• 1000am - Light control and sustainable residential design
• 1100am - Mosquito misting systems and outdoor cooling systems
• 1200am - Custom home building seminar
• 100pm - Dream windows and custom draperies and valances
• 200pm - Growing tomatoes in the Brazos Valley
• 300pm - Foam insulation for your home
• 400pm - Water conservation inside and outside your home

Sunday March 1, 2009

• 100pm - Custom home building seminar
• 200pm - Mosquito misting systems and outdoor cooling systems
• 300pm - Pond management
• 400pm - Growing tomatoes in the Brazos Valley

Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and $1 for children under 12 years of age. Tickets will be available at the door.

The Brazos County Exposition Center is on Leonard Rd., just east of SH47.

Remember, if you are in a home-buying mood, you can search all College Station & Bryan homes at search.SamWhiteRealty.com.

I'll be wandering around the exposition site, so text or call me at 979-574-0626 and we can visit!

Blue skies,

Sam White
MarketReports.SamWhiteRealty.com

Dear readers,

The Eagle, our regional newspaper, published an new assessment on the local economy today in the Brazos Business section. Overall, the economist reported a strong economy, but cautioned of possible spending cuts at Texas A&M University and the possibility of those cuts "rippling down" to the local economy.

Quoting Karl Ingham, an Amarillo economist who studies the area, "Because Texas A&M is a powerful driving force behind the economy, any funding shortfall should have minimal ripples. I'm not so worried about that," Ingham said.

The entire article is posted on the Eagle's Website under the headline "BCS outlook called strong." The article is also posted on the Sam White Properties facebook page.

For more local market information and statistics, as well as mortgage rates and national headlines, please visit my Market Report and News Webpageat SamWhiteRealty.com.

Have a great Thursday!

Blue Skies,

Sam White
SamWhiteRealty.com

Dear readers,

I still haven't found a good, practical use for my company facebook page - Sam White Properties.? Being in a student market (College Station is home of Texas A&M University) I've had good luck with facebook ads...good click-through and conversion. But, I'm sending them to specific landing pages on my domain, bypassing my facebook page. I can tell, its lonely.

Currently, I'm using Sam White Properties on facebook as a place to post notes, links or photos. Most of the traffic to the page comes from my Monthly Market Report page on my primary domain, as well as through sub-domain facebook.SamWhiteRealty.com.

My activerain blog automatically posts to the page as a note, so as long as I'm blogging, I'm adding content. I also like the way it will post a graphic or photo beside the link in that section.

I try to add seven items per week, but that doesn't always happen. As an avid, personal facebook user I'll keep it updated, but I just haven't really found a purpose for it in all of the noise.

I did an experiment with targeted advertisements driving visitors to landing pages last weekend. I used four types of landing pages and three of them were bombs, while one worked very well. Now I have to figure out why.

Blue skies,

Sam White

Dear readers,

Last night I was fortunate to attend a reception held for prospective Aggies and their parents. I never cease to be amazed at the intelligence and enthusiasm of today's "youth." If this group was any hint of the quality of next year's freshman class of Aggies, our next class will be outstanding.

Over 10,000 prospective Aggies and parents are in town for Aggieland Saturday, which is a University-wide open house for prospective Aggies and their parents. There is a vast selection of activities available, many sponsored by different colleges and departments of the university. Follow this link to Aggieland Saturday Activities.

One Day. One Place. Aggieland.

I had some time to visit with parents last night and speak frankly about the local and national economic situation. Many parents are surprised how insulated (so far) College Station real estate is from what's going on in other areas. We spoke a bit about "No Boom, No Bust," and how that applies to our area.

I referred many parents to the monthly market report section of my Website for more insight from brokers and lenders. This page contains an RSS feed (for those using a RSS reader) and also a link to sign up for the monthly version of the market report.

Today we are also launching two new sections of SamWhiteRealty.com, designed for parents and students seeking more information on purchasing student housing. Those sections are:

parents.SamWhiteRealty.com

students.SamWhiteRealty.com

These new sub-domains, combined with search.SamWhiteRealty.com and marketreports.SamWhiteRealty.com are just part of our commitment to bring excellent content and access to our clients.

On a related note, Texas A&M's Parents Weekend will be held April 17-19, 2009...the event's 90th. anniversary.

We hope you have an excellent Aggieland Saturday, and wish our new friends an informative day on campus and a safe drive home.

Blue skies,

Sam White
sam@samwhiteproperties.com
www.SamWhiteRealty.com

Dear readers,

This weekend the College Station community has the opportunity to shine, as we welcome an anticipated 10,000 prospective students and parents coming to town for Aggieland Saturday. The event is a university-wide open house sponsored by the Texas A&M Department of Admissions and Records and the Association of Former Students.

Quoting the office of admission and record's Website, "Howdy! We at Texas A&M University invite you to Aggieland Saturday, an annual campus-wide open house for prospective students and their families. During this one day, you can meet current students, tour the dorms, visit libraries and computer labs and see what Texas A&M has to offer you. You can also learn more about our colleges and majors, get information about admission and pick up some financial aid and scholarship information, too."

Concurrently, we are unveiling two new Websites today designed to inform Aggie parents and students about student housing options. They are:

http://parents.SamWhiteRealty.com
http://students.SamWhiteRealty.com

Combined with http://search.SamWhiteRealty.com and http://marketreports.SamWhiteRealty.com, we are striving to give our browsers and clients the best tools and content available to help them in their College Station home search.

Finally, for more information regarding this weekend's Texas A&M University Open House, visit http://www.oar.tamu.edu/aggielandSaturday/default.aspx. There you will find directions, schedules and frequently asked questions.

One day. One place. Aggieland.

Blue skies,

Sam White
sam@samwhiteproperties.com
www.SamWhiteRealty.com

Dear readers,

January 2009 sales figures have been posted at marketreports.SamWhiteRealty.com. The results are mixed at best.

I'm completing vendor interviews today, and I will publish the synopsis tomorrow.

Blue skies,

Sam White
sam@samwhiteproperties.com
www.SamWhiteRealty.com