Foreclosure filings rise 13% year-over-year, South hit
A few months ago, a house two streets over from me — off Maple Avenue, one of those solid 1950s bungalows with a covered porch and a big live oak out
Field Notes
Every note I've written on Texas neighborhoods, priced by nothing but what I've seen and heard on the ground.
A case for permit shot clocks builds as approval durations
There's a skinny infill lot about four blocks from me on Chicon Street that's been sitting behind a chain-link fence with a dumpster on it for going on
In-Law Suite and ADU Financing: HELOC vs. Cash-Out
She'd already picked out the tile. Had a contractor she liked. Her in-laws were flying in from Corpus Christi to see the backyard before work even
DSCR loans are booming amid fragmented underwriting
A few months back I was talking to an investor friend who owns a small portfolio of long-term rentals — a couple of houses off Springdale, one over near
Property-Tax Deferral vs. a Reverse Mortgage: The
A woman down the street from me — I'll call her Carol, because she'd kill me if I used her real name — spent most of last year trying to get a reverse
How to Clean Shower Glass Without Damaging It
Learn how to clean shower glass, remove soap scum and hard-water stains, and choose a safe method for coated glass, hardware, and nearby stone.
Park Street Homes expands urban infill homebuilding model
Park Street Homes has been doing something quietly in urban Texas neighborhoods that most of the big production builders won't touch: squeezing new
Homeowners insurance costs hit another record high of $209
Last spring my renewal came in and I just sat with it for a minute. Not because the number was surprising — I'd been bracing for it — but because it
Parents follow their kids to the South in 'baby chaser' boom
Six months after my neighbor's daughter had her second baby and settled into a house off Gattis School Road in Round Rock, my neighbor — a woman who'd
Beware of Land Survey Fraud
A few years back, a man showed up on Chicon Street — two blocks from my house — with a clipboard, a tripod, and a vest that looked official enough. He
Immigration enforcement tightens squeeze on homebuilders'
Last spring I drove through a new subdivision going up off Dessau Road in northeast Austin. Big project — dozens of lots, concrete poured, lumber stacked
Why Reno's housing market is holding up while Phoenix
There's a guy I know — we traded notes on rental properties for years — who bought a house off Plumb Lane in Reno back in 2019. He called me last spring