Photo Credit: Julie Elliott-Abshire

Commuters between Denton and Fort Worth often whiz past Texas Motor Speedway without giving it a thought, but to fans of NASCAR, IndyCar and other genres of car racing, this 1.5-mile oval is almost like holy ground. As one of the most fan-friendly tracks in racing, it’s no wonder people who like car racing really like TMS.

Opened in 1996, Texas Motor Speedway holds 160,000 fans plus campers and tailgaters on the grounds and routinely qualifies drivers at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour. While not the largest track in the country and perhaps no longer the fastest, it is nonetheless one of the most important.

A Speedway As Friendly As Texas

Texas has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the friendliest states in the nation, and Fort Worth also has a reputation for being a casual, laidback city. Friendliness and simplicity come together at TMS, thanks mostly to Eddie Gossage, a renown racing promoter who has managed the speedway since the beginning.

Gossage is a colorful and creative man who aims to give racing fans an experience they can truly enjoy. That’s why he allows them to bring their own coolers with food and drinks to most events and offers personal seat licenses so serious spectators can always have the view they desire.

You can drive the speedway yourself if you participate in one of several charitable events each year, and you can take a tour of the place most days for less than $10. In addition to a look at the luxury suites, many tours also include a lap around the track’s 24-degree banked turns in a TMS tour bus.

Living At Texas Motor Speedway

It’s even possible to live at Texas Motor Speedway. LoneStar Tower offers four stories of office space topped by six floors of luxury condominiums overlooking the track. You can choose to live in one of these condos full-time or get one as a vacation destination — your own personal ticket to the races whenever you want to go.

The Speedway’s location in far north Fort Worth means there are lots of developing housing communities nearby as well. Located only a few miles north Fort Worth Alliance Airport, TMS may look a bit lonely beside the freeway because of its vast parking lots and the undeveloped land in the immediately vicinity, but it sits at one of the city’s fastest growing edges.

This Fort Worth tourist attraction is a gem of which all Metroplex sports fans can be proud. Along with Cowboys Stadium and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TMS is among the major sporting complexes that calls the west side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex home.

If you’re thinking about a home anywhere in North Texas, I can help. Please explore the Buyer’s Choice website, including this blog, then give me a call at 817-735-4848 if you’d like my help locating a home of your own.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia user Slegby.

If you’d like to make your home in a small town with enough legends, recreational opportunities and quaint Texas charm to spend your lifetime exploring, Granbury could be the place for you.

Located in Hood County and only a quick half-hour drive from Southwest Fort Worth, Granbury looks the way visitors expect a small Texas town to look. A vibrant and alive historic downtown business district surrounds one of the most beautiful courthouse squares in the area.

Lake Granbury is the primary attraction for many residents and visitors, however, and this relatively new lake serves as the backdrop of life for many Metroplex retirees as well as younger families who see the benefits of small-town living.

Granbury’s History And Legends

Many of the stories you hear about Granbury’s history are subject to debate, but some of the facts are easy to nail down.

Granbury was founded in 1873 with only a log-cabin courthouse and was named after a Confederate general — never mind that his name was actually spelled differently. General Hiram B. Grandberry is still a figure held in high regard by the city’s citizens.

Other stories about Granbury history don’t necessarily have many facts to back them up. For example, even though evidence suggest that outlaw Jesse James was killed in 1882, some in Granbury insist he came to the town when he was an amazing 107 years old and took up residence with his grandson. Some in Granbury also insist that a man they once knew as John St. Helen was actually Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth.

Hood County can more legitimately claim a connection to Texas hero Davy Crockett. His widow and his son settled in the area in the 1850s. Land grant records help prove this piece of local history.

Lake Granbury

Much of the area’s appeal comes from a long, narrow body of water called Lake Granbury that was formed in 1969 by damming the Brazos River. There are many home around the lake’s 103-mile shoreline, and lakefront homeowners are joined by a bustling throng of weekend enthusiasts during good weather. Five parks with free boat launches in and around the town and a marina on Main Street make access easy for those who don’t live on the lake.

That’s right. The Marina is on Main Street.

Unlike many North Texas lakes, Lake Granbury is located right in the heart of the city it supports. That means fishing the lake or taking advantage of its recreational opportunities is just as quick as a trip to a discount store or one of the town’s growing number of chain shops and restaurants.

If you’re considering exploring Granbury, Texas as a possible location for a home of your own, please take a look around this Buyer’s Choice website to see if my services could be useful to you. If so, call me at 817-735-4848, and I’ll go to work helping you locate the Granbury home of your dreams.

The mill at Log Cabin Village

Log Cabin Village is perhaps the most underrated Fort Worth tourist attraction, but this collection of log cabins from the mid-1800s is a fun and educational place to visit that shows us just how much the Texas lifestyle has changed in the last century and a half.

With the help of the docents who guide you through life in the nineteenth century, Log Cabin Village is a natual history museum that brings to life a time when choices, amenities and even comfort were hard to find in a home.

About Log Cabin Village

Located on University Drive across from the entrance to the Fort Worth Zoo and in front of Colonial Country Club, Log Cabin Village is a city-owned assembly of seven cabins, a smokehouse, a schoolhouse and a mill moved to the site from other locations. In fact, many of them are actually from nearby Parker County, but they all serve as reminders of how people once lived in this area.

Opened to the public in 1966, this scenic site filled with trees, native plants and even an herb garden was created to preserve a dying housing type — the log cabin. The modern interest in plush cabin-style homes hadn’t happened yet, but those modern interpretations of log-cabin living bear very little resemblance to these authentic structures anyway.

While some visitors claim that Log Cabin Village isn’t realistic since the cabins have been reconstructed and relocated much closer together than they would have been in the mid-1800s, the beauty of this small village makes it worth a visit.

In addition, the structures are filled with genuine artifacts from the era that help complete this glimpse of the North Texas frontier experience.

Life Lessons From The Village

Log Cabin Village serves as a lesson about how different life was for those who occupied North Texas in generations past. Visitors who are willing to consider what they experience at Log Cabin Village for a few moments may come away with a clearer understanding of how little is really necessary for a safe, fulfilling life.

Stepping out of modern life and stepping into the history of an area can give you a better understanding of how we arrived at today’s style of living and also give you a new appreciation for modern inventions like air conditioning and dishwashers.

In fact, I’ve never understood why Log Cabin Village isn’t a more frequently visited or more highly rated tourist attraction. For those of us interested in home design and real estate, it shows off an important part of the area’s lifestyle history. For everyone, it shows what life was like in Texas before freeways, business lunches and blogs.

I hope you’ll take a look around the rest of the Buyer’s Choice website so you can more learn about my work with today’s homebuyers. Then, contact me if 817-735-4848 if you think my services could be useful to you.

Photo Credit: Flickr user Affiliate (Creative Commons license)

Sports are an important part of life for many North Texans, and there is no more iconic representation of North Texas sports than Cowboys Stadium.

In fact, I helped a family buy an Arlington home last year who insisted that their new house have a view of this massive stadium.

People who are new to the area may not realize that although the Dallas Cowboys play in Cowboys Stadium, the venue is located in Arlington. For a home of your own with a view of this sports complex, you’ll want to look in Tarrant County because you can’t see the stadium from Dallas.

No matter whether you like football or what opinion you have about Jerry Jones or the use of taxpayer money to help build Cowboys Stadium, you can’t deny the architectural achievement it represents or its importance to the Metroplex economy.

The Appeal of Cowboys Stadium

Cowboys Stadium was completed in 2009 and is among the newest stadiums in the National Football League, but it serves as much more than a football stadium. The venue also hosts concerts and a variety of other sporting events including boxing matches, soccer games and even motocross races.

Designed by the Dallas firm HKS, it is the largest domed stadium in the world and seats 80,000. With standing room, the venue can accommodate more than 110,000 people.

Architecturally, Cowboys Stadium is a marvel that features the world’s largest column-free interior. Two arches that are nearly 300 feet tall span the length of the dome and are anchored into the ground on each end.

Glass doors designed and made by the Dallas firm Haley-Greer allow the end zones to almost completely open. A number of other firms worked together to make the remarkable retractable roof possible, another stunning feature.

In addition, the stadium is home to one of best collections of public art in North Texas. Fortunately, tours of the property are available that show off these treasures.

Viewing the stadium itself is easy since it is located right beside Collin Street, a busy connector between the northern and southern parts of Arlington.

The stadium has forever changed Arlington’s modest skyline and has helped spur even greater development in North Arlington.

During my four decades living and working in the Metroplex, I’ve learned to respect the eclectic North Texas cultural and entertainment scene. Whether you’re planning a visit to the area to find a new home or want to move from one great Fort Worth location to another, I can help make the home-buying process go smoothly.

Please have a look at the rest of my Home of Your Own website, then email me at marion@homeofyourown.com if you think my services can be of use to you.

Home builders reported an increase in starts and closings in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to housing industry analysts Metrostudy. Their numbers were written up in the Star-Telegram and reported all over the web.

Across the Metroplex, builders started just over 3,600 home in the final quarter of the year. That’s about 300 more than in the last quarter of 2010. Still, only 14,158 homes were started in all of 2011, down from 15,257 in all of 2010.

Home starts bottomed out in the second quarter of 2011, according to Metrostudy’s numbers, and the company’s analysts expect continued growth in 2012. That means a strong and stable market for those of us who depend on it, but it also means plenty of additional opportunities for those looking to move to the area.

Closing in the last quarter of 2011 were up slightly over the same period a year ago as well. The inventory of existing new homes also shrank a bit in 2011.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is seeing record job growth and record low interest rates, so this is a great time for well-qualified buyers to settle in the Metroplex. It might be the right time to give up that company apartment in favor of a home of your own or to relocate within the area to the house of your dreams.

Mortgage underwriters are still rigorous in their requirements, but qualified buyers are rewarded with some very appealing rates.

I’m an optimistic person, so I expect every year to be a good one. The numbers and the current market conditions prove there are reasons for my optimism this year, however.

If you’re ready to move to the Metroplex, relocate within the Metroplex or take the home-ownership plunge after years of apartment living, I can help. I don’t list property for sale, but I help buyers find North Texas homes that are right for them. Call me at 817-735-4848 to see how an exclusive buyer agent like me can make your home-buying process go smoothly.