Helotes is known as the Gateway to the Hill Country.  The small town of about 6,000 is right outside San Antonio, which over the past 10 years has grown to the edge of Helotes.  Made famous first by a controversy over a Super Wal-mart (which wasn't built) and later by the huge mulch fire "Mulchie," Helotes keeps her small town charm - for now anyway.  Several neighborhoods are absolutely gorgeous with their beautiful homes and breathtaking views. 03/12/2008

Hi all you greenies out there,The rain is here, finally.  I'm hoping it'll help the wildflower season.  Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying the mountain laurel and agarita flowers in our area.  For those of you who like to know what you're looking at (and smelling), there's a great website where people can post their pictures of plants as well as identification information.  It's very cool and very helpful.  As a REALTOR, I like it because my clients often want to plant native landscape.  I can refer them to the site and show them the plants during various seasons - the flowers, the fruit, the dormant season, first spring growth, etc.  OK, I won't keep you waiting.  The site is www.davesgarden.com or www.plantsdatabase.com                                         (Mountain Laurel in bloom)Dav... 03/10/2008

Late January/early February is the beginning of the most dangerous season for our oaks-red oaks especially and live oaks.  Oak wilt is an infectious disease that kills trees in a relatively short time by destroying their ability to take in water; the trees die of thirst.  Fungal mats form under the bark of red oaks, and sap beetles feed on them then spread the fungus over long distances from the infected tree to a fresh cut on a healthy one.  Once a tree has oak wilt, healthy trees around it are likely to become infected through the roots, so even if you're careful when you trim your oaks, once a tree is infected, you'll probably lose the entire stand.       Of course you have to trim your trees.  When you do, paint the cuts immediately to prevent the beetles from being attracted to the... 03/02/2008

If you live in Bexar County, your property tax statement for 2008 will arrive soon.  For many people in Bexar County the increase in appraised value has been of the legal upper limit: 10% every year.  But for others, it doesn't change even though houses in their neighborhoods are selling for high prices.  When the appraiser increases my appraisal, he does so based on one or two homes in my neighborhood that sold for a high price.  So why do some of the very homes that sold for the high prices keep their old low appraisal? Since 2006, Bexar County Appraisal District computers access MLS records.  When I go protest my appraisal, I look at the appraiser's screen and see the same numbers I researched in MLS to prepare for the hearing.  On a cold winter day I looked up 124 homes that sold fo... 02/29/2008