Dave Floyd is an attorney, real estate broker, real estate investor, and trivia host in Austin, Texas. He works with the Foskitt Law Office and is an owner of Floyd Real Estate. He lives in the Zilker Neighborhood, and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the Washington & Lee University School of Law.
I have another online Floyd Real Estate Trivia Night coming up on 8/26. Form teams of 1-6. There will be 5 spoken rounds comprised of my typical choices for categories. The Zoom room opens at 6:30, with the game lasting from 7-9.
I'm sitting in my home office with a couple of prime T-bones (which I just picked up from Central Market) in the fridge. Tonight I'm keeping it simple with just the steaks; however, last month I grilled up a 1/2 pound of scallops to go with my grass-fed ribeyes (also from Central Market) and the results were excellent.
For the steaks, I used a pretty basic Montreal seasoning with a little extra kosher salt and pepper. If you haven't tried grass-fed yet, I highly recommend it. It provides a different texture than grain-fed beef, but the flavor is rich and delicious. While they rested, I melted some of the Lewis Road Creamery garlic and chive butter over them. I highly recommend the seasoned butter as a finishing move for your beef.
For the scallops, I used a recipe from the grill manufacturer.
I served the steak and scallops with roasted asparagus.
Separately and in the aggregate, all of the above were a hit.
I have been listening to a couple of good podcasts lately. I figured I'd share, in case you were looking to be informed and entertained regarding science and/or Austin history:
Star Talk: Neil DeGrasse Tyson and rotating co-hosts discuss scientific concepts in a humorous way. I've already learned a lot about volcanoes and black holes. If you are coming to my next trivia night, it's possible I've pulled some questions from this podcast.
Austin Found: If you want to know more about Austin history and culture, then tune in to this one. Long time Austin American-Statesman journalist Micheal Barnes and Austin radio personality J.B. Hegar are the hosts. I think of myself as reasonably knowledgable about Austin history, but I've found out lots of interesting and hitherto unknown to me information from these podcasts.
I don't usually get excited about buying butter, but I'll make an exception in this case. The Lewis Road Creamery's garlic and chives butter is excellent (it's grass-fed and traditionally churned too, if you care about such things). I ran across it last month while shopping for primeribeyes on the Central Market website. I thought it might be good tp melt some thick garlic and chive butter over the steaks while they were resting post-grilling. My intuition was very correct and flavor expectations were exceeded. Also, this stuff tastes great on bread, potatoes, and just about anything else which goes well with garlic butter.
I bought another unit of this butter in my most recent Central Market order. It's in the the fridge waiting on a pair of grass-fed ribeyes slated to hit the grill soon.
[speaking of Central Market: grab some of their Hatch chile tortillas while they are in stock. They taste great, especially wrapped around a sausage fresh off the grill.]
A Few Photos From Our Listing on Cat Mountain in Austin
Are you in Austin? Are you interested in buying investment property or moving here? Are you a small business owner interested in commercial real estate in Austin? If so, you should follow Floyd Real Estate, LLC, on these social media channels:
Visit ABoR.com/MarketStatistics for more information and a full press release from the Austin Board of Realtors. The above statistics compare June 2019 to June 2020.
Visit us at Floyd Real Estate, LLC, if you are thinking about buying or selling property (residential, commercial, or land) in the Central Texas area. We would be happy to advise you on your real estate related needs.
Floyd Real Estate is a Texas real estate brokerage, TREC Lic. #9003790
Do you (1) like the TV show Seinfeld a lot, and (2) enjoy reading about the law? That's a yes and yes for me, and if it is for you as well then check out the Seinfeld Law blog.
You can catch all 9 seasons of Seinfeld reruns on Hulu right now. The show will move to Netflix in 2021.
At least it's a dry heat and cool at night, unlike summer in Austin.
It's July in Texas, and while heat's an issue it's still nice to get outside for some socially distance fun and exercise. Unfortunately, there is the danger of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Check out these articles to learn more:
Have fun, wear light clothes, and stay hydrated. If you are feeling adventurous, you can do what I do and enjoy summertime night biking. It's cooler than during the day, plus you don't have the sun beating down on you.
Visit ABoR.com/MarketStatistics for more information and a full press release from the Austin Board of Realtors. The above statistics compare May 2019 to May 2020. The numbers here are low compared to a good year in the Austin area, but we are of the opinion that our optimism (considering the COVID-19 situation) has been correct. Furthermore, inventory is still quite low and tilted in favor of sellers. People who are in a position to buy (and are well qualified) are finding great interest rates. Thus if you are casually thinking of selling property, it would be worthwhile to take deeper consideration. The Austin residential market has been slowed, but not stopped, by COVID-19. The above data represents a snapshot of activity in May 2020. As for June, what I can say is only anecdotal: we have seen in our brokerage and title practices any increase in activity over May. Of course, please take my anecdotal observations with the appropriate caveats and grains of salt. Visit us at Floyd Real Estate, LLC, if you are thinking about buying or selling property (residential, commercial, or land) in the Central Texas area. We would be happy to advise you on your real estate related needs.
Floyd Real Estate is a Texas real estate brokerage, TREC Lic. #9003790
I was recently playing team trivia (via Zoom) with some friends and after a TV theme song round the group's conversation turned to our favorites from the 80's. I voted for the themes songs to Miami Vice (by Jan Hammer) and The Equalizer (by Stewart Copeland of The Police) as tied for my favorite (though I could give Magnum PI honorable mention among a few others). The theme to Knight Rider, of course, came up during our group's discussion. Thus, shortly thereafter I was delighted to run across a Mashable article about a cellist who covered the Knight Rider song by playing the eight cello parts herself. After listening, I like the cello cover better than the original.
I was on Facebook earlier, and I noticed a friend had posted that The Empire Strikes Back premiered 40 years ago today. And damn, that is correct information. I remember Empire well, as it's one of the first live-action movies I saw in a theater. It was (to me, at that age) and unbelievably amazing spectacle (and to me at my current age, it remains my favorite of the Star Wars movies). It also helpfully put into context all of the Star Wars toys we were playing with (having mostly learned about the plot of the original Star Wars from older kids).
With the above in mind, it seemed appropriate to share this video I ran across (via Nerdist) on Twitter:
The scale of the Star Wars franchise spacecraft is pretty impressive. It was fun to see them next to various real-life objects for scaling purposes.
Thinking back to the days when I was a kid and we played with Star Wars toys a lot: later on, after having seen Empire Strikes Back, I recall going to a Star Wars themed birthday party. When it was over, the moms in charge piled us into station wagons and took us to see another sci-fi movie. In this case, it was the 1980 cult classic Flash Gordon (the one with the excellent theme song and score by Queen). If you haven't seen this movie, it is hard to emphasize how confusing Flash Gordon is for small children. I know. I was one of them. We all walked out of the movie, highly confused, and promptly went back to Star Wars as our sci-fi outlet of choice (we certainly didn't appreciate the performance by Max von Sydow or the whip fight with future 007 Timothy Dalton). I watched Flash Gordon again about 25 years later whereupon it (a) was immensely more enjoyable and (b) made a lot more sense.
If you are an adult, you halfway like the sci-fi genre, and you have a good sense of humor about campy things: then by all means have a couple of drinks and watch Flash Gordon. It is awesomely and hilariously campy (or incredibly, delightfully weird... however you want to define it). I started to describe it, but then deleted all of the sentences I wrote because I (a) did not want to set your expectations and (b) could not describe it in a way which does it justice. Just see it for yourself and enjoy.
Also, the original Flash Gordon comics, movie serials, and TV series were major influences on George Lucas as he came up with the initial concepts for Star Wars. Lucas first wanted to revive the Flash Gordon character but Dino DeLaurentiis (producer of Dune, Three Days of the Condor, and Blue Velvet, among other movies) already had the rights. Thus, Lucas decided to craft his own space opera. The more I've learned about Star Wars over the years, the more interesting it is to look at the some of the material which inspired Lucas. Furthermore, it's interesting to learn more about the role his wife (at the time) Maria had in shaping the original Star Wars movie.
I'm cutting myself off before I go down any more sci-fi movie rabbit holes. Now you have a few ideas for your next movie night.
While reading about a national park's plans to re-open, I found this handy chart from the CDC:
Spoiler Alert: All of these Heat-Related Illnesses Are Unpleasant
Summer is just around the corner, but it's already getting hot in Austin (it's 92°F as I type this post). Some of you can handle the heat better than others. I'm not here to judge, just to remind you that it is entirely possible to overexert yourself in the heat of the Texas summer. I have never experienced heat stroke, but I have ventured into mild heat exhaustion territory and it is no fun.
For beating the heat, I try to wear fishing shirts or dry-fit shirts if I'm outside and active. That along with hydration and staying in the shade seems to work for me. Also, during the summer, I shift most of my bicycling activities to the night (or occasionally early in the morning) and move cardio into the gym (which presents a challenge this summer, thanks to COVID-19). Kayaking also becomes an early morning or evening activity.
An extra note on sunburns: if you are up in the cool, delightful mountain air remember that mountain air gets a lot thinner as you go up. That means less shielding from UV rays, and thus the potential for some nasty sunburns. Speaking of the mountains, I really want to get up into the mountains of New Mexico this summer.
An extra note on bicycling: check your helmet. A little ventilation goes a long way. I have two helmets, and my lighter (more ventilated) Specialized Echelon makes quite the difference when it's warm out.
Visit ABoR.com/MarketStatistics for more information and a full press release from the Austin Board of Realtors. The above statistics compare April 2019 to April 2020.
At our office we looked at the numbers and concluded that while COVID-19 is obviously affecting the local residential market, the numbers were not as bad as we expected and they indicate that there was still plenty of activity in the market. Based on what I've seen on social media, observed in our office, and heard anecdotally (from Realtors and title professionals) there has been an uptick in activity for May. I'm throwing a huge caveat on that last sentence as it is not based on objective or data-based reporting; however, what I've perceived is more action and optimism in the real estate community.
We'll see if the optimism is correctly placed or grossly misguided as Texas continues to open back up from COVID-19 restrictions and as the local/state/national macroeconomic effects are more fully realized.
Visit us at Floyd Real Estate, LLC, if you are thinking about buying or selling property (residential, commercial, or land) in the Central Texas area.
Floyd Real Estate is a Texas real estate brokerage, TREC Lic. #9003790
I'm currently sitting in my home office in Austin; however, Facebook has been gleefully reminding me that two years ago I was camping and hiking in the Taos area. That trip was a lot of fun. After a quick flight to Albuquerque, we drove up to Taos and made a campsite along the road to Taos Ski Valley. It was a nice site right along the Rio Hondo (too bad I can't packed fly fishing gear). Our group had a great time hiking on Wheeler Peak, hiking to hot springs in the Rio Grande Gorge, and eating in Taos. If possible, I'm road tripping back to the Taos area in the summer (this time, with fly fishing gear and possibly my mountain bike).
A note on the gorge: I don't know what COVID-19 has done to the river rafting industry in northern New Mexico. However, when you can, you should try out rafting the Rio Grange through the gorge on what is called the "Taos Box" run. I did this a while back and it was fantastic. I'd like to do this again, along with a trip down the Arkansas through the Royal Gorge and (of course) the eventual Grand Canyon rafting trip.
Austin REALTORS, our friends at ABOR have published this infographic with advice on how to handle a showing during the COVID-19 crisis:
I'll reiterate the disclaimer: agents, talk to your broker about these recommendations; brokers, talk to your attorneys about these recommendations; everyone, talk to your clients about what they are comfortable with.
Our friends at Capstone Title put together this webinar with a speaker from CoStar who discussed the effects of COVID-19 on commercial real estate in Central Texas. It's full of interesting information for commercial and residential real estate agents:
The Foskitt Law Office is a fee attorney for Capstone Title. Contact us for your real estate closing needs in the Central Texas area.
Keeping on with the moon theme, here's a video simulation of the Eagle from Apollo 11 landing on the moon:
To add to the excitement as you watch this: the Eagle's computer was overloaded and had the lander heading for touchdown in a boulder field. As the computer was overloaded and trying to reset itself, using it to aid in the final approach to landing wasn't an option. Neil Armstrong had to guide the lander in manually and fly it until he found a safe place to land.
You may be wondering why I'm posting a video about the lunar module from the Apollo program. Well, I've been reading One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon (by Charles Fishman). I'm enjoying the book, and on the side I've been looking up a lot of information about NASA programs from the 1960's. Thus, the following video which you may enjoy:
I have a couple of additional thoughts on this one:
If your house needs it, add insulation. For example, if you live in an older house (like I do) then there may be some advances in insulation from which you can benefit. We had more put in our attic this year, and now that Austin is warming up I can tell the difference. After the virus situation abates, we'll probably have more put in under the house.
If you've recently moved into an older house, check door seals and windows. You may be losing cold air.
Get you ducts checked and cleaned. Also, check the condenser and make sure the coils are clean.
If you are considering a smart thermostat or lighting system, read up on the company's data and privacy policies. Also, look into how said company has handled support for older systems (is there a long tail, or do they tend to deactivate units?).
If you don't want the oven to heat up your kitchen, you don't have to resort to microwaving your food. Toaster ovens are great, and I use mine year-round when I want to cook something too small to merit heating up the regular oven. Also, you can always go outside and grill.
Investigate options for solar panels and available rebates.
Are you in Austin and thinking of buying or selling a residential property right now? First, you may be surprised at how much activity is still going on in the Austin area real estate market. Second, check out these FAQ pages from the Austin Board of Realtors:
I'll put up a separate post with Austin's February and March residential statistics. I can say anecdotally that the residential side of our brokerage is still busy and we have generally seen a lot of action in residential through our law firm/fee attorney office. Thus, there is still action out in the Austin market in spite of the COVID-19 situation.
If you are thinking of buying or selling, please contact us at Floyd Real Estate. And, of course, we're here to help with general real estate advice.
