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 The Heart & Soul of Contemporary | Cindy Boykin
A Chinese proverb states “Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes.”
Carol Lam has a great soul and strong will, as strikingly evidenced by her perfect, classic, contemporary house. As she guides us through her home, pointing out architectural elements and decorative touches, there is no doubt that she was determined to create a surrounding that suited her exactly. Her home is not simply a wish come true; it is the fruition of years of precise planning and consultation with like-minded experts.
From the moment she purchased her lake-view property several years ago in an exclusive, yet-to-be developed neighborhood west of Plano, she knew the focus of her home would be nature. Her interior décor would complement it. Exterior vistas would luxuriate in it. Landscape would celebrate it. Read More or View a Slideshow
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 Olin Jaye: He’s at home in real estate | Heather Darrow
Every day, Olin Jaye adheres to a strict set of principles. He is bound to his fellow man on a personal level. He pushes for justice. When he talks about the local community, it is as if he is discussing his extended family. He watches out for the everyday Joe and the businessman alike. He looks for virtue, intelligence and ingenuity, and he fosters those qualities by bolstering new leaders who hold the community close to their hearts. Though he shares their ethical code, he is not a judge or a policeman. Jaye is a real estate broker.
“A Realtor is bound by a code of ethics that is absolute,” said Jaye. “You have to tell the truth, advertise fairly, and do what you say you’re going to do." Read More
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 It’s news that’ll make a realtor smile | Cindy Boykin
Finally! The Collin County Association of Realtors (CCAR) had good news to publish about the local housing market at the end of last year, and it was a welcome change.
“November was a fantastic month,” reports Steve Haid, Member Services Director for the association. “Closed sales in November were up almost 55 percent from November of 2008. That’s huge!”
Looking through a stack of printouts, Haid cites, “Up until September, closed sales had been down every month for the last two years, then we started seeing sales go up. They were up four percent in September; up around 23 percent in October; and then in November, it was up 55 percent." Read More
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 The other side of Russia: teaching and learning in Siberia and the Russian far east | Jack Schulik
Sharon Hudgins is a Texan who knows firsthand what it’s like to live in Siberia. In her fascinating book, The Other Side of Russia: A Slice of Life in Siberia and the Russian Far East, she describes living conditions in her high-rise apartment building in Vladivostok, a city of 650,000 people.
“We usually returned home from work around 6 p.m. after the sky was already black and icy winds had driven the temperature below freezing,” she writes. “But often only five or ten minutes after we arrived, the electricity went off—which meant that we had to prepare dinner by the light of a single candle…. Read More
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