Texas Land

Bush and the Texas Land Grab Bush and the Texas Land Grab July 16, 2002 By Nicholas D. Kristof Editorial Op-Ed To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@nytimes.com Democrats and media hounds are baying under the wrong tree. The point in President Bush's business career where he took outrageous shortcuts was not at Harken Energy, but rather when he was grabbing land for a new baseball stadium in Arlington for his Texas Rangers baseball team. Mr. Bush broke no laws. Neither do the overwhelming majority of corporate executives. The cloud over the business world comes not so much from lawbreaking as from avaricious bruising of the public interest. The challenge is not catching criminals but injecting public scrutiny into a culture of cronyism in which executives, accountants, regulators and "independent" board members all ooze empathy for each other. When Asia had its economic crisis in 1997-98, Americans properly trashed its "crony capitalism." But we suffer from the same affliction ourselves, and President Bush will not address the issue seriously because cronyism has been his way of life -- the Bushes call it loyalty. I have a stack of court documents from Arlington that portray the "sordid and shocking tale" of the Rangers stadium, as one lawsuit puts it. Essentially, Mr. Bush and the owners' group he led bullied and misled the city into raising taxes to build a $200 million stadium that in effect would be handed over to the Rangers. As part of the deal, the city would even confiscate land from private owners so that the Rangers owners could engage in real estate speculation. "It was a $200 million transfer to Bush and Rangers owners," complains Jim Runzheimer, an anti-tax campaigner in Arlington. William Eastland, a leading Republican in Arlington, is also outraged, and puts it this way: "You're using public money for a private purpose." Mr. Eastland was a Bush delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2000 but still believes that the Bush group behaved shadily and against the public interest. Local voters overwhelmingly approved the deal, so maybe we shouldn't get so exercised by star-struck local officials giving $200 million to rich baseball owners. But the most unseemly part of the deal was that Mr. Bush and the Rangers' owners conspired with city officials to seize private property that would be handed over to the Bush group. "A group of wealthy and influential people threatened and traded their way into an unprecedented takeover of government power and private property in an awesome display of greed and avarice," charges a lawsuit by the landowners, in what strikes me as a fair recitation of events. Another suit charges that the deal "can only be described as astounding, unprecedented and blatantly illegal." A copy of the secret agreement among Mr. Bush and the other Rangers owners shows that they intended to make money not just by running a baseball club but also by land speculation. For example, one owner found a nice chunk of land and sent a memo suggesting that it "sounds like another condemnation candidate if you want to work the site into your master plan," according to the court documents. Another of the owners' internal memos casts a proprietary gaze on a property and declares: "We plan to condemn this land." For a group of financiers to go around town admiring properties and deciding which to seize through the government power of condemnation so that they can acquire free land and speculate on it is appalling. Even Kazakhstan would blush at such practices. Horace Kelton, for example, owned land that the Rangers wanted. The owners got Arlington to seize it, with the city paying less than $1.50 per square foot even though it had previously paid $10 a square foot for other land nearby. "It was an extremely low price, and that's why we had a court case that lasted seven years," Mr. Kelton recalled. Eventually, his family got $11 a square foot. In fairness, Mr. Bush was simply being a hard-nosed businessman. He did a great job leading the owners' group, and it's hard to take seriously the caricature of him as unintelligent when he led the Rangers so lucratively. Indeed, his $14 million profit on the Rangers financed his entry into politics. But it's also a sordid tale of cronyism, of misuse of power, of cozy backroom money-grubbing -- a more pressing threat to American business than outright criminality. LINK to source

Selling Home

Century 21 Real Estate: home buying, home selling, financing and property listings. español Put My Century 21 to work for you, simply register your email address and create a password. Once you're registered, you'll be able to • save property descriptions • store your search criteria • file agent information • build a custom library Find out more or register now! Already registered? Sign in . -- Welcome to Century 21 Real Estate Century 21 Real Estate is your online resource for home buying, home selling, financing and property listings. Whether it's a house, condo, or any other type of property, we can assist you with your real estate needs. Search for Properties Looking to buy a new home, condo or any other property? Search thousands of properties in our real estate listings. Search Property Listings » First Time Homebuyers Guide » View Our Buyer Service Pledge » International Century 21 Real Estate LLC is part of the largest real estate referral network in the world - with over 110,000 brokers and sales associates in over 30 countries and territories. Access our world offices today» Sell a Property Let our real estate agents create a customized marketing plan to sell your property. List your Property » View Our Seller Service Pledge » View Mortgage Rates View current mortgage rates, apply for a home equity loan, crunch numbers with home mortgage calculators and more! Apply for a Mortgage Now» Use Our Mortgage Calculators » Find an Office or Agent Find and contact a CENTURY 21 Office or Agent to handle your real estate needs. Find an Office or Agent » Quick Vote! Your vote counts! Let us Know Where do you spend the most time? Bedroom Living Room Kitchen Bathroom Dining Room ©2005 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each CENTURY 21 Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. All rights reserved. Information appearing on this site has been produced by or obtained primarily from Century 21 Real Estate LLC and its representatives and from CENTURY 21 franchisees. Century 21 Real Estate LLC is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of the broker information, sales associate information, listing information or other information provided by our franchisees appearing on or through this site. Such information has been provided by independent third parties who are solely responsible for such content. Certain conditions and restrictions apply to System promotions. Terms and Conditions of Use.

Home Loan Bank of

Welcome to the Home Loan Bank of New York ----commented out ------- MEMBER LOGON From the President December 29, 2005 2005: A YEAR OF ACCOMPLISHMENT We have completed a year in which the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York achieved a number of distinct and transforming accomplishments. Completed SEC Registration One of the most significant and transforming of the accomplishments occurred in late August. After three years of preparation and hard work, the registration of the Banks stock under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 was declared effective by the SEC. The Home Loan Bank became one of only two banks in the Home Loan Bank System to satisfy the registration requirements of the SEC within the time frame set by our regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Board. The Home Loan Banks filings with the SEC are available on the SECs EDGAR system, accessed at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml . If you have not done so, I encourage you to review these reports containing detailed financial and other information about the Bank. Completed Capital Exchange With the completion of the SEC registration process, the Home Loan Bank then proceeded with the implementation of the new Capital Plan. Prior to the opening of business on December 1, outstanding shares of capital stock owned by the Home Loan Bank of New Yorks community member stockholders were automatically exchanged for shares of the Banks new Class B stock. The new Capital Plan was mandated by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and more closely ties member capital requirements with advance usage. Improved Financial Results In addition and more importantly, the Home Loan Bank continued to achieve solid financial results in 2005. The Bank manages to a risk/reward profile that generates sustainable and predictable earnings. For example, we continued with a low-risk, tightly controlled, conservative approach to investing in Mortgage-Backed Securities. At the same time, we also remained a member-focused, advances-oriented Home Loan Bank: approximately 75% of the assets of the Bank are in the form of advances to our members. Only a few other Home Loans rival this high percentage. Further, advance demand has remained solid. In November 2005, advances averaged $60.9 billion, down slightly (about $600 million) from October 2005. We ended the month with $61.4 billion in advances on our books. Product innovation has continued in the area of advances. In June, the Bank introduced the Fed Funds Floating Rate Advance, a new adjustable alternative for members. The "Fed Funds Floater" Advance is designed to help fund a portion of members' cash positions. The products rate is tied to the Fed Funds rate and resets daily. The Home Loan Bank also furthered its record of providing a fair return on our members capital investment. In fact, profits improved over 2004 and the Home Loan Bank is now providing among the highest capital investment returns in the Bank System. At the same time, the level of pre-dividend retained earnings increased more than 22% from the 2004 year-end balance to approximately $273 million at the end of November. As we total up the results for the full year, I want to express my personal appreciation to each stockholder for the business you brought to the Bank in 2005. We are here to help our members play a key role in the delivery of housing and community financing. With an outstanding Board of Directors, a solid management team, and a dedicated staff, we have set the course and put in place the plans that have made the FHLBNY an exemplary organization. The Home Loan Bank team is dedicated to providing quality services, and we look forward to maintaining a high level of service in 2006. In closing, we value your relationship with the Home Loan Bank and we are ready to assist you in meeting your commitments to your customers. And we appreciate the opportunity to serve you. All of us at the Home Loan Bank wish you and yours the very best in 2006! Sincerely, Alfred A. DelliBovi President & CEO FHLBNY UPDATES December Edition 4-Year Floating-Rate Advances Priced at 3-Month LIBOR Plus 2 Basis Points! Convertible Advances at FHLBNY Repo Convertible Advance Rates FHLBNY NEWS With the filing of an amendment to its registration statement on Form 10 on August 29, 2005, with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the HLB became an SEC registrant. Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Implements Risk-Based Capital Plan Capital Exchange Information Statement and Capital Plan View the Capital Exchange Webinar Capital Exchange Webinar Slides SITE HIGHLIGHTS 1LINK sm MPF PROGRAM FIRST HOME CLUB sm AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAM 2005B ROUND APPLICATION PACKAGE QUICK LINKS B ank Forms Application for an OLOC line Site Best viewed in Internet Explorer 4.0+ browser and at screen resolution of 800x600. General Terms and Conditions of Use | Privacy Policy | Forward-Looking Statements Our friendly lawyers have asked us to tell you that visitors remaining in session with this site IMPLICITLY CONSENT to our General Terms and Conditions of Use and our Privacy Policy, and ACKNOWLEDGE our Cautionary Language Regarding Forward-Looking Statements. Please exit this session if you do not agree with the foregoing. 2005 Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, 101 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10178. All rights reserved .

Property Listings. Listing with

Free For Sale By Owner Property Listings, Fsbo Homes, and more. Virtual Tours $65.95 - Pro-Packages $45.95 - Photo Ads $15.95 Above are some of our For Sale By Owner Property Listings. Listing with us: By Listing your Property and / or Properties with us. The Property would be available for potential buyers viewing 24 hours, 7 days a week from anywhere in the world. We have been online since August of 1997 and have 400,000 + visitors each and every month. Who list property with us? The For Sale By Owner ( FSBO) Realtors Foreclosure Companies Investors Builders Architects Mortgage Companies For Sale By Owner Sites We provide Free For Sale By Owner ( FSBO) Property Listings for your home - land - commercial or investment property. We also offer flexible options to let you customize your ad to suit your needs at affordable prices. Best of all, listing your property with us is commission fee. You'll never pay us a commission for the sale of your property. No Strings Attached: You may also list your property on as many other real estate sites as you like. If you decide to list with a Realtor, simply send us the contact information for your Realtor and we will change the information on your listing for you. See examples by clicking on the following links. Photo Ad - Pro-Pack - Virtual Tours - Custom Property Listings All of our photo packages include online Property Listing, Search Engines Submissions and a Yard Sign . Yard Signs mailed with in 24 hours of ordering. ( Offer good until Dec 31, 05 ) Listings posted with in 24 hours of submissions. We will check your listings for typo's. Your own web page with your own web address ( url ). Choose from 3 different Photo Packages. Photos can be sent by email or by postal mail. No additional cost for scanning photos. Unlimited text. Describe your Property in Full Detail. A hit counter will be added to your listing, you'll know how many times your ad has been viewed. We will post your Open Houses at your request. Direct link to your e-mail address and web site if you have one. Links to Appraisal Info, Home Inspection Companies, Mortgages, Credit Reports, Schools Information, Neighborhood Statistics. We submit your listing to the search engines and major directories for you. See a list of Engines . We accept all Major Credit & Debit Cards Payment Online over a secure server. To list your property choose a Package below, click on Order to complete the online form. Our Packages - 1 time fee. Free Listing Photo Ads Pro-Pack Virtual Tour Listing with Yard Sign $0.00 $15.95 $45.95 $65.95 Advertising Period 3 months Until Sold Until Sold Until Sold Web Pages 1 1 1 1 Number of Photos 0 1 6 8 Scanning Charges $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Posted in our Newsletter No Yes Yes Yes Search Engine Submission No 6,000 Sites 10,000 Sites 15,000 Sites Counter No Yes Yes Yes Url for use in classifieds Yes Yes Yes Yes To Order Order Order Order Order If you have any questions or need help please contact Susan Nichols at 317-241-4516 CustomersComments I am very pleased with your site. I found it to be the best out there. The virtual tour, the unlimited text, 14 photos, my own URL and your very reasonable price makes your site truly an the award winner. Thanks again for your prompt action on our listing. Martin McGann Thank you for your excellent service and best of luck. I think sites like yours are definitely changing the real estate industry forever. Chris Cook Thank-you for running this useful service. We have successfully sold our house and saved $15,000 in realtor fees. J. Steele Arlington Va Susan: You do perfect work. My site looks great. Thanks. You have here one very satisfied customer. I can see why you are top rated. I like the personal touch, and I understand how much work that is since I manage my Bristol Campground website & business much the same way with hands on personal & personable contact. Good luck & may God BLESS you & your business. Sincerely, Bill Gaines Thank you for your help. We closed this week after being on the market only three months. Your service was very helpful. Our buyer saw the home on a walk he was taking and then went to our listing on your site, which we placed on the For Sale sign and "toured" the home. He also had his mother, one of the buyers, see the home from her home in New Jersey via the web site. Thanks for your help. Anne Mills Thank you so much for your service! WE SOLD OUR HOMESTEAD IN ALASKA.........to a buyer from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, who saw our ad on your site! Again.....THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH. We are telling everyone we know about your service! Jack M. Beesler . Home Page List Property Update Listings Search Listings

Home Mortgage

Mortgage Home Mortgages loans Refinance Mortgage! Home Sell a Home Buy a Home Services Mortgages City Profiles Appraisals -- -- Discount Mortgages Select one of the options below to get started on a loan, or to speak with a live loan officer Please call 1-800-516-5524 . Home Purchase Qualify for more...before Interest rates rise! Unbiased help and advice, approval in minutes. * Home purchase * Get preapproved * Credit problems? No Money Down Mortgage Financing We have a mortgage for you! or Refinance Mortgage Even if you refinanced recently, only a 1/2% drop in your rate can save you thousands. * Search current mortgage rates * Home equity loans * Credit problems? Home Equity & Debt Consolidation Loans Home equity loans for any reason, home improvements, purchase a car, college tuition and other expenses. Consolidation loans to reduce your monthly expenses, consolidate all of your bills into one low payment. No appraisal. Mobile notary. Guarantee lowest cost. * Instant Approvals * 125% loans Local Service Providers Our Local Service Provider Search empowers you to make an informed mortgage decision. Our Mortgage partners have helped our users save thousands! Please type in your zip code to find a local provider nearest you. Zip Code: -- Mortgage Calculators Mortgage Loan Calculator Mortgage Qualifier Refinance Breakeven Refinance Interest Savings 15 Year vs. 30 Year Mortgage Mortgage Tax Savings Calculator Amortizing Loan Calculator Loan Comparison Calculator Debt Consolidation Calculator Rent vs. Buy Calculator Privacy & Disclaimer Partner With Us Career Opportunities Press Room Contact Us © 1997-2003 For Sale By Owner.com Site Map Home