Edith bluth

I really got unpleasant vibes from her dad and I suspect he is part of the reason she is less able to stand on her own. He really struck me as the lead in the house and maybe a bit overly restrictive and strict. I think that's why Kyra is so easily manipulated by the other girls, because she hasn't had an opportunity to form her own opinions.

FWIW on his cast profile he says he's a proud member of the NAACP, so I'm really hopeful it's not all an act. Especially after last season. 😕

I don't hate any of them - yet - and I like several of them, so I think we are off to a good start.

I attended college in a prison town. I took a human sexuality class, and my professor's wife worked at the local prisons. Apparently there was a big divide between the sexual offenders who molested others and who molested within the family. Basically the family ones were like "at least we kept it in the family and didn't hurt others" and the other ones were like "who would mess with family, at least we hurt others." It blew my mind that even the bottom of the barrel people were trying to find ways to justify their actions so they were better than others. So I could absolutely see other sexual offenders looking down on Josh.

I've lived in the Waco area for 13 years now, and my husband has been here for 17 years. Waco was dirt cheap for many, many of those years. Prices would increase from year to year, but it was a slow, steady pace and it was easy to find affordable housing in a safe area. The last few years - right about the time Magnolia started airing - the prices here started to move up quickly. Finding anything under $200K in the suburbs is tough now - and what you do find are smaller 1500 SF houses or ones that need lots of updating. For reference, the home we bought in 2005 was right at 105k. We sold in 2011 for right at 135K, and that was with a new roof, new AC, new hot water heater, and new floors. It still took a while to sell. It eventually went into foreclosure and the owners didn't take care of it, though it wasn't completely destroyed - and sold last year for near 180k. Had it been taken care of better, it would have been much closer to $200K. My friends who were looking 2 years ago ended up finding a home under 200K - and they promptly had to rip out all of the dog urine carpet. I don't think they would have gotten the house, except that the smell probably turned people off. (To be fair, it took a few months to finally go away even after the carpet was gone, but it's a lovely house now). We bought our current home for about $170K 6 years ago. The one next door to us just sold for $300K. We have a bigger lot, a separate garage/workshop, and more updates, so I think we could reasonably get at least as much and very likely more than that if we were to list. We have friends that took a year of looking to find something close to their budget of 150K that was decent. My aunt and uncle sold the house that they had owned for 40 years to a flipper. I don't know the selling price, but it was well under 200K. The flipper went in and made minor updates such as new flooring and wall paint, listed it for 250K, and sold it quickly. My husband and I wish we'd bought it and done it ourselves, but were nervous about taking it on. Other people may have different anecdotes, but I definitely see an impact here and I've had many friends and family affected by it. Yes, we are cheaper than Austin or Houston or Dallas - but those markets are insane and have been for years. I'm from Houston originally and my mom and sister still live there, so I'm aware of the pricing there. Waco used to be an affordable place to raise a family - and now I think we are pushing it in terms of affordability. Salaries haven't risen to meet the increased housing costs, and I don't really expect them to by much as many of our jobs are more blue collar - Baylor and the local school districts are probably some of the biggest employers, with SpaceX (and now Magnolia) trailing them. It's still a good place to live, and I'm excited at some of the changes that the increased tourism has brought to Waco - we have way more things to go do now and more cultural festivals. But I hate going anywhere downtown near the silos at anytime of day. It's just insane. I went with a friend once and it is indeed overpriced crap.

Article in the Waco Trib about their show ending. http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/fixer-upper-to-end-after-next-season/article_6b5601e4-a488-5ee2-85fc-098f8f4bff8d.html

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/gaineses-new-vacation-rental-already-booked-through-year-s-end/article_fff6177e-ba1a-5837-91e3-54d0e63ae2eb.html Their new vacation rental just opened recently and it's already booked up through the end of the year. $995 per night, with a 3 night minimum on weekends. Can only book for Monday/Tuesday, Wednesday/Thursday, or Friday/Saturday/Sunday. It's a lovely house. Wish the article had more pics.

Chip and JoJo are on the Today show this morning promoting their new book.

I would argue that Magnolia has impacted the overall market here though. They have brought a lot of attention to Waco and people seem to be moving here primarily because of Magnolia. So do I think they directly affect property values? Not much. But indirectly? Yes. Prices in Waco have steadily increased since we have lived here - but they have shot up significantly the past few years with the increase in demand. I know it's been that way all across Texas, but the bigger cities have lots of jobs and other draws. Waco? Not so much - our biggest employer is Baylor and then there is a lot of blue-collar work at the local plants - but in terms of tons of white-collar jobs, there isn't an abundance of them like in other cities. So I can't say for 100% certain that the increased demand in Waco is because of Magnolia, but I'm not sure what else would be drawing people here so much in the last few years - and it seems to be more middle class to upper middle class people. I think a lot of people saw how affordable Waco was on the show and found that appealing. Our market isn't as crazy as Austin or Dallas or Houston, but it's also not too far behind them, which kind of blows my mind as someone who has been asked incredulously for years "You live in Waco?" *said in disgust* "And you like it?" *said in disbelief.*

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/city_of_waco/witness-describes-aftermath-of-fixer-upper-crash/article_3e82d207-be0a-59e7-9e5b-b34b5925326c.html More info on the accident as well as property taxes and crime in the area.

I agree that the buyers should have done their due diligence about the neighborhood before they bought. But I'd like to point out that this neighborhood is nowhere near Baylor and the bar scene. Actually, the areas near the colleges and the bars are much better neighborhoods. Waco isn't like the typical college town - the areas that are "bad" are "bad" because of generational poverty - not Baylor. The neighborhood they live in is definitely transitional - I imagine in 5 more years it will be more where they thought it was when they bought it, but for now it's still a pretty dicey area. I wouldn't want to live there. And they street that dead ends into their yard is a major street - so I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened more often. I've often gone down that street not realizing it didn't actually connect to the other side of the street. I have noticed on the most recent seasons they have gotten away from the worse neighborhoods and are sticking more to Woodway and other wealthier areas. Most of the cool older homes in Waco are in transitional neighborhoods. It seems like they are mostly doing ranch style homes now - which is more boring (IMO). I miss them doing homes with more character. And the Fixer Upper effect has drastically impacted property values in Waco. Prices have jumped here in the past few years - good luck buying much under $200,000 in a good neighborhood anymore. A few years ago you could buy a really nice place for $150,00 pretty easily. Most of the stuff that's a good price/location goes under contract quickly. Where I live in Lorena, houses go under contract the same day. My realtor actually called me and asked if we wanted to sell the house (we bought 6 years ago) because one of her realtor friends had someone looking in Lorena and couldn't find anything. A lot of the commercial property located anywhere near the silos has also jumped significantly in taxes. I've noticed many of my new neighbors are from California. There is a house near me that was listed at $300,000- my husband and I laughed because we figured they would maybe get $250,000 for it - we thought it was way overpriced. Well, it's under contract already within a few weeks. I'm hoping it doesn't bring up our taxes too much. We've discussed selling because we have tons of equity, but we wouldn't be able to find anything else here. So the Fixer Upper effect really cuts both ways. I'm mostly excited for what it's done for Waco, though. A lot of people still associate Waco with the Branch Dravidians (they were located several miles outside of town), the multiple Baylor crises such as the basketball player murder and the sexual assaults (that's Baylor's issue, not Waco's!) and the Twin Peaks incident (which could have happened anywhere). I've lived here 13 years and love Waco. It's well situated for driving to the other big cities in Texas and we have plenty of amenities here. The schools are good and in the past few years we are starting to get tons of cool cultural events (like a film festival!) and we have an awesome distillery and brewery here - there's just tons of growth, which is exciting because Waco has really stagnated since the tornado destroyed downtown. There's lots of ups and downs with Magnolia, but I feel like - for the most part - they've been great for Waco.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/city_of_waco/car-smashes-into-fixer-upper-house/article_bb418fb0-0e9e-5d5a-80e9-cc659032e3e6.html?block_id=1367108 A drunk driver smashed into one of the homes from season 3. The article is interesting- the owners say they felt deceived by Magnolia not telling them how bad the neighborhood was.

Joanna and Chip are helping out a local firefighter who was paralyzed in an off-duty accident. http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Fixer-Upper-stars-quietly-step-up-to-help-injured-Waco-firefighter-430365013.html

Latest information on the lawsuit from the local paper. For those who don't want to read, Chip's tweet over the weekend that he didn't know about the lawsuit until it was filed is apparently inaccurate, as it was brought to his attention last July. Apparently the statue of limitations was about to run out, which prompted the filing (and presumably the end of negotiations that had been occurring). http://www.wacotrib.com/news/city_of_waco/lawyer-disputes-chip-gaines-social-media-post/article_15e04e4f-0f29-55b6-8e01-7563e7d00b77.html

Yes, this is driving me absolutely insane. I don't understand if that's part of the style or what, but it really, really irks me.