About
This is the blog of WELLS REAL ESTATE on South Padre Island, TX. - And they say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks - Just you watch and see - . I don’t have a set course for this blog yet. I am confident that in the early days it will be mostly ramblings. Hopefully, over time, the blog will take on a direction and provide interesting information and thoughts about South Padre Island in the past, today, and tomorrow.
Wells Real Estate began in 1978 before cell phones, the Internet, computers and all of the other fancy electronic gadgets we use with ease today reached the Island. The word “blog” wasn’t even coined yet. A good portion of the roads were still paved with oyster shells and some with just good old sand. There are days I wish we could go back there. Life was simpler and easier with fewer rules. People were nicer then and you could agree to disagree and still be friends. It was a community of friends who enjoyed the sun, the surf and the sand. At least that’s how I would like to remember it. I’m getting older now and my memory isn’t what it use to be. Maybe that’s how I want to remember those times.
The people who came here were highly independent people who were running from the real world and what better place was there to hide. No one knew about this small island off of the coast of Texas right next to the Mexican border. When we finally got a real post office they closed from 12 to 1 for lunch, closed early to go surfing and actually got the mail in the right boxes - but then again there were only about 700 full time residents back then. It was a fantastic place to live. Unfortunately, you could barely make a living - but it didn’t take much to live here. We were isolated from the real world by a 2 1/2 mile causeway. If you didn’t leave the Island you really didn’t have to become part of the real world. The real world has now found us. WE HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED. Good or bad we are stuck with it.
Today’s new and improved South Padre Island is much different in a lot of ways. Nearly everyone here now has a computer and uses the internet. They have iPods and all the rest of the good electronic life. The town is even working on going Wifi. Who would have thought that could happen. It was only two years ago that I suggested going Wifi to a Town Alderman who dismissed it as being of little interest to the Town or the residents. We now have cultural events every week, 30+ story condominium towers are being built, grocery stores, theaters, golf courses, bars and clubs and even a convention center or “Centre” as we call it here. Times have changed, the Island has changed, the cost of living has changed but the sun and the sand and the surf are the same as they always were and that’s the whole point of this place.
I am going to attempt to write for this blog. The early writings are going to be interesting. I haven’t written anything since collage and didn’t do that very well back then. Be patient and I hope to improve over time. Most of my writings will pass along news and views of the Island that interest me and anything new about the real estate market here.
The new South Padre has arrived. New people are moving in - we call them baby boomers. Actually I am a baby boomer but will never admit to it since I am still living in those early days on the Island - what does AARP mean?? The baby boomers or “zoomers” have now arrived. They are socially and politically active looking for something to do and they are doing it.
Welcome to the New South Padre Island.