Gary Woltal's Blog

Stop, Look, and Listen. Words of caution before crossing some railroad tracks?

No, words to heed to keep your eyes and ears open in life. What, you say? I say are you paying attention? It's all around you in fleeting moments. What am I talking about you ask? I say,

IT IS A THING OF BEAUTY. 

Beauty is everywhere. Little snippets of life.

In real estate, look for the joy on the wife's face as she is handed the keys to the new home she has just purchased at closing and is about to start a new dream chapter in her life.

Look in the eyes of a smiling child who has just gotten off the swings after an afternoon of fun with you.

I have seen it in the "swish" of the basketball going straight through net in a pickup basketball game as the winning shot and all the fellas laughing and patting each other on the back.

It is in the tears of joy of the grandmother when her grandson visits from out of town over Thanksgiving having not seen him in so long.

Beauty is in the opening of an envelope with a heartfelt letter from a loved one who is far away and has taken time to write.

You'll find it with a big smile on your face when a long last friend one day picks up the phone and calls to check in on you and asks, "What's happenin'?" Sorry I haven't called.

Don't miss ALL the beauty there is in life every day and by the way create some yourself!

In real estate work and life in general I have come to believe that life will surprise you sometimes. I can think of countless examples from my personal life and also stories I read in the news.

A dear REALTOR friend who I put through a hard time searching for a house for months on end many years ago came up to the door one day after it was all concluded with a house warming gift. With as tough a buyer as I was I thought I should be giving HER the Medal of Honor and not me receiving anything.

Once when I had an automobile breakdown on a hot July day and was thumbing my way to find a pay phone to make a call for a tow truck, the only person that stopped by to give me a lift was a kid in a beat up old car full of empty soda cans but he was the nicest person and even offered some quarters for me to make a phone call for the tow at the convenience store. Pure unconditional love.

In Iraq, a few days ago of all things to happen it started snowing in Baghdad. It can get cold there but with the dry air, snow is very rare. Hostilities seemed to stop as the stillness and quiet sound of snow falling enveloped the whole area. One shopkeeper told his daughter that maybe this was a sign from God that it was now a time for peace in the area.

A nurse on the pediatric ward, before listening to the little ones chests, would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would always light up with awe, but she never got a response equal to four-year old David's comment.
Gently she tucked the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disk over his heart. "Listen", she said..........."What do you suppose that is?" He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap -
tap - tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin and he asked, "Is that Jesus knocking?"

Have you run across any random acts of kindness lately in your world that you would like to share, where you stepped back and could say, wow, life will suprise you sometimes?

In previewing many properties I notice it seems one out of ten or so are using the gimmick riders on their signs. The use of the term gimmick is my opinion of course, for others it is their choice of Marketing to get buyers to respond to the listed property.

Two of these signs I encountered today were the $10,000 bonus to the buyers agent which to my understanding goes into a pool with other buyer agents that you may or may not win. Wow, sounds like a lottery!

The second was buy this house and I'll buy yours and this one said for CASH!

I am familiar with the company that runs these marketing techniques and don't want to belittle anyone if it works for you but I would like the opinions of this community on these practices.

One, do you think these "marketing techniques" work that effectively? Secondly, do you think "bait and switch" ploys, where when the buyer reads the fine print that you may only give him 70% of his value of his house if anything it gives the Realtor profession a bad name? I've seen these techniques advertised on giant billboards so obviously there are believers in this camp.

The phrase if it looks too good to be true it probably is seems to fit here. I hate to use the word scam in this instance, but my feeling is these techniques do put all REALTORS in a bad light. Are only those who come out of used cars sales using these techniques? That might explain their use by those from that profession. I would be curious as to all your thoughts either way favoring these ideas or opposing them. I think most of the public sees right through this smokescreen myself, unless they are desperate. Your thoughts?

My cohorts in crime on this real estate social network have come after me and wanted me to write a blog about myself. Somewhere in this MeMe world it was said that this would be the hardest blog to write. I think it must be true because I think now the fourth or fifth person has played this game of tag with me and I keep dodging it. I guess I think I am playing hide and seek as I naturally like writing about others and can't see why anyone would care to have me write about me.

OK, so I will play. I don't want to be a poor sport.

First the where did you live and what do you do part of your life, then the five things you didn't know about me.

I was born in New York, out on Long Island but then grew up in Florida through college. Moved through Alabama picking up the wife and have spent a good part of 25 years in North Texas in the Dallas area. No children.

My career traverses Engineering, Technical Sales, Internet Marketing, and Real Estate, not all separate or sequential jobs, but some in parallel lives. I've always been a multi-interest person and who knows next year I may take up painting full time. That would be artwork, not houses as a side job due to the housing slowdown.

My five items:

1. I like doing work for the Humane Society. No that's not the Habitat for Humanity group that does the house building, although I have done that too. I like washing big old Great Danes at dog dips in the hot summer to get their fleas and ticks off to make them more comfortable. I foster dogs that need a temporary home too.

2. I am a tremendous lover of music and play many instruments predominantly piano. Most of my close friends don't even know that one!

3. Writing has always been easy for me. I have a down home style and something pops into my head it easily turns into words. I got much practice from my letters written home to family and also friends while in college. On the flip side I read everything from newspapers, Internet, books, blogs, and cereal boxes.

4. I am a fitness nut. Most of my friends don't know that one either. A big runner am I, into 5K and 10K runs and probably a day doesn't go by that I don't run 30 to 45 minutes if even on a treadmill. I'd like to do a half marathon. I like all sports like basketball, bowling, softball, weightlifting, and swimming. In college I even did fencing. You get extra credit if you remember that last one about me.

5. Finally I have been blessed with an incredible gift of a strong faith in God. Why, I don't know. It's just there and is unshakeable. My father passed away in 2006 and as hard as that was I had echoing in my mind the words "Trust Me" and I do.

So that's a snippet on this blogger for today.

I now get to do the fun part and tag three others.

I tag: Julie Neerings, Don Wixom, and Carole Provenzale. You're IT!!

Land is such a big part of real estate that when I took a road trip down the Interstate between Dallas and Houston I noticed a little town called Centerville. By chance or planning, I don't know which, it is the mid point on the trip. Having had a flat tire on the trip before hand one time and repairing it and moving on, I knew once I had made it to Centerville going south, I was nearer to Houston and there was no turning back.

Like explorers from yesteryear we need to know our mid points toward our destinations, our goals, and our plans to know we are over half way there. We need to persist because we are on the down hill slope of the journey, closer to the accomplishment.

So when you reach the Centervilles of your life, whatever they may be, just relax, take a deep breath and know that you are almost there.

Aren't small towns great??

Males: 412	(45.6%)
Females: 491	(54.4%)

Zip code:  75833

Zip code population (2000): 2,754
Estimated population in 2005: 2,941

Estimated median household income in 2005: $27,900 (it was $25,677 in 2000)

Centerville	$27,900
Texas:	$42,139

Centerville	$67,900
Texas:	$106,000

At this time of year when so many people all around us are setting goals and encouraging us to set goals my little eavesdropping self picked up a BIG problem with some of these cast of characters. I call it:

Who's Finish Line are YOU Racing Towards?

What I mean by that is that some people's goals are others goals or they are not comparing their old self to a new, improved possible self but to "someone" else. Who cares if Bob over in the other cubicle does $5 M in Realtor annual production and that is your goal for this year. What did YOU do last year and what is a good goal for YOU this year? Who cares if slim Sally wears a size 4 dress and you want to stay on that treadmill till you look better than her. What is a reasonable goal for YOU?

In the races in life, in the goals you set, what is important, well what is important is what is important to YOU.

The heck with those other PIGS, (ahem) I mean people.

It is your life, your goals, your race, and by golly you know when you hit the finish line. Think of this race as you and life with you being the one wearing the blinders.

If you don't heed this wise bit of advice and follow your own goals you'll end up like this fellow here, in a vicious cycle and never achieving anything. You will keep bailing and guess what?

You will eventually sink!!

The trick with goals is to align them with what you VALUE. Maybe earning X dollars a year is important to you to a degree. But maybe spending five hours tutoring developmentally challenged students is important to you as well. Make time for both and forget Bob and Sally back at the office. They are not YOU.

On a day that Sir Edmund Hillary died, remember that he stayed focused and at the time achieved what was thought to be an impossible dream, standing on top of the world in being the first to climb Mt. Everest.

Your dreams are possible too. Just remember to make them YOURS!!

REALTORS are constantly asked by the For Sale By Owner seller what they bring to the table. In addition to all the other great reasons everyone says about why they should use the services of a professional REALTOR I contend there is one BIG ONE.

That is, LEGAL UPDATES!

Without staying abreast with what is going on with fair housing, disclosure, contracts, mortgage fraud, etc. why would any sane person try to sell their house themself? Do you know how sue happy attorneys are these days? Do you even want to risk it?

Not knowing the law is the big GOTCHA of doing all this selling stuff on your own.

I'll give you a few examples of recent changes in the law in my own state:

* Seller Disclosure form changed. Are you using the right one? FSBOs have to provide it. It now has information on smoke detectors.

* Do you know as a landlord you have the right to lock out tenants under certain conditions. What are those conditions? Your REALTOR knows.

* Recent changes in Title Insurance regulations allow a title policy to cover personal property along with real property which would include boats and airplanes.

* What if a buyer wants the mineral rights to your property? Do you have to give it to them, or can you sell and keep them for yourself?

* If a buyer asks you about previous mold damage you fixed on your house can you tell him if that will raise his underwriting requirements with his homeowners insurance? A REALTOR would know.

* If a divorced couple is selling the house and they are co-owners how does that make who signs contract different than if they had a divorce decree that gave one party rights of possession?

This stuff is not easy, and yet every FSBO thinks of themselves as junior REALTORS.

Hopefully REALTORS are professional and in the business of educating the consumers. It can be very risky legal-wise to sell a house without the assistance of an expert in the business.

It occurred to me as I completed a class on using digital cameras that there was so much more to this than getting ten photos of a house uploaded into the MLS. It was more than getting the lighting right or taking a photo from ground level vs. a standing position. Yes, cameras do allow us to freeze time and reflect back on what we just encountered. But it dawned on me that so much of life is built upon "moments" if we only allow ourselves to hold that memory.

Emotionally rich moments I've found tend to stick with us the longest.

This goes for the good times and the bad times. Getting married, having a baby, a disaster occurs in your life, saying goodbye to someone who is dying. Think about traveling and seeing new sights. Maybe glorious memories. But do not forget to "capture" the quiet memories too. The "a-ha" moments where someone says something or does something for you, that really surprises you. One thing interesting about writing and reading blogs is you encounter new friends, several of which will provide you another "snapshot" of life that just maybe you didn't think about before. A new thought becomes a new world, never revealed until that point in time. So open those eyes wide when you get up in the morning and see what you've never seen before. But be sure to "capture the moment in your mind's eye." It is so much more remarkable to you than any camera ever would be.

"Mem'ries light the corners of my mind,
Misty water color mem'ries of the way we were" Marvin Hamlisch (as played by Kenny G)

In working around co-workers daily who seem to hit burnout by the end of the day I thought wouldn't it be nice if we could stretch "Happy Hour" to be each hour in our day rather than some sort of after work concept. It really has to do with maximizing our energy and staying positive.

I've outlined some tips below to help keep your energy levels up throughout the day. I'm sure we could find 20 more things to work on but this small little list will at least give you a start.

1. Drink plenty of water. Our bodies are made up of over 70% water. Limit the caffeinated drinks to the early part of the day and reduce or eliminate the diet drinks. Our bodies want water to process and metabolize our food for energy.

2. Get adequate sleep. Make note of the optimum hours of sleep you require and make sure you get it. I always think people vastly underestimate sleep.

3. Eliminate as best as possible refined foods like sugars, crackers, cookies and stick with the natural foods coming from plants and trees. Sugar is a real drainer on your energy and the processed foods are not as healthy.

4. Exercise daily. Do vigorous exercise at least three days a week and walk some at least every day.

5. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and dinner like a prince. Have larger meals earlier.

6. Clear the clutter from your car/home/desk. It's a Feng Shui thing and will give you more energy.

7. Work a task till it is completed. Getting a check on your to do list will boost your energy.

8. Smile and laugh often. A great stress reliever and having fun will give you tremendous energy.

With working on just a handful of these ideas, you just won't be tired anymore. Good luck.

In talking with the many I have encountered working in the Housing industry, from REALTORS, Lenders, Stagers, Appraisers, Builders, Title Company workers, Inspectors, etc. I am constantly amazed all the diverse backgrounds everyone comes from. More often than not this is a second, third, or even fourth career change in someone's work history. While REALTORS may be age 18 to 95, many people settle into that field in their mid to later years after gaining experience in other fields. But too, some young people fresh out of high school or college follow a strong entrepreneurial drive and build their businesses in the housing industry field right out of the chute.

Teachers and trainer backgrounds can be found in large numbers. Some say that is because of their great communication and nurturing skills. Residential real estate tends to be about 60% female and 40% male while commercial real estate is more male dominated. Other professionals' backgrounds include nursing, customer service, flight attendant, technology, accounting/CPA, restaurant management, general management, coaches, telecommunications, catering, law enforcement, military, those coming "out" of retirement, trucking, logistics, banking, health/fitness, and I think the list just goes on. Some still work in their former occupations until getting this new one up and running.

I think with Real Estate being such an intensely People-focused business these diverse former or parallel work backgrounds keep the service aspect of working with clients at a high level. This is because the professional can "relate" to owning, buying, and selling property because they have done it themselves. They bring computer literate skills, management skills, and for some teaching skills to the table. As a society we should be thankful that they found their way into Real Estate. All the better for the public where good people are always needed.