Gary Woltal's Blog

Spring is in the air. No you Realtors, not buyers coming out of the woodwork. But it is that time of year again. Cupid's Day. I scurry over to the card rack with many men frantically picking over the last remaining cards for Valentine's Day. I agree with others that there is a little bit too much pressure put on this focused day. Pressure on relationships. Pressure to do or say the right thing. So I am going to let you off the hook. Whether in a relationship or not. Coming out of a relationship or thinking the whole thing is all too much hype. How about this--

Have a day of encouragement. Make it not just for lovers. Make it for ANYONE who you care about. Tell the special people in your life that they mean something to you, TODAY. Don't lose a friend in your life to death before you get to tell them how much they mean to you. If that ever happens to you make sure it won't happen to you again. Say it TODAY as my poet friend says, before the sun goes down.

BEFORE THE SUN GOES DOWN

So much emotion left unsaid
By now, they ought to know
They've been around for long enough
I'm sure the feelings show
I said it once, quite long ago
And thought that should suffice
But now that they've been taken home
I've started thinking twice
So many things I should have said
So much I could have shown
Acknowledging that special place
Where in my heart they'd grown
For everything they'd been to me
For all they'd walked me through
I realized in painful pride
That many more were due
To all those in my life today
Who've touched this tender heart
I vow that I'll start sharing with you
Now's the time to start
Before that chance is taken
And before the sun goes down
Let me tell you that I love you
And I'm glad that you're around

© 2008 Laura Lum Corby

Realtors by their very nature are a competitive bunch. Once they sell a house, they are off to find the next listing. They canvas neighborhoods telling people of their sale, sending out JUST SOLD post cards and the like. But what really irks me professionally is when they promote themselves through "veiled lies."

Example: I sell properties at 98.2% of asking price. Reality: They dropped the ORIGINAL price $20,000 and the real number is something like 93%!

Example: I will sell your house in half the number of days as others in this neighborhood. Reality: The next neighborhood over they have a dog house listed that already is way over average days on market at 222, but let's not mention that.

Example: If I don't sell your house in 45 days, I'll pay you $500 at closing (or other guaranteed sales gimmicks). Reality: Read the fine print. They may force you to a lower asking price.

I respect most Realtors being aggressive in going after business. But some are deceiving the public, when we insiders know what's really going on. I think the public is catching on to this slowly, but beware if something sounds too good to be true.

In Business Management circles, we owe a debt of gratitude to an Italian economist. The man's name is Vilfredo Pareto. Pay attention because if you remember his first name you will impress all your friends and get extra credit. He lived in the 1800's and was the son of an Italian civil engineer. What does this have to do with real estate you may ask?

He came up with this very worldly principle called the Pareto principle. Others of us refer to it as the 80-20 rule. It is an observation on numbers for the mathematicians out there, and can be extended to life as well. It can be categorized as the vital few and the trivial many. What you want to do in life is focus on those things that give you leverage on the whole.

The observations included such things as 80% of the income went to 20% of the population. Or, 80% of sales came from 20% of the customers. You can extrapolate many things in life to this 80/20 rule. 90/10, 70/30, 95/5 rules abound showing that this is an inexact science but these out of balance proportions exist nearly everywhere.

A while back I saw an eye popping statistic that said 7% of Realtors sold 93% of the real estate. If this is true, it is really amazing and can probably account for the "part timer" label on so many Realtors or account for the high turnover in the ranks. But it is important to note that "despite" a 93/7 rule in sales in real estate the agent that sells four houses a year still could give a client GREAT service! You also might not be buried in the noise level as far as attention from the large teams. So little guys, don't despair!

80/20 and Mr. Pareto are an interesting phenomenon to understand. But this is a people business and a good agent is still a good agent.

I don't know if they still have these positions nowadays, but when I was going through high school the title of Guidance Counselor went to those who would help 11th and 12th graders sort through career options. They would talk about pre-college tracks, blue collar vocational professions, and probably to a lesser extent self-employment or on the job training careers.

I liken that job function to that of the combined role a Realtor and Lender play with the Buyer of Residential property or the assistance they provide to an Investor.

A purchase of this type can be the highest dollar investment many will ever make in their life and with that partnership with a professional goes a lot of responsibility.

Many in the public do not respect Realtors and Lenders because of past performance. The hurdle to enter each profession education wise is low, and there is a wide range of expertise to choose from.

Judging from the recent subprime debacle many lenders did not have their client's best interest at heart. Some Realtors cannot be let off the hook easily as perhaps they did not give their Investor or Buyer clients all the factual information they had about declining markets or zoning or economic conditions that should have made them make more cautious and conservative offers.

In the end it is all about lifestyle for the Buyer and return on investment for the Investor. The Investor wants to make money over the long term. The Buyer wants to hold value and enjoy living in the property and neighborhood.

GREAT lenders and Realtors with their experience and fiduciary responsibility, to the best of their ability serve as guidance counselors to their clients in making the American Dream possible.

Someone asked me along the way in my real estate blogging where do I get ideas for what I write or where does your inspiration come from? I answered that primarily it was from watching other people, listening to them, and growing from them. I will prove this to you with today's post.

In the past I have spoken about the preciousness of time, how time is fleeting, to make the most of your time, how life is short, and how to make time for "quality time." Today I want to tell you that

YOU HAVE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED.

Fellow REALTOR, avid blogger, and such a dear friend to me here, Linda Scanlan of Burleson, TX, I have learned is stepping away from her real estate business to tend to her husband's health problems related to his kidneys. If you ever had Linda comment on your blogs you know she is a gentle soul who has a tremendous sense of humor and is a very caring person.

But Linda is a smart one too, recognizing she has all the time she needs. Her husband comes first. Family matters. She follows priorities that allow her to shift her time, which is finite of course, and put all her energy into another steady job with benefits and to focus lovingly on her husband's health. I think it is the highest form of nobility.

Linda is a tremendous inspiration to me. Many would not turn their whole life's ship around and be so dedicated to family. But what's marvelous about Linda is she knows her priorities in life. She knows what are her highest values and what in the end is truly important to her.

It's nice to find these great examples in life right here in our midst. Thank you Linda for teaching me and others another lesson about time that

YOU HAVE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED.

In Real Estate, whether from the practitioner side or from the client side in using a professional for services, we are all in search of a voice.

We all can't be good at everything. Some Realtors discover their preferences as they move through their career. It may be a neighborhood expert, luxury properties, condo specialist, first time home buyers, waterfront homes, or foreclosures. We have relocation companies, apartment locators, and all sorts of specialities within commercial real estate.

From the buyer, seller, and investor side, make sure what you are searching for matches up with the skill set and experience of who you are hiring. Why hire your friend who knows downtown lofts and condos when you are searching for farm and ranch properties? A good buyers agent is not necessarily a good listing agent.

A good Realtor can indeed work with a cross section of many different Associates to get the job done. But they would do the customer a better service if they would refer out to others who are better at specialities outside their own interest and field of expertise. Show your true colors and be the BEST at what you know best.

Way back when, in a life far far away, I studied thermodynamics, which essentially is better understanding the properties of energy. The second law states that entropy that is not in equilibrium will increase over time. Entropy relates to the possibility of heat to do work or be useful. Without getting too much into Geek speak, this second law always amazed me, because it said in the universe it was more the norm for things to head toward chaos and non-equilibrium than to be orderly.

I have noted this same situation in real estate and life as well. Being a REALTOR, I am a natural free spirit, but I see the need to put things in order. Buyers, Sellers, Investors, properties, laws, Inspectors, Appraisers, Stagers, seasonality, the economy, all come at me in random fashion and want to create mass chaos. It is just natural. But why I love the REALTOR role is I get to play the maestro of the symphony and get all these ducks walking in single file and get the music to play in harmony. What a glorious task to pull off. How satisfying an accomplishment is that?

If you need another illustration of how order in life is not normal I pose the Garden Theory.

Think of a well tended garden. It would look something like the photo here. But how much work did it take to get the garden to be so beautiful?

It is not "natural" for all the tulips to be together and color coordinated with the daffodils. What happens, if the garden is left untended, unweeded, unwatered? Chaos. Dead plants, and not a pleasant environment.

So as you enjoy spring as it blooms again this year, think of all those in real estate and in life who "put it all together" and build something beautiful for the rest of us. They are life's gardeners and make the world for all of us just a little bit better.

Around many towns and cities in my North Texas backyard, in order to protect kids coming from the local neighborhoods, ordinances are being drafted and approved to ban texting and talking on handheld cellphones while driving through school zones. Even if you are going through the zone with the light flashing and at 15 mph you need to have no contact with your cellphone. How people even think of "texting" while they drive at any speed is beyond me? That's just plain nuts and dangerous!! A voice to texting service like Jott would be a hands free solution.

The areas where the current ban is implemented or about to be implemented are Denton, Flower Mound, Fort Worth, Highland Park, and University Park. The fines are $75 and up with one fine even at $200 if Dallas adopts this.

Texas unlike Washington, D.C. and I believe New York City, has not outright banned non-hands free cell phone talking while driving but I think we can all see where it does make sense in school zones. Not that children are more important not to run over than the rest of us, but it does seem common sense. Doing this kind of legislature town by town is weird though because you never know which towns have it. It only adds to the confusion. We do have a state law here that bans cellphone use by young drivers during their first six months of driving. Seems like the hodge podge of laws needs to be more clear for public safety.

Oh well, that's the government for you. Just be careful out there when driving. We don't need something else to remind us how short life is.

In looking at why real estate deals go through, or don't, I've concluded it comes down to small things.

A grocery store doesn't locate in town cause the big sewer pipe underground is not in place. The buyer backs away from a house cause it's an empty nester and they don't like the cutesy children's wall paper in the kitchenette. The seller won't come down on price, because By God, he wants full return on his in ground pool he just installed six months ago. The house is beautiful says the wife, but the husband notes it is just two blocks away from a highway that will be expanded by four more lanes in the next two years and worries about road noise.

So much of many of our decisions come close to happening.

But then there's the matter of the LITTLE BITTY.

Attention to details, to the little things, especially if they are important to you, needs to be respected.

I have found in many things in life if you will pay attention to the little things, even if you are not good at detailed things, it will save you in the long run. Whether that comes to proofreading a contract, making time for a daugher's soccer game, pulling the weeds before they over grow your lawn, or starting those tax returns before April 14th. Get good at being a LITTLE BITTY person.

Here LINDSAY ON HER RENDITION OF LITTLE BITTY will set the mood for you..... BECAUSE as we all know LIFE itself, is little bitty too. Make the most of it!!

There's a funny line that some people use when talking with them - "Don't confuse me with the facts!"

Now certainly statistics can be slanted to "lie" whichever way you want to present them. Pollsters can ask questions in certain ways to get answers. But if you flat out just take surveys, the answers are what they are.

It's hard to argue with facts. The table below should steer most any of the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) crowd to internet savvy individuals AND a REALTOR. It's just too much work to do it other ways and not only not achieve results in a timely fashion, but in the HUGE majority of cases not achieve RESULTS at all. REALTORS sell houses!!

WHERE BUYERS FOUND THE HOME THEY PURCHASED 1997-2007