Gary Woltal's Blog

In the 1960's Mattel Toys came out with a doll that you pulled a string on the back and it would say all sorts of cutesy phrases like, "Please brush my hair." It was the rage of little girls all around. How high tech for its era!! It was called a

                        Chatty Cathy.

Chatty Cathy became a euphemism for someone many years later who would never cease to stop talking to you, with you, at you, just droning on and on and on, till you reached an overwhelmingly bored state.

In real estate blogging, excessively long blogs can lose their meaning, the reader can miss the point, or it gets to be convoluted thinking with no introduction, body, and conclusion. But there is an instance

                        WHEN BEING A CHATTY CATHY IS A GOOD THING.

That is in the area of reciprocity. Blogging is at its best between industry insiders and consumers when it is conversational. This idea of reciprocity is key. Reply to comments on your own blog. Read the comments made about your comments on others' blogs and reply to those if you can. Make time to circle back on your comments. It creates what is called Google Juice and you will create reciprocal links back to you with the Search Engines.

With whatever time you allocate to blogging, be a Chatty Cathy when it comes to being a great conversationalist. You'll learn a lot about yourself and others and climb to higher positions in the Search Engines. Bottom line, more people will know about you. THIS IS GOOD.

Sometimes in writing a post I feel it is time for a section similar to the Reader's Digest where you have a Laughter is the Best Medicine chapter. Today is that day compliments of a client of mine. Like attracts like so my naturally humorous self brings the other funny people out of the woodwork.

1. If you're choking on an ice cube simply pour a cup of boiling water down 
your throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove itself. 
 
2. Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to 
hold while you chop. 
 
3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the 
sink. 
 
4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a 
few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a 
timer. 
 
5. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from 
rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. 
 
6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you'll be 
afraid to cough. 
 
7. You only need two tools in life - WD- 40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't 
move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct 
tape. 

8. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

9. If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

10.Daily Thought: SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES. NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING
    BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.

I hope I made your day a bit sunnier for you.....MAKE IT A GOOD ONE!!!

A real estate client pointed out that she knew many people in pain despite holiday weekends supposed to be festive and joyful. Here are five easy steps to feel good about yourself again:

Connect with your emotional side - listen to or play inspirational music as long as it takes to uplift you.

Connect with your physical side - do vigorous exercise which will raise your endorphin (good feeling) hormone levels.

Connect with your spiritual side - pray, meditate, take a walk or experience the peace of nature, go to church, read the Bible.

Connect with your social side - develop a strong support network of friends, volunteer, find ten on Active Rain who will support you ( I will, now you only need nine!)

Connect with your fun side - play with children, play with your dog, just play, laugh and laugh some more. Do your hobby, go fishing, let go of negativity and regret, rent a funny movie like the Inlaws and laugh your head off, read a good book, disconnect from work, take a vacation, and did I say laugh?

If you will at least listen to the upbeat music in your car and promise to have fun I will pass you in this class and guarantee you will feel good about yourself.

I'm trying to help out here and be your Piano Man. Sing us a song tonight. Well we're all in the mood for a melody. You've got us feeling all right.

In working through negotiations with buyers and sellers in Real Estate, it is amazing sometimes how people can't see the forest for the trees. They get mired in the details and forget about the big picture. Details are important and will come back to bite you if you don't pay attention to them. But hello? Don't we want to buy this house here? Sometimes I think not. I am great at the big picture and try to keep things on track with reminders of the ultimate goal.

      Put Your Problems In A Coffee Mug.

Inside that mug, they have been transformed into an opportunity. An opportunity to have something BETTER. Think what a problem can turn into:

You get to practice forgiveness. You solve the problem with the after state being better than the before state. You make a new friend through continuous dialog. You meet new people. You build something better. You are stronger for going through the experience. A misunderstanding allows you to practice and have better communication skills for the next problem.

Don't worry so much about problems. They are little tests life throws at us. They are questions that say to us, "OK, whatcha going to do with this one?" Almost like a new hand you are dealt in a game of cards. As you continue to play cards, you keep getting new hands dealt to you. Do not be fearful of the cards. Just play them the best you can. In the long run, if you look at problems as opportunities, you'll get to be a pretty good card player, and show the world the kindness in your response that the world so very much needs.

In Real Estate there are many who care even at a higher level specializing with designations for Seniors or the aged. As we all get older we learn to be more patient with each other and communicate in different ways.

This is beautiful. If you have elderly parents, or are on your way to being one,

or just need to be reminded how important it is to be kind, that everyone has deep feelings.

This will hit home to many of us.    

                             A Parent's Wish

Real Estate is a tough business. How many jobs do you know that you can go for days, weeks, perhaps months on end and work and not get paid? It all happens eventually at the closing table when buyers and sellers and all the associated representatives exchange funds to buy and sell real property.

But since it is competitive in nature between agents, should we never listen to those we deem better than us? If those folks in our eyes are superior, what about listening to those who we deem less than us by whatever standard we have in our mind?

This question of who to listen to and who to ignore extends far beyond Real Estate circles.

There was a memorable episode of All In The Family, where Archie encounterd a mentally challenged young man. Archie throughout the 30 minute episode was always belittling the young man despite his limited intelligence. In the end there was a twist and the mentally challenged young man taught Archie something he didn't know. Instead of making Archie feel bad that he was outwitted, the young lad showed love. He ran off and came back with a framed message that he told Archie that despite him learning much from Archie, this time Archie learned from him. The quoted message was

EVERY MAN I MEET IS IN SOME WAY MY SUPERIOR

Archie was speechless. But there is a depth of wisdom in that statement if we take it to heart. No one has the corner on all knowledge or wisdom. You can forever learn from the least or greatest of us if you will remain open. Listening takes commitment and we must silence our inner thoughts.

This openness to listen I believe also extends to openness to make new friends. Sure we can have our little cliques and only invite those into our lives who are most like us. But there is a world of people out there who can contribute in some way to your life and you to theirs. Why not risk to love in your life and be the first to reach out a hand of friendship to someone? It takes being a friend to have a friend.

When you make a friend you have found another one of life's blessings that was there for your enjoyment.

I'll close with the same author of the quote about everyone being your superior, and that is Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is what he said about friendship, and if you find this in your life you will believe it.

A FRIEND MAY WELL BE RECKONED THE MASTERPIECE OF NATURE.

A real estate client pointed out to me in a conversation recently about the world. She said, "Gary, you know there really are a lot of people out there in pain. And if you are one of those with a light to help them out, you need to not hide it under the proverbial bushel basket, but share it with them." It so reminded me of the Christmas time movie, It's a Wonderful Life. I see the world quite opposite from the way others see it often which makes me feel a little strange inside but that's who I am.

First off, I never thought of that movie as a Christmas movie. It ended up at Christmas in the final stages of the movie and it was a perfect setting for the outpouring of love that inevitably settled upon character George Bailey by friends and townfolk. But I always saw the story as a case in life of "Lumpy Love."

Here was George Bailey helping out everyone throughout his life. Keeping them in their homes. Not being too hard with them on late payments on their mortgages. Couldn't we use a little of that old Building and Loan forgiveness in today's housing market?

But in the end it was all about George planting seeds of kindness and love along his journey with it seeming like no one ever cared about George. When George finally got himself into a pickle with a missing $8,000 and the looming disgrace of going to jail for embezzlement, his world crumbled around him. No friend whom he helped along the way "seemed" to be there for him. But that's when the lumpy love kicked in and all the people who loved him all along came out of the woodwork to his rescue.

I've concluded in planting seeds of kindness and love in the world we must follow the theme of these well known verses:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

 Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

 In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

I hope with this post my client knows I am not keeping my light under a bushel basket.

We must plant our seeds into the soil of the world, whether it is fertile or rocky or filled with weeds and that is our best.

And every time you hear a bell ring, an angel gets his wings.

Maybe that angel is

        YOU !!!

I am my harshest critic in Real Estate and how I serve other people. What could I have done better? How can I improve with that next time? I am big into studying human nature and want to be known as a

  DIFFERENCE MAKER.

I collect a lot of quotes, and one along this line goes like this:

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

I think my discovery by what that quote said is you have to get an emotional connection with a person to make a difference to them. A sampling on this forum tells me this is true. If I comment on a blog and the writer responds "connecting" with me I think they have made a difference. Likewise if I touch a heart with what I post and they respond on my blog with something meaningful to say, I feel I connected with them and made a difference.

I have observed the people who are the difference makers in your life don't necessarily have fortune and fame or sit up high on pedestals. It really is very simple. They are the ones that CARE about YOU.

Are you really making a difference to others? Is someone making a difference in your life?

Check that heart to heart, caring, connection. It's what it is all about.

It was with great sadness our North Texas Realtor community learned of the death over this past weekend of Branch Manager and Escrow Officer Kevin Cochran at our local Freedom Title office in Hickory Creek, TX. Kevin was only 38 yr. old, had a history of high blood pressure and the autopsy said this caused the heart to enlarge and burst. Kevin leaves behind three little boys and a wife Shannon who is expecting another child in four months. Kevin was loved by many and known for one liners to keep people laughing.

Kevin's sudden passing reminds us to let all know the dangers of high blood pressure and we need to treat it as it can be a silent killer.

Regular exercise is important in our life as well.

But mostly, it is reminder for all of us to take no breath for granted. I implore people all the time to be kind to each other. Stop being a fence sitter in life. Live each day like it is your last, because, YOU NEVER KNOW. Be extra nice to someone today in remembrance of Kevin and the devastation his family has suffered. I guarantee it will make the world just a little better place.

         IF YOU GET THE CHANCE, DANCE

Realtors I will tell you have the best stories. Ask any of them. They have choice ones.

A recent discussion between Realtors had to do with the little things that had a closing hung up or delayed for days on end. The story went that the woman buyer really wanted the shower curtain that was in one of the bathrooms because it was so colorful and regal looking. Turns out the inspector photographed everything and this particular curtain was in none of the bathrooms.

The Realtor looked through some digital photos of "other" houses and the curtain she was talking about was in another house she didn't buy. This "hiccup" delayed closing by three days.

I just wanted to ask if others had similar weird war stories with buyers and sellers just at the closing table that took a left turn and came out of the blue?

In our contracts they say drapes and curtain rods shall stay but are not referring to bathrooms. Do we need to leave the Psycho curtains with the house or just not have Psycho buyers? : ) Just kidding. I love buyers.