We love walking to Augusta Pines Golf Club and watching their firework display around the lake on the 4th of July.  This year our daughter was home and took this wonderful picture.  It does give that bombs bursting in air look.  We are so blessed to live in this country and I love Independence Day!    

Picture taken by Tarina Peterson all rights reserved.

For the last several days I have been showing in a very popular area and I have been amazed at how hard the seller's have made it for me to show their home.  I am working with out of town buyers so we have been looking at a lot of homes. For the most part I have been making my showings with almost a 24 hour notice.  Several of the sellers changed my showing time which then throws my sequence off.   I have been tripping over myself back tracking through areas that I have already left.

 They have also been changing my 2 hour showing window to a 1 hour showing window.  When you are showing 10 to 15 homes it is so hard to try and work a showing schedule around this tight of a window.  Several times I have had to call and extend my showing time.  Typically I'm good at judging my time but I'm finding this one hour window very difficult to deal with.

Yesterday afternoon I scheduled appointments for this morning.  I was trying to show between 9:00 and 11:00. For one of the homes I was called back by the showing service and told that my showing was declined as they were only accepting showings after 12:00 PM.  I went ahead and scheduled for noon but then had to cancel because we were finished with the homes we were looking at long before that 12:00 time.  I just now called again to schedule for this evening when we are showing both Mr. and Mrs. Buyer.  For this particular home there was also a two hour notice that was required so I again barely fit it in the time slot.  This time it was at least accepted.

I guess the most incredible showing that I have run across lately was a seller that was only allowing showings on Sunday between 1:00 and 4:00.  The particular Sunday that I tried to show their home they decided not to show it that day.  My feeling is they are obviously not motivated and with so many homes on the market: next!

Now I do understand when I call at the last moment and a showing is declined. Invariably as we are driving around my clients will see a sign in the yard and want to see a home.  When that happens I don't' have a problem with rescheduling at a later time.  In that case I'm the one being a bit inconsiderate but I always feel like it is worth a try to show the home.

I realize that it is a pain to have a home on the market.  I moved many times with children and I remember having to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. My solution to this is for the seller to wait until we arrive to leave. I don't have a problem with a seller leaving through the back door as we are arriving at the front door.   I do have a problem with the home not being accessible to show (especially since for the most part I have been giving a 24 hour notice). 

I would like to make one last note.  The seller does need to leave.  It is very uncomfortable to look at someone's home with the seller looking on.  I have also found that they usually open their mouth and insert their foot. 

Please Mr. Seller make your home available to show.

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If you are buying or relocating to  Spring Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Spring please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com/springtexas.html and at Results Realty.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about The Woodlands.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Woodlands properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

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Please Mr. Seller make your home available to show.

For a VERY HOT July evening (we have been beating heat records in Houston) we had somewhere between 3500 to 5000 people show up for our North Houston - The Woodlands July 2nd Independence Tea Party.  We had to change the venue from our Tax Day Tea Party as we were so successful with that tea party we had to find a new place to go.  We ended up at the Lonestar Expo Center in Conroe TX.  It ran from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM and we had a fun educational evening.  It was again a peaceful gathering to unite our voices and express our love for this great nation we live in.  We had speakers such as our own local Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, Joe "the Plumber"Wurzelbacher  and a surprise visit from General Patton.

I'm not for sure on this but it is my understanding that our next Tea Party will be on September 12th, 2009.  If you would like to get involved or just find out more about the North Houston Tea Party please visit their website at www.thewoodlandsteaparty.org.  

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If you are buying or relocating to Spring Texasand need help from a professional REALTOR®, Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332.

If you would like information about Spring please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com/springtexas.html and at Results Realty. The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about The Woodlands. If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Woodlands properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

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Picture taken by Tarina Peterson all rights reserved.

The Spring Klein Chamber of Commerce had their first massive Ribbon Cutting on June 25th 2009 at Fred Haas Toyota.

In attendance were:

• Fred Haas Toyota-Ronnie Bernal & Lydia Faria (Hosted event)
• Shorco Enterprise - Linda Flores
• Edward Jones - Lucas P. Sealy
• AFLAC - Joseph Toth & Siboney Trevino-Toth
• Send out Cards - Carol R. Baker
• Results Realty - Marchel Peterson
• Texas Home Group Realtors - Terry & Lon McDougle
• Centry 21 - Robert Harris
• The Tomball-Spring Times - Toni Richard

Guest - International Bank of Commerce - Mehreen Khan & Tracy Bhatnagar & Marie Guidry

The Spring Klein Chamber recently celebrated their one year anniversary.  The Chamber decided to have one giant ribbon cutting for anyone who wanted to attend; to kick off their ribbon cutting ceremonies. To schedule a ribbon cutting please contact our ribbon cutter co-ordinator Siboney Trevino-Toth.   

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If you are buying or relocating to  Spring Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Spring please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com/springtexas.html and at Results Realty.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about The Woodlands.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Woodlands properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

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One of the things I love about living in Spring TX are the wonderful day trips you can take. I will have to be honest this particular day trip was taken by our daughter but after seeing her pictures we are planning on making the trek. Our daughter went to Brazos Bend State Park with a Houston Photography group.

She had so many pictures this is going to be part 1 in a series. I think I could call this one Birds and Water Lilies.

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If you are buying or relocating to  Spring Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Spring please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com/springtexas.html and at Results Realty.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about The Woodlands.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Woodlands properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

Subcribe in a reader 

Picture taken by Tarina Peterson all rights reserved.

On Friday I posted a very photogenic photo of Dundy.  I could not resist on Speechless Sunday posting this photo of Dundy after his bicycle run.  My husband and son take turns taking Dundy for a bicycle run.  We are fairly sure he is half Golden and half Border Collie and the Border Collie part has a LOT of energy.  They ride the bike and Dundy runs along on his leash.  When they get over to the trail they let Dundy run and as you can see he finds every puddle he can.  That black color at the bottom is all dirty dog.  His actual coat is that top color. If you would like to see his beautiful coat please check out my Foto Friday post.

He is a rescue from Golden Beginnings Golden Retriever Rescue and as I said on Friday I just don't think you can go wrong with a rescue dog or for that matter a rescue cat.  They know  they have been rescued and make GREAT pets.

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If you are buying or relocating to  Spring Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®,  Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Spring please visit my websites at http://agentwithresults.com/springtexas.html and at Results Realty.  The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about The Woodlands.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Woodlands properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Click the button to the left to search our local MLS.

Subcribe in a reader

As most of you know Dundy is our new rescue dog from New Beginnings Golden Retriever Rescue.   We are TOTALLY enjoying him.  Over our almost 33 years of marriage we have had two rescue dogs and two pure bred dogs and those rescues just KNOW that they have been rescued.  He was here to greet our son when he got out of Iraq and now that he is out of the Army they have way bonded.  He also LOVES our sons girlfriend. 

That cute Golden face got him in to the Golden rescue but we are fairly sure he is half Border Collie.  It makes for a great combination.  If you are thinking about adopting a dog please consider getting a rescue.  I don't think you will be disappointed.  They are the most devoted dogs!!

We had an extraordinarily good speaker at our Tomball Business and Professional Women luncheon.  Her name is Linda Talley and being a body language expert she spoke on "Non-Verbal Etiquette for the Business Woman". As I said this was a ladies group so her talk was geared for businesswomen.  I thought about usina a title of "Women REALTORS® smile too much".  You will need to watch the video below to get the full answer to that.  

I have heard this before but verbal communication makes up 7% of all communication and non verbal makes up the other 93%.  We spend so much time focusing on what we are saying without spending time focusing on what we are saying with our body language.  We also have to remember that we may be reading what our clients are saying but they are also reading what we are saying. 

She started out talking about how we stand.  We probably all know that we need to be careful crossing our arms as it is stand offish.  She said to stand with your hands by your side and your feet in the A position.  She called this a power standing position.   When you are introducing yourself a very powerful position is to put your hands in the steeple position.  She recommended standing holding on to something which could be a wall with your hand on your hip.  She said to be careful you did not go in the female fig leaf position with one hand on your desk and the other hand by your side.

At this point she went in to handshakes.  She had us shake hands with a neighbor.  We were then to look and see where our thumb was.  If our thumb is on top it means we want to be the dominant person.  She recommended that ladies always extend their hand first.  She said this was important especially for men over the age of 45 as they were often taught not to touch a lady.  She also said if a man squeezes our hand too hard then we have permission to squeak.

She next talked about women sitting.  When men sit they take up a lot of room so our challenge is to take up as much room as we can.   She said to put your arms on the armrest and gently rest them there to take up more space. You always want to turn your chair to a 45 degree angle so you are not confrontational.  If there is a door you want to turn your chair so you can see the door. 

Women like to smile more than men so when talking to men she said we need to be careful that we don't smile too much; otherwise they think we are agreeing with everything they say.She thought this was especially important for REALTORS®.  At this point she was looking for the REALTORS in the group.  Since I was making a video I was hoping there was another REALTOR in the group but no such luck and she caught me smiling as you can see in the following video.

She gave some tips on walking away.  Most important when walking away you want to be very careful that you don't straighten your panties.  She said just let them be bunched up.  You just walk away and don't mess with anything.  Now this is a gal problem but she did mention if she was talking to guys she would be talking about a different guy problem.  As you reach the door turn back around and make some parting remark such as "talk to you on Tuesday etc". You want them to remember your face not your panty line.  We need to be careful we don't turn around and give them a Princess Diana look. 

She gave a gentle reminder that as soon as we get in to our car we are on the platform.  You just never know who may be watching you.  I recently was having an around the house day and ran to the grocery store thinking I could get in and out without seeing anyone as it was an odd time.  You would know it I saw a builder friend that I had not seen in ages.  The entire time we are talking I can't think about anything but how awful I look.  This one hit home with me!!

She ended with a story about a caterpillar and a butterfly.  So which do you want to be?

For more information about Linda Talley you can visit her website at http://www.lindatalley.com/. 

We The People Salute Our Founding Principles! Please join us on Thursady July 2nd 2009 for a The Woodlands-North Houston Independence T.E.A Party. In preperatin for your July 4th weekend come to the Lone Star Expo Center at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Conroe TX. In Celebration of our Independence and to maintain our independence the tea party is taking place from 5:00 to 9:00 PM but you may come and go at any time during that time period.

It will be again be a peaceful gathering to unite our voices and express our love for this great nation we live in and the principles it was founded on.  You won't want to miss hearing Joe "the Plumber"Wurzelbacher and our own Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale.

Thursday, July 2   5-9 pm - Lone Star Expo Center

9055  FM 1484, Conroe, TX  77303 

Join us for one rock-solid evening of inspirational speakers voicing your  tea party issues, powerful entertainment, a tribute to our nations' enduring Founding Documents, and YOUR PROTEST SIGNS! 

~ Special Prizes for Best Protest Signs! ~

Featuring

Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale

Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher

Apostle Claver

Special:  PRESERVE OUR HEALTH CARE Hour with

 Dr. Clare Gray and Dr. Donald May  

Patriotic Entertainment by

American Idol Finalist Will Makar

Jennifer Grassman

Live  Band "The Anointed"

Plus!   The "Freedom Ride" Cowboys on Horseback

Plus!   More!  To be announced

BONUS!   Pre-Tea Party VIP Event! 

MEET JOE THE PLUMBER - PRIVATE RECEPTION

pre-registration via The Woodlands Tea Party Society website required, mandatory donation applicable

3:45 pm   Lone Star  Expo  Center Horseshoe Club

For more information about meeting Joe the Plumber go to the this facebook page.

If you would like to get involved with planning the event there is still time.  Please go to this facebook page for more information about the event.  You may also visit the website at http://www.thewoodlandsteaparty.com/ or email at thewoodlands.teaparty@gmail.com.

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If you are buying or relocating to The Woodlands Texasand need help from a professional REALTOR®, Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332.

If you would like information about The Woodlands please visit my websites at http://www.agentwithresults.com/ and at http://www.resultsrealtytx.com/. The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about The Woodlands. If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Woodlands properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

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So what do you do when it is just too hot to go outside?  Dundy has figured out the answer you take a nap with your teddy bear.

If you are buying or relocating to Spring Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®, Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332.

© Marchel Peterson. All photographs and/or written content produced by Marchel Peterson. All rights reserved and may not be reproduced or reprinted without express written permission of Marchel Peterson, owner/broker of Results Realty.