Gary Woltal's Blog

Handling Obnoxious Clients With Notes From A Dead Man

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:19:13 -0500

I was reading over the weekend about handling obnoxious clients with various techniques and possibly avoiding obnoxious people in your life in business and personal altogether. I say strive for the latter if at all possible. Who needs the negative energy derived from impolite, inconsiderate, ill mannered people? But take note of

Handling Obnoxious Clients With Notes From A Dead Man.

Randy Pausch, Carnegie Mellon professor who died of pancreatic cancer in his Last Lecture stated this about the difficult people in life. When people piss you off you haven't given them enough time. Wait long enough and they will impress you.

In other words think with these obnoxious characters they are just not developed as far along as you spiritually, mentally, or emotionally in life. Kind of sad for them, a great take on blessings the way you are, but just realize we are all at different points in our development. Gives you GREAT perspective and perhaps a little understanding toward them that just maybe you didn't have before.

BTW, the Last Lecture is old hat on the Internet now but if you never saw it here is the abbreviated link.

Everyone Thinks They Have One More Day

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:59:15 -0500

This must be the season for celebrities dropping like flies from our midst. I've observed that

Everyone Thinks They Have One More Day.

Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Steve McNair. Like dominoes falling so does death and the Grim Reaper come to us at his own choosing. It is a great lesson to live in the moment, loving richly, living fully, NEVER taking for granted that tomorrow may come, hopeful yes, but not GUARANTEED for any of us. Struggle mightily as I do as a writer I offer to get this point across better with a story and a song.

AROUND THE CORNER

Around the corner I have a friend
In this great city that has no end,
Yet days go by and weeks rush on
And before you know it the year is gone.

And I never see my old friend's face
For life is a swift and terrible race,
Yet he knows I like him just as well
As in the days when I rang his bell
And he rang mine.

We were younger then,
Now we are busy tired men,
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.

Tomorrow I'll say I'll call on Jim,
Just to show I'm thinking of him,
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And the distance between us grows and grows.

Around the corner, yet miles away,
Here's a telegram sir; Jim died today.
And that's what we get, and deserve in the end;
Around the corner a vanished friend.

One More Day

Speechless Sunday - Not Rid Of Me Yet With Still A Leg To Stand On

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:35:29 -0500

Fourth of July Is More Than About Betty Boop

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:45:15 -0500

At this time of year we celebrate our independence as Americans, the founding of a new Republic, the likes and accomplishments which the world has never seen before amidst the grilled hot dogs, family get togethers, and fireworks displays. But shouldn't

Fourth of July Be More Than About Betty Boop?

OK, that is a stretch for a title or a thought! But the day is about our FREEDOM. It is about our country's laws and freedoms of the land like speech, religion, unlawful search, right to vote, right to not be discriminated against, right to bear arms, right to worship, right of public assembly, etc.

But this year why not also think about "personal freedoms?"

Expand your mind. What more in your life would you like to be more free with or of? Don't be a "prisoner" of your mind.

How about financial freedom? Freedom from a bad habit? What about the freedom to adapt to a new line of work you are interested in? Freeing yourself of what you are living in as far as housing or where you are living, the setting?

You are writing your own life story. The pen is in your hand on a blank sheet of paper here at mid year 2009. Why don't you "freely" start writing down where you are going over the next year or so. Your life could look ENTIRELY different five years from now, FOR THE BETTER. Contentment where you are at is good. But for all of us we do have this tremendous capability to improve always and not settle that we have ARRIVED and are just putting our feet up on the porch!

This year embrace even more your personal freedom to take your life in the direction you want it to go.

Happy 4th Everyone!!

Reaching That I Don't Care Stage In Life

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:02:47 -0500

My good friend and fellow Texan prolific writer and Broker/Owner here in the Rain Loreena Yeo recently wrote a thought provoking piece on achievement called Is a balanced life a mediocre life? It made me think about myself that I was

Reaching That I Don't Care Stage In Life.

Not turning into an old fart, but that my focus had shifted not soley on success but to significance. Hey, if you plan on living to age 100 like George Burns you need to quit worrying about your elders. You'll outlive them all anyway. Start taking up riding motorcycles, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, and working on that "bucket list" of the 100 things to do before you die.

Life is much more than about monetary success. We have to define our own meaning of success. With hitting a certain age the don't care attitude doesn't have to do with shirking responsibilty to your family or contributing to society. Significance has to do with what is important to you NOW and what you VALUE.

You do get this been there done that feeling at some point with large houses, new cars, more money in the bank this year than last, etc. There is a yearning that there is MORE to life than just that. MUCH MORE.

You become this advanced critical thinker. I see it in how fast I dismiss the majority of emails with offers, or telemarketers that constantly hawk goods I have no need for or want to take up my time.

I think balance is essential to PEAK PERFORMANCE. The Don't Care attitude is like a BIG NO STOP SIGN or a hot knife slicing through butter of ALL THE THINGS that are just not important to you. At least not important to you NOW.

Have you ever noticed with home buyers there are some exiting the BIG HOUSE and downsizing perhaps to say condos? There is a reason for that besides just maintenance, more amenities, convenience to work, etc. It is again that been there done that philosophy. The newly acquired I DON'T CARE attitude toward the old choices.

Don't feel bad about I DON'T CARE.

Even with the Superwoman model, many have told me you can't really do it all. Superwoman R.I.P. They just don't care about that anymore.

It actually is a very progressive attitude. And if you have it I will probably see you out on the wide open born to be wild spaces. What will you be doing when I catch up to you at age 100? You'll be riding a Harley. Oh and BTW, you'll be exceeding the speed limit.

Candy Canes In July Mean You Should Wake Up

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:32:47 -0500

Many of us in real estate wrap up our transactions and then take a brief respite away for the Fourth of July holiday. Everyone is so busy all the time, the break is good. But do you know

Candy Canes In July Mean You Should Wake Up?

I see these Christmas in July events and sales. Check the calendar. Less than six months of shopping days left. It illustrates to me cycles and also the swift passage of time. Friends tell me, where did those last ten years go? Life they say is a vapor, moving along.

Enjoy each day, but above all wake up, and make the MOST of each day you are given.

And keep a smile on your face, HO HO HO !!!

You Are The Least Of My Brother's Keeper

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:15:15 -0500

I have to continue to marvel how I don't see the world the way everyone else does. That must be my contribution to the planet somehow. Resident contrarian. Someone perhaps you want on your team just to give you the perspective of the "rest of the story." I have been reading several posts of who is on all the Social Networks by age and demographics, and if we should be on them, and what value they are to our business. But I see a whole class of buyers that for them Social Networks are very much not a great concern, or even a thought going on in their lives. They have much GREATER things to worry about.

Did you know that

You Are The Least Of My Brother's Keeper?

This is the handicapped class of buyers of course, and clientele you work with. The more proper term is challenged or those with disabilities. The proper selection of wording with someone with a disability is critical to not generating negative emotion and to show respect. They are not worrying about Facebook and Twittering, they are working very hard to make it through the day and be a happy and fully functioning human being that contributes to the world.

With many with disabilities, those of us in real estate need to apply huge doses of understanding and patience.

Are you aware of the MANY types of disabilities?

Performing Manual Tasks
Breathing
Learning
Working
Walking
Bathing
Seeing
Shopping
Speaking
Hearing

In the Intellectual area we have Downs syndrome and other learning disability situations.

In the senior age class of over 65 which from the 2006 census was estimated at 37.9 million people, did you know that 50% have a disability limitation of some sort?

And by age 75, 7 of 10 have a disability.

For many in the senior category there is a sense of living in a dial world with iPhones all around them. There is no wonder sometimes the world seems like it is moving too fast.

We as excellent communicators need to speak clearly, ask for clarification when necessary, and above all put ourselves in another's shoes.

The reality of what is going on is we all are "temporarily able-bodied" until it is our turn to come down with the disabilities in our life as part of the natural process of aging.

So when those among us are too hard on certain classes of people for not getting on board with Social Networking it seems to be a very squinty eyed narrow minded point of view. We in society are not all the same.

People also can go through a grief process with losing various faculties and may be in an anger or unhappiness state when you come upon them. Once again, the call for patience with them. Don't take it personal.

Be good with people you encounter who are different than you and who are struggling. Give them your smile. Learn techniques like sign language for the hearing impaired.

Push someone's wheel chair. Compliment their seeing eye dog. Rush over and get their cane for them when they are standing up from the dining table. It is not all about Twittering and Facebook. It is about connecting with people where they are in their life journey today.

The least of our brothers need us NOW more than ever. Be there for them. Remember, if you live long enough, you will be there someday too. And what goes around comes around.

Seeing Past The Mess Just Doesn't Happen

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:57:06 -0500

One thing in previewing homes for sale for buyers or in listening to sellers who want to skip the step of decluttering or staging a home properly for sale that many don't understand is

Seeing Past The Mess Just Doesn't Happen.

It all has to do with your COMPETITION. A move in ready home priced equally or higher, that is neat as a pin, staged properly, no socks on the floor or charcoal bags or frogs floating in the algae laced pool, just comes across as that is the home they want. Not yours with the dirty plates all over the sink area.

Why people don't see this as common sense I don't know?

There is this thought that people know you will clean up before you move out and they can continue to be there messy selves until the place is sold. Somehow they need the disconnect that their lived in home is now a "product" and not just where they are living now. PLUS, that competition factor with other better staged and cleaned up homes.

And BTW, you may as well go take the for sale sign out of the front lawn if any "smells" are associated with your house like pet odor, or smells from smoking.

People do the biggest U-turn on houses with smells.

All common sense thoughts, but somehow the basics and the simplicity of it all escapes many.

Just a reminder to put your best face forward always otherwise why bother. You certainly don't need a Realtor or Stager in these instances.

Wordless Wednesday - I Told You I Don't Like Turnips

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:01:46 -0500

I Have That Exit Strategy Somewhere Here In My Bag

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:52:52 -0500

In working with commercial real estate investors oftentimes as part of the investment strategy we discuss exit strategy. You know, how long to you plan to own the business? How long do you want to own this income producing asset, etc.? And then how do you plan to dispose of it.

In our personal real estate careers, careers in general, and life overall, there are phases and you don't want to end up saying

I Have That Exit Strategy Somewhere Here In My Bag.

In other words, they and you, are essentially saying you are CLUELESS.

I'm here to tell you that it is all right. The first step in stopping being clueless is to know you are clueless. In today's busy world who has time for planning one step ahead even? Well you really should best you can. Life can throw all those detours and roadblocks in our way of course but if you put in your bag at least a small map of where you are going scratched out on a napkin the next time you are in Starbucks, you will be way ahead of the masses.

Think of the exit strategy as the point in time where where you are closing the one door and the next door (your plan) is where you are headed. There is a fun quote that says when one door closes the next one opens, which is all well and good but the hallways are bitches (pardon my French) <Smile>.

In life make time to plan, do it at the Starbucks, on your summer vacation, under the night sky, in your recliner with the TV off, but do take a little time to map out those exit strategies.

Oh, and by the way, there are some instances you don't have all day to plan your next step, and you have to think quick on your feet.

Like getting out of a speeding ticket <Smile again>.

My Kingdom To Find An Old Faithful In My Life

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:44:16 -0500

It amazes me my struggles with technology and what I call putting systems into three categories.

Very Frustrating, Frustrating, and Mildly Frustrating.

My Kingdom To Find An Old Faithful In My Life.

Reliability with technology, with systems, with people in my life is important to me. Why? I am an impatient sort naturally. I have many places to go and things to get done. Just today two WiFi hotspots didn't work as advertised and I pulled out the Aircard for slower yet more reliable connections. So much for speed. Then Active Rain takes about 15 minutes to connect to blogging sites with no connection or Proxy Errors. I'd give up on WiFi sites if I had a 4G Aircard. I'd give up on Active Rain if a social network was ten times more reliable.

Reliability in ANYTHING in life is like a trusted friend. You want clockwork. Keep the trains running. Be on time if you say you will be there at that time. We are talking our precious life and efficiency here. Is that so hard to do? Apparently it is. Patricia Kennedy here in the Rain has told me my IQ points will go up dramatically if I ever buy a MacBook. I am convinced she is right.

So I have a quest with technology to at best be less frustrated as the gold standard.

Be an Old Faithful as a person to others and seek out all other Old Faithfuls in every area of your life.

Speechless Sunday - There's No Place Like Mom

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:15:23 -0500

Reach Out And Touch Someone Requires Three Things

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:29:11 -0500

The phone company years ago had an ad campaign to promote the use of their expensive service of long distance with a slogan, "Reach out and touch someone." With the use of free cell minutes on the weekend nowadays kind of seems like dinosaur times. But it was about warm and effective communication with those we choose to connect.

Reach Out And Touch Someone Requires Three Things.

1. Caring. You first have to want to connect, caring about the other person beyond them being a stranger. This is a conscious decision.

2. Energy. No doubt this is true. You have to pick up the phone, type the email, meet them for coffee, reach over and shake their hand or hug them. No tired people allowed for connection.

3. Active Listening. Once touching someone you go into one mouth two ears mode and PAY ATTENTION to verbal and non-verbal expressions. Then talk back based on THAT.

Reaching out and touching someone with these three things in mind makes the world such a better place to live in. ONE PERSON AT A TIME!!

Take One Of These And See Me In The Morning

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:18:08 -0500

A Century 21 agent many years ago at one of those Career day events / Local office meetings imparted this advice to me

Take One Of These And See Me In The Morning.

I said what? She said Realtors are like these Big Ol Aspirin to their clients. They are invaluable. They basically keep addressing all the pain that can crop up during a buying or selling transaction. They relieve tension and can cool hot heads. They are comforting.

Think about it as it is so true. Huge Aspirin workers who serve you. They handle negotiations, set the stage for getting your property sold with the least hassle, have knowledge of the current contracts and paperwork to use, know many inspector, appraiser, Stager, loan, and handymen resources. With the For Sale By Owners being successful selling on their own approximately 13% of the time, eventually they find the BIG ASPIRIN that is a competent professional Realtor to assist with the pain.

Now maybe with chocolate as something that raises the endorphins and makes us feel good better than aspirin I will twist the story from the original that the lady told me about and say we Realtors are more like chocolate.

Chocolate is for lovers and if we are watching out for the best interest of our clients we are truly loving them.

Aspirin for alleviating the pain of the headache of a deal and chocolate for making everyone feel all warm inside when they have a successful sale or move into their dream home.

That's the ticket!!

Living A Rich Life Deserves Your Very Best

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:49:03 -0500

Do you know it has been estimated that 93% of all real estate deals are sold by 7% of the REALTORS? Isn't that astonishing? It pays to be the very best.

Living A Rich Life Deserves Your Very Best.

Who has an ambition in life to be mediocre? To be average? Just like everyone else?

Can we all be #1? No. But we can be BEST in our little world, our space we occupy. We must work at it of course, and never give up. Be the best, and live a rich life!!

Don't Let Too Much Of Your Life Be An Hourglass

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:34:09 -0500

I know I see the world differently than others and it has been either a curse or a blessing to me all along but I am in acceptance of me being me so there you have it.

With excess social media networking around us, mobile computing devices that are nearly as powerful as laptop PCs, and compact notebook PCs that can be untethered from land line Ethernet cords with wireless cards we are MORE connected than ever. A big gripe I have had with our time in loading and starting programs is the hourglass symbol, meaning waiting. So I observe

Don't Let Too Much Of Your Life Be An Hourglass.

Meaning our time in life is precious.

I think it is more than just balance in our lives between online time and offline time. It is making sure we don't head into a sickness state with too much connection, too much technology. How much time should we put into email, blogging, twittering at the expense of MORE important things in life? No one will die wishing they twittered more.

Examine the hourglass of waiting and using time with computers. Is it too much? If so limit it to something more reasonable. It will still be there for you some more tomorrow.

Remember you can never get time back once spent. Use it wisely.

A Stager's Secret Word

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:35:54 -0500

If you listen closely to the professional Stager's advice in getting a home ready for sale there is

A Stager's Secret Word.

Do you know what it it is? It is

DECLUTTER.

So often room by room, over time the owners have just collected too much "stuff." Decluttering in addition to cleaning everything makes all the world of difference in opening up the spaces. Cluttered feels very tiring to the eye. Decluttering is the start in a great staging job, but it is such the necessary first step.

Remove the personal touches like the refrigerator magnets and store the photos. Get rid of color clashing curtains or outdated patterned shower curtains. Clean up laundry baskets of unwashed clothes and socks on the floor. Get people to want to STAY in the rooms vs. feel their energy go down. They want to breathe in the hominess and that this new place could be theres. It all starts with organizing and DECLUTTERING!

Don't Leave Home Without It Extends Beyond Karl Malden

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:47:41 -0500

They had these memorable television commercials in 1975 where famed TV and movie actor Karl Malden would be hawking the benefits of when traveling on vacation making sure you brought along an ample supply of travelers checks. These financial instruments if lost or stolen, unlike cash, could be replaced and you would go on your merry way (all for a small fee of course). NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE (except when I buy you lunch LOL).

The key jingle or slogan that went with this advertising campaign related to signing up for these travelers checks was "Don't Leave Home Without It."

But did you know,

Don't Leave Home Without It Extends Beyond Karl Malden?

Think in Real Estate Agent's or Stager's lives. Surely you pack things in that briefcase or car before you hit the road that are "essential!!" What are they? How about

Purchase Contracts, Listing agreements, Agency notification, Disclosure forms
Bottled Water for hot summer days, Mallets for putting signs in the hard ground, helium for balloons for open houses
Toilet paper, paper towels, items for the kids in the car
GPS, maps of destination, how about a full tank of gas for those cranky all day long lookie loos
For stagers all their wide and diverse materials, possibly a before and after portfolio of work

Just curious,

WHAT ARE YOUR DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT ITEMS?

Do You Ever Feel You Need A Bigger Brain?

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:15:21 -0500

Do You Ever Feel You Need A Bigger Brain?

The brain for all of us in our real estate work, play, and simply keep us alive lives is truly amazing. But with the pace of information flowing at us, more people we meet, more knowledge around us, more social networks, more technology, I have concluded the problem is that word

More.

How much more can our brains absorb? Is there a limit to how much more "stuff" we can put in there? Don't we need a larger memory card or a faster processor update at some point. Or maybe stuff just starts falling out.

Are You A Flying Squirrel?

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:05:03 -0500

I think at some point in a real estate industry career and your life for that matter you have to ask yourself this fundamental question,

Are You A Flying Squirrel?

Despite this rather humorous photo that illustrates this post of a floating through the clouds rodent, do you know that flying squirrels really do exist? They are just different. Unlike "ordinary" squirrels that run up a tree then down, across the ground, and up the next tree, a "flying squirrel" goes about life a different way.

They are "out of box thinkers." They leap between trees, spread their hide and literally glide between the trees. They do not follow the normal patterns of doing things the way everyone else does them. Think of the Wright Brothers who were basically bicycle men in the days of horse and buggies. They tinkered with that winged contraption at Kitty Hawk till that gas engine finally lifted it off the ground and they "were doing something a different and BETTER way."

We need to examine our stale and staid ways from time to time and make that quantum leap to a better way of thinking, and a better way of living both in our careers and in our life. Different routes to a destination, better tools, a more ideally suited targeted client, ways to have richer, deeper relationships with people. Be a flying squirrel and soar and let the others look for the dried up acorns on the ground. You are better than that!

Wordless Wednesday - Help Arrives For The Toy Surprise In Every Box

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:38:39 -0500

Putting The Pieces Of The Sky Back In Place

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:03:02 -0500

Think of the next step of the real estate story as the sky. Right now you are missing a few parts of the jigsaw puzzle. You need to be

Putting The Pieces Of The Sky Back In Place.

Are REOs and short sales abating in your area? Are more investors starting to look at properties again? Is the sale of land especially waterfront and in hot development zones getting more interest in your market? As with any short term crystal ball reading, ask where is your market heading? Get a jump on the rest by preparing yourself to see the new picture.

So often in life the ones that are the best resources to people in fulfilling their needs and solving their problems put the puzzle together faster and more efficiently than the following herd.

Like early adopters are to new product acceptance, the quick puzzle solvers are the "visionaries" who figure out the newest trends before the masses catch on. Pay attention. Read what is going on locally. Be the puzzle master and your sky will always be happy and blue.

Life By Design Is Not As Hard As It Looks

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:18:36 -0500

It always amazes me in building real estate businesses or building a personal life of your own, that many don't grasp that

Life By Design Is Not As Hard As It Looks.

Does life throw detours and bumps in the road in front of us often? Sure. Can there be some limitations we have to work through like health and finances? Of course.

But the biggest limitation to embracing the abundance that is right there for our taking is: OUR MIND!

Do not think small.

Pretty much getting anywhere with your life design involves a plan. Get out a clean sheet of paper. Or go to a blank whiteboard and start sketching out the details of where you are now and where you would like to go.

Is a plan ever perfect? No. But you need to keep revisiting a plan to make sure it is the plan you want to follow. Often on our journeys our thoughts change if we even like that plan anymore.

But you will never feel that abundance unless you put in the work to get yourself out on that road.

With a plan it is not as hard as it looks. Saving for retirement, buying that next home, making a sound investment, opening up more time in your schedule for what you value most.

In order to sail that ship anywhere, first off you need a map and a compass, then the WILL to start heading that direction. Remember, you deserve ABUNDANCE!

REALTOR Speak ~ What They Really Mean

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:48:07 -0500

The description in the writeup and what they really mean---

* OLD WORLD CHARM - Has some woodwork, needs cleaning.

* CONTEMPORARY FEELING - Has no woodwork, needs cleaning.

* SECURITY SYSTEM - Neighbor has a dog.

* UPDATED KITCHEN - Sink no longer overflows.

* CONVENIENT - Located on freeway entrance ramp.

* MINT - Someone has spilled mouthwash on the carpet.

* NEUTRAL DECOR - No murals of nudes, or Elvis, but has brown walls.

* MOVE IN CONDITION - Front door missing.

* COZY - No room larger than 9 x 6.

* DELIGHTFUL RURAL LOCATION - In flight path of nuclear bomber base.

* EASILY MAINTAINED - Requires at least two gardeners and live-in maid.

* MUCH SOUGHT AFTER - It's been on the market at least twice before and still no one wants it.

* QUIET, SECLUDED SETTING - On site of a proposed fraternity complex.

* RARE OPPORTUNITY TO BUY - No one else wants it.

* WELL SITUATED - In full view of the neighbors.

* WITHIN EASY DISTANCE OF - Next door to a pub and opposite a sex shop.

Why The Blue Hair Lady Realtor May Be Going The Way Of The Dodo Bird

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:18:15 -0500

Growing up it was interesting watching the high flying lady Realtors. As a teenager I remember often the "real" Realtor lady never looked like the picture on the business card. I am starting to think

Why The Blue Hair Lady Realtor May Be Going The Way Of The Dodo Bird.

Nothing against blue haired ladies young or old. It is just a symbol for sticking with things the way they used to be and not moving with the times. Some of these blue haired ladies do not show you the house you want based on your criteria. Their virtual tours or video presentations are typically non-existent. They do not embrace social media like blogging to reach out and network and communicate with the masses, especially up and coming younger demographics.

Overall, it is an attitude of business as usual or business as of yesteryear. None of us want to turn ourselves into blue haired ladies. Unless we are making the big bucks as Cyndi Lauper.

Keep your skills fresh. Learn new techniques. Above all in any career in real estate learn the trends, stay up with the times and be OPEN MINDED. Your younger clients might actually dig that blue hair!