Trey's Blog: May 2008

Arthur L. Davilia Middle School

• Arthur L. Davila Middle School
• 2751 North Earl Rudder Fwy.
• Bryan, Texas 77803                                ph.979-209-7155
• Located adjacent to the Bryan Regional Athletic Center in Bryan ,Texas , just off the intersection Of Earl Rudder Freeway and Texas Ave North.
• A middle school for grades 6 -8
• Mascot :   Texans
• Enrollment 629
• A very handsome school  that will fill a great need in north Bryan, Texas!
• Named after the first Hispanic to be on the Bryan School Dist. Board of Trustees 1971-1984
• Principal: Chad Broussard

You know, I want one of these really badly!

We live on a hill where the breeze is always blowing.  I would like a cheaper water source, one that I can use to water our yard and gardens, and with out an increase in electric bill to pump it out of the ground. So I found out there is still a dealer in San Angelo, Texas! I was surprised.

Now the cost including drilling the well will be around $10,000 without a holding tank.. Does anyone know if that is reasonable?

Have a prosperous week! 

Trey 

www.treythurmond.com

I love homes with Character.  A home does not have to be expensive or necessarily any particular style to have character. And let's be clear .....character  is not the same as style.  And not unlike individual people, some homes have got it and others simply don't come close. 

Today while waiting for a client to come view an interesting little investment home in Bryan,  Texas , I found  out I was 30 minutes early, so I decided to just look it over and keep an open mind. This was a simple 50's masonry block home with steel framed casement windows and it rested on two lots with some nice trees and some overgrown flowerbeds.  This was a one owner home and had not been overly remodeled or damaged. It was just a sound older home in good overall condition.  But the most interesting thing was the more I investigated the more I warmed up to it. Little nooks with built-ins,  windows that actually worked, plus a    large bathroom with an old style commode that flushed like a Sherman Tank ...that baby was awesome , not the least bit shy. ;)

 A tidy kitchen with just enough room, kind of like June and Ward Cleaver's kitchen would have been. And the back yard had extreme potential. Plenty of room and lots of neat large stones for bordering the flowerbeds. Very little on this home had been abused.  It is a real Keeper and had character!   You could just feel it.  There was a huge sun room for the size of the home which probably had served a plant lover's purposes.  Sometimes big surprises come in little packages and this little home was one of those!

Have a prosperous week!

Trey

www.treythurmond.com

It has been a while since I have posted anything about Peepers our African Grey parrot. Anyone who has ever owned an African Grey knows all to well they are real "rascals."  Besides having a pretty large vocabulary our Mr. Peepers, is  a great musician, and about half  prankster too. I know he does a lot of what he does for attention, but what is occurring now has got to take the cake!

Now everyone knows parrots mimic. They mimic noise. Peepers mimics everything from our phone conversations to the beep made by the phone when you are dialing a number, to the beeping noise made by the microwave oven when it is finished cooking. And we would challenge anyone to differentiate the difference between the real Beep,  and Mr. Peep's Beep. It simply can't be done by humans. The beeps are identical!

Now here's the deal that I am perplexed over ......

Recently while seismic surveys were being conducted in our area, the blasting would trigger our smoke detectors to go off.  Apparently the house was shaking enough to push particles of dust around in the air.  Now, smoke detectors are set off by particles. (I never knew that until I asked an inspector.)   Anyway when one Alarm is triggered the other 4 alarms in our home fire off in a chain reaction triggering one another with a deafening echo like noise,  that will certainly raise the dead, which is the idea in case of fire.

Well , this went on for a few days . Every time they blasted for the seismic survey the detectors  went off. Now here's the deal.  Twice in the middle of the night recently they went off and there was no blasting going on.   And the batteries are all ok, and the machines are working fine.   Well while watching TV one night I heard a lone alarm signal, it was a little faint so I checked. It was coming from Mr. Peepers himself!  Well it wasn't quite the volume to activate the other 4 alarms but I know how loud he can get if he really wants to. That darn bird. Whenever he is playing the prankster, he gives me a look of "I got Ya" and follows up with a little chuckle.  I am just waiting for this to happen again. Nothing like jumping out of bed at 3:00 AM  to the sound of multiple alarms going off.  I am almost absolutely certain it is that darn parrot.

www.treythurmond.com  

In reading Charles McDonald's post about "Bottom Feeders", http://activerain.com/blogsview/518975/Bottom-Feeders......  I was reminded about the late night " How to Get Rich in Real Estate" shows.  Often they feature an interview  with a middle aged average couple, lounging in  the backyard of their second home in Hawaii or Tahiti.  In their past life they were struggling at hourly dead-end jobs. Then one night while sleeplessly tossing and turning , worried about their electric bill and college funds, they by chance turned on the TV  and there was that couple in Hawaii, and suddenly by some kind of miracle and within a year from that night they were the proud owners of 12 rent homes! Hallelujah!

You know , I can't tell you how many friends and contacts through the years have asked me about buying one of those schemes, and wanted to know what I thought about their validity and value since  of course I was a real estate professional expert type according to them.

My comment after smiling and chuckling:

"No you don't want to buy that program, you can go shopping with me for free."

I have always despised those shows . I feel they really take advantage of the unsuspecting and actually mislead investors about the real world. If it's too good to be true.....

Have a prosperous week!

Trey

www.treythurmond.com

Do you recognize this tree?

They are all over East and Central Texas and are usually found planted alongside most older homes on old farms. Often times they and other unusual trees like Catalpa trees are all that is left to identify an old homesite. They bloom prolifically and have large seed "pods" later in the season. They add nice texture and color  to a landscape and garden if there is room for them.  Do you know the name?

Have a prosperous Week!

www.robertsoncountyland.com

This is the second post about Cool Country Street Signs. The first one was a few weeks ago and featured an old Oak Tree. I had forgotenabout  this sign which I pass everyday going to and from work.. It has always been one of my favorite homemade street signs for sure. It is becoming a little worn, and the county has put up a modern regular county sign (Boring) just a few feet away ...but I still like this one way more! It is located at the intersection of Jack Rabbit Lane and FM 2549 in Robertson County, Texas a few miles south east of Hearne, Tx.           There are two rabbits, one on each end of the sign.

Have a marvelous Memorial Day!

Trey

www.robertsoncountyland.com.

Nothing can be more frustrating than for a very experienced succesful agent to lose a prospective listing to a brand new agent or a part time unknown agent.   Now ,  we all began our careers at one time and we all  had to learn how to scrap for a listing. Competition can be tough in the real estate business.  Experienced agents sometimes become complacent, and often assume they will get the listing.  I have made this mistake. It is absolutely necessary no matter how many years we have under our belt, that when working up a listing proposal that  we honestly take the time to review the  individual  property and  that it's value stands on its own merits.  And we can never stop selling ourselves in the whole process.

Have a prosperous Week!

www.treythurmond.com

                                                While reading and working on Active Rain tonight I  noticed I was just a tad under 90,000 points. It seems like yesterday I was at Zero.     Time really flies when your having fun!  I am so amazed at some of the top bloggers here on AR.  Not only do they turn out volumes of postings and comments on others, but they offer really helpful information. Just about everything you need to know about Real Estate and related businesses can be located on Active Rain.  I just hope some of what I have submitted can be helpful to others also.

Have A Prosperous Week !

Trey                                                        www.treythurmond.com

Celebrating 3 Decades of Service!

Whenever things get hectic around the office, or newer agents stress out over the ...unexpected , I usually  tend think back to the Floyd Wickman training I went through years ago .  Whenever things got tough for Floyd, he would casually reply "Hot dog, everythings's normal!"

You know this statement has helped guide me through some pretty rough transactions through the years. And I have tried to relay the simplicity of this statement to newer agents. Basically I think what Floyd ment... is that it does no good for either we as agents, or for our clients to be stressed out over difficulties that arise throughout the different stages of real estate transactions.  And it is particularly important that we do not appear to be overwhelmed , least our clients sense this and possibly misconstrue what is happening or feel "abandoned" by their agent. (The last thing we would ever want. )

Once at a closing I attended, the clients actually were about to get physical after verbally assalting one another.   I never will forget the look on the other agent's face . She turned pale and almost fainted. I really felt sorry for her, but everything worked out.  However, I don't think she spoke a word the rest of the day.   This was the extreme but some one had to take charge. By staying calm I was able to convince both parties to go ahead and close and forget their differences. 

Thanks for the lesson Floyd!

Have a prosperous week!

www.trethurmond.com