Trey's Blog: August 2008

I just got through mowing the front yard and my clothes are completely soaked. It is hot!! And sweaty! and in exactly 3 hours I will be sitting in The Zone at Kyle Field watching the opening kickoff of the Texas Aggie football season against Arkansas State. Now The Aggies have a new coach that has been fairly quiet about things. We all have big hopes for him and the team. So let's cross our fingers and wish the Texas Aggies  a great opening game. Gig-em! By the way I am taking my son, a devout Texas Longhorn fan, to the game.....I am quietly working on a conversion. It is a slow and sneaky process.. Very soon though the Aggie spirit will overcome him!  He will not be able to resist!;0)

Yes most of the air pollution problems occurred during the 1980's probably because Billions of cans of hair spray were used during that period. Also millions of bottles of antacids, aspirins, and other headache pills. And Those of us in the real estate industry that managed to survive, for the most part , did so with just the clothes on our backs. 

But..... if you did manage to scrape out a living during the 80's,  you probably learned a lot of valuable lessons.  You probably learned, out of necessity,  to think out of the box.   You learned to be creative in your advertising and your merchandising. You learned to quit waiting around for the phone to ring and you simply picked up the phone ( on a real regular basis) and made the daily calls and follow up callls that you had to make. And you actually knocked on a few doors. You just did whatever it took to make something happen. It took a lot of perseverance and patience.

Now mind you,  for the most part these calls were made on land lines, yes old fashioned phones...so if you had to call long distance you made your calls quick and to the point. You had to leanrn top notch salesmanship.

We are sales persons and can no longer depend on anything to fall in our laps in real estate. Now more than ever it would be a good time to look back and see what those agents did to survive the 80's. We would all be surprised how many of the techniques used then ...still are effective today.

Have a ver Prosperous week

www.treythurmond.com

Over the last few years I have become involved with a wildlife management organization. As a member of this group I have really been able to learn some very valuable information to help in obtaining wildlife exemptions, and to just maintain good management practices. All has been in the hope of having more quality wildlife. At our home just a few miles east of Hearne , Texas I have been able to increase the size and quantity of our heard. And as a side benefit we can watch the young ones mature.

This week due to speeders on the highway in front of our home we lost two of the three deer fawns living on our place. That is 2/3's of the total fawns this year.  We live on a dangerous deadmans' 'S" curve but many drivers don't mind the signs...they  drive 80 in a 55 zone and don't blink an eye.

Yep the students are back in town. All you had to do was take a drive down University Drive , Texas Ave., or any other major street in Bryan or College Station this week and you realized that the traffic had doubled overnight. Yep it is fender bender time again.

Don't get it wrong....I love our Aggie and Blinn College Students. Without them I may not have survived this long in business.

They buy lots of food, gas and Real Estate! Yea Aggies.  Now go tell mom and dad you need a new condo or house to share with some roomies. Go on ...do it! :)

www.treythuimond.com

For years we have cautioned against the mostly unprofitable and sometimes downright foolish  practice of  dropping and running, to show real estate. We have cautioned against it for a number of specific reasons.

1.To drop everything  and  to run and show a property to  a complete stranger, of whom you know very little about, is certainly  unsafe to say the least.

2. To drop and run without knowing a thing about that individuals qualifying ability is very risky and can result in untold heartaches and headaches.

3.To drop and run and delay another less exiting and rudimentary task, just because it is so, in favor of a a Very Big Maby Buyer is not very logical.

Do you Drop and Run?

I have really learned to appreciate the adjustable monitor screenon my little Cannon Powershot  camera. It takes you back to the days of "Box" Type cameras. Anyone remember those square little black box cameras with a shutter lever on the side?  And you held them at waist level and looked at a mirror image of what you were photographing.  Then you hand wound the film.

Well the neatest thing about the adjustable LCD monitor screen is you can pivot the screen in all kinds of ways with its universal jointed hinge, enabling you to shoot pictures looking up without having to crouch down or lay on the ground in an uncomfortable manner..  I really love this feature!

This shot of my beautiful wife was taken with the camera at waist level, moving at 30 miles an hour in a boat!

Each day I learn more and more about the advantages of modern digital cameras. As agents we should learn all we can on using these wonderful tools at our disposal. Photos do more than anything to help us in marketing.

Have a prosperous week! 

www.treythurmond.com

We wish we could get up to the family place at Lake Limestone more often. It is always so restful and fun.  It was our son's Birthday so we met him and a couple of his close friend for a short little one day vacation this weekend.  We took about a one hour boat ride in an amazingly fast new boat our son's friends own.

The water was exceptionally calm this weekend so the ride was  very smooth also. 

Lake Limestone is a very conveniently located in the triangle between Houston, Austin , and Dallas. Rolling terrain, green pastures  and lovely trees  surround this beautiful lake. 

www.treythurmond.com

I know it is popular to specialize in a particular area or type  of real estate, and probably is a smart move for agents both professionally and financially.  You know,  I have tried to specialize in several areas of real estate through the years including new homes, elegant homes, country estates, land, lots, commercial....the list goes on and on.  

Well,  after 30 yearsof being involved in real estate sales ... I have come to a final decision as to what I have chosen to be my specialty in real estate. So here it is ....remember this has taken 3 decades to decide...so the decision hasn't been an easy one...  Here it is:   I have decided to just specialize in real estate. Yep....just real estate... because that is what I have been doing all along and loving every minute of it.

I know, I know.  Many of you say you can't do well if you don't pick one area of real estate  and do your very best at it.  I agree. You are mostly correct.  I even tell new agents in training this very thing.. But I will say I always try to do my best no matter what the type of property, I personally work with.   Doesn't matter what it is ..If I commit to help someone....... I take it seriously. I will help.

 I have sold the smallest of homes  

                                                                                 and some pretty large homes too.

And I suppose I will keep operating this way until I retire one day .....but for now ....whatever you have to sell or buy I will help.

www.treythurmond.com

Yesterday was the second in a series of meetings in College Station, Texas called Coffee With The Mayor.  I attended yesterdays meeting and it quickly became apparent by the makeup of the audience who in our community is most concerned about where College Station was headed.  Of the seventy or so in attendance, not counting city staff employees probably 95% were either builders, developers, or real estate agents.The mayor is hoping by holding these brief sessions that the public will discuss in a civil forum, issues of concern to the community.  But again ....by simply observing the makeup of the audience its obvious what issues are at the forefront.

I discussed in an earlier blog the pending move to adopt a Tree Ordinance. This topic hit the floor running again in yesterday's meeting, but ended up quickly converting to a broader topic.   PROPERTY RIGHTS

Some pretty eloquent spokesmen came forward and expressed to the mayor where they see the city headed...and it is not what the real estate community sees as something good for their industry or the city as a whole. Several members of council want to mirror Austin, Texas in terms of growth and development and government. Those present...... quickly , civilly, but adamantly expressed to the mayor that this is not Austin , Texas.  The trees, the people, the culture, the geography, and even the soil are all different. DUH!!!   Texas A&M University   and the University of Texas  are as different as night and day.

It will now be interesting to see if the 3rd meeting with the mayor heads in a different direction, as the first and second both ended up with the focus on property rights. I applaud those who showed for the meeting and cared enough to express themselves.

As one citizen stated and I summarize only:  The city must apply the brakes in this transitional period and take time to study proposals, not just randomly and hurridly implement them. 

Our company is a member of the local home builders association. Yesterday several of our agents had a chance to pick up their shotguns and participate in a home builders skeet shoot. I won't say who, but a couple of them have slightly blue shoulders as they practiced a few days in advance.  Those shoulders may be bluer today!

All in all it was a fun event and several participated in some fine eating in addition to the skeet shoot.These events are a great way for builders and agents to get to know each other a little better

Have a prosperous week!