Gary Woltal - Assoc. Broker REALTOR® SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

I had a discussion with a friend at lunch about truth in people and their behavior. He reminded me that "Everyone Lies." I thought that was a sad commentary on all of us but true to a lesser or greater degree depending how we live our lives. But there are

Strengths To Being Genuine.

In real estate we should be upfront about a listing price for a home to properly market it and attract offers. Men and women together often put on fronts till they get to know one another better.

So what are some possible strengths with wearing the minimum number of masks in our lives or if we could only wear one and just be ourselves?

• Being genuine, people don't have to figure out who the real you is. YOU is YOU. What you show is what is real. Real is good.
• There is less pressure on you. No need to keep remembering the "correct" lie or fake you
• You can definitely lead a more peaceful life being genuine
• Your alignment of our inside and your outside gives you a sense of harmony, or correctness with the universe of who you are suppose to be to others
• Finally, your sense of oneness, that who you say you are and who you are, that synching up of the two, gives you high self-esteem

All great reasons to try and be as genuine in all the things you do in life as you can. It is not easy. Look at the pressure for success, status or even beauty for women (as seen in this video). I think at age 92 we accept the wrinkles and the loose skin and probably can really laugh at a tool such as Photoshop. Much younger, who knows, photoshop on business cards or Botox, maybe it just makes us feel better inside. Wouldn't it be nice to accept others and especially accept ourselves just as we are? Sure would be a better world if we did.

               A little Makeover

In both real estate and in life

Timing Isn't Something It is EVERYTHING.

Why start painting on the inside of an elderly lady's home when she has not moved out yet? Why rush to take buyers out looking at houses when they are not qualified? Why get the loan for the mortgage "approved" when you don't have the appraisal yet?

In life, when preparation meets opportunity it is called luck, but it is more about timing. Don't rush into marriage till you know the other person. Don't take a job over your skill level till you are trained. Don't buy the big screen TV till you can afford it. Look at that big bear in nature. HE KNOWS when that rainbow trout will be there.

Opportunities and experiences we can grasp or they can pass us by too, never to be able to capture them again. The proverbial once in a life time moments. With timing it is a feeling kind of thing with us drifting through life, and you have to know to grab it or let it go. This song talks about those special LOVE moments, so please grab those with your good timing.

It's ALL about good timing.

                     Dance

Can we discuss being underwater in your house?

Underwater is fun in your swimming pool, diving around. NOT FUN in your house being upside down, or underwater, where what you OWE on your loan is MORE than what the house is worth. NEGATIVE EQUITY !! You feel like you are drowning.

New second quarter numbers out of researchers CoreLogic showed some "improvement" in my North Texas area of rates of houses with negative equity situations.

Dallas ws 14% of homes and Ft. Worth was 13.5% of homes, the whole DFW area IMPROVING from a year ago at 30.45%. The state of Texas comes in at 11.3%.

What about your area? Why do you need to care about this if you ARE STILL ABOVE WATER? Negative equity drives foreclosures and impedes the market recovery. Those areas with the highest negative equity have the biggest problem with foreclosures and getting housing back on track. Nationwide nearly 5 million borrowers are in severe negative equity situation. The reports say they owe a STAGGERING $766 billion more than their houses are worth. What areas are doing the worst and doing the best? Top five in each category:

WORST

• Nevada 68.7%
• Arizona 50.0%
• Florida 45.4%
• Michigan 38.0%
• California 32.8%

BEST

• Oklahoma 5.8%
• New York 7.1%
• Pennsylvania 7.3%
• North Dakota 7.4%
• Montana 7.7%

More than the raw numbers, look at the trends and see if your area is improving. A sign of getting out of the woods.

Do you ever visit bowling alleys or these fun entertainment centers with all these arcade games? i am convinced the life of a real estate agent mimics one of these fun games quite closely. Think of it. Problems coming out of the blue. Fast and furious. ALL kinds of problems. Appraisal too high. Home inspection failed. Death in family of the buyer. The pool has a crack in it and is now leaking water. The loan fell through. The seller wants to take the gaudy backyard fountain with him that the buyer fell in love with. Mineral rights? Who gets the mineral rights? It is so fun to watch each and every transaction develop and go through the 192 pieces of paperwork necessary to sell a house to a buyer.

Yep, those real estate agents are real magicians it seems

in knocking out those problems as they POP UP.

You might think that

REALTORS Are Whack A Mole Champions In Disguise

In negotiation of any kind or even just plain ARGUING with another party real estate or life, sometimes you find yourself digging a hole. They call it an argument devolving, meaning unraveling. You are going backwards from where you started.

The First Step To Coming Out Of A Hole Is To Stop Digging

We have heard this in financial terms with not adding any more debt to get cash flow positive again. But the same thing in negotiation with an argument. Do not keep piling on to the other side with MORE things you disagree with. The key way out of DIGGING THE HOLE is just to let the other side speak. They may end up throwing their hands up and walk away from you anyway. Don't nit pick each point they make refuting them. If ONE side will just be quiet for awhile, the digging may just stop. If both sides keep digging, you're making a VERY BIG HOLE.