Galveston, TX

Murdochs in Galveston, Texas

With all the destruction that Galveston suffered from Hurricane Ike in September of 2008, it's great to see some of our seawall businesses come back over the water. Many shops were destroyed from the crashing surf, including the historic Balinese Room.

One of Galveston's most beloved is Murdochs, which was built in the 1800's and was known as Murdoch's Bathhouse.

It's nice to see Murdocks being rebuilt.

Opening is planned for spring 2010.

We've come a long way in one year, since the storm. Our island has been busier this year than it has in the last 5 years.

This photo below shows the place where the former Murdoch's once was located.

We are all glad to see the new construction, and know it will be back, as so many other "over the water" shops will be.

To Tweet or not to Tweet

I used to tweet.

I had amassed quite a few other tweeters.

I tried my best to get into tweeting.

I'm not sure of all the benefits of tweeting..but I do know it was hard to keep up with everything I was doing! I think I'm such a perfectionist, that if 30 minutes went by and I didn't tweet, then that was an incorrect tweeting so I was perplexed!

Is the appeal of twitter to let everyone know what

you're up to?...or is it to see what THEY are up to?...

I'm still perplexed. lol.

I guess someone should enlighten me on tweeting. I talk on facebook, I talk on myspace I blog and talk on activerain..I update and talk to my clients through my own website. I check email all day long. Should I also tweet?

I think I can chirp fairly well..maybe that will help. :)

Galveston Texas Beach Homes

Everyone wants a good deal. Everyone wants a wonderful, multi-decked beach home directly on the front row. Everyone wants this for about $100K.

I playfully say this, but in truth, it's sometimes a cruel reality for potential buyers of Beach Homes in Galveston, Texas to find out, that even post-Hurricane Ike, our market is still supporting pre-Hurricane Ike prices.

Most of our front row beach homes, which include homes in beaches such as: sea isle, jamaica beach, terramar beach, beachside village, kahala beach, sandhill shores, etc..all start at about $350K and go up to about 2M.

Most second-row and farther back homes, on the beach side of FM 3005/San Luis Pass, will start at about $250K. Sometimes homes are on the market slightly under $200K for a smaller home.

Understanding that real estate is always local, and understanding that Galveston Island is a tourism and investor oriented market determines our pricing.

Investor owned homes and condos in Galveston provide substantial income in vacation rental all year round. This "high season" has been the busiest season we've had on Galveston Island for the past 5 years; Hurricane...or not. We've been "packed."

As a Realtor that works exclulsively in Galveston; I would like to see the pricing lower just a bit for beach homes, knowing that most would sell much faster if the prices were lowered, but when looking at market price you have to take into account the potential income and return on investment for such a home. That is what supports our market prices.

Beach Homes in Galveston continue to be in high demand.

Keep in mind when searching for the perfect beach home in Galveston, that your property is located in a highly investor-oriented market and not a residential market. The land, the location, and the investment potential are primary over simply the structure itself.

Connected Yet Disconnected in Sales Today

We are all intensely connected at high speed for information, yet dramatically disconnected in true human interaction.

I can go back very far in my sales career to when I was just 17 years old and worked for a store called, Palais Royal at our local mall. We used what were called, "clientel books" and we'd keep track of our customers and what they liked and bought. We would send personalized note cards, call them when items they wanted would come into the store. When our customers walked in the door, we knew them by name and would open our books to refresh our memories of what their favorite brands were or particularly favorite items they usually bought.

My mother and I were talking this evening about one of her favorite businesses, called Curves. She loves to go there and "work-out" and she loves the business itself. She likes how they call her to remind her, or call her to thank her. They send personalized notes to her in the mail, and when she walks in the door they are friendly and very customer oriented. After the hurricane in Galveston, this business was wiped out. All their client base was gone, their store had to have everything replaced down to all the exercise equipment. They took the time and made the special effort to call each former client on the phone and personally invite them back for business. This kind of thing made an impression on my mother.
I sometimes affectionately refer to her as the "average typical consumer" because she is a good monitor to me of what the general public will like, do, appreciate and notice.

That brings me to what happened earlier today.

I had accidentally deleted my account on activerain so I sent an email to someone I saw was the community manager, Brad. I thought maybe he could help me figure out what I did to make that happen...all my friends know I "accidentally delete" a lot. haha. To my amazement, he took the time to actually call me on the phone and work with my account step by step to figure out why it happened, then he also took the time to give me pointers and tips and advice on things that will really benefit me in using the site, and also my own website. I thought that extra effort of personalizing that interchange ties in very nicely to what my mother later mentioned this evening.

In this day and age..everything is anonymous. It's disconnected. Everything is fast, very fast. Everything is also so impersonal that we aren't "vested" in things like we should be. Just like banking online, mortgage online, buying a car on ebay, anything we do now online...it's not personalized, it's detached.

I think going back to real customer service will make a come back. People will crave that salesperson that knows them in a department store. They will crave being able to call up a business and have someone answer the phone. People will also crave appreciation and the feeling of being valued as a customer. They want to be thanked for using a business.

In my opinion we should continue to utilize technology in sales to capture leads, to share valuable information, to advertise...but once those leads are captured, we need to go back to old-fashioned customer service.

I plan to keep this philosophy in my work in Galveston Real Estate.

It will make all the difference.

On the island of Galveston, Texas this week you will find Revival and Reflections, events to commemorate Hurricane Ike last September. The people who live on the island and the area as a whole have made great progress in putting their lives and their properties back together.

If you are at a point, like many, where the repairs on your home or property are complete or nearly complete, it is now time to consider your landscape. The saltwater that damaged or destroyed your plants may still remain in your soil. Consider having your soil tested if you have not done this already, to see if any nutrients need to be replenished, and what the level of salinity is.

Soil Testing form. For instructions, fee, drop off or mailing address contact: Galveston County Extension Office, 5115 Highway 3, Dickinson, Texas. Ph: 281-534-3413, ext. 1, 2.

____________________________________

On SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2009
from 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
there is a FREE presentation to help Residents ReBuild Galveston County!

LANDSCAPE REVIVAL:
what to plant after Hurricane Ike and how to plant it
at:
The Galveston Island Convention Center
at The San Luis Resort
5600 Seawall Blvd, Galveston TX

• Assessing the Damage - Where do we go from here?
• Replacement of Landscape Trees - What we learned from the storm
• Palm Selection - Making the Right Choice
• Overview - The survivors, moving on
• Soil Preparation and Planting - Getting off to a good start

Program is sponsored by: Texas AgriLife Extension Service - Galveston County Office, Galveston County Master Gardeners, Texas Forest Service, City of Galveston, Galveston Island Convention Center

I will see you there!


SARA GOSS, REALTOR®
HatmakerGroup.com GMAC Real Estate
Search Listings: www.har.com/saragoss
Helping home buyers and home sellers in the greater Galveston/Houston area of Texas.

Live well! Use chemical fertilizers and pesticides with care. Enrich your soil with organic soil amendments such as composted plant materials and composted manure.