South Austin Texas Real Estate blog: October 2007

  Last school year my 11 year old grandson was asked to do a report on "What are You"?  He came home and said Mommy, what am I?  My friend is a Polish American, another is a Mexican American, another in my class is an African American..  What am I? 

  His mommy called and asked me, her mommy.. What are we?  I said we are Americans.  We believe in the values of Under God we Trust.  we believe its your right to work as hard as you want and buy what you want with those earnings.. we believe its your right to worship where and when you see fit..  we believe its your right to vote in local, state and federal elections and chose our leaders and we could go on and on and on what being an American means to us.

  When we divide into parts we truly will not exist any more..  therefore I am an American, I hope all who are living in America and enjoying the fruits of their labor are Americans first  too.   

  This doesn't mean to give up your traditional values or customs.  Not at all... but first you are an American.  Celebrate as you wish and as the American way of life allows you to.. wholeheartedly with out harrassment, keeping your traditions alive to pass down in your family.

   What are we?  mmmmmmm..after many days of pondering the question, asking older wiser relatives and searching the Ancestry. Org site we think we are the  "Heinz57" variety Americans?? part Irish, part English, part American Indian, and who knows what else has blended into our heritage in the last 300 years on this soil. 

  So I am an American.  I celebrate 4th of July with homemade apple pie and make vanilla ice cream and I celebrate Labor Day and Halloween and Thanksgiving and so on.    

  What ever your customs or traditions celebrate them, immerse yourself in them!  Celebrate being an American with sharing your Thanksgiving feast this year.  Give to the food bank of your choice so others may celebrate being an American too.   I think Americans are the most giving people on the planet... Im proud to be one.

( I know this had nothing to do with REAL ESTATE,or Austin Texas,   I just needed to say it) 

On the local news the past day or so has been tidbits about the Giant GOOGLE moving some offices to Austin Tx, this first appeared earlier this year and was quasi-qualified by GOOGLE by posting job openings for an Engineering Team Manager for Austin. Per the Austin Business Journal June 6,2007.

Well, SILICON HILLS (Austin) is happy to have more SILICON VALLEY ( California) come join us in all this good  good weather, cheap (a relative word) Real Estate and reasonable employment costs, plus a huge engineering department at University of Texas here at the 40acres downtown. 

So, IF GOOGLE moves some offices here, will the HOMETOWN KIDS (me me me)  get better placement on their SEO?    HEY GOOGLE I SELL HOUSES IN AUSTIN TEXAS... GIVE ME A CALL.

512-217-9482

Do you think bloggers are just passing their time online?  I have had this question asked of me more than once in more than one way.   I say NO,  we can be informative to the public, to each other and while doing so perhaps we will generate a new buyer or seller.

I have read many Active Rain'ers stories of leads going to closings.  That should give anyone hope that there are real people out there looking at the blogs, the websites, the referrals .. and those real people buy and or sell real houses, condos, apartments, farms, ranches and other real estate. 

Oh be of great hope you little bloggers... I am sure that if I keep blogging I will find the path to build it right and "they"  will come.  After all its my AFFIRMATION #2..  "I belong here, I have a right to be here, what I do is valuable to myself and to others".

Meantime, back at the Ranch, I haven't gotten that lead yet, but I have made several new friends and the networking here is Awesome!  I think I'm not yet past the crawling stage of blogging,

I can't wait til I get to babysteps, then skipping along, then running .. hopefully with the bigdogs.  Just where I belong!!

Thank You Dana Iler of Grand Rapids Mi..for your  blog  Marketing Ideas for halloween..You helped me put on my thinking cap and here are the results....

DONT LOSE YOUR HEAD In TODAYS REAL ESTATE MARKET  and the HEADLESS HORSEMAN was at the top of the page.

 DONT BE SCARED OF TODAYS REAL ESTATE MARKET.. with the cat, ghost and haunted house.

Using these Graphics that I found in freeware, I made flyers to walk door to door of my farm,in south AUSTIN  and on each flyer I taped a small candy bar,  the $100,000 Grand, and Crunch.  The flyers are colorful and were cheap to make on my home computer and printer.  (im not techno-savvy enough to plaster the finished flyer here, I made it in office and it wouldnt transfer)  at any rate,,  THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE GREAT IDEA DANA.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to everyone!!!!

  Do Chickens Dance  or  Giving Back to the Community

 Last night Keller Williams Southwest Market Center in Austin TX had a celebration ended our yearly food bank drive.  As a group this market center collected over 27,000 pounds of food for our Capital Area Food Bank.  That amount of food will serve over 20,000 meals to hungry Central Texans.

  We as Realtors do this for the community.  We place paper bags on doorsteps with the flyer about collecting them full of food on the coming weekend.  Then we collect those bags filled with food and gather at a Community site and give the food to the Capital Area food bank.  Keller Williams SWMC had been doing this for a number of years and is one of the largest contributors to the food bank.. (per the director who gave a speech) last nite. The Octberfest celebration was held at Scholz BeerGarden in downtown Austin (where there is fantastic food).  We invite our clients to celebrate with us and everyone has a great evening of fun and festitivites including a table decoration contest, THE CLOVERLEAFS a true German band from New Braunfels plays many favorites including the famous CHICKEN DANCE.  It was fun and Texas weather cooperated nicely .. I do think over 200 people had a great time. 

 Added money donations last night were enough to contribute 500 more meals. What a great effort for our community.  I'm proud to be a part of the Keller Williams community that has such values of truly helping people.    

Today was a day off for me, the first saturday off in a long while... So I went to my grandson Nicks soccer game, he is 11 and plays goalie on his local district recreational league soccer team.

Nick is an excellent goalie.. he has a foot like superman,one who the coach says has natural talent and possiblities..  he can and does kick the ball from his goal area to the opposite end of the field.  Making it tough for the opposing goalie to measure up.

Today the opposing goalie was a work of tenacity and try try again.  sheer determination was this kids method.  After trying to kick the ball back when it was in his area he fell on it and over it and got up and tried again.  Repeatedly... but this kid never quit.  By the end of the game it was inspiring ... his efforts to be on top of the game.

Never quit... thats what makes for success..  in soccer or sales,  regardless of the slowing market, the doom and gloom of the media we as realtors need to keep an upbeat attitude.  Sales are still happening everyday... people move due to relocation, family issues, retirement or a gazillion other reasons,  and if sales are happening that means people are selling and buying.  Never quit.  dont give in to failure.  Go for the goal.

Oh yeah, the game ended with Nicks team 7 and Mr Persistant 1.  What a lesson I was reminded of in the game!  May we all remember its tenacity that can put us on top of our game.

With all the wonderful hellos and hi's and howdys this week I want to say THANK YOU to all who have shown me great support.  I am so very happy I was introduced to Active Rain and Im very happy I made a decision to be involved and pursue finding out what this site is about. 

Its about people.   And people helping each other. and Supporting each other. HOW great is THAT in todays society. 

Yep, there are some negative things now and then, but those can be ignored.  What about the reality of thoughts that are negative at first glance but truly are how the situation is?  That shouldnt be ignored.. but I digress and this is to say THANK YOU ACTIVE RAINERS for making me feel welcome and apart of this community.

Texas  .. Its Eye Candy for the Soul.

 I was transplanted to Austin Texas on Valentines day 1996.  Maybe thats why I love it

But, before coming here I was only familiar with the Texas of tumbleweeds and long empty spaces one sees going from California to Oklahoma thru I-40.  

 WOW,  was I amazed at Austin,  ITS GREEN.

Most of the year Austin Texas, (not withstanding a drought year) is green from late March thru late October.  I love it.. but this week we had some visitors from California come who also had never seen this part of Texas, its green hills, the massive spreading oak trees, the river that runs thru it.

I gathered a new appreciation of my now hometown, the reasons I fell in love here are still here.  Oh did I mention the wildflowers from March to October?  Blue bonnets that blanket the over passes, the mediums in the highway... then the bright pink followed by a stunning orange and yellow and topped off with white blowing in the wind Queen Annes lace? 

Oh I look forward to spring and the first frost hasn't even happened yet.

Austin is a great place to live, ask 10,500 other realtors!!!   and growing daily.  We still sell the American Dream of homeownership, family community and work live and play in one area.

Selling homes or condos or ranches nearby is a wonderful thing, I hope everyone gets to love where they live as much as I do.

HUD foreclosures are here to stay... Make them a part of your marketing.

 Yesterday I spent 4 hours in a class about HUD foreclosures.   While very informative and the speaker Margo McKay was terrific, I wondered why the room was only half full?  True the class was in San Antonio and I live and work in Austin but thats less than 100 miles away.  There were agents there from as far away as El Paso, an 8 hour drive , each way!  plus agents from Laredo, Corpus Cristie and Houston. 

 I learned that any agent can advertise any HUD foreclosed home for sale, you do not have to be the listing agent.  If you are an authorized HUD agent you can advertise those homes for sale with your name and phone number (of course as the selling agent).

 I learned about the GOOD NEIGHBOR NEXT DOOR program for EMTs, firefighters, police and school teachers in areas of Revitalization.  Great programs.  Of course there are restrictions but if you fit into the catergory, its aweseome, up to a 50% discount on a home.

 I learned with the homeselling  slowing down and with the rates of foreclosures in some areas, HUD will still be selling houses that will become someones home soon.  I have viewed many of these homes and they are often nice and need very little work. A few are trashed ...  but even those with given some cosmetics (new paint, new carpet and flooring)  will look wonderful and bring someone many years of joy in home ownership. 

HUD needs to sell these homes and we have buyers who need them.. Lets put them together!

If you need help purchasing a HUD home please feel free to contact me, Gail  Tassey, Realtor at Keller Williams Austin Texas, 512-217-9482 or email..  gailnttexas@gmail.com

Enunciate... to speak clearly , or how Websters describes it.  "to utter articulate sounds".

Today while trying to assist a potiental client on the phone it came back to me..  the day I was on phone duty at a major software company and a client was telling me  "YES I do have an account".  I couldn't for the life of me find it.  Now, this young lady on the phone was a college intern at a major university and certainly an articulate person. 

I kept trying and trying, finally I resorted to spelling her last name.. and when I got to S .. I said S like Sam?.. she said  "NO, S like father".  I almost fell out of my chair because at this point we had been going on in this call for 15 long frustrating minutes.

After that  I resort to spelling with words faster,  a like apple.. b like bicycle.. c like carrots..  then one day I had an international caller tell me he uses the names of Countries to get his letters across...  world wide those don't change if we are all speaking english or something like it..  Texan for instance ..      A like Africa, B like Bosnia  C like China,,  etc..  I used the airforce lingo,  a alpha, b bravo. c charlie, for awhile but people get off into their war stories and where did I learn to speak pilot lingo? 

  now a I'm larning to speak a little texan..

Ya'll have a great day now, yah hear!!