Deb's Lake Livingston Real Estate & Stuff!

What Makes a Community?

PEOPLE

If you are active in the rain you understand what community means. It's not the binding of people that have known one another forever or the fact that you live next door, it is more the foundational building of a friendship, business partnership, meeting of personalities, minds and support. Within the Rain, many of us have built strong bonds of friendship and respect for our fellow bloggers and Real Estate Professionals.

Well, there you have it in a nutshell. Lake Livingston Texas. We are not a particular "township" or county. We are many towns, 4 counties and subdivision after subdivision of "Community Minded" people. Lake Livingston redefines the word "local". Even with miles and miles between us we are still a tight knit community.

Lake Livingston is a virtual "melting pot" of people from all walks of life, states and even countries. It is not unusual for us to schedule "tours" for people who fly in for the weekend. The clients are looking for a spot on the water with the possibility of retirement later. Our Lake area is not as "commercialized" as many others are so we still have acreage and numerous homesites available.

Our lake is 90,000 surface acres of water and 450 linear miles around! It is, at the widest point, 7 miles across. On occasion I have shown houses by boat! There is nothing like loading the cooler with lunch, grabbing the binoculars and boating from property to property to help find the perfect Lakehouse by the water! We are blessed to have Bluebird Sanctuaries, Protected Piney Woods Forests, specified land for hunting and fishing and water sports galore!  

I thought I would bring my camera and assistant with me today to give you a quick view of our Trinity River, Lake Livingston and a few of our friends and neighbors! Please join me with some of our "Local" friends and neighbors and see why they love the lake.

Our small town vendors are lifesavers when it comes to needing a quick grocery trip! You just met Denise McNatt of Mac's Superstop. Mac's Superstop consists of a Conoco gas station, Bait and Tackle shop, mini grocery store and UHaul Dealership. I have watched them grow over the last 15 years and their business is booming.

You also just met John Tallent of Tallent's Grocery store. Tallents are famous for their meat processing. They have the best HOMEMADE SAUSAGE...you never sausage a deal! Tallents have the most beautiful meat counter anywhere! As weekenders drive past on their way to the lake they stop to grab a Ribeye or Ribs to throw on the grill. You can grab a brisquet BBQ sandwich or a chicken fried steak sandwich or of course, their famous sausage while they package your groceries! What a life!

Next please join me for a glimpse of the Trinity River Bridge and come with me to show a house. The house is in Trinity, Texas and in Trinity county. My average drive day is anywhere from 60 to 200 miles! Off we go.

You have just met Barbara and Bob from Alaska. They have now placed an offer on the house and are looking forward to fishing!

Living next to our waterways is sometimes a challenge. Lake Livingston is so deep and oceanic in places it is imperative to conserve the earth from erosion. We build what is called a bulkhead to preserve our shore. The fun part is building a boathouse to keep our toys. Please meet two of my clients and friends Gabrielle and Dave Thomson. They own Waterside Construction and will help guide you in the shore conservation process. Waterside Construction is in San Jacinto County.

Please be on the watchout and if you have information contact amberalert.com.

A command. Just do it may work for a shoe company. But, it doesn't really mean anything without the why, how and the total psychology of the reason...with people, compassion, intuition, responsibility, truth, ethics and common sense.

Example: outline of buyers guide.

Show them properties.

Whatever? It's not that simple. Tons of diverse phsycologies are involved in the showing of homes from the beginning "nice to meet you," to what's important to you? Location, price, amenities, schools, playgrounds shopping, work, family location, church, you don't just do it.

You must perceive. You must watch and be intuitive towards the unspoken word of expression and body language. You must listen to the inflection of the voice and the way it is delivered. You must watch for signs. You must follow the signs. You must listen with more than your ears.

You do it with care. With knowledge, understanding, patience and work.

Robotic actions don't get it. They don't reach into the human psyche and soul to find the answers...but a good sales/service person does.

A good sales person cares enough to do so. A good salesperson cares more for his client than himself. All of this will be returned tenfold. Give and ye shall receive. This is true in your real estate business too. As well as your relationships with family and friends. You reap what you sow.

Possibly the command "just do it" means to use each and every God given intuition, sensual perception, emotion, compassion and feeling and work those attributes into a power or strength to find happiness for your fellow human.

That's what I call Real Estate.

You don't just do it. Or, maybe you do.

Do you?

When you are considering throwing in the towel because you've had more bumps and bruises than you think you can take, I would like to ask you to think again. Please, think again.

We all go through hard times and times that make us wish we were somewhere else, doing something else either more fulfilling or simply something that pays more money.  I am reminded of Vince Lombardi's famous speech that has lived in the hearts of many men and women.

Real Estate can't be directly compared to football but then what can be compared other than more football?  I believe within this heartfelt speech is the true basis of "be true to one's self."

Yes, that's what a female gets out of this speech, men.  You could and probably will disagree with me fervently but hey, that's what makes the world go around. Vince Lombardi's famous tagline was

"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing" quote by Vince Lombardi. Read Vince's whole speech at

http://www.vincelombardi.com/index.php

To some degree, I can't disagree with that.

Wait, wait, wait.

Don't leave yet!

We win in so many different ways. If I were walking into the street and a bus was coming at me and my husband was standing next to me, I would push him out of the way. Even if I met with my demise I would consider myself the winner. Simply because he lived.

This may sound like a strange twist but it isn't. As long as you, yourself, are happy with yourself, then others around you cannot bring you down. Neither can a lack or inconsistency of business. If you believe your business will come then it will.

My goal here is to convince (con (with) Vince (Lombardi) how funny! My goal here is to convince you to hang in with Real Estate if you like it! Don't take a break now and then say you'll try it again later when the market turns! So will every other disgruntled agent in the US. You see? To stay ahead and be ahead when the market breaks...now is the time for your wins. Don't let down on your game now!

You can win by working twice as hard as the next person. You can win by placing your best foot forward, looking out after the other person (client or family or friend) before your own needs. You can win by making it through each battle with a good attitude. You can win by going to sleep at night knowing you have done the best for all who are around you, even if the consequences were not directly beneficial to you in the physical sense.

You can be a winner and you can be successful even when the purse strings are tight. When they do loosen up...and they will, it will come back to you tenfold.

So, do you like Real Estate? Get busy and hang in there. There is more than enough business to go around for us all.

Real Estate isn't going anywhere.

Real Estate Just Is.

Later in the rain~Deb

Children grow up to be Realtors. Realtors have children.

I am a very very ,very, very young grandmother. (ha)  I keep telling myself that. My g-kids go to school every day and see signs along the corridor that tell them NO FIREARMS ALLOWED.  They sit and watch as schools are taken over by nut cases whether they be adults or children. My daughter will not let them out of her sight and if one goes to a restroom outside the home they are required to team it with an adult in sight. They are strongly taught to say NO.

I am an advocate of the AMBER ALERT and the ADAM ALERT. Our children are the promise of our future. The adults that abuse the innocence God so lovingly gave to our children are due their punishment. We should all be on the lookout for predators.

So, I was thinking..........

Why don't we TEAM IT FOR THE AMBER ALERT??

If I start an AMBER ALERT group would you join?

What we need are Active Rain Volunteers in all groups and in all states to join in.

I put out my own alerts when I see one come across my computer. But, I am only able to post these alerts to 5 groups.

We now have nearly 94,000 members and what an impact we could make for our children!

We have nearly 4,000 groups.

THERE ARE NO POST POINTS FOR AN AMBER ALERT. IT DOES NOT TAKE 50 WORDS TO POST. IT TAKES TWO MINUTES OF YOUR TIME TO HELP AND TO KNOW YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE. I WILL PROVIDE STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOU TO PARTICIPATE!

Review a few of these statistics.......

How many missing children are there?

The U.S. Department of Justice reports:

• 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day.
• 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.
• 58,200 children were the victims of non-family abductions.
• 115 children were the victims of "stereotypical" kidnapping. (These crimes involve someone the child does not know or someone of slight acquaintance, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.

•·         FAQ: Missing Children

Whatta ya think? Should we go for it? Would there be interest in the support?

Later in the rain~Deb

There is a new AMBER ALERT and I want everyone to read this and be on the look out.

If you have any information that could possibly help contact http://www.codeamber.org/alerts.php?ID=30

It is my honor to introduce you to a friend and true NEWBIE.

Robert Arnold is a NEWBIE in Real Estate and with Active Rain! Robert is one of the nicest gentlemen you could, would and ever will meet from Texas. (or, anywhere else for that matter)

He is married to one of my bestest friends in this world named Sylvia and I sold the two of them their first Waterfront Area home as a getaway a couple of years ago.

They about wore me out looking for just the right house. We must have traveled over a thousand miles looking for the "right one" from here to "nowhere" and back. Whew. Finally they bought one just a few minutes from my house...go figure.

We are now lifelong friends and co-workers.

I want to invite you to visit Robert and give him a real ACTIVE RAIN WELCOME.

Later in the rain~Deb

***With this submission I just hit 100,000 points! Wow. That is the truth.***

I lied Picture this: the year was (I'm not going to share this) and I was a child. I was a child raising children. My two children were very young. My husband had a well paying position but we still needed money. Who doesn't? I had a tich of sales experience and a tich of formal education. I combed the newspaper each week for a job and went through multiple interviews. I was either over qualified (for stocking shelves with Pepsi) or under qualified for everything else. I needed to make money.

One glorious day, I came across the perfect AD in the San Antonio Star. The AD read: Advertising Sales needed for summer position. Must have Advertising experience. $1,700.00 per month. Apply in person.

I knew it was for me! I just had to have that job! Something told me I could do this. They were paying a lot of money for this!