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Keeping Up With The Small Stuff (edit/delete)

When two people get married a lot of negotiating comes in to play from the moment they say, "I do."  And, it's not always the big stuff you might think that couples negotiate over.  Sometimes it's very small but important stuff.  Such as, which way does the toilet paper roll off the hanger?  Does the paper roll off the top, or does the paper roll off the bottom or does it matter?  What about toothpaste?  Is it OK to squeeze it from the middle, or is it absolutely essential to squeeze it from the bottom to top? 

What about unloading the dishwasher?  My wife has often offered to hold a family class on how to open the dishwasher door.  It appears that the males in the family (1 old one, 2 young ones, and 1 male dog) don't seem to have that process figured out yet.  But, it's not just loading it, what about unloading it?  Whose responsible for unloading it?  And then there's laundry.  Who is responsible for putting the laundry away?  Is it always mom, or should other more testosterone laiden types get involved too?

Little things.  It's the little things that make a marriage work along with the big things.  It's also the little things that make a business work.  I don't remember how many times I've called a business colleague only to leave a message that is never returned.  Sometimes, it's a little thing, but like a marriage, it is often the little things that cause so much stress.  It's irritating to call, email and text colleagues only to have them ignore or not respond.  So, what's the solution?  Well, you could leave the clothes piled up in the laundry room until you have nothing left in your closets or drawers, or you could actually call again, email or send a text.  How do we deal with little things?

I think the best response for us is to not let the little things get us down.  That can be a battle though. This morning I was talking to a good friend who is a physician.  She was telling me she would like to get out of the business.  Why?  She said the real joy she has in her work is in the patient's room.  That's where she wants to spend all of her time.  She is a wonderful physician, and it would be awful to lose her, but I do understand her dilemma. She went on to say that when she leaves the patient and closes the door behind her there is all of this stuff that hits her right in the face.  She doesn't like the little stuff.  She doesn't want to look at the books, or coordinate cleaning crews or repairmen and she frets over the people that work with her who are depending on her for their livlihood.  That may not sound like little stuff, but it's a bunch of little stuff combined to seem like big stuff.

Little stuff.  It follows us around everyday.  A tail light is out.  A kid forgets his lunch.  The car is low on gas.  The dog throws up just as you're about to walk out the door, and you're already late for a meeting.  Your computer locks up when you're dazzling a potential client with a presentation.  How do we deal with the little stuff?  Do we return phone calls?  Do we send notes, call past clients, keep our files in order and follow up with vendors and contractors? 

My life is full of little stuff.  I do pretty good with it for the most part, but sometimes it gets away from me, and that's when I find my self scrambling to catch up.  Like my physician friend, I don't like that side of business.  I like flowing along on a sea of glass with everything falling into place, all meetings kept, and kept on time and every detail complete.  When I snap out of my dream I'm reminded that this is real life, and stuff happens.

So, here's a short list of things I do (or like to do when I remember) to keep up with the little stuff:

• Make lists of tasks for the day ( I love to check things off)
• Make lists of things that are going to need to be done over the next week, month, year, etc.  Make sure dates and times are included.  I love Outlook for that feature.
• Keep a journal of every phone call, email and text.  Note what needs to be responded to right away, and note what can wait until later and make a notation to remind you to follow-up.
• Keep your files filed.
• Establish a file system that works foryou.  Mine may not work for you and visa versa.  Find a file system that makes you efficient.
• Move dead files to an out of the way place where you can get to them, but they're not in the way.
• Stay in touch with your clients; email, text, phone call, whatever.
• Educate yourself on your profession.  Are there better more efficient ways to do business (absolutely, always).
• Look for ways to cut down on tasks.  For instance, some software will do things for you on an automated schedule.  Use every tool you can find to help you cut down on little stuff.
• Keep an eye on that co-worker who annoys you with her stunning efficieny.  She may have a thing or two you can learn.  Ask her how she makes work looks so easy.  She would probably love to tell you.  People love to talk about themselves.
  
• Subscribe to forums like, well, Active Rain, where you can learn from some of the best brainiacs in the business. 
  
• Get enough food for energy, and get enough sleep to restore you body and mind for each day.
• Relax.  Kick off your shoes, watch a movie, take the dog for a walk, take a bike ride or a swim, call an old friend, read a book, look at photo albums, you get the idea - get away from work.
• And most of all, put that toilet paper roll on so the paper comes off the top!

Keeping Up With The Small Stuff (edit/delete)

When two people get married a lot of negotiating comes in to play from the moment they say, "I do."  And, it's not always the big stuff you might think that couples negotiate over.  Sometimes it's very small but important stuff.  Such as, which way does the toilet paper roll off the hanger?  Does the paper roll off the top, or does the paper roll off the bottom or does it matter?  What about toothpaste?  Is it OK to squeeze it from the middle, or is it absolutely essential to squeeze it from the bottom to top? 

What about unloading the dishwasher?  My wife has often offered to hold a family class on how to open the dishwasher door.  It appears that the males in the family (1 old one, 2 young ones, and 1 male dog) don't seem to have that process figured out yet.  But, it's not just loading it, what about unloading it?  Whose responsible for unloading it?  And then there's laundry.  Who is responsible for putting the laundry away?  Is it always mom, or should other more testosterone laiden types get involved too?

Little things.  It's the little things that make a marriage work along with the big things.  It's also the little things that make a business work.  I don't remember how many times I've called a business colleague only to leave a message that is never returned.  Sometimes, it's a little thing, but like a marriage, it is often the little things that cause so much stress.  It's irritating to call, email and text colleagues only to have them ignore or not respond.  So, what's the solution?  Well, you could leave the clothes piled up in the laundry room until you have nothing left in your closets or drawers, or you could actually call again, email or send a text.  How do we deal with little things?

I think the best response for us is to not let the little things get us down.  That can be a battle though. This morning I was talking to a good friend who is a physician.  She was telling me she would like to get out of the business.  Why?  She said the real joy she has in her work is in the patient's room.  That's where she wants to spend all of her time.  She is a wonderful physician, and it would be awful to lose her, but I do understand her dilemma. She went on to say that when she leaves the patient and closes the door behind her there is all of this stuff that hits her right in the face.  She doesn't like the little stuff.  She doesn't want to look at the books, or coordinate cleaning crews or repairmen and she frets over the people that work with her who are depending on her for their livlihood.  That may not sound like little stuff, but it's a bunch of little stuff combined to seem like big stuff.

Little stuff.  It follows us around everyday.  A tail light is out.  A kid forgets his lunch.  The car is low on gas.  The dog throws up just as you're about to walk out the door, and you're already late for a meeting.  Your computer locks up when you're dazzling a potential client with a presentation.  How do we deal with the little stuff?  Do we return phone calls?  Do we send notes, call past clients, keep our files in order and follow up with vendors and contractors? 

My life is full of little stuff.  I do pretty good with it for the most part, but sometimes it gets away from me, and that's when I find my self scrambling to catch up.  Like my physician friend, I don't like that side of business.  I like flowing along on a sea of glass with everything falling into place, all meetings kept, and kept on time and every detail complete.  When I snap out of my dream I'm reminded that this is real life, and stuff happens.

So, here's a short list of things I do (or like to do when I remember) to keep up with the little stuff:

• Make lists of tasks for the day ( I love to check things off)
• Make lists of things that are going to need to be done over the next week, month, year, etc.  Make sure dates and times are included.  I love Outlook for that feature.
• Keep a journal of every phone call, email and text.  Note what needs to be responded to right away, and note what can wait until later and make a notation to remind you to follow-up.
• Keep your files filed.
• Establish a file system that works foryou.  Mine may not work for you and visa versa.  Find a file system that makes you efficient.
• Move dead files to an out of the way place where you can get to them, but they're not in the way.
• Stay in touch with your clients; email, text, phone call, whatever.
• Educate yourself on your profession.  Are there better more efficient ways to do business (absolutely, always).
• Look for ways to cut down on tasks.  For instance, some software will do things for you on an automated schedule.  Use every tool you can find to help you cut down on little stuff.
• Keep an eye on that co-worker who annoys you with her stunning efficieny.  She may have a thing or two you can learn.  Ask her how she makes work looks so easy.  She would probably love to tell you.  People love to talk about themselves.
  
• Subscribe to forums like, well, Active Rain, where you can learn from some of the best brainiacs in the business. 
  
• Get enough food for energy, and get enough sleep to restore you body and mind for each day.
• Relax.  Kick off your shoes, watch a movie, take the dog for a walk, take a bike ride or a swim, call an old friend, read a book, look at photo albums, you get the idea - get away from work.
• And most of all, put that toilet paper roll on so the paper comes off the top!

The Short Sale Boomerang! 

I'm starting to see a boomerang affect from the high volume of short sales in our area.  I recently had a client who wanted to buy a property.  I met with him and his wife, and I had them get prequalified with their lender and they qualified for a nice property.  Off we went in our search, and after a couple weeks we found a great house.

The only issue with this house was that it was an REO and required a certain lender do the pre-qual before the seller would consider a contract.  So, I sent my buyers off to a friend who worked at that lender with the expectation that they would be back shortly with another prequalification letter.  It would be easy since they had already been prequalified, right?  That's what I thought, anyway.

After the interview, the lender called and asked how much my clients had shared with me about their financial history.  They had only discussed what their bank said in their original pre-qual letter.  The lender couldn't share their personal information because of confidentiality, but with their approval, she told me that they had a short sale last year.  In the days that followed, I confirmed that my buyers had done a short sale the year before.  When asked what led to the short sale they explained that they didn't like their neighborhood or the trend it was following, and they wanted to move out of it so their children wouldn't grow up there

Wow!  That was information that needed to be shared up front in the beginning of our interview process.  Later, I emailed them to get the name and number of the lender that had prequalified them prior to our visit with the second lender.  I'm still waiting on that info three weeks later.  That experience has made me a little more cautious about taking someone at his/her word.  I know it's necessary to trust, but I believe I will need to start a "trust, but verify" policy with new clients. 

"Short sales for convenience" are going to catch a lot of people off guard when they start their next property search.  There are ways to buy when you've had a short sale recently, but it will likely be with investor tactics and not through FHA.  People who are contemplating a short sale should be advised that short sales are not a "get out of jail free" card.  When a seller is trying to balance the options and a short sale is considered we need to be completely honest with them if it's not a true hardship situation.  Choices have consequences. A short sale may be the only route some sellers can take, but it should never be used to blow off a mortgage commitment that is not a hardship situation.  IMHO.

60 Seconds! What Would You Grab? (edit/delete)

My life is full of phone calls, meetings, appointments, contracts, leases, emails, returned phone calls, more emails,  deadlines, etc., etc., . . . you get the picture.  It's probably a lot like yours.  I was just thinking, "What would I do if I had nothing to do?"  What a wonderful question to ponder.  I need to spend more time thinking about that one because I definitely think it's worth exploring .

That made me think of another question I heard in a movie last year.  In the movie, "Leap Year" Matthew Goode (Declan) asks Amy Adams (Anna) what she would grab if she only had 60 seconds to escape a burning building.  Hmmm, what would I grab?  Now, I'm assuming that is knowing that the family and the dog are all safe and away from the fire. 

What would I grab?  I don't think it would be my files, lead lists, smartphone or laptop, digital camera, storage media, etc., but what would it be?  I'll have to admit I'm a little stumped.  Once my family and the dog are safe there isn't much else that would rise to that critical level.  With online backup programs, dropbox and other resources where a tech savvy modern business person can keep important documents, photos and contact lists, and so on, there isn't much I would need to be back up and running in a day or so.

So, I pose the question to you.  If you only had 60 seconds to escape a burning building what would you grab on the way out?