Alan In Austin: December 2008

DEAR SANTA:

I have been a good Realtor all year long and I have a very short list for you.

 1. Clients who are weary of looking at homes and ready to buy.

2. A few hundred listing.

3. Clients to buy those listings.

4. More great Active Rain friends.

WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Alan Kirkpatrick

roundrockhomes@gmail.com

I was in Waco at the home of the Baylor Bears yesterday to watch high school football. The Stony Point Tigers were facing the Allen Eagles in the State Semi finals of the 5A high school football. What an incredible game! I have a Freshman and Junior who attend Stony Point in Round Rock Texas and we are all so proud of our football team!

The Allen Eagles have been here before but few people knew anything about Round Rock Football (just 15 minutes North of Austin) and fewer still about Stony Point High School until yesterday. Danny Davis of the Austin Statesman wrote:

"WACO - Nyk McKissic stood by the 25-yard line at Floyd Casey Stadium with the facemask of his helmet tightly clinched in his fist and teardrops welling up in his eyes. A s he stood there, a throng of Stony Point teammates, students and supporters walked by offering the senior quarterback hugs, handshakes and words of encouragements.

"Good game McKissic," one fan said.

"Keep your head up," said another.

The final chapter of McKissic's high school football career fell 37 seconds short of a storybook ending on Saturday as Stony Point lost 23-21 to Allen in a Class 5A, Division I semifinal . The winning points were scored on a 21-yard pass from Allen's Tucker Carter to Dakarai Pecikonis with 37 seconds to play ."

In order to appreciate what Stony Point has accomplished you need only go back a couple of seasons to find a team that had many more losses than wins. A team that faced a brutal division with high power teams on their schedule every week. Some of Central Texas finest football is played in North Austin and Round Rock Texas.

The Tigers trailed most of the game 17 to 7. But in the fourth quarter they came to life drove the length of the field and put seven more points on the board. With a little over 8 minutes remaining there fierce defense held and the offense again took the ball down field chewing up the clock. They scored the go ahead touchdown with just under 2 minutes left in the game.

Allen had a good kick return up to their 38 yard line. Stony point defense forced them to go twice on fourth down. Two badly timed penalties one in particular that was questionable helped keep the Allen Eagles alive and put the ball on the Tigers 20 yard line. That led to the last score with 38 seconds left on the clock.

What an incredible season of football. The Tigers have nothing to be ashamed of, they played the number 3 ranked team in the nation and played with heart, determination and honor. We are proud of our Tigers. Let this be the beginning of many great seasons ahead!!

ROUND ROCK: LETS HAVE A PARADE FOR THESE GUYS THEY ARE GRE......AT! TIGERS!

roundrockhomes@gmail.com

Like you, I get hundreds of advertising emails each month. They tell of great bargains on clothing, computers, free materials to help me do a better job in my career field. To honest with you getting these emails does not bother me. I remember the days when all of this stuff came by snail mail and I had to sort through each letter and try to determine if the ad was of interest to me or my family. It did not long to have a trash can full of waisted paper advertising. Now I can sort through these ads in seconds and delete what does not apply and keep what I think I might use over the next month.

There is a type of email ad, that I receive regularly that causes me to wonder aloud "Why don't they just do what they are trying to sell me on?" You know those ads that offer training videos on how to sell 1 million dollars worth of real estate a year, or lead referral programs that promise you will make several hundred thousand dollars a year if you subscribe. I just saw an ad on TV that prompted me to write this article. The ad was for a seminar in Dallas that will teach you how to make tons of money in the stock market...of course when you get there there will be an expensive software program to purchase and training cd's and other neat tools to help you succeed.

My questins is: "if you can make millions using this program, why are you doing seminars and selling software to me?" If I had a system for making millions, I can tell you that I would be way to busy to sell you a book or a training video. I love helping people and you would be welcome to hang out and see how I do it but why would I quit my million dollar a year job to go on the road and tell everyone else how I do it?

You have to wonder if the system makes more money than selling the system to others? Some would say, I have made my millions and now I just want to help others. That could be true but if so why not sell the products at production cost plus travel expense. That would seem to be more honest. It appears in many cases that the system makes less money for the advertiser than the marketing, consulting and sale of that system to others.

I am not against all these programs or self help books. I read regularly to help me grow and most all of these can be helpful. The point of this post is that we ask the big questions before we make a major purchase. In my attempt to help people find what they need, what keeps me grounded is putting into practice what I am advertising to others.

I believe Real Estate is the number one best investment a person can make. That is why I own my home and two other properties and am always on the look out for another opportunity to invest. We have owned 20 properties since 1987 and each one has made money for us. When I advertise, my clients can know that I am doing what I am asking them to do.

Interested in Looking deeper in to Real Estate ownership and investing email me at: roundrockhomes@gmail.com

Alan Kirkpatrick

Leasing, buying, selling Real Estate in Texas