Good Morning MOJO,

There comes a time to put up or shut up.

A time to risk crawling through the window of opportunity as it cracks open in your life. A time to finally let go of what's over and put everything you've got on the line and move on... knowing that's the only way you'll ever win.

Thinking about taking some risks you've been putting off?  Here are a few ways to make it easier:

First, whether you want to start your own business (no, it's not for everyone) or work for someone else (neither's that), you've got to answer three questions:

1) What do you want?

2) How bad you want it? and

3) What price are you willing to pay to get it?

Next, understand the risks involved. Begin by writing down the worst thing that can happen and ask yourself - can I live with it?

Now, describe the best that can happen. Can you handle that? And before you scream "Yes!", realize that's harder than you'd think since most of us are allergic to prosperity and success. Believe it or not, allowing life to be better than we've got it's very hard for most to actually do.

Finally, get real about what's required to pull it off. Line up needed support (family, friends, money, professional help, etc.) before you jump. Don't let your hots for something make you blind, stupid, or impulsive.

Have you finally had enough?

Then create the future you want by taking the calculated risks...and that begins with remembering how very good you are...because that's what's true. Remember all those times you took risks and won, and use those memories to strengthen your belief and confidence that you can pull this next one off, too.

And never, ever sell yourself short again.  NO excuses!!!!

Make it a Powerful week!!!!

Kelle Sparta, founder of the real estate training company, Sparta Success Systems, offers tips on how to make life easier for relocating families on REALTOR® magazine's Web site this week. 

Sparta says the first thing to keep in mind is that relocating clients are under great stress and will be appreciative of the help real estate agents can provide.

She suggests sending a relocation packet to clients before they arrive in town. She says the packet should include information about school systems, crime stats for neighborhoods and a map. She also says agents should compile a list of fun places to visit and send a copy of forms and contracts related to a real estate purchase in the area.

When the clients are house-hunting in the area, Sparta suggests agents should schedule the hotel rooms for their clients’ stay, set up interviews for potential schools and tell them how the closing process works in the area.

After closing, Sparta suggests agents offer to make arrangements for utilities to be turned on for move-in day and have pizza, salad and drinks delivered that day as well.

For the complete article and all of Sparta's suggestions, click here.

Sparta is also the author of “The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationships that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals, and Increase Your Sales.”

Meanwhile, Primacy Relocation and Worldwide ERC earlier this year put together a few lists of the best cities for relocating families. You can find it here. 

Good Morning MOJO,

It has been 2 years since my cousin Amy passed away from breast cancer at the age of 41.  In the final year of her life she received Monday Morning MOJO every week and loved it.  We shared thoughts back and forth via e-mail many times after I would send it.  This is the MOJO I wrote after she passed away on my flight back home from her Memorial Service.  I have made a commitment to send this out as a Monday Morning MOJO every year at this time as a tribute to Amy and her life.  I think there are great thoughts in this MOJO we can never hear to often.

Good Morning MOJO,

I got home on Saturday night from one of the most emotionally draining experiences of my life.  I attended and did a reading at the funeral of my 41 year old cousin, Amy.   She was beautiful and healthy…living the American dream in Salt Lake City…married to a great guy, raising her 2 beautiful daughters (12 and 14) when it all happened 16 months ago. 

In the words of her daughter: “It was a clear blue spring day…Well, at least outside…Inside it was raining…The feeling of sadness and disbelief…All this just from some bad news…Not just regular bad news…But the kind where your life can fall apart in just two simple minutes…Watching her whisper, “it’s cancer.”  Shock…Anger…Fear.   Hearing the light sob, “Just never lose faith”…Nobody knows what it’s like…Until it happens to them…and with a mom you see things differently…You look at the mountains and see Pure beauty.  …and seeing her smile…That’s everything to me…I appreciate life so much…Looking at the stars and hearing her say, “I love you more than all of the stars in the Sky”…Just looking back at how it used to be and how it could have been…How it’s going to be without her by my side…It will never be the same.”

Those words clawed their way into my brain, it felt as though someone had walked up and ripped the blinders from my eyes and forced me, again, to take a cold, hard look at the ultimate truth none of us really wants to know or admit...the truth that, strangely, has the power to wake us up and make us live before it's too late.

"Amy is gone," the truth told me quietly, “and you will, too, and so will all the people you love and everyone else...it's just a matter of time.” So tell me…given that, are you doing what you want to do right now with your life?...or are you putting off living your hopes and dreams because you think there'll always be tomorrow? If my cousin were here she’d tell you different... she'd say there'll come a time when tomorrow doesn't show up, and you're wasting your time if you're not loving and laughing and enjoying your days now, while you can."

And that leaves us with a choice…we can punch the "delete" key and dump this message because we find the whole "death thing” too depressing...or we can let it be the force that finally pushes us over the line and into the life we want. Because that's what it takes for most of us...something so strong it carries us past our fears and doubts and the terrors that come when we think about finally doing the things we've been dreaming about for soooo long.

Yea, I know it's scary to think about dying, but you know, I think it's even more scary for most people to think about living…and getting out of their old box, the one they really don't like, and getting on with living the life they really want.  But that doesn't have to be us.

Think about Amy this morning, and know this about her...she had a great life, doing the things she loved…with the people she loved...and she'd want you to do the same.

I know...you can't…it's "just not possible!”,  I just don't understand, you've got obligations, responsibilities, the economy's in the crapper, and "My God man, I can't just DO what I want…I've got a job, bills, yada yada yada..."

Tell that to the engineer when the time comes...because we're all on a train outta here.  It could be tonight, or in the afternoon a week from Tuesday or three years from now.   I don't know...all I know is the days are passing fast...and now is the time to do what you know you need to do.

Don't put if off, or you may just be too late.

We will miss you Amy!!!!!

Make it a GREAT week!!!!!

Tom Tognoli, chief operating officer at Intero

A new report from the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS@ says the percentage of households that could afford an entry-level home in California doubled in the second quarter of 2008 compared with the same time the previous year.

The association says the percentage of households that could afford a starter home was 48 percent, compared with 24 percent from the same period a year ago.

“The minimum housing income needed to purchase an entry-level home at $329,120 in California in the second quarter of 2008 was $62,870, based on an adjustable interest rate of 5.69 percent and assuming a 10 percent down payment,” C.A.R. reports this week.

C.A.R. says first-time buyers usually buy a house "equal to 85 percent of the prevailing median price. The monthly payment including taxes and insurance was $2,100 for the second quarter of 2008.”

Click here for the full report.

In other news, Tom Tognoli, Intero’s chief operating officer, will be speaking at RISMedia’s annual Leadership Conference next month. RISMedia says the two-day conference “focuses on building stronger real estate and relocation businesses and the future of our industry.” The conference will take place Sept. 3-4 at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York. 

Click here for more information.

Good Morning MOJO,

What we ponder and what we think about sets the course of our life. Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish, we can start a new activity. Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today.” 

Remember, no matter how small, every choice we make or choose not to make creates a chain reaction of events that will unfold in our life FOREVER.  And those choices either get us closer to or farther way from what we want.  Even when we are faced with a decision and don’t do anything, because we are afraid or indecisive, that choice itself creates a chain reaction of events that will unfold in our life.  Unfortunately, not making a decision and playing it “safe” is not playing it “safe”, because making the choice not to do anything creates a chain reaction usually getting us farther way, not closer to what we want.  Whenever you are faced with a choice to make, ask yourself will this get me closer to my goals and what I want in life.  If the answer is yes, do it now and go for it with reckless abandon.

Don’t sit on the sidelines of life…be decisive and make it a GREAT week!!!!!

Richard Gaylord, National Association of Realtors president

The National Association of Realtors® is reporting that sales of existing homes rose in the first quarter in 13 states.

The association attributes the rise to homebuyers' interest in lower home prices. 

The group also reports that home prices rose in the second quarter from a year ago in nearly 25 percent of metropolitan areas.

“In many areas with large concentrations of foreclosure sales, homes are being purchased below replacement cost values,” said NAR President Richard Gaylord. “Many buyers with long-term expectations are getting exceptional value in the current market. Once the inventory is drawn down, price pressure will return because the costs of construction are rising.”

According to the association, existing-home sales grew 25.8 percent in California, 25 percent in Nevada, 20.5 percent in Arizona and 10.1 percent in Florida compared with the first quarter.

“The biggest home-sales gains over the previous quarter have been in some of the markets with the steepest and fastest price drops,” said Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at NAR.

The Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville area of California saw the sharpest fall in single-family home prices in the second quarter. In that area, the median price of $229,500 dropped 35.6 percent from a year ago, the association said.

Good Morning MOJO,

Why is it the nightly news is always negative?  Why is it your morning paper, if you are one of the few who still get one, always negative…especially the headlines?  Even the Yahoo home page is almost all bad news.  It’s because that is what people want to see, read, and hear about.  So, why in the world do people want to read and hear about doom and gloom…why is it that people are intrigued by the bad news?  The papers, TV, the web don’t do it just because they feel like it…they do it because bad news sells.  So, why in the world do people want to read about all the bad stuff and not the good stuff?  One big reason is the bad stuff supports people not having to make a decision…it supports peoples “I don’t want to change” mindset…it gives people the excuses they are looking for to stick with the status quo…not take risks…not take chances…not go for it!!!!  No wonder people are stuck.  When there is risk and we focus on the bad news it supports us saying “I am going to wait until things get better”…”it is just to risky given the current environment…haven’t you been reading the headlines”…”didn’t you hear about what just happened to _______...I am not going to do it and let that happen to me…I am going to sit here and wait for it to get better”.

If we could only find a way to be optimistic…to focus on the good news, our lives would ignite.  Good news forces us to take action…to take advantage of the opportunities and it encourages us take some risks.  Think about your life and some of the things you want to accomplish…what is stopping you…the bad news?  If it is, it’s because the bad news supports your internal instinct to play it safe…right?  While focusing on the good news forces you to take a hard look at yourself and ask yourself “what the hell are you waiting for?”.  Good news makes you optimistic and pushes you to go for it.

Try this for a while…at least a week, but preferably a month or more.  Don’t read the headlines…don’t watch the negative crap on the news…don’t read the headlines of Yahoo….don’t pay attention to the bad news.  ONLY FOCUS ON THE GOOD NEWS.  Start reading a good book on keys to success, listen to a good CD on success….on personal and professional growth and development, watch a good movie.  Watch what will happen to your attitude and to your life.  You will be amazed how much more positive your mindset and attitude will become.  You will be amazed at how you will start taking advantage of those opportunities instead of hiding behind the bad news.  One other great thing to do is get the 5 people you spend the most time with to do the same, because we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with…our income, our attitude, our relationships, etc.

Make it a powerful week!!!!

"You will never plough a field if you only turn it over in your mind"

Tom Tognoli
COO, Founder

Intero Real Estate Services
Direct: 408.863.3000
Email: TTognoli@InteroRealEstate.com
Website: www.InteroRealEstate.com

Intero Story Video: Intero Story

Intero Foundation Video: Intero Foundation

Intero Resorts Video: Intero Resorts 

Intero Boot Camp Video: Boot Camp

Intero Locations: Intero Offices

Monday Morning MOJO Blog: MOJO

Good Morning MOJO,

I had to get my car serviced last week and I always make sure I get it dropped off first thing in the morning…typically by 7am or 7:30am because I want to beat the rush…beat the masses.  However, it was one of those crazy mornings and I could not get there until close to 8am and it was like I was dropping my car off at the latest blue light special.  When I drop my car off between 7 and 7:30, there is no one there…I zip in and out in a few minutes, but when I was there at 8am there was a line 15 cars deep.  As I sat in my car for 30 anxious minutes waiting for the next service representative to show up I chuckled at my self thinking this is a great MOJO. 

It is a lot more crowded when you do what everyone else is doing…lines are longer…it takes longer…more people going for the same amount of stuff so you get less…it’s more stressful…you are in less control, etc.  Isn’t that how everything in life is?  If we are always going with the pack (being normal) there is a lot less to go around because there are so many more people.  But when you push it a bit to be slightly ahead of the pack, there is typically the same amount or more of the stuff we want and there are just a lot less people going for it.  So it is easier to get what you want and it is a lot less stressful.

The interesting thing is the difference between going with the pack versus being someone who gets more than the rest in life is the differences in habits are not that radically different.  So often we think in order to get what we want in my life we have to make this radical transformation, but the reality of it is it is usually just being slightly more disciplined and pushing it slightly more.  If I had dropped my car off at 7:30, I would have been out of there an on my way by 7:35, but just that 30 minutes of showing up at 8am didn’t cost me just 30 minutes, it cost me more like an hour and fifteen minutes.  Because by the time I finally got out of there it was 8:50.  Here is the other thing, I was late and scrambling the rest of the day because I had planned on it only taking me 15 minutes, not 45+ minutes.  So I was late for my next appointment and the entire day I felt like I was behind the 8 ball.

Now here is the scary part…if you are one of those who are chronically late for everything, you are just getting the leftovers in life that no one else wanted.  So, for starters, be on time…then focus on being a little early…being a little more discipline.    Being a little bit ahead of the crowd will get you way ahead in the end.

Think about the people who may have what you want in your life…they may have a lot more but do they really do that much more than you?  Usually not…usually they simply know how to stay slightly ahead of the masses.   Life is crowded and tough in the middle, sucks in the bottom 25% and is magical in the top 25%.  Commit to being in the top 25%!!!!

Make is a powerful and successful week!!!!!!

"Life is an occasion...rise to it!!!"  

Tom Tognoli
COO, Founder

Intero Real Estate Services
Direct: 408.863.3000
Email: TTognoli@InteroRealEstate.com
Website: www.InteroRealEstate.com

Intero Story Video: Intero Story

Intero Foundation Video: Intero Foundation

Intero Resorts Video: Intero Resorts 

Intero Boot Camp Video: Boot Camp

Intero Locations: Intero Offices 

Monday Morning MOJO Blog: MOJO