Nancy Lohman's Real Estate Blog, Toledo Ohio Real Estate

GIVE YOURSELF A LIFT!

Have you ever aspired to be deeply depressed? On your list of major life's achievements, have you included becoming an itinerant ne'er-do-well? Does your daily task list include hanging out at the local pub, gossiping over the back fence with nosy neighbors, or spending time with a loser who does nothing but grouse about how the world has dealt him a lousy hand?

Did that first paragraph seem to pull you down? Did you say, "Ridiculous! Who would want to do those things?" If so, congratulations, you've already received this week's message.

Now, let's give this message a lift.

Have you ever met someone with a bright inspiring spirit about them, and thought to yourself, "Wow, I'd like to know them better!" Have you noticed that when you attend a community education course, you leave with many fresh new ideas and a powerful boost in your attitude? A well-known quote says, "You are what you think about all day long." If you hang out with the losers, your thoughts are likely to be dark and depressing. Spend time with those who possess magic in their attitude and enthusiastic vitality in their work ethic, and your thoughts are likely to soar.

Take a close look at your list of goals for this year. Have you included the addition of positive new personal relationships in your work and play environment? Remember that "to have a friend, you must first be a friend." Consider expanding your sphere of contacts to include those who would inspire you to greatness!

It would be our pleasure at the Lohman Team to help you with all your real estate needs. We buy and sell homes in Toledo, Sylvania,OH, Perrysburg, OH, Monclova, Maumee, OH, and surrounding greater Toledo. Feel free to call us anytime.

Nancy Lohman 419-360-4735          Bob Lohman  419-360-4437          

 Nancy Stemmle  419-867-3898       Kim Iott   419-466-8926    

DUPLICATE YOURSELF!

Watch young children on the playground and you will notice them trying to duplicate each other. One hangs upside down on the monkey bars, and soon everyone is doing the same. Check out a pre-teen with a punky new hair-do, or a new style of "radical" footwear, and soon their friends are following suit.

It continues in high school too, with "tricked out" hot cars and cell phones. So . . . is it any wonder that we attempt to duplicate each other as adults as well? We look at our desk mate's approach to getting new business, then we do the same - regardless of the fact that said desk mate is getting no results.

Is there an alternative to this senseless copy-cat approach to life? Yes - but making the change may not be so easy. You begin by looking inside rather than outside. With all the distractions competing for your attention, this may be the most difficult step. Nevertheless, take a look inside to determine your best talents and skills. Ask yourself, "What do I do well? What are my strengths? What do I enjoy doing most?"

Next, write yourself a plan that incorporates your answers into a personal action plan. Remember, you were born an original, so put that originality to work. To help the plan work, avoid distractions from those who question your new direction, and learn to "duplicate yourself".

To avoid distractions, consider moving your desk, working from a home office, or avoiding the social scene at your office. Focus your time and attention on achieving your new-found objectives. To duplicate yourself, hire assistants to prepare direct mail or update your website. Avoid all tasks that you can hire someone else to do.

In short, live and act the part of the original you really are!

It would be our pleasure at the Lohman Team to help you with all your real estate needs. We buy and sell homes in Toledo, Sylvania,OH, Perrysburg, OH, Monclova, Maumee, OH, and surrounding greater Toledo. Feel free to call us anytime.

Nancy Lohman     419-360-4735    Bob Lohman    419-360-4437  

 Nancy Stemmle   419-867-3898    Kim Iott          419-466-8926 

~ Anonymous

DRAW YOUR OWN MAP!

Imagine you've planned the trip of your dreams - say from North Carolina to Colorado. You've charted all the roads, have a fist full of maps just in case, and have your priorities straight in your mind. You get started on a beautiful sunny day, and begin enjoying the ride.

Late in the day, as you approach the Mississippi River, you drive straight into a bank of heavy fog. You turn on your lights, but still cannot see 10 feet ahead. Just because the highway is out of sight doesn't mean you've lost your way. Continuing on the path you've set for yourself, you soon break out into the sunshine again - still headed in the direction of your dreams.

In perspective, consider that the trip represents your life's goal - your first priority. Steering your vehicle down the highway hour by hour represents your efforts to reach your goal. The fog bank illustrates the momentary interruptions and obstacles encountered on your journey.

As day #2 begins, you find that you've come to an unexpected intersection - one that's not on your map. Confused, you pull over and examine the map closely. Stay to the right and you'll end up in Colorado. Take a left and you may arrive at an unanticipated, yet equally wonderful destination.

OK, let's cut to the chase! Sometimes your priorities change, don't they? Just as you think your goal is in sight, a new opportunity arises. Remember the saying that "life is a journey - not a destination"? What's exciting is that YOU are in control of the steering wheel, and whatever destination you choose is OK - so long as it's YOU who has made the choice.

Happy motoring!

WHICH BOUQUET DO YOU PREFER?

Whether or not you have a green thumb, you probably know that gardens may contain either annual or perennial flower varieties. Annuals are fun to grow for several reasons: 1) they sprout quickly from seeds, 2) they flower the first year, and 3) their colors can be brilliant and most pleasing. They are also less hardy and die out at the first sign of frost. Each spring, new seeds must be planted.

Perennials are another story. Growing from seeds, they take longer to sprout and rarely flower the first year. Their colors are more subtle hues, and they require more attention in the early stages. They must be cut back in the winter and covered with mulch, and may require fertilizer in the spring. They also come back year after year, returning with stronger roots, greater beauty and abundant growth. With time, they require less and less attention, yet continue to prosper. No matter how cold the winter, they always return with renewed vigor.

Friendships and business relationships are a lot like flowers, and may also be either annual or perennial in nature. They may be quick to bloom and most enjoyable to experience, yet fade quickly at the first hint of trouble.

Others grow more gradually through trust-building and respect. They may not dazzle the senses or leave us breathless, yet they are consistent, trusting, and produce a warm glow that hardly fades when tested by adversity. These relationships grow over time, and produce an abundance of lasting beauty.

In business, as in personal relationships, the best things in life come with time and caring. When planning your life's garden this spring, why not devote your attention to the perennials? With an added touch of patience, you can look forward to the sweet fragrances to come.

It would be our pleasure at the Lohman Team to help you with all your real estate needs. We buy and sell homes in Toledo, Sylvania,OH, Perrysburg, OH, Monclova, Maumee, OH, and surrounding greater Toledo. Feel free to call us anytime.

Nancy Lohman 419-360-4735   Bob Lohman 419-360-4437

 Nancy Stemmle 419-867-3898  Kim Iott 419-466-8926

Nancy's website

DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE!

Are you enjoying the good times? Have you achieved your goals and become comfortable in the knowledge that you have reached the zenith of your life and career? But wait! Hold on just a minute. What if things were to change suddenly . . . and you ended up back at the proverbial "Square One"?

Maybe that's already happened to you a time or two. Perhaps your career took a sudden turn in a direction you hadn't anticipated, or a health problem caught you totally by surprise. What did you do then? Were you paralyzed by fear? Did you feel cheated, or angry? Did you blame circumstances for your new situation?

No doubt you are able to rationalize objectively that all of us face change from time to time, that it's a part of life. It's difficult, however, to be objective when change suddenly stares you straight in the eye.

Some answers popped up this week to the challenges of change. You'll find those answers in a short, easy-to-read book entitled "Who Moved My Cheese?" Written by Spencer Johnson (co-author of "The One-Minute Manager"), it's the story of two little mice named "Sniffy" and "Scurry" and two little people the size of mice called "Hem" and Haw." The story traces the whimsical challenges faced by these tiny characters as they travel through the maze called "real life."

If you have ever been challenged by change in your world, you'll find comfort and sage advice in this simple story. It's waiting for you to read, and it's worth the short time you'll need to absorb the lessons it contains. This is a great story - don't miss it!

It would be our pleasure at the Lohman Team to help you with all your real estate needs. We buy and sell homes in Toledo, Sylvania,OH, Perrysburg, OH, Monclova, Maumee, OH, and surrounding greater Toledo. Feel free to call us anytime.

Nancy Lohman 419-360-4735   Bob Lohman 419-360-4437

 Nancy Stemmle 419-867-3898  Kim Iott 419-466-8926

Nancy's website

Toledo Ohio Homes Sales YTD by Area & Price Range

THIRTY-ONE SECONDS TO GO!

You may recall the story of how steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie commissioned Napoleon Hill to learn the true philosophy of success from America's most successful individuals of the early 1900's. Hill's search for those success secrets culminated in his well-known book "Think & Grow Rich".

What you may not know was how Hill almost squandered the opportunity offered by Carnegie. At the end of a long interview, Carnegie abruptly told Hill, "We've talked a long time and I have shown you the greatest opportunity a young man ever had to become famous, rich, and useful. Now - if I choose you out of the two hundred and forty other applicants - if I introduce you to the outstandingly successful men in America - if I help you get their collaboration in finding out the true philosophy of success - will you devote twenty years to the job, earning your own living as you go along? We have had sufficient discussion. I want your answer - yes or no."

Hill tells that he spent twenty-nine seconds struggling with a negative mental attitude, thinking of all the hurdles he would face over the twenty-year project. Finally, finding the positive mental attitude he had temporarily lost, Hill replied, "YES!"

How did he know it took 29 seconds to answer? At that point, Carnegie showed Hill the stopwatch he had been holding beneath his desk. Carnegie had allowed Hill just 60 seconds to show his positive state of mind, the one trait he felt most critical to achieving his desired results.

Hill hesitated. We all do from time to time. What's important, like Hill's answer, is that we ultimately grasp that sometimes-elusive positive mental attitude, and adopt it as our own. Had he hesitated for thirty-one seconds more, Napoleon Hill would have given up a wonderful opportunity (as well as depriving us of his inspiring book). He didn't . . . and neither should we.

It would be our pleasure at the Lohman Team to help you with all your real estate needs. We buy and sell homes in Toledo, Sylvania,OH, Perrysburg, OH, Monclova, Maumee, OH, and surrounding greater Toledo. Feel free to call us anytime.

Nancy Lohman 419-360-4735   Bob Lohman 419-360-4437

 Nancy Stemmle 419-867-3898  Kim Iott 419-466-8926

www.nancylohman.com

ASK "WHY?"

Beginning in the late '60s, a revolution of sorts began in this country. It was a revolution that was irreverent at times, almost always anti-establishment, and it turned many traditional social customs upside-down.

How did it begin? The young, many of college-student age, began to ask WHY? They challenged everything by asking a simple question - WHY? Why must it be so? Why is this or that the "right" way? Why can't I try a new approach? Everything that had been taken for granted by the establishment up to that time was up for grabs.

Voila! The country changed and will never be the same. Was the change all for the good? Hardly. Families suffered. The security blanket of social customs was yanked away. Collectively, we had to find a new direction, new meaning, for our lives. Was it worth two decades of turmoil? So it would seem.

Today's young families seem to be returning to principle-centered living. They are more sophisticated. They understand and adopt good personal money-management philosophies, and they still ask "why?"

The "why" of today, however, is more constructive. It has led to astounding advances in technology. When you ask a "why" today, you can locate the answer in minutes via the Internet. Audio books, motivational tapes, and "online" educational courses make it possible to become enlightened without the need for social revolution.

What about you? Are you asking "WHY?" often enough? Today, the world is yours if you know how to ask the right questions! The "ask why" generation's gift to all of us was the freedom to question and learn, guilt-free. Want to grow as a person? Start asking "WHY?"!

It would be our pleasure at the Lohman Team to help you with all your real estate needs. We buy and sell homes in Toledo, Sylvania,OH, Perrysburg, OH, Monclova, Maumee, OH, and surrounding greater Toledo. Feel free to call us anytime.

Nancy Lohman 419-360-4735   Bob Lohman 419-360-4437

 Nancy Stemmle 419-867-3898  Kim Iott 419-466-8926

www.nancylohman.com

OPEN HOUSES ! JUNE 13TH SUNDAY 

The open at Plum Grove is from 1-5 pm. This is located in a subdivision off Dorr 1/2 mile west of McCord.

The other three Opens are from 2pm - 4pm

Come out and see these great homes.  All are welcome, neighbors friends, if you already have an agent that is okay we will honor your relationship.  

WOULD YOU ENTER THE BLACK DOOR?

Many years ago, in a country far away, a ruthless dictator terrorized his prisoners. On their execution day, each prisoner was summoned for an audience with the cruel dictator. Standing face-to-face, the dictator gave each condemned man a final choice - to either face the firing squad - or go through the "black door."

Having experienced countless episodes of torture and cruelty already, the prisoners invariably chose death over the unknown terror that they imagined must lie beyond the "black door." Finally, the day came when the dictator himself lay on his deathbed. Curious, his inner circle of advisors asked him, "What lies beyond the 'black door'?" His answer? "Freedom!"

People are still making that choice today - choosing lives dampened by fear, rather than taking a chance on the unknown beyond the black door. That awful, scary feeling that comes from "fear of the unknown" is often just enough to keep us from breaking out into the clear light of day that illuminates our success.

The next time an opportunity presents itself, yet fear threatens to smother success, take time to understand your fear. Make a list of what you fear may happen. Write down the worst that could happen. Next, make a list of the benefits you would reap by taking positive action. When the benefits exceed the risks, the decision will become clear.

Get in the habit of setting clear, concise daily goals for yourself. As you set and achieve them, you will notice that "fear of the unknown" begins to fade. You will accomplish more in a day than you otherwise would in a month.

Finally, remember one of my favorite and often used quotes: "Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there."

It would be our pleasure at the Lohman Team to help you with all your real estate needs. We buy and sell homes in Toledo, Sylvania,OH, Perrysburg, OH, Monclova, Maumee, OH, and surrounding greater Toledo. Feel free to call us anytime.

Nancy Lohman 419-360-4735   Bob Lohman 419-360-4437

 Nancy Stemmle 419-867-3898  Kim Iott 419-466-8926

www.nancylohman.com