Posts Tagged Keller Williams Galveston
Yin-yang, thank you, Ma’am
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on February 12, 2010
Brooke got up Wednesday morning in a particularly good mood. She was going to show property all day to a couple who had just three weeks to buy, which meant they were serious and would probably make a quick decision. She had emailed them listings to consider in advance, and they had told her which ones they wanted to see. She had a List B, just in case none of those worked out.
She met them at Starbucks and reviewed the game plan for the day. After a real estate primer, they began the tour. Everywhere they went, Brooke saw other agents she knew and they hugged and wished each other Happy Mardi Gras. The feeling of community was palpable. They were all happy to be out and working again. It had been so slow for so long since the storm.
The last word…
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on August 4, 2009
About six months ago, I posted the story of my friend, Alex, who was in danger of losing his home and car back to the bank because, as a self-employed small business owner in a slow-to-recover-from-Ike industry, he had been turned down for loan modification by both lenders.
Alex asked me to update you on his story, and says this is his last word on the subject.
Alex’s car was repossessed shortly after this story originally ran, and the mortgage company foreclosed in June. The car company sold the car at auction for $20,000 less than Alex owed on it, and the mortgage company is now marketing his former home at $100,000 less than Alex paid for it. Alex wants everyone to see how illogical the system is — when people struck by natural disaster who WANT to do the right thing and fulfill their financial obligations are met with immutable bureaucracies that refuse compromise only to make a significantly better deal, and take a bath, with the next guy. Alex would have been happy to work with both lenders at FULL VALUE if only they had agreed to restructure the debts.
Finally, Alex says he has moved on. It has been almost a year and he feels like he’s finally getting his daily life back under control — even if it is in a borrowed house and borrowed car. He’s grateful for everything he’s learned and can see the light ahead.
In March, he fell in love. That was the best gift of all.
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Copyright © 2009 Alice Melott
Essays by this author can also be read by joining http://www.facebook.com/alicethewriter.
Smile though your heart is breaking?
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on July 25, 2009
My father, an attorney turned French professor, taught me never to ask a question I didn’t already know the answer to. I find that’s a great cross-examination technique, but a hard way to learn, especially for people who’ve been out of the Ike loop. For instance, I reconnected with a couple of wonderful old friends on Facebook this week, and had to finesse the answer to “What’s new?” Things are really great, but it’s so hard to explain why without diving into the yin of our yang. Such a simple question with such huge bunny trails. So finesse from me these days sounds something like this:
6-bedroom/5+ bath Lasker Home for Homeless Children is on the market for $999,900. Owner says “Bring all offers!”
This month, Jody & I took a Carnival Cruise that truly was. Then fifteen of her family came down for the weekend, and stayed with me in my office, which is in the Lasker Home for Homeless Children, and is where I live. I cooked some cool stuff I’ve snagged and adapted from The Food Network, like shrimp & grits and tempura fried asparagus. We went to the newly renovated Galveston Country Club for the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet Friday night, and had Sunday brunch at the new Olympia Grill on Harborside. (Scallops on the half shell with wasabi seaweed and soy sauce… Oh, my GAWD!)
For good…
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on April 9, 2009
It’s not an affair; it’s a relationship. April 13th is our 7-month anniversary, and we’re in it for the long-haul. We were instantly and irrevocably enmeshed the moment we met. He swept into my life unannounced and immediately changed its course. I dropped absolutely everything for him. He touched me emotionally, psychologically, financially, socially, and physically. All my senses were aroused, and for most of the past half-year, I’ve thought of him almost constantly. Because of him, I have felt my highest highs and my lowest lows. He has changed the way my friends see me and the choices I make about how I spend my time and who I spend it with. I have altered my job, moved my home, taken on new activities, rewritten my future, given him all my money and time. Some people have said I spend too much time on the things he’s introduced me to, but I don’t have a choice. In fact, he has in many ways shown me who my real friends are. He has put his handprint on my life and changed me… for good. I’m grateful to him, and in spite of it all and whatever happens, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Happy Anniversary, Ike. You sonofabitch.
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Copyright © 2009 Alice Melott
Essays by this author can also be read by joining http://www.facebook.com/alicethewriter.
Several random thoughts…
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on February 1, 2009
So, you know my new addiction is Facebook, right? If you haven’t been there, I can only tell you that it’s your assumptions and prejudices and ignorance — yes, ignorance — that are holding you back. I’m 50 (almost 51) years old, and two weeks ago I was absolutely certain I was way too cool (and old) for such falderol — and I was as wrong as I’ve ever been in my life. I spent 25 years in high-level professional communications, and this is the single most brilliant social and business communications invention — innovation — I have ever seen. Just do it! It will rock your world. If it doesn’t, write me and I’ll refund your investment.
This last week on Facebook, I was introduced to a concept called “25 Random Thoughts About Me.” You write 25 things about yourself and then invite 25 people close to you to do the same. What comes from it is poetry… and insight… and truth. Don’t think. Just do it. Again, I’ll refund your investment… Read the rest of this entry »
A visit to Smith Point
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in Bolivar, The Storm on January 12, 2009
Windchimes peel at Smith Point
Gail Nash wrote me tonight, saying:
“You asked in your blog about Bolivar, “where did everything go?” Well, for starters, I think a whole lot of it went to Smith Point, including one of the 2 people who escaped Bolivar at the last minute. My brother-in-law and the sheriff found him alive and took care of him! The Nashes have 2 family homes in Smith Point. My sisters-in-law had a permanent home, and the other one is more a fishing place. There were roofs from at least 3 houses in the yard. And Shannon, my brother in law, is using wood that floated on to the property to try to rebuild the house. It was a one story house on blocks that has been there since the 1930’s!
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Here are the rest of Gail’s pictures. They are an unembellished reminder of that which we believed we would not, could not forget… It ain’t over.
http://picasaweb.google.com/millyuns/SmithPointIke?authkey=FUPDwrgk8Mo
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Copyright © 2009 Alice Melott
Essays by this author can also be read by joining http://www.facebook.com/alicethewriter.
Coming of age, embracing change
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in Just a Damn Good Story on January 11, 2009
Last night I had dinner with a group of friends that included a 77-year old and her 25-year old grandson. The conversation turned to the relative merits of Facebook versus MySpace, and listening to the two generations talk in terms of acronyms and modern heiroglyphics (like smiley face icons), I found myself time-traveling back thirty years to a series of unforeseeable events — those that would notably shape the first half of my adult life.
HAPPY NEW YEAR from Galveston – Anybody got a hat?
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on December 28, 2008
I haven’t told this story before.
On Wednesday, September 10, 2008, I decided to cash in my birthday massage coupon – it being six months old already and all – and since we thought the third storm in a month was headed south of Galveston, I thought what the heck? And if it decided to come closer to us, we still had ‘til Friday to get out. We’re well rehearsed at this stuff, and I deserved an afternoon off.
Paper or plastic?
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in Bolivar, The Storm on December 23, 2008
I need to talk about plastic bags.
True confession: About twice a week I take the 16 plastic bags (usually doubled) that they give me at the store to carry home my dozen or so items — and I use them to pick up dog poop and line wastepaper baskets and whatnot — and then I throw them away, feeling pretty righteous that I reused them, if I think about it at all.
As I drove off the Bolivar Ferry on Sunday, I was immediately struck by the cotton field to my left — a vast expanse of stick-like shrubbery with balls of white on thousands and thousands of its tips.
“Grow up,” said Ike
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on December 22, 2008
“You live everyday at the beach, yet you take so much for granted. How often do you really stop to count your blessings? Is it enough?
Billy & Ruthi's morning shot
“Do you walk each day along the shore, toes buried in the sand, dreaming your dreams or hunting seashells or solving the world’s problems? Read the rest of this entry »
Bolivar revisited
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in Bolivar, The Storm on December 22, 2008
I finally went to Bolivar yesterday.
I hadn’t planned it. I went out for coffee and wound up on the ferry. There was no wait, and schools of dolphins met the ferry coming and going. It was magical in its way — cool, gray, serious, but surprisingly beautiful — like a Eugene O’Neill play.
I’ll leave you to ponder the pictures yourselves. We’ll talk tomorrow after it’s set in. Here’s my image gallery…
It’s the little things
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on November 22, 2008
This is where we were ten weeks ago:
Keller Williams Galveston after Ike
And here’s what I did today…
It arrived at 11:30 a.m. on a flat-out glorious day at the beach. A little landscaping, a front porch, a big-beautiful sign, and we’ll have a new home.
It may not look like much to you…
67 days
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on November 21, 2008
I am home.
From inside my Strand-area loft, apart from the disarray that accompanies unpacking and a layer of Ike dust, you can’t tell that anything has changed. It’s the journey from the curb to the front door that reminds you — the construction site you have to navigate to get in.
So what? That’s pretty much what all of Galveston looks like now — like everybody decided to do a good Spring cleaning and a little remodeling at the same time. It’s a big ol’ clean-up job. Here’s the most useful word in the English language: Next!
No drama, Mama
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on November 13, 2008
Okay, I admit. I stole that one. They’re calling our new President-Elect “No Drama Obama” because he is so calm and unflappable. When I heard that, I realized that “no drama” is another way of saying “peace,” which is my new favorite anachronism. And as a former drama major with a recent featured role in “The Amazing Race Meets Survivor on Steroids” a/k/a “Ike Hit Galveston,” my inclinations are all about the theatrics. Alas, when everyone in the room is on the stage, it gets crowded. And there being no mellow drama, only melodrama — well, I’m up for some peace. You?
So my pre-New Year’s Resolution is to act, not react. Inquire, not assume. Come from contribution, and stop examining the lint in my navel. Ike was the great leveler. We’re not in control. And we’re only as good as our coping skills.
If mine are better than yours today, I’m happy to share. I’m sure you’ll do the same for me tomorrow.
Peace.
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Copyright © 2009 Alice Melott Robertson
Essays by this author can also be read by joining http://www.facebook.com/alicethewriter.
Almost home
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on November 12, 2008
Two weeks ago, my contractor’s designated client updater told me it would be 60-90 days before I could move home. On the strength of that, and with nowhere left to go in Galveston for that amount of time, I moved about 2½ hours away to the land of negligible technology so I could be someplace for the duration. It was my fifth move in six weeks. (And that’s all I’m going to say about my absence from this blog for the last ten days.)
Before I left on Saturday, I went by the lofts everyday, where I bore witness to an embarassment of non-work. Finally, I sent a curious email — i.e., “What the heck’s going on or should I be asking someone with J.D. after their name?” — and about an hour later, I got a call from Mr. Contractor himself. He was standing in my unit and started to tell me that my problem was not roof-related – until I mentioned the unit above mine, to which he replied, “Oh, there’s a unit above you?”
Long story short – and this isn’t intended as a black comedy – the utilities were on and he said my repairs would be complete in about two weeks. So I’m almost home.
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Copyright © 2009 Alice Melott
Essays by this author can also be read by joining http://www.facebook.com/alicethewriter.
It’s easier to give than to receive
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on October 27, 2008
Keller Williams Galveston clothing distribution at S.S. Minnow
That afternoon, still Monday, I got a call from our fabulous Peggy Tuthill, the original founder of the Keller Williams Memorial office and the first ever KW agent in Houston – who now makes her home in Galveston – saying that 1,500 pounds of clothes donated by the Keller Williams International staff in Austin were on their way to Galveston for distribution to the community. Many local charitable organizations aren’t accepting clothing (too high maintenance, I guess), so our mission would be to get the items to people who needed them.
The “Bolivar State Park” myth
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in Bolivar, The Storm on October 26, 2008
Bolivar after Ike
Despite the devastation there, all signs point to rebuilding Bolivar — with modern building codes and infrastructure and the new 4.5-foot vegetation line (to be announced in about a week by the GLO). In a few years we’re liable to be looking at Bolivar as the next gen high-end beach destination!
See the AP’s video essay.
Read about the upcoming permitting process and plans.
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Copyright © 2009 Alice Melott
Essays by this author can also be read by joining http://www.facebook.com/alicethewriter.
2-minute Ike rerun
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on October 26, 2008
In case you missed the storm, click here.
The Galveston causeway after Ike
A rolling ball gathers no mas
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on October 24, 2008
Has anybody seen my boat?
“If you find a boat in your living room, can you keep it?” my cousin the lawyer asked.
“If you found a car in your living room, could you keep it?” I asked back.
“I see,” she said. “It’s like the sign on the golf course: Please don’t pick up lost balls until they have stopped rolling.”
Good rule of thumb for boats and golf balls.
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Copyright © 2009 Alice Melott
How’s the Strand? How’s Baghdad?
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on October 21, 2008
At noon on Thursday, September 11th (what is it about that date?), I had already evacuated to Bryan, and was settled in my lounger watching Galveston Reality TV when my cell phone chimed. It was the alarm company calling to let me know the front door of my office “had been breached.”
The journey to now
Posted by ALICE MELOTT in The Storm on October 20, 2008
It’s hard to remember exactly what it felt like to look around my home and decide what to take. It was the third threat we’d had in a few weeks — was it real? Would we be back the next day?
Hello world!
Posted by click2houston in The Storm on October 17, 2008
Ahoy there from Galveston Island! The cool thing about blogging is that anybody can write anything. And the curious — sometimes obnoxious — thing about blogging is that anybody can write anything. So please click here and here to meet me and get a little background about me and how I landed on this page. That way you’ll know if I’m somebody you want to hang out with here in cyber-la-la-land.
Here’s your job: Tell me what’s on your mind. What do you need to know? What are you curious about? What have you observed? Please make this a two-way street…
Peace.
Galveston After Ike 
