What Does All Talk, No Action Mean?

Nick Kokonas says all talk, no action is what AT&A means in his house. His wife uses the phrase on him. She will issue an AT&A the way a cop issues a ticket, and she used it on the property where this conversation is happening.

They had treated the place as a North Star for about 30 years, coming back a couple of times a year since 1995 or 1996. Three years before this talk they rented a house nearby, the property was for sale, and he watched the listing video over and over, including the shot of a canoe in the pond. She asked whether he was going to pull the trigger or stay all talk. He put in a very low bid. They called in 15 minutes and accepted it with no counter.

The fast yes scared him. He compares it to a Persian rug priced high, then sold the moment you bid low. He did not know agriculture, knew little about growing grapes, and did not know irrigation or how to manage a pond. He was 55. Closing meant the next three decades, and he lost sleep between the accepted offer and the closing because half-doing a place like that felt wrong.