IBR Realty Blog

“Would the last honest reporter please turn on the lights?”

I'm probably gonna make some people mad with this one, but I can't help myself. I'm not picking sides, but there is a fair amount of truth in what is said.

Kevin

Orson Scott Card on the Fannie/Freddie melt-down: “Would the last honest reporter please turn on the lights?”

By: Greg Swann, BloodhoundRealty.com, Post Archive, RSS Feed
Posted: Tuesday, October 21st, 2008, 9:07 am MST
Category: Marketing, Real Estate

Orson Scott Card is a Hugo-award-winning science fiction author, having written Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead among other best-selling works. In the intro to this article from Meridian magazine, he is presented as being a Democrat, but it would be more accurate, I think, to portray him as an anti-idiotarian, the post-9/11 movement of liberal, conservative and libertarian anti-islamist webloggers. Card is an insanely great writer. You can find him at his best at his Hatrack River site. As always, I don’t have any great use for Republicans, but I think this is a fine excoriation of the suicidal negligence of the mainstream media.

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was … the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was … the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It’s not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?

Now let’s follow the money … right to the presidential candidate who is the number-two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae.

And after Freddie Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one presidential candidate’s campaign actually consulted him for advice on housing.

If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was.

But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an "adviser" to the Obama campaign — because that campaign had sought his advice — you actually let Obama’s people get away with accusing McCain of lying, merely because Raines wasn’t listed as an official adviser to the Obama campaign.

You would never tolerate such weasely nit-picking from a Republican.

If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles, you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically selfish, and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including Obama.

If you who produce our local daily paper had any personal honor, you would find it unbearable to let the American people believe that somehow Republicans were to blame for this crisis.

[....]

If you had any principles, then surely right now, when the American people are set to blame President Bush and John McCain for a crisis they tried to prevent, and are actually shifting to approve of Barack Obama because of a crisis he helped cause, you would be laboring at least as hard to correct that false impression.

Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That’s what you claim you do, when you accept people’s money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie — that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad — even bad weather — on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth — even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

Because that’s what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth even when they don’t like the probable consequences. That’s what honesty means. That’s how trust is earned.

Barack Obama is just another politician, and not a very wise one. He has revealed his ignorance and naivete time after time — and you have swept it under the rug, treated it as nothing.

Meanwhile, you have participated in the borking of Sarah Palin, reporting savage attacks on her for the pregnancy of her unmarried daughter — while you ignored the story of John Edwards’ own adultery for many months.

So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know what honesty means?

Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?

[....]

It’s not too late. You know that if the situation were reversed, and the truth would damage McCain and help Obama, you would be moving heaven and earth to get the true story out there.

If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its lending practices.

Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which put our nation’s prosperity at risk so they could feel good about helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama’s door.

You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a Senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis. You will tell the truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.

This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.

If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe — and vote as if — President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis, then you are joining in that lie.

If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats — including Barack Obama — and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants were Republicans — then you are not journalists by any standard.

You’re just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it’s time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a news paper in our city.

Brokers, it's time to get out of the cockpit

Brokers, it's time to get out of the cockpit
“Good morning, folks, my name is Brian Marsh and I’m your first officer on today’s flight out to Aruba [pauses amid chuckles].

How many people on this plane have never flown jetBlue before? Great, how about you stand up and tell us a little bit about yourselves?

Seriously, I’m grateful you’re on board with us this morning. We’ve got some tailwinds, so our flight time out to D.C. will be a quick four hours and thirty minutes. And all reports indicate a smooth ride.

Sit back and enjoy the jetBlue experience – and thanks again”

I was headed out to Washington from Oakland on a jetBlue flight last week.

The screen in front of me had already told me I “look good in leather” – the material covering my seat – and commended me for being a “good screen reader”. Now the first officer had come out of the cockpit to greet us, joke around a bit, and tell us what to expect.

The week before I had flown from Houston to Oakland on Continental. My seat smelled of body odor. The flight attendants were surly. My tray table restricted my breathing. I arrived home with a sore back and headed straight for the shower.

The guy flying the plane could have made me feel a little better about this, but he chose not too. He remained, as most pilots remain, a leaden voice coming through the squawk box, distant and unconcerned.

I hate Continental. I love JetBlue.

Brokers, it’s time for you to get out of the cockpit too. Times are tough. People are hurting. They’re angry, and unsure.

It’s been a long flight and the peanuts aren’t helping.

How often do you, your office mangers or your VPs, personally greet clients in your office? How often do you call buyers to congratulate them upon closing? Or send them a handwritten note?

Do you speak candidly and sympathetically to your customers about the challenges facing home buyers and sellers? Or do you remain ensconced in the soundproof cockpit of the executive suite and let your marketing department do the talking?

Have you lent humor to your interactions with sellers? Or are you still hoping to still the anxious minds in your market with postcards?

All this buzz about blogs? It’s not about technology: it’s about you, your voice, and a conversation you need to be having with your customers.

I know. There are reasons to stay put. You don’t want to edge in on agent relationships. You don’t want exposure to criticism. Let me tell you something: When you speak to your customers with a human voice you are forgiven for your mistakes. JetBlue botched hundreds of flights and stranded a hundred and fifty passengers on the tarmac at JFK for nine hours last winter in an operational meltdown. People gave them the flack they deserved and went on loving the company.

Get out there. Hold a town hall meeting. Spend 20k to hire a top shelf economist or personal finance expert to help your customers navigate a challenging economy. Give them the data they need, however ugly it may be.

Speak frankly. Be open. Push yourself to communicate in new ways. Take a look at this. I know -- it’s far from perfect. And the opening video is filled with cant. But he’s trying. He’s left the cockpit. He’s telling us what to expect and injecting his brand with a dose of humanity.

I know a lot of smart brokers. People who’ve been through rough times before and have a genuine passion for helping people. Trouble is, they don’t have – or don’t think they have – the moves in them to pull something like this off. I think they underestimate themselves. The tools are there. It’s what Web 2.0 is all about.

Get out of the cockpit and face the crowd. It’ll make everyone feel better.

-- Brian Boero

Housing Market Recovery Imminent

---

You could bet against Sam Zell… but I’m guessing his track record is a bit better than yours.

“The US economy will avoid recession as the housing market begins to recover this spring, according to billionaire investor Sam Zell.

“Obviously what we have going on is an attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Zell, chairman of Equity Investments Group and owner of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other companies. “We have two Democratic candidates who are vying with each other to describe the economic situation worse.

Zell said that although he doesn’t try to pick bottoms in markets he believes housing has hit its nadir and will turn around this spring as inventory clears out.”

If the Billionaire Bald Boy pontifications weren’t enough to sway you… check out what the Bawldguy has to say: “THE WINDOW [to buy property at a great price] ? SHE IS CLOSING.”

Tell your clients. Make them some money. Pick up a place or two for you while you’re at it.

Real Estate is a perpetual bull market - once in a while the horns may get you, but in the end, the bull just keeps on going.

Benjamin Bach

Drinking the Wind

Life can be overwhelming.

And when you are a real estate agent, life can be beyond overwhelming. Where is the line between your life and your business? I have joked about working long hours, but the fact of the matter is that it is true. As a real estate agent, you are “on” more than you are “off” – Even if you are very strict about not answering the phone after a certain time, or making sure that you have family time, etc, it is hard NOT to at least think about your business more often than not when you are self employed… when you are a real estate agent.

There is always a contract, a lack of a contract, an issue, another agent, a client, an inspection, an investor, a lack of a client, a closing, a lack of a closing or something to think about, to worry about, to stress about, to laugh about, to cry about, to lose sleep over or to drink because of. Sometimes I feel like I am always running on all 6 cylinders at the top of my game all the time. Even when I am sleeping.

Today I went and hand delivered the last of my calendar magnets to my FARM area, my neighborhood. I have been delivering about 50-75 a day to a total of about 250 homes. I am not very big on cold-calling, nor am I a door-knocker – except for my neighborhood. I am the self-assigned neighborhood expert and I always have something interesting to share with my neighbors. This month is was the quarterly newsletter that had information on the recent home sales, the brand new high school that is being built to the immediate north of our neighborhood as well as news on the hot topic of the “neighbor with mold” issue. Oh, and the cool calendar magnet. Instead of my business card, I affixed a cool picture of the neighborhood park with the web address to the Greenhaven neighborhood
websites (which, if you check it out, you will recognize is a blog, but too many people don’t understand that term “blog” in my area).

I like going door-to-door in my neighborhood because it is a work-related activity that I can bring by kids along with. (Well, actually, walking around the neighborhood is too boring for my oldest one, unless I bribe him with fame and/or fortune, so this activity is generally done with my youngest one.) As we go door-to-door he and I have some of the BEST conversations. I learn so much from my kids.

Today we were walking back from the last home – the final door, and we have made the final turn onto our street. We are walking against the wind, and MAN it’s windy out today. I look down and my little one is walking next to me with his mouth WIDE open.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m drinking the wind, Mom.” He says and goes back to opening his mouth.

“Wow! Doesn’t that make it hard to breathe?” I begin thinking about my life and how I feel like I am always walking against the wind with my mouth wide open.

“Mmm. No. Not really. See Mom?” as he points to his mouth. “All the wind just goes into my mouth and I choose when I want to drink it.” And he opens his mouth again to show me. “You try it, Mom!”

Okay, Son. I will.

Mariana Wagner

Advice for real estate agents (quit now!)

I had the good fortune to speak to a large gathering of real estate agents last week. Here’s my best advice (everyone knows an agent or two, so feel free to forward this along).

Plan A: You should quit selling real estate.

I’m serious.

Quit being an agent. Get a job doing something else.

Some of you have been waiting to hear that. My pleasure.

...

Now, if you’re still with me, you’ll be glad to know that the competition for attention just got smaller. The agents who built their business on low interest rates, easy money and speculation (the order takers) have left the building.

The ones that are left, that’s you, can consider Plan B:

If you’re not going to be able to make a living by taking orders, by selling houses the way everyone else does, by using the never-ending rise in real estate prices to make sales, then what are you going to do? Whining is not an option.

In fact, I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for you.

Without a frenzy, without short-term competition, you can actually build assets that will pay off for the long run. I have two in mind:

The first is to become the expert in what you do. Which means micro-specialization. Who is the single-best agent for condos in your zip code? Or for single family homes for large families? Who is the one and the only best person to turn to if you’re looking for investment property in this part of town?

As I wrote in The Dip, you’re either the best in the world (where ‘world’ can be a tiny slice of the environment) or you’re invisible.

This means being Draconian in your choices. No, you can’t also do a little of this or a little of that. Best in your world means burning your other bridges and obsessing.

The kids at Squidoo just built a promotional tool that lets you get started. Mayor of your zip code is a way to start a discussion group/info page about what’s happening in your slice of the world. You become the source of information, the watercooler, the person to turn to. Of course, if you spend ten minutes on it and then move on, it'll fail. But, if you spent 30% of your time working on your page (building it, curating it, promoting it), what do you think would show up in Google searches? What sort of interactions would you start having with people thinking about your little part of the world? Even better, what if you built a blog about your town, as good as any local paper, with high school sports and tax controversies and everything... don't you think the right people would read it?

"I have no time!"

Of course you have that time available. Remember nine months ago when you were three times as busy with incoming calls as you are now? Invest that time in building up your expertise and becoming the person people who don't even like you turn to for insight.

Or, consider this: Take half your office (the half made vacant by the people following Plan A) and turn it over to local groups. Let the active (and nascent) clubs and organizations meet in your office. Not once in a while. Regularly. All the time. Become the hub. Because, after all, you’re the mayor.

The second asset to build is permission. It turns out (according to the NAR) that 91% of all Realtors never contact the buyer or the seller of a home after the closing. Not once. Wow. Someone just spent a million dollars with you and you don’t bother to call or write?

The opportunity during the current pause (and yes, it's a pause) is to find, one by one, the people who would benefit from hearing from you and then earn the right to talk to them. Earn the right to send them a newsletter or a regular update or a subscription to your blog. NOT to talk about what matters to you, but to give them information (real information, not just data) that matters to them. Visit dailycandy.com to see an example of what people like to hear.

The opportunity is to reinvent the way you interact with citizens, with prospects, with the mildly interested and with your past clients. The opportunity, in other words, is to stop waiting around for the phone to ring and instead figure out how to do what you do best... connect buyers and sellers in a way that makes them both confident.

Some of you will stick with the standard business card with the standard photo, the standard office and the standard ad strategy and the standard approach to making the phone ring. It's going to be a long haul if that's your route.

I'm betting, though, that the best of you will end up with a business model that will survive, thrive and prosper. Best time to start is right now.

Seth Godin's Blog

I had the good fortune to speak to a large gathering of real estate agents last week. Here’s my best advice (everyone knows an agent or two, so feel free to forward this along).

Plan A: You should quit selling real estate.

I’m serious.

Quit being an agent. Get a job doing something else.

Some of you have been waiting to hear that. My pleasure.

...

Now, if you’re still with me, you’ll be glad to know that the competition for attention just got smaller. The agents who built their business on low interest rates, easy money and speculation (the order takers) have left the building.

The ones that are left, that’s you, can consider Plan B:

If you’re not going to be able to make a living by taking orders, by selling houses the way everyone else does, by using the never-ending rise in real estate prices to make sales, then what are you going to do? Whining is not an option.

In fact, I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for you.

Without a frenzy, without short-term competition, you can actually build assets that will pay off for the long run. I have two in mind:

The first is to become the expert in what you do. Which means micro-specialization. Who is the single-best agent for condos in your zip code? Or for single family homes for large families? Who is the one and the only best person to turn to if you’re looking for investment property in this part of town?

As I wrote in The Dip, you’re either the best in the world (where ‘world’ can be a tiny slice of the environment) or you’re invisible.

This means being Draconian in your choices. No, you can’t also do a little of this or a little of that. Best in your world means burning your other bridges and obsessing.

The kids at Squidoo just built a promotional tool that lets you get started. Mayor of your zip code is a way to start a discussion group/info page about what’s happening in your slice of the world. You become the source of information, the watercooler, the person to turn to. Of course, if you spend ten minutes on it and then move on, it'll fail. But, if you spent 30% of your time working on your page (building it, curating it, promoting it), what do you think would show up in Google searches? What sort of interactions would you start having with people thinking about your little part of the world? Even better, what if you built a blog about your town, as good as any local paper, with high school sports and tax controversies and everything... don't you think the right people would read it?

"I have no time!"

Of course you have that time available. Remember nine months ago when you were three times as busy with incoming calls as you are now? Invest that time in building up your expertise and becoming the person people who don't even like you turn to for insight.

Or, consider this: Take half your office (the half made vacant by the people following Plan A) and turn it over to local groups. Let the active (and nascent) clubs and organizations meet in your office. Not once in a while. Regularly. All the time. Become the hub. Because, after all, you’re the mayor.

The second asset to build is permission. It turns out (according to the NAR) that 91% of all Realtors never contact the buyer or the seller of a home after the closing. Not once. Wow. Someone just spent a million dollars with you and you don’t bother to call or write?

The opportunity during the current pause (and yes, it's a pause) is to find, one by one, the people who would benefit from hearing from you and then earn the right to talk to them. Earn the right to send them a newsletter or a regular update or a subscription to your blog. NOT to talk about what matters to you, but to give them information (real information, not just data) that matters to them. Visit dailycandy.com to see an example of what people like to hear.

The opportunity is to reinvent the way you interact with citizens, with prospects, with the mildly interested and with your past clients. The opportunity, in other words, is to stop waiting around for the phone to ring and instead figure out how to do what you do best... connect buyers and sellers in a way that makes them both confident.

Some of you will stick with the standard business card with the standard photo, the standard office and the standard ad strategy and the standard approach to making the phone ring. It's going to be a long haul if that's your route.

I'm betting, though, that the best of you will end up with a business model that will survive, thrive and prosper. Best time to start is right now.

Seth Godin's Blog

You Came To the Right Place

---

You already knew you came to the right place or you might not be here. In the real estate industry it is consumers that have led the way when it comes to marketing properties on the internet, and using the internet and other technologies that have arrived on the scene in the past few years. They have made is clear that we need to put information on the internet and make it easy for them to find. They reward us for doing this by hiring us to help them with home purchases and sales.

keeping up with consumers

There is a small group of real estate practitioners who are keeping up with consumers, or at least trying to. Everyone who writes on this blog is an example of the kind of real estate practitioner who is on the leading edge of the revolution that is marching through our industry. Several miles, or a few years behind the agents, who are behind the consumers are the real estate companies, trainers, coaches, vendors and pulling up from the rear our real estate boards.

For real estate practitioners who want to learn, blogs like agent genius are the go to places. I have attended conferences, looked at articles written by trainers, coaches and real estate companies and they are covering the same topics we talked about on the re-blogoshere two years ago.

not everyone is a genius

I recently visited a friend who works for a huge company in town and he handed me a flier advertising a “blogging class”. When I got home I did a Google search on the instructor. I couldn’t find him, or his blog. He has no credibility with me as a web 2.0, or even a web 1.0 kind of guy. It is possible that some will benefit from his class, and I may go check it out.

Real estate companies also hire consultants, trainers, coaches and various vendors to give classes for their agents. I have yet to find one who knows as much about what it takes to be successful on the internet as the agent geniuses do. The vendors who listen to real estate practitioners do better than those who preach to us on how to run our businesses.

there are exceptions

There are some exceptions to my opinion. Jim Cronin at the real estate tomato is an exception. He has contact with real estate practitioners, he listens and always has an eye out for best practices. He also generates most of his income through is blog. He walks the talk. There are other exceptions as well.

The training and coaching available in our industry or through it is becoming a bit polluted with people who don’t know their stuff. Coaches learn technology from vendors who sell technology. Agents look to their companies and to education through their board because they want to learn, and because both have been great sources in the past. We don’t need to be educated for the past, we need to operate today and prepare for the future.

the world has changed

Our industry has been behind for many years when it comes to using technology. Real estate companies have had to jump on the band wagon. The world has changed and we don’t need as much of what they have to offer as we did before, like offices and fax machines or carbon forms.

If you are reading this chances are you are in the 1 to 5% that will follow consumers and lead our industry into the future. If you want to learn more talk to your clients, or read some books about marketing, sales or technology not written for the real estate industry.

By Teresa Boardman

Everybody Wants a Piece

I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about an escrow of hers that closed a week ago. The seller was upside-down on his home but was prepared to bring cash to the closing table to get out from under his mortgage. The catch? He didn’t have enough if the full commission was included.Since the buyer came off a sign call, there was no second agent to pay. And so my friend, after discussing the situation with her manager, decided to reduce her commission to make everything work. The buyers were happy. The sellers were happy.It should have been a happy ending, right?

Well, not quite.

This seller happened to be a member of USAA and came to my friend through their MoversAdvantage program. (Disclosure: I am certified in the program for another 32 days - though I can’t utilize that certification since I left my former brokerage.) As part of the program, buyers and sellers receive cash back on their transaction funded by a 35% referral fee levied against the real estate agent.

For all the complaints about corporate relocations and other such programs, agents who work with these clients generally go in with their eyes open. We know what we’re paying out when the process starts. And so there was no problem there.

No, the problems came when it came time for the split that the brokerage takes from the commission. This company has one split for agent generated business and a 50-50 split on company generated business.

Logic would have dictated half the commission be paid under the agent split (for the buyers’ side) and the other half under the company split (for the sellers’ side.) Which it was.

Oh, but there’s also a standing company policy that says if a listing is taken under a pre-determined commission rate (which is allowable, incidentally), the split’s 50-50.

So by doing the right thing for her clients on both side of the closing table, my friend lost not only the additional commission agreed upon at the beginning but also another four figures to the company just because.

The company’s reasoning in a nutshell (paraphrased): “It’s not up to us to step in and make sure the owner can sell the house. If they don’t have enough money to pay everyone, that’s not our problem.”

Beautiful attitude, no? Really embodies the spirit of customer service. (Here’s hoping Ardell sees this as I know she’ll love that line from the company.)

Everyone wants a piece of the pie. Few actually care about the buyers and sellers involved. Relocation companies sure don’t. Third-party referral vendors don’t.  Sadly, many brokerages don’t either.

It’s lonely at the front lines.

Jonathan Dalton

Answering a message in a bottle

When lost at sea, the seaman looks for any signs of land. A beacon, a floating twig, birds... anything that can, at the very least, instill hope.

When shipwrecked, seamen discover themselves. And what they're really made of.

Being shipwrecked happens. No one controls the sea. Or the climate. Just as no one can control market trends or economies. What we can control however, is how we ride the wave.

Today, real estate’s seamen and women have been cast from the big ocean liner that once cut through the currents like a knife through melted butter. Many are now raft-bound. Others shipwrecked.

I can tell you that this is OK. You are not alone. But sitting on a raft waiting for a headwind, waiting for a current in a dead calm, or building a huge sand SOS on the beach, is not going to change your predicament. You will remain lost.

Last Friday, a message in a bottle arrived via email from one of real estate's castaways. An agent whose ship once sailed mighty. Today’s she’s stranded on the shores of despair. Lost.

So I called her. We spoke about the market. About silence. About no leads, no phone calls ... nothing. About not knowing what to do next. It was not my place to tell her what to do. She needed to figure that out on her own.

And through the dialog, that began to happen. It began through her humility. Through her realization that some things, crucial things, had passed her by. She admitted that when things were going great, she avoided furthering her education. And that now, furthering her education is the only thing that matters.

She wants to row. She wants to learn. She wants, more than anything, to part ways with what she was. It doesn't work for her.

She wants a build a new boat.
Rename it.
And sail a new sea.

During that call, I realized I was her twig.

I’m not a raft builder. I’m not a programmer. I’m certainly not a magician. I can’t make a bad market turn great. I can’t make a disinterested buyer lust after a home. But maybe, with a single puff, I could blow a little wind into her new sail and point her in a truer direction.

So I blew. It was in the form of an email loaded with links to her peers who might have once been in her shoes. What they're doing inspires me. But more importantly, they're inspiring new business and attracting customers despite the market. They serve up my own personal belief that life is what you make of it and opportunity is only a moment away.

Her down time has served her well. It repositioned her way of thinking. Going forward is going to take some hard work but she's game. The end result is worth it.

I can’t build her raft, only she can.
She's shown she has the skills.
And the desire. All she needs is inspiration.

.... to be continued. - Davison

The market, the new world, transparency

Have no fear, the fearless shall thrive. That was one of the main takeaways I had from Real Estate Connect NY last week. The news of the housing downturn isn't pretty right now but there are people out there growing and seizing opportunities to grow.

It usually takes me a few days to allow information that's thrown full force during Connect to sink in, marinate a little and then finally make sense. With that, I give you my closing thoughts on the New York conference last week:

The market is cyclical

The market at the national level is in the dumps and there's really no way around that. But while some local markets account for much of the correction at the national level, other markets or market segments are sailing on business as usual, seemingly untouched by the credit crunch and subprime mess.

Prices will need to come down more in some of these markets where prices soared to outrageous levels during the boom because first-time buyers are having trouble getting in, a problem that dominoes through the entire local market. (First-time buyers can't get in, there's no one able to buy the move-up buyer's house, so move-up buyer has problems selling, keeping them from buying, and so forth.)

At the end of the day, though, people are still buying and selling homes. Marriage, divorce, babies, new jobs -- all of the usual suspects which tend to trigger a home sale or purchase are still part of people's lives. We're just not seeing sellers who don't need to move right now selling and buyers who can't afford buying.

Some companies have already gone under and more likely will shutter. But it's not the end of real estate sales forever. Buying a home is still an essential part of the American Dream for most people.

Inman

Have no fear, the fearless shall thrive. That was one of the main takeaways I had from Real Estate Connect NY last week. The news of the housing downturn isn't pretty right now but there are people out there growing and seizing opportunities to grow.

It usually takes me a few days to allow information that's thrown full force during Connect to sink in, marinate a little and then finally make sense. With that, I give you my closing thoughts on the New York conference last week:

The market is cyclical

The market at the national level is in the dumps and there's really no way around that. But while some local markets account for much of the correction at the national level, other markets or market segments are sailing on business as usual, seemingly untouched by the credit crunch and subprime mess.

Prices will need to come down more in some of these markets where prices soared to outrageous levels during the boom because first-time buyers are having trouble getting in, a problem that dominoes through the entire local market. (First-time buyers can't get in, there's no one able to buy the move-up buyer's house, so move-up buyer has problems selling, keeping them from buying, and so forth.)

At the end of the day, though, people are still buying and selling homes. Marriage, divorce, babies, new jobs -- all of the usual suspects which tend to trigger a home sale or purchase are still part of people's lives. We're just not seeing sellers who don't need to move right now selling and buyers who can't afford buying.

Some companies have already gone under and more likely will shutter. But it's not the end of real estate sales forever. Buying a home is still an essential part of the American Dream for most people.

Inman

40 Tips for a Powerful New Year

o Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

o Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.

o Buy a TIVO, tape your late night shows and get more sleep.

o When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement: “My purpose is to___________ today.”

o Live with the 3 E’s: Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

o Watch more movies, play more games and read more books than you did in 2007.

o Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.

o Dream more while you are awake.

o Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat fewer foods that are manufactured in plants.

o Drink green tea & plenty of water and eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

o Try to make at least 3 people smile each day.

o Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.

o Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

o Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

o Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.

o Smile and laugh more.

o Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

o Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

o Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

o You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

o Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

o Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

o Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, and wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

o No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

o Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”

o Forgive everyone everything.

o What other people think of you is none of your business.

o Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

o However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

o Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

o Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

o Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

o The best is yet to come.

o No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

o Do the right thing.

o Call your mother and father often.

o Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:

“I am thankful for __________.” “Today I accomplished____________.”

o Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

o Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disneyland and you certainly don’t want a “fast pass.”

Russell Shaw, NoHassleListing.com,