Media Matters or does it?  That is the question.

 

 

Which media are you talking about, the Hollywood media, Snooze Paper media, Network media?  There are so many players in the media you almost need a program guide to sort out who the players are and from which side of the track they appear to be speaking from?  Maybe it's the Internet media!  I don't know.  But since Freedom of Information and Free Websites and Internet Data Exchange came into the equation, our market has taken a disastrous turn for the worst.  And that's just the hard cold facts, no spin intended.  When the American consumer (buyers/sellers) can get their authorized source of information via Internet for ((free)) who needs a costly Realtor?  Doesn't everybody go to Realtor.com, Zillow, HouseValues etc etc etc, to get their FACTS????  If you are trying to sell your $300k home why would the home owner be willing to pay 6% out of the equity, when they can get the ((information)) for FREE, that's an $18,000 savings on a $300k home.  That doesn't make since, but isn't that why FSBOs use the Internet to sell their homes.  Isn't that why Lenders use Loss Mitigators to represent the Banks short position?  Isn't that why buyers demand Representation?  What does it cost to use a Flat Fee Non-Represented NAR approved Realtor that charges XX dollars per month for MLS access with the added value of Internet Data Exchange to the WWW?  You want to talk about manipulation, SPIN????   We've all been to E-Pro school, we all know in the cyber world ethics that our Boards, Public Records, NAR share the ((information)) with whoever is of interest (affiliates)!  Right?  Maybe some of us don't believe that, maybe it's just a ((conspiracy)) but we all OPT-IN by default?  So how do Realtor.com, Zillow, HouseValues etc etc etc. get their ((INFORMATION))? How do you get on the top of the Search Engine page?  Is it really all about ((keywords)) or is it really all about money and the highest bidder that gets position?  Is position more about power to persuade or is it about deep pockets to gain a better position on the First Page of the search engine?  How does the independent contractor (agent or broker) jockey for position on the big search engine web pages when they have to compete with bigger fish such as ReMax, Keller Williams, C21, Coldhearted Banker to name just a few who seem to always have ((web presents)) regardless of where you are in virtual cyber world?  If we are going to be honest with one another because the "golden rule" is an option not an obligation, then how do Lead Generators get their leads that we are obligated to purchase with our hard earned commissions?  As I see it the money is in seminars and team awareness programs and free websites all coming to you from your local boards of real estate at the speed of DSL.  REALLY!!!!??? 

 

Today we conduct our business in such an Impersonal way we have no clue of who we are working with, besides its somebody else's problem on the team.  If we have a problem we are pushing #1 for English talking with Mary of Frank with a strong broken English accent in some far off part of the third world.  As a side note I would suggest a universal language such as Pig-Latin so we are all on the same misunderstood page when dialing for the "help desk" when it comes to connection problems and why my wifi doesn't work, other than failing to pay your monthly access fee of coarse!  And when we can't be bothered with conversation we have answering machines and text messaging as a way of avoiding the possibility of over exposing our personality through meaningless conversation.  We seem to always have an excuse such as Computer Error, or I didn't get your Text Message, or my cell service was down, or any other technically excusable reason to avoid responsibility!  I'm not trying to be negative nor positive..  I'm just asking the real question.  Are we real with people and the person in the mirror, or are we like our MEDIA, we always have an excuse for the fear mongering of the next power play to get ahead of the competition?  What competition?  Are we talking about Technology or simply learning how to avoid exposing our ignorance of interacting with one another and those whom we claim to represent? 

 

The reason our market is in the toilet is because we've turned our profession into an information machine with the deluded idea of a remote possibility of human error.  Look at our children, they are absorbed with Xbox and being Entertained from a screen or my space or instant messaging.  Our children are being groomed to use a keyboard instead of a pin or actually interacting with one another.  Kids today depend on text messaging to avoid the insecurity of suffering ((REJECTION)).  Before long family will become like the dinosaur.  When the family breaks down who cares how successful you've become.  We claim that we will have less paper work if we go paperless.  But the facts are I use more paper going paperless!  Why!  Because people still want a copy of everything!  The struggle for power is as addicting as sex and greed.  Unfortunately you can't legislate sex and greed, you can only sell it to the highest player.  That is why I'm a Capitalist and not a Socialist.  Everybody wants a Government nipple to suck on.  Regardless of which ever system you choose to cowtow too, eventually somebody at the top will have to take control and call the shots with the possibility of human error in the equation.  Computers and high tech may be a convenient truth but do they provide human interaction or intellegence?  Do they promote more isolationism and less human contact?  The basic hard cold facts in life are, Food, Clothing and Shelter which some believe is a right to be granted and not earned!  Everybody has to have those three things to survive but they certainly are not a right by some governing authority, but we are lead to believe those mere necessities should be granted by the Government!  Hmmm.. Brave New World.... 1984!  Why is it that everything else is just a convenience opinion.  Every generation has it's convenient fears to overcome.  Why is it that regardless of who's in power, whether they be left wing, right wing, democrat, republican. association approved or Microsoft approved, nothing really changes but everything remains the same!  

 

It's like the current generation is waiting on the world to change just like our parents waited, yet everything has remained the same, nothing really changes!  Every generation has it's goblins and gouls and enemies lusting for the power to call the shots.  It's like opinions every body has one and yet nothing changes!  We still have wars, we still have rich, poor and those who weld power.  Here's a great question, why does every generation have a conspiracy theory?  Why is it that somebody at the top is always jockeying for leadership with the same old message, "America is ready for and wants change"!  And why is it always the party that is not in power that initiates that message of salvation that only they have the answer too?  Why do the most brilliant supreme court justices have such illogical opposite opinions of what truth and justice is?  Why can two politicians come from the same school of higher education but yet offer polorizing opinions to problem solving?  Here's a good one for you, if our ability to communicate faster and more effectively through better technology is suppose to make our life more convenient then why is our markets so upside down?  Why does the stock market reel like a drunken sailor on ships leave?  Why is our Real Estate in a Free Fall and not just a correction?  Why does it seem that consumer confidence is not willing to come to the table of negotiation.  Maybe our technology has built an impersonal reality that the human soul can't deal with?  We are not robots we are not computer programs.  All of us are people struggling to get ahead, hoping  by the end of the day that we've done less damage than when we started our days journey!  We scratch our head at the end of the day as we lay our head down on our pillow and asking the universal question, why am I hear, where did I come from, and where am I going, and will I be alive in the morning when I wake up to carry on another day?  Can I survive without my computer, cell phone, automobile, shelter, food and clothing?  The answer is NO.  Why because humanity just wants a convenient faultless way to conduct business without the possibility of ERROR?  We depend on our computer, automobile, cell phone, to assist us with a trouble free day so by the end of that day we can come home to fine dining wear the finest in clothing kick back pop open a cold one and watch our program of choice on the big screen.  

 

You want to talk about Spin or Manipulation?  When the weather channel finally prognosticates a 50/50 chance of rain today, you'll understand that we are making progress and the spin stops here.  As one former President alluded too (the buck stops here) as he gave the order to  pushed the button on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The alternative to such a descision was, "how do you explain to the parent of another 40,000 dead American Solders who had to conduct a land invasion of a beligerent enemy who refused to surrender.  That enemy today is our friend.  We live in a world that just 500 years ago could have cost you your head if you were not a card carrying member of the FLAT EARTH SOCIETY!  My my how things have changed but yet they still remain the same.  It would be interesting to graph the statistics of how our market changed since the inception of ABRs, EBAs and IDX.  As I recall, ABRs and EBAs were the big fix for Sub-Agency?  So what was wrong with Sub-Agency as a standard of practice?  Was it in hopless need of FIXING?  Because if Representing the buyer who is ultimately going to ((beware)) how do you actually represent them?  Was not the advent of ABRs and EBAs the provision of solving the issues of representation?  So why did the real estate market fly so high so fast over the past 7 years only to find it self falling at an accelerated speed with no foreseeable bottom in sight???  If ABRs and EBAs were doing any efficeint representation at all, then why did the buyers spend such an extravagent amount of money to secure mortgages with terms that shut FHA/HUD financing out of the picture.  If the ABRs and EBAs were worth their salt are they willing to list those same properties they apparently OVERSOLD through lenders who were willing to OVERLOAN?  I may be the pain in the south end of a north bound horse, but I'm asking questions that need answers.  Because I'm not seeing cooperation coming from NAR, Wall Street, Hollywood, New York and especially Washington!  So if we actually have a problem how are we going to deal with it?  We are coming very close to the Perfect Storm!

 

Robert King

Broker/Consultant

Charles Rutenberg, Realtors

Clearwater, Florida

To combat negative media we create marketing statistics for our various markets.  We calculate the number of days on the market, total units sold and average sales price. We have found that over the past year  the number of sales has remained the same, the sales price slipped a little in one market and was actually higher in another and the average days on the market increased by 5to10 day.  We use this tool when we a re discussing potential listing strategies with our seller clients and the state of our market with our buyer clients.  This is useful because it helps us deal with all of the media .

 

It seems the media is promoting a recession. You realize that everytime there was a recession during an election year, the party out of office took over the white house.

 

 

 

Vista Print Scams...

I personally have had both good and bad experiences with Vista Print.  The bad were my own fault for being in a hurry!  Whatever you do, don't click on the "do you want to save $10 on your next order" box, because that is where the SCAM is.  You need to read the fine print because it will automatically set you up for some $14.95 per month program automatically billed to your credit card.
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It's A Good Life,

Stacey Matsuda
Real Estate Broker SC/NC
Mobile (864)205-SOLD (7653)
Email: stacey@spartanburg-realestate.com
Website: http://Spartanburg-Realestate.com

Oh By The Way...I'm never too busy for your referrals!