I love cooking and entertaining!  Creating the menu for an event is a delicious process for me.  It's a succulent blend of  aromas, stimulating the creation of delectable plated combinations celebrated  and enjoyed with family and friends.  I have discovered that one of the most challenging menu items to serve my guests is fish.   Many people seem to have a love/hate relationship with seafood.  A comment I have heard when fish on the dinner menu is "I never liked fish, but I loved the way you cooked it".

Selecting a whole fish or fillet properly is the most important element in making a great tasting dish.  

Characteristics which are indicative of the freshness of a catch include the smell or odor emanating from the fish, the dullness of the eye, and the color of the blood in the veins, cavities and gills.  If supposedly fresh fish has a fishy odor, this usually indicates that it has been around for awhile and is beginning to decompose.  Similarly, dullness of the eye, and a dark color to the blood on the gills may be additional warning signals that no amount of creative presentation can resolve.

In some ways, selling real estate has similarities to the proper selection and preparation of fish.  Often, the first mistake in making a great meal  starts with a poor quality choice.  I've done this before, hurrying through the grocery store, I have hastily chosen a filet or whole fish and had it packed without inspecting it carefully and thoroughly.  Sometimes, it has been on sale and the temptation of a good deal has made me too forgiving of flaws. 

A successful real estate transaction is also directly related to selecting the right client to work with.  Real estate practioners often make poor selections for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes, it is desperation, thinking we may never have another client.  Other times, the trouble signals, like a bad fishy odor are obvious from the beginning...unrealistic expectations, suspicion and a lack of trust, inability to obtain financing or a lack of motivation to name a few.  But we soldier on, ignoring the flashing red warning signals and the lingering disonance of unease.

If a fish fillet is properly handled and carefully selected, not much more needs to be done to create a wonderful meal.  In fact, smothering a piece of fish with heavy sauces or excessive spice detracts from the flavor.  The best enhancers will delicately compliment the natural flavor of a fillet.  Generally, the longer the fish has been out of the water, the more doctoring up it will require to mask the deterioration in flavor and texture.

Similarly, the best clients are not necessarily those from whom one can earn the largest commission.  Some of my most memorable transactions have been with individuals who were buying their first home and truly appreciated my services . The most stimulating transactions have been with clients who had to overcome immense obstacles and challenges to secure a sale or purchase of a home.  This is what has continued to make my real estate career a profession I find invigorating!

The most satisfying transactions have occurred when I have chosen with care, taking the time to interview and understand what a potential client really needed before determining if our journey together would be a good fit.  This can be time consuming, but I've found it's  more efficient and effective to spend a couple of hours at the beginning of the relationship than to waste countless hours and gas in fruitless and ultimately futile activity.

Creating fulfilling transactions does not require excessive doctoring up with all kinds of flash and fizzle.   Rather success is based on the tried and true basics like trust, communication and mutual respect.  When we invest time and attention to making a good judgement about a potential relationship in the beginning, the result like well prepared fish can be a delectable feast.

In Grand Rapids, the rates of foreclosures have increased dramatically over the past year.  Kent County is averaging about 100 foreclosures a week right now.  The crisis is a result of a number of factors including lay-offs in the furniture and auto industry over the past several years as well as more buyers opting for adjustable rate mortgages which are adjusting upwards and increasing payment levels significantly. 

As a real estate agent, I have negotiated foreclosure and pre-foreclosure sales for my clients.  Each part of this process is gut-wrenching and often laden with anxiety and guilt.  The fact is that unwanted, disruptive events can come suddenly into anyone's life; illness, a bad financial decision or investment, job loss, business failure, death or divorce can plunge anyone of us into a situational crisis that is unexpected.   But, there are some disturbing  patterns that are evident amidst all this chaos.

The Mask: 

  Traditionally, a mask is worn to cover and conceal one's true identity or activity.  Perpetuators of crime hide behind it's anonymity to shield themselves from prosecution.  The crisis in foreclosures in West Michigan is mask which veils a broader dimension of involvement beyond those whose homes are being forfeited.  Perhaps, the nature of the injury could be succinctly stated as creating inventive methods and means to over-extend financing to individuals in a manner that puts them at severe risk for default. 

Lending models are extremely accurate in their predictive ability to determine default rates.  Adjustable rate mortgages have historically been viewed by the lending industry as a high risk alternative.  But in the last couple of years adjustable rate mortgages and interest only loans have skyrocketed with double digit increases.  The temptation to be over-extended/leveraged on debt has knocked on our door in different forms.  Sometimes it has arrived as a letter, a call or fax describing an incredible "teaser" rate for a few months or years. In other instances, the delivery was via loan officers willing to finance anyone or anything for a fee.    We have been regaled by TV commercials starring incredible testimonials of individuals who got out of a debt crisis by creating more debt! 

Many segments of the industry and society have been co-conspirators; appraisers created inflated values to buttress shaky real estate transactions.  Sometimes the misdeed was the action of a homeowner in concert with a buyer who created fake documents to substantiate a false transaction or an investor allegedly "flipping a property".  But, the point is that somebody designed the letter, somebody made the call or TV commercial;  the appraiser, loan officer, Realtor, homeowner & buyer where not nameless or faceless.  Who is the somebody? The somebody is us.  Everyone who chose to turn a blind eye or to participate, everyone who knew the truth and ignored it, everyone who was consumed with greed or who was just plain ignorant.  

 All of us have worn the mask.  The crisis in the real estate industry is not unrelated to our collective choice as a society to be irresponsible in our spending habits and personal decisions.  In fact, we no longer refer to ourselves as humans, we are now called CONSUMERS, a term which may reflect some unconscious desire to divorce ourselves from the implications of our decisions.  The consequences have now returned home to roost...literally as all of us are being confronted by the prospect of potentially thousands of homes placed on the market because of a foreclosure proceeding.

The good thing about a mask is you don't have to wear it, it can be removed.  An African proverb says: At anytime that you choose to wake up, it becomes morning for you.  We can each choose to wake up and take individual responsibility and control for our financial lives.  We can remove the mask and take a critical look at our personal spending habits.  We can choose to walk away from transactions which are not financially wise or prudent.  We can choose to say NO to acquiring additional credit and increasing our debt load.

The crisis has spurned some positive results.  Housing affordability has never been better.  Last year, ABC News featured Grand Rapids as one of the most affordable places to live in America!  In the past 12 months, I have witnessed an urgent call to education amongst real estate professionals and mortgage lenders. There is more widespread understanding of what constitutes illegal activity and this light makes it more difficult for darkness to hide misdeeds.  There are obviously many more lessons to be learned, and all of us will be learning them.

 *Special note:  The FBI recently offered classes to real estate agents, brokers and mortgage lenders in Grand Rapids, Michigan to educate the industry about the disastrous consequences of lending & real estate practice which constituted the practice of fraud .  Most agents had never had this type of information presented so starkly and clearly.  As a result of these classes and other situations, the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors has established a FRAUD HOTLINE available to the public to report suspicious activity and has beefed up its Professional Standards recommendations to ensure better education and enforcement of the transactions done by its members.

Search for Home Listings in Grand Rapids & Surrounding Areas by School District:

We place a high degree of importance on education in West Michigan.  We have a number of Award Winning school districts in the area.  You can search for homes in the school district of your choice by clicking the links below.  In additon Grand Rapids has a number of Charter Schools which provide excellent options for our children and their families.  If you would like detailed information about any of these communities, our office can provide a detailed E-Neighborhood profile which will provide address information, class to teacher ratios, and expenditures per pupil in additon to other valuable data.  This report can be prepared for comparisions of up to 4 different areas at a time.  One more Value Added Service provided by the agents of Audu Real Estate!

Search the Local MLS for Homes in

Byron Center School District,

Allendale School District,

Cedar Springs School District,

Caledonia School District

Comstock Park School District,

East Grand Rapids School District

Forest Hills School District,

Grand Rapids School District

Grandville School District,

Wyoming School District

I just finished watching the New Season opening for American Idol with my kids.  (We taped it)  Minniapolis was the setting for future idol hopefuls to preen their skills before the judges.  As a converted Idol fan, courtesy of my teenagers, we were all in stitches with some of the contestants desperate antics and obvious delusion about their skill set and blatant lack of talent.

A comment that was reiterated frequently  by the judges was, "you don't sound like yourself" .  There were also an amazing number of hopeful contestants in Minneapolis who seemed to loose their voices; one going so far as to appear to be listening to music from an imaginary earpiece while mouthing the words with barely any recognizable vocalization.

Another frequent mistep was contestants who forgot their lines. Some merely mumbled, others made up new words and some just walked off the stage.  All in all, the pretenders took center stage in this carnival of absurdity.  One appearing wrapped in a bizzare combination of  plastic;  a sorry copy cat version of presumably Uncle Sam wrapped in the American flag with a Rocky Balboa twist....the over-sized red boxing gloves. 

It occured to me that sometimes the stage mirrors the truth we obscure in life.  In my limited experience with Blogging, I can identify with some of the mistakes of the non-winners.  So many hopefuls, eager for recognition forgot who they were; some of them even forgot who they were trying to be.  Although everyone professed to want to be the next Amerian Idol, an original, the saddest auditions were those where you felt you were watching a "dreadful " (A Simon Cowell favorite) rendition of a hopeless impersonator. 

It's sadly easy to do this in writing as well, especially within the context of creating content for a Blog.  It's tempting to think that you can try to imitate someone's style , language or even topic.  The problem is that because it's not really something that comes from one's core or passion, it transalates with a thin, faltering lack of conviction and lacks the ability to connect.  It's hard to dig deeper and sometimes scary to be transparent, but that's the essence of successful communication or auditions.  It seems to me that every Blog entry is like an audition.  It's not about being perfect, it's about being real.

©2007 Audu Real Estate All right reserved

Snapshots for the Year Ahead...2007 Predictions

The Emergence of the "Wisdom Practitioner"...

5.  In 2007, it won't simply be about whom you know but how you integrate that with what you know and why that is relevant.  As real estate consumers become incredibly savvy at finding out information, there will be an urgent need to making sense of this torrent of information.  Knowledge without wisdom is limited in its usefulness.  We will see the rise of the "wisdom practitioner", consultants who know their market, understand their clients and have reliable and effective methods of connecting with the their audience. The "wisdom practioner" will be a human portal of connectivity for clients, services, referrals, recommendations, inspiration and guidance.  These enlightened visionaries will transform the meaning of agent fiduciary.

The Broker as my Therapist?? 

6.  In 2007 as technology and high touch synergistically create new models of client to agent interaction, we will also see this  impact broker to agent interactions.  Traditional brokerage models which depend on mass numbers without investing in the growth and maturity of the individual agent will find it increasingly cost prohibitive to be profitable.  Motivating agents will have to incorporate more than waiving the dollar bill banner. Increasingly the spotlight will focus on the "intangibles; inner motivation & success training, specialization & niche marketing and business administration. Forward thinking Brokers will begin to explore more holistic, organic approaches to enhance and increase agent productivity.  Training that incorporates life style balance and business acumen into teaching modules will soar in popularity as agents seek to understand how to tap into a deeper source of energy and well-being.

It's Not If but How you'll Learn your ABC's this year...

7.  In 2007, it will become increasingly expensive to be uneducated.  The question will no longer be about whether you receive your education; rather it will be about how you get it.  Will you obtain education willingly or unwillingly, paid for or exacted from you in fines, lost commissions or lawsuits.  Progressive real estate practioners will recognize the need for an enhanced knowledge base as a foundational requirement because new technology, systems and challenges in the real estate industry like fraud and foreclosures now mandate it.  Brokers will critically evaluate the cost of agents who resist education in terms of dollars and cents by evaluating the profits marginalization of error and legal wrong doing. The light will dawn for many part time practitioners who will realize that there is nothing incidental about the implications of a transaction as important as a real estate sale or purchase.

Yes, It's all about you...

8. 2007 is a pivotal year in the world and in the real estate industry.  Our environment will move, morph and transform in subtle and dramatic ways.  Stability on the inside of us will grow in importance as instability and change continue to dominate the external reality.  It will be a year of promise and peril, engagement and disconnect, but quite unlike any other time before it in history, increasingly we will be aware that the choice has always been ours to make.

© 2007 Audu Real Estate  All rights reserved