PLEASE READ PART 1 BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THE REMAINDER OF THIS BLOG POST.

Dealing effectively with NOISE pollution requires on thing above all else.  It's actually an obvious solution, but one which we miss in the confusion of the moment.  It's a quality called Stillness.  And, it's the most challenging element of sanity to maintain in the midst of a hullabaloo.

Stillness requires having the ability to turn OFF the most incessant elements of NOISE...the elements that are clamoring for the most attention.  It entails being able to step back, breathe, and take the time to figure out what is really important.  Noise is banking on the fact that most of us won't do this.

The reason this is difficult to achieve is because Noise thrives on creating disorientation.  It knows that if you STOP and become STILL, you're more likely to decipher the underlying issues and make a rational decision. The primary agent of Noise Making is Hype.  Hype sells stuff which needs the cover of ambiguity to make it palatable.

In dealing with Emotional Noise, the issue of withdrawal even if just for a few moments is crucial.  This is because emotions have a way of creating their own drama.  When combined with hype, this becomes a toxic conundrum.

Stillness requires discipline. Stillness requires us to quiet the Noise in our minds and our circumstances or at least step away from it long enough to be able to observe what the patterns are really intuiting.  One of the best examples of this character trait is the behavior of an experienced Mother with a screaming baby. 

When a baby is screaming bloody murder, a new Mom is likely to become increasingly agitated.  A Mother who has dealt with the screaming baby syndrome successfully in the past, is more likely to remain calm.  She will sniff the diaper, check to see if the child has gas or is in pain and make inquires regarding the last feeding. Focusing carefully on the underlying issues of discomfort for the child often results in a quicker solution and quieter baby.

The issues confronting the real estate industry are very noisy right now. Talking heads across every major network are predicting gloom and doom.  Prior to that, they were chattering about the bursting of the bubble and skyrocketing house prices. 

In all the chatter, everyone missed the huge elephant which had firmly planted itself in the middle of the living room. Loans were being made across the board which made NO sense!

The rapid demise of the sub-prime market with the accompanying domino effect which now threatens the entire economy of the entire world was not a topic for discussion at the time. 

This was because few understood it and even fewer could predict how weak the underpinnings of the economy really were.  The assumption was that the American consumers insatiable appetite for more would never dampen.

It is in times of chaos like this that economic fortunes are made and lost.  That's because opportunity does not reside within the growing cloud, but stretches around it's perimeter in what we commonly call the silver lining.  The silver lining exists at the outer edge because it must escape the noise to gain proper perspective.

For anyone investing in the real estate community today, this has many important applications and lessons.  Today, all sorts or realignments are taking place in the financial and housing sector which will create options and obstacles which have not existed before. Risky loan products have all but disappeared from most markets.  Home buyers are being required to put money down on their investment.  This reduces risk.  Government control will increase...this can be a double edged sword.

But the flip side is that in many markets, the price for housing has dropped 25%-30% in the last 12 months to levels not seen within the past 10-15 years.  New tax incentives have been created to provide even more tax breaks to buyers who are able to invest in a home.  Today, some of the best neighborhoods across Grand Rapids, Michigan and around the country are on Sale!  It is not uncommon to hear of $500,000 homes being sold for $350,000 or less.

Investors around the world are becoming more interested in American real estate as prices decline and the dollar is weak.  This cycle will not last forever...for nothing ever does.  In fact, this article about the 66 best cities in which to invest by Marilyn Lewis of MSN provides an amazing chart of the return of investment that a home owner will make by 2012 if they purchase a home correctly today.  That's only 4 short years away!

So, study the chart, study your area, contact your local real estate professional and start your research in earnest.  Some smart people are going to take the time to decipher the deeper meaning within the noise and make sense of it.  Those who do will make intelligent decisions which will prove to be very profitable in the long run.  Determine to calm down noise.  Ignore the lure of false hype. Because failing to do so increases the risk of becoming unhinged by it.

Photo of expansive relationships and bags under the eyes are courtesy of DerrickT's photostream on flickr.com

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