Sometimes it's easy to forget how young America really is.  Our nation is so vibrant and full of promise that optimism sometimes hinders a mature grasp of reality.  America is the land of the Free and the Brave, the nation in which cowboys ride into the sun speckled range and the Rocky, though bruised and bloodied, always manages to win the sparring match in the end. 

It is that irrepressible enthusiasm that gives us the strength to recover in spite of horrifying setbacks and defeats and to will things to go our way even when the deck of cards is stacked against us. 

The fact that America has been able to do this so successfully is a testament to her relative youthful vigor amongst the sisterhood of nation states. 

When you look at ancient civilizations in Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, you appreciate the fact that a few hundred years is youthful against a backdrop of many centuries.

In some ways we're like teenagers; not really believing that certain types of mistakes have the capacity to change us on a fundamental level.  A teenager may experiment with drugs and sex not realizing that the wrong needle or partner could fundamentally cost him or her their life.  Teenagers are young and naive enough to be willing to roll the dice and hope that they can get away with it.

However, the dice of life is unpredictable.  And youth rarely calculates the odds of a catastrophe.  The recklessness which has precipitated the crisis on Wall Street is a reminder of the fact that our collective actions can have ramifications far beyond our limited perspective.  The thing about experience is that it forces you to grow up.  A kid who impregnates his girlfriend becomes a father by default...readiness for the responsibility is not the criteria...the ability to have sex is.

In recent years, our ability to access easy and abundantly available credit has been about Availability, not Responsibility.  Through every crisis, our country has learned something and we'll learn some lessons this time too.  That's guaranteed.  The real issue is if we'll learn the lessons which we need to learn to help us to mature and grow up.

Here are 5 Lessons Which I hope that this crisis will force us to grapple with.

1.  Using Credit for Disposable Items Never Makes Sense

I'll never forget the exact moment I saw someone whip out a credit card to pay for a grocery purchase!  It was about 15 years ago and prior to that time, most stores in my area only allowed cash or checks.  I remember wondering WHY someone would be buying groceries which would be gone in a week with a credit card on which the balance could last for years.

I remember discussing this with an associate who told me that it was merely a matter of convenience; most people would pay off their card at the end of the month and furthermore this action could accrue points to be used towards the gain of free stuff.  That was such a crock.  Whether it was groceries or meals in a restaurant, the vast majority of us are still paying for meals we ate a long, long, time ago.  Meals which have long exited our systems.

2.  If you can't Pay For it...A Credit Card does not change that fact

There's a type of security which comes with having a plastic magic wand in ones wallet.  I didn't know how strong this power was until I tore up my credit cards in my early twenties.  As I prepared to walk out the door, I realized that I was nervous and shaky...I didn't have the security of my cards.  That was a huge wake up call for me and it changed my life.  I realized that I had believed a lie in thinking that just because I could charge something meant that I could afford it.  So, not true.

3.  Creative Accounting does not make a big Fat Zero disappear

Asset valuation became a game of pretense that was so extraordinary that in the last stages of our demise, we began to totally imagine it.  Just imagine you make...X Dollars.  Just imagine you're worth X amount.  If you say so, we'll believe you.  In fact our bankers started imagining with us and giving us money which we could not prove that we could repay.  Imagining things is a great childhood game.  Grown ups deal with reality.  Less fun, but far safer when it comes to financial well being.

4.  Consequences are Real and Don't go away Quickly

The thing about a Consequence is that it tends to stick around.  That's not necessarily a bad thing if one understands that the reason that Consequences exist is to teach us the Lessons of Life.  Since youth tends to gloss over important lessons, the message that Consequences are sent to teach us almost always require time and repetition. 

5.  Being Mature requires having the Courage to take Responsibility for your Mistakes

This one may be the hardest lesson to swallow.  Watching or listening to any news or media right now is to watch the 'Blame Game' in full swing.  Everybody is blaming someone else and pointing fingers.  No one seems willing to take responsibility. 

Witness the specter of a government which refuses to focus on solutions for fear of being blamed for taking action.  Immaturity plays out in the world of nations in much the same way that it does in our personal life.  We ignore stuff that we need to pay attention to, we hope that it goes away, we continue doing things that we know are not healthy and then try to find anyone to blame but ourselves. 

The sad truth is that until we come to terms with our actions, we can't move on; we remain mired in the sticky mess as we wallow in self pity.  True Maturity means having the courage to say, " I was Wrong, I made a mistake and I will do what I need to do to take care of it." No blame, no finger pointing, no accusing, no hiding...just plain old fashioned transparency. 

picture is courtesy of respres photostream on flickr

Copyright 2008  Audu Real Estate  All Rights Reserved

Here's what's on my mind. Can we talk?

Whenever bankers work on weekends, there's reason to be concerned.  For the past couple of weeks, the specter of major announcements about significant entities in the financial world such as the takeover by the Federal Reserve of Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae and the announcement of the pending bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers occurring on Sunday evenings has been unsettling.

But, not necessarily only for obvious reasons.  The obvious reasons would be that the domino like collapse of major institutions is a serious national crisis.  The less obvious reason is that most people who I meet are NOT talking about it.  I don't think it's because people don't care.  I sense, it's largely because we've lost the ability to think critically about the implications of anything which does not appear to immediately impact our wallets.

And, that's what concerns me.  This complicated mess that is rapidly unraveling will impact our pocket books in a manner which most of us are unprepared for. And, for a long time. The housing market was simply the first major domino to fall.  So, in a sense, those of us in the real estate industry have had the opportunity to have a bird's eye view of the crisis if we are willing to educate ourselves. 

I found the video clip below about the story of Money.  As a little girl, my Father always used to tell me that money was a simple matter...It was all about TRUST.  Money is a means of exchange...period.  The erosion of TRUST in our society may prove to be the greatest asset devaluation.  A monetary system that fails the Integrity Test is in deep trouble.  Right now, the integrity of the very foundations of our government is on the line.  Did you know that?

At a recent company sales meeting, I spent an hour of instruction on the structure of the current financial crisis.  When I asked, WHO was responsible for solving the problem, someone answered...the government.  My next question was...WHO is the government?  The answer is it's WE THE PEOPLE. 

Do You Know Which President said the statement below?

I am a Most Unhappy Man...

In 1913, on his deathbed, President Woodrow Wilson was quoted as saying, "

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." -Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence

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

Copyright 2008 Audu Real Estate All Rights Reserved

Most of us emerge on planet earth with all the stridency that our 8 to 9 pounds of flesh can muster.  So much so that the infant who emerges without a lusty yell is promptly  spanked on the rump to produce one.  After all...one has arrived.  Say so!

Sideline living is against the grain of human ego.  A newborn baby in a household quickly demands just about everyones' waking and non-waking moments. 

Babies need to be fed at regular intervals, burped, changed, bathed, soothed, entertained...in short, paid attention to at all times. 

While we relish the joy of observing the expansion of new life in a newborn, this quickly becomes old by the time the child hits the terrible twos.  Who can blame the toddler?  Relinquishing prime real estate territory at 'the center of a universe of ONE' cannot be easy.

But, I suspect that the inclinations of the toddler do not fully disappear.  In most of us, they simply retreat underground; temporarily masked by the need to adhere to social norms but always eager to assume center stage if and when the opportunity arises.  A silent witness to the most debilitating form of human suffering...the deep yearning to be given permission to live life with gusto.

Several years ago, I wrote a devotional which I shared with some staff members at a local church.  The mediation was entitled "Living in the Margins."  At the time, we were attending a church which had gone through a number of significant transitions which had left many feeling somewhat fragmented emotionally and spiritually. It was a feeling of disconnection and disorientation...a struggle to regain ones' footing; to reclaim ones' place.

It was around Easter and I was drawn to the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus from a perspective that I had never considered before.  I began to study the sideline characters in this well known narratives ...the possible stories of individuals  who garnered few eloquent sermons.  These ordinary folks whose contributions remain on the sideline of of the most important titanic drama in human history. 

It was their stories that engaged the imagination of my mind...

I started thinking about what it must have been like to be merely passing through Jerusalem and then suddenly conscripted, without the benefit of hire, to carry the cross of a man who was stumbling to His the death like an ordinary criminal. 

Then there was Pilate's wife, a well to do lady.  She had a nightmare about the man her husband was about to sentence to death.  This nighttime terror haunted her soul's dreams and forced an urgent entreaty to warn Pilate about her apprehension. 

Witness the women who were considered as little more than chattel to be owned by men...following at a distance, and watching the last gasping breath of the Son of God. 

I thought of a rich man who gave up his burial plot for a bruised body to be laid...a body which had been publicly scorned by passersby.

As my thoughts wove around the potential stories of these individuals, I was struck by the remarkable experiences that were only available outside the crowded confines of the scriptural text.  Lives whose contributions emerged within the margins and not on the central stage. 

Women whose minimal status in cultural life was elevated by God to witness this transforming moment in history after all the strong men had bolted in fear. 

A black man who was not paid for his forced labor but allowed to carry the burden of God on earth and be rewarded with eternal glory. 

A  man of immense wealth and privilege who went against the grain of society and gave up his own burial place not knowing that his body would one day occupy the space in which a Resurrection took place.  Wow!

It was their position at the sidelines which afforded them the benefit of these unique and extraordinary moments.  But, why is it that so often we yearn for the extraordinary but strive to find it within the crowded confines of the norm?  The middle place, the popular position, the cursed bane of compromise which robs us our uniqueness while promising us safety in numbers?

It is in this place of false security that we pay with hands outstretched the price required for our soul. Unaware that it is the one thing for which there is no earthly compensation is large enough to ransom. 

In this trade, the devil laughs at our naivete, knowing that we have not outgrown the proclivities of that tempestuous toddler, we have merely traded the newborns scream for a dull, blunted roar. 

A harsh return for an immortal life which entered the world unfettered, knowing that the cry which brought it here was never meant to be imprisoned within the limiting confines of mediocrity and conformity.

And inside, the scream continues unabated...unheard by human ears, reeling with staggered desperation within the human heart.  For it knows that it was sent on a unique mission; one which has now been traded for a pittance of pottage.  The scream bears silent witness to the inner desire to complete our unique mission in life with integrity, knowing that we enter into this life alone...and we we are all destined to leave it in the same fashion.

Picture of baby courtesy of jessicafm's photostream on flickr.com

Mouth picture courtesy of Phineas H's photostream on flickr.com

This entry is part of a larger series entitled..."What it Means..."

The story of the Crucifixion can be found in the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke & John

Copyright 2008  Audu Real Estate  All Rights Reserved

Are you tired of having to go out on your weekly real estate agent home tour?  Does the price of gas make this seem like a waste of time and money? If you're like many agents who work out of their homes, these questions are front and center when you're thinking about IF you will join the broker tour in any given week.

Since we have several newer agents in our office, they wanted to have this experience, so we arranged to tour some of our home listings.  It was quite an outing.  

When I started thinking about the potential outside of my traditional perspective, all sorts of new ways of Marketing came to my mind. Here are some other ways to make your Home Tour a viable marketing activity which continues to reap dividends long after you've been out for several hours in your car.

On this tour, I decided to try something new myself and took my camera along.  Take a look at what I did on Facebook. 

Post your Tour Link with tinyurl to Twitter, to tell people in your local area and beyond what you've been up to.

Upload pictures of your tour and places of interest to your LinkedIn profile.  Invite people to ask questions about the places you saw and the homes you have listed.

Share more than just listing jargon...talk about the area, sites of interest and nearby attractions.

Post pictures and/or video to Flickr.com

Post pictures and/or video to Facebook.  Share your album with Friends

Make a YouTube video about the area and the homes you see.  Start a series as the local tour expert in your area.  This can be very effective if you have a speciality such as highlighting a Foreclosure Tour of your local area.

Do a Real Estate Show on your tour and then export it all over the place.  It will also index on google for all the addresses you mention.

And then of course...blog about it!

These are just a few simple suggestions on how you can take an activity like real estate touring which seems to be loosing steam and reinvigorate it with fresh perspective and imagination. 

This type of thinking not only creates ample promotion opportunities, but is a way to create true Value to your clients in the successful marketing of their home in ways that can be effective beyond the traditional norms of showcasing an area and listing.  Today's homebuyer is shopping in a million different places.  Are you engaging your buyer where they're looking?

Pictures of homes from Audu Real Estate Home Listing Tour of June 23, 2008

Copyright 2008  Audu Real Estate  All Rights Reserved