Naples, Florida (Collier County)  June '08  vs. The Best (or worst) months since September '06

Inventory                                              10760  vs.  12267 (02/07)         -14%    

Sold                                                         463  vs.  499 (05/08)           -7.7%

Pending                                                    408  vs.  503 (03/07)         -23.2%

Avg. List Price (in thousands)                       705  vs.  830 (09/06)         -17.7%

Avg. Sold price (in thousands)                      628  vs.  847 (06/07)         -34.8%

Sold to List Price differential %                       90  vs.  89 (10/07)              1.1%

Median Price (in thousands)                         312  vs.  432 (01/07)          -38.4%

Avg. price per square foot                            312  vs.  399 (06/07)          -27.8%

Avg. Days on Market                                   176  vs.  125 (09/06)           40.8%

Months of Inventory*                                 23.2  vs.  50.1 (11/07)          -215%

*based on closed transactions                                                                                    

All calculations are believed to be correct but not guaranteed. 

The Washington Post's MENSA Invitational produced the following winning new words for 2008

1.  Intaxacation - Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to begin with.

2.  Reintarnation - Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3.  Bozone - The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.  The Bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4.  Cashstration - The act of buying a house which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

5.  Giraffiti - Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6.  Sarchasm - The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7.  Inoculatte - To take coffee intraveniously when running late.

8.  Hipatitis - Terminal coolness.

9.  Osteopornosis - A degenerate disease.

10. Karmageddon - It's like, when everybody is sending off these really bad vibes, right?  And then like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon - The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido - All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler - Effect: the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly, or when you're drunk.

14. Arachnoleptic Fit - The frantic dance performed just after you've accidently walked through a spider web.

15. Beelzebug - Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at 3AM and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor - The color you turn after finding half the worm in the fruit you've been eating.

17. Ignoranus - A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

The rules were as follows:  Take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter.  Then provide the new definition.

TOMORROW IS THE LONGEST DAY OF 2008, GIVE THAT EXTRA TIME IT TO SOMEONE WHO NEEDS IT, ANYONE!

Many people have never heard of or know anything about what a slack-wire is.  My Grandfather would have scoffed at tight rope walking.  Have you ever been up close to the halyards tensioning an artists tightrope.  It's as stiff as your concrete floor.  Granted it is only an inch in diameter but it is relatively solid.  Like the Buyer out there today, they're not as flexible as we would like and for good reason.  Some are gently being taught a lesson in humility when the home of their dreams is "magically" sold out from under them.    

Mr. Buyer, did you really think that the Seller was going to accept your offer of $350,000 when the asking price was very reasonable at 880K.  We have been looking at homes in this price range for weeks now and you're telling me that's all the value you can derive from this property?  Really, if I wanted to go to the circus I would have bought tickets to the Ringling Bros.  You can still purchase a home of your dreams, let's just be a little more realistic from now on.

• Don't clutter your contract with unreasonable conditions
• Waive any inspection clauses when cleared & completed
• Remove financing contingency as soon as possible  
• Make a reasonable first offer allowing negotiation
• Expect a counter offer, even if your price is justified 
• Don't leak personal information to the Seller or their Agent
• Have a backup home in mind if negotiations break down
• Always exclude personal property from your contract
• Use time as a leverage tool, be flexible   

This scenario is not happening as often as it was but nonetheless it is occurring.  Mainly the homes that are true values out there today are in perfect condition.  Those Sellers want to be the next home to sell and they're very conscious of the competition they face.  So you wanna be a contender? 

          So what's the difference between a tightrope walker and a slack

          wire walker.  They both start at point A and continue to point B but

          that's about where the similarity ends.  The slack wire becomes a

          live wriggling platform affected not only by balance and gravity but

          your every movement attempting to destabilize your position.  You

          must anticipate your every inch along the way in order to succeed in reaching the other side.  Forces act

          upon you from side to side, up and down, to and fro.  Take it slow, you'll make it to point B! 

I came across this information and was dumbfounded in it's simplicity.  In 1947, Japanese businessman Toshio Iue founded a little company named "Sanyo".  I'm sure most of the readers will recognize the name as an electronics industry giant.  I had always thought it was a family name and the company had simply grown to the level it is now.  Apparently, Mr. Iue had a predetermined destiny for his company upon it's opening.  The name SANYO means "three oceans" wherein the design was to be an International force from the beginning, spanning markets throughout the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. So that's what's meant by "What's in a Name?"   

When the dust settles and the intellectuals are called to analyze what went wrong here, only then will we have the answers to what we ponder today.  Theoretically speaking, cataclysmic events systematically occur on a 500 year cycle according to some unknown researchers.  Are these "soothsayers" accurate? There are some things we know to have happened. How about the Fall of the Roman Empire? 

The demise of the Dark Ages around 1000 A.D. and emergence of the Middle Ages.

How was it possible for man to traverse this change and survive into what we now call the Modern Age?  The Monarchs and wealth ruled the empires. The common man suppressed without knowledge.

In an instant the World was transformed.  The information was immediately made available to the commoner.  The field of knowledge now equaled all classes, rivaling the private libraries of the wealthy.  The knowledge could be transported rapidly and existed economically in all communities.  Whole empires came under challenge by individuals wielding the new found power of information.  New governments arose to cope with the technology.    The impact was staggering.  What was it?  The invention of the printing press and movable type.  Now a new class of people acquired the power and wealth displacing the old as revolution swept Europe. The 15th century brought us Columbus, Gutenberg, Leonardo da Vinci and Martin Luther.  Let's not forget the printing press and one of our favorites, gun powder.       

Is it now our turn to be challenged by technology?  What forces are at play which     are not yet exposed to us?  Our legacy will not be the Real Estate Crisis of the early 21st century.  Do you think people were strutting around London in 1523 saying, "I'm so glad those Middle Ages are over, the Modern Age is awesome."  Probably not.  How about 1930, they didn't know it was the "Great Depression".  We all become too focused on the continual 24 hour a day input of "the News"  which tends to distort our view of reality.  Beware of the idea that these events are unprecedented, chances are good there's plenty of precedent.

There have been nine depressions since the middle of the 16th century occurring on average about every 60 years.  This will be the first time that the government will play a massive role in redirecting the economy in a fashion unavailable to them during the 20's and 30's.  This will not be the end of the World, but we will emerge as a different entity upon it's conclusion.     

PERCEPTION 

"Everything we do not know anything about always looks big.  The human creature is imaginative.  If he sees a tail disappearing over a fence, he images the whole beast and usually the wrong beast.....Whenever we take a trip into the realms of fancy, we see a good many things that never were. "

Thomas Brackett Reed  1914

"Never Confuse Motion for Action"

Ernest Hemingway

"Nothing Out of it's Place is Good and Nothing in it's Place is Bad"  ~ Walt Whitman  1855

"When you ask              

one friend to dine,           

Give him your best           

 wine!    When you            

ask two, The second         

best will do!                

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1896                       

"The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object, only the traits which

                favor that theory."    ~   Thomas Jefferson  1787

images courtesy of www.photobucket.com   

              There has been a lot of speculation that print advertising is on it's way out.  I have a hard time believing that.  The distinction print media has over all other forms of advertising is that you make a conscious decision to read and look at it.  One great thing about print is the ability to channel your effort into specific special interests.  There is a connection felt between reader and writer that can pique interests more effectively with an understanding of your consumer appetite.  You are now on your way to constructing a pseudo-relationship with that reader.                                         

             You probably don't have more than 2 seconds to garner the reader's attention so you must make your ad worth their time to continue further.  Think of your ad as a book with a beginning a middle and an end.  Visualize a story that you want readers to believe and here's the hard part, be truthful.  Your goal is to have the consumer share this ad with others and pass the story along to as many readers as possible.

You'll need a knockout Headline to get the ball rolling. It's imperative that it captures the reader's attention while conveying a benefit and a desire to read further.  You can deliver this by choosing an emotion evoking theme.  Create your mood or tone in the body of your ad to communicate further interest.  In conclusion, the end should bring your audience to a position where they are receptive enough to take action. 

Of course this is only one part of a sound Marketing Plan and there should be a multi-faceted approach which is measurable for  your particular area of expertise.  Some people refer to each response as a touch point and this is how you will measure the impact of your advertising.  Take time to track and measure your results regularly.  There was a time when I thought advertising was getting too expensive, now it's more costly not to.  

I recently read a statistic in Playboy magazine (the photos are secondary of course) which states that it takes about 14 years on average for a college graduates income to supercede that of a high school graduate.  Take into consideration the time for and costs repaying student loans and related incidentals.  This brings me to an interesting little story of the power of positive, or should I say "wishful" thinking.

A Human resources manager was wrapping up an interview with a young graduate.  Finalizing the financial aspects of the desired position the interviewer asked "Did you have an estimate of what compensation you were looking for should you be our choice for hire?  Well, yes, said the prospect, I am seeking about $130,000 per year depending on the benefits package offered.  With that the Human resource manager replied, what if we offered 6 weeks vacation, 100% company paid medical and dental, a 75% match on your retirement package, 15 paid holidays and a new company leased vehicle every 2 years, how does a BMW 750 sound.  After absorbing all this the graduate sat straight up in the chair and said "Awesome, are you kidding me?"  Then, without missing a beat, the manager said "Of course, but you started it."

It takes small steps to reach your goals, remember that one pound is equal to 3500 calories.  When it comes to exercise there are activities in your daily routine that you don't even realize you've done until you look back at the days events.  Here's a little chart I've compiled to show my associates how much they can burn while doing their normal daily activities.

Calories Burned                  per hour of Activity

121                                        Jumping to conclusions

225                                        Running on empty

86                                Digging in your heels

60                                           Dragging your feet

115                                         Swallowing your pride

95                                           Dishing out the dirt

140                                         Beating around the bush

265                                         Pushing the Envelope

If you've done at least three of these activities daily for any length of time you could realize nearly a 3 pound weight loss in a month's time without even working that hard. 

WATCH FOR:  Nutrition for REALTORS

*  Don't compare your Boss to Santa just because he's fat, jolly and only works one day a year.

*  Never put the Boss in a wrestlers "sleeper" hold in a vain attempt to negotiate a better salary.

*  Never tell the Boss you're the one who actually runs the company.

*  Don't offer hits to your associates from your egg-nog funnel.

*  Do be safe and have a fabulous Holiday!