In a busy real estate market, lenders have no time to come to your office to pitch their products. Trying to entice one during this time is like trying to talk your wife into serving you and your buddies on Super Bowl Sunday. Not going to happen! But when the market turns, as it always does, the rumbling in front of your office made by these same lenders charging toward your front door is almost scary.

Now I'm not out there "Lender bashing!" I'm just releasing some testostrum during my midmorning coffee break. Life is beautiful! So, where am I going with this story? I don't remember, but I know it will come back to me and this is going to be a really good Blog.

Oh yes, lenders! Whenever we had a lender come to visit us at one of our weekly office meetings, they would delve into the various loan programs available and promise to meet our clients wherever they desired, at whatever hour of the day or night, giving them the very best rates possible, so that they would be able to purchase their dream property. Whew, try saying that three times really fast! Once they finished I would always ask them the same question. Why do you push "Home Equity" loans?

You have folks out there who have dismissed any form of responsibility and charged their "Numerous" credit cards to the maximum limits each possesses. The monthly payments, at those criminally insane interest rates don't even allow the payment to cover the interest. Therefore the principle increases rather than diminishes after each payment is made. What is wrong with this picture? So now you invite these same folks into your clutches and tell them to take out a home equity loan to pay off those high credit card bills. Now I'm not the brightest star in the sky, but if one gets in over their heads in credit card debt, one can negotiate with the credit card companies to setup some sort of payment plan to get one self out of this crisis. And should you not have the brass ho-ha's needed to do this; there are consumer credit companies who will do it for you. Am I not correct here? But, now these people have taken out a second mortgage on their home, using up all of the equity built up through the years, and have paid off those monstrous credit card debts. So then what happens? Of course, if they never understood the meaning of responsibility it doesn't take long for them to be right back in the same predicament they were in prior to getting the second mortgage. However, now they cannot sell their home without having to come out of pocket to close the transaction. Most folks in this situation do not have the funds to do so. Therefore, they cannot sell their home! They cannot make the credit card payments. Again, they can negotiate with the credit card companies. They cannot make the mortgage payments on your home. Oh my, the bank doesn't want to negotiate with them. Can you say, "Foreclosure?"

I believe this is going to be the next hurtle we will be facing in this arena of homeowners financial dilemma!  I could be wrong, but I don't think so! I can just hope that I am.

Sometimes I find myself wondering if I will ever feel inspired enough to write my next Blog. I sincerely don't want to write just for the sake of writing, or to accumulate those all elusive points. However, what is the point of being with a group of Bloggers if one is not going to Blog?

I do read lots and lots of your Blogs and comment whenever the desire overwhelms me. Sometimes I even find myself spilling forth as though I actually know what I am talking about. Upon completion, I hit the send button only to realize that my response was so in depth, I could have used it as my next Blog! Good Lord, what was I thinking? Do I copy and paste? Will the person whose Blog I commented on read my Blog and realize I just plagiarized my own work? The more I think about it the more stress I put myself under! And then comes the biggest nightmare for all Bloggers, "Writers block"!

So rather than do nothing, I do nothing! No Blog today, but the desire to write one, hangs over me like a Seattle cloudbank. I go back to reading more of yours and once again I'm off spouting responses like a geyser in Yellowstone National Park. So the saga continues!

I'm sure most of you have been there at one time or another, and you are most likely out there reading this and thinking, "Hey, I've been there, done that!" Well Alrighty then, I'm not alone in Bloggers Mind lock! We're a team! And thinking about that, if we pick a topic, and we each write just one line, we could put it all together and create one of them there Blogs. Of course now we have a situation created where we'll have to decide who gets to post it. I mean we all can't post the same Blog!

I know, I could pick a number from one to one hundred and each of you can e-mail me you choice. Then I'll tell you who the winner is. That person will then have copyrights to the Blog and they get the privilege of posting said masterpiece. This is a really great idea, don't you think? As a matter of fact I think I may have solved the Blogging issue and created a new group. Team Bloggers! Of course now that I'm really thinking this thing through, I still don't have a clue what to do for my next Blog! ;-))

I read Jessica Horton's Blog the other morning What it takes to be #1 and it inspired me to jump up on the podium and blow my own horn. Maybe it's because it rekindled the flame reflecting that, "winning attitude!" Regardless, I needed the kick in the pants and I'm now here to pass it along.

I grew up in the Lombardi era. A Wisconsin Cheese Head and Packer fan! Vince Lombardi was a very rare individual with the capacity to motivate way beyond the norm. You didn't whine and sniffle or come off the field sucking your thumb if you were playing for Vince. Unless you wanted to pack your bags and hit the road! He demanded excellence and he received it, from each and every player on his team.

To be successful in business you expect this of yourself, and from the people you work with on your team. You only get better by working with folks who are better than you are, not lesser than you are. One seems to strive to the next level, and that can be either higher or lower depending on the structure of the team. Remember; always, always play with winners!

Each of us can make up excuses why this market is almost unbearable! The bills keep coming and sales are harder and harder to come by. Every time you turn around there are fifty more new agents who have joined the association and are now competing for the little business that is out there! Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!

I have danced the dance when the band couldn't play a note to save the day. And in recent years, we have all danced to a real estate symphony! Well folks, the music has changed once again and guess which band is back in town?

So, there will be no whining, or sniffling, or thumb sucking! Play hard, play by the rules, and never admit defeat. If you do this, you'll come out a winner. A survivor, where many will be lost along the path to victory! To all of you, in this up and down business, I wish you the very best! Winner or loser, only you will decide!

Behind the wall!

It was one of those nights when your call to me told of

something that was unspoken in your words.

There was sadness in your voice, and I did not know why.

I heard you cry, yet I could not respond.

The voice was coming from behind the wall and I knew that if

 I went there to comfort the request, the voice would go away.

Many times I have listened to the tears and have been

 unable to reach the one within.

                                                So far way and alone is she who calls for help.

                                                I wonder who she is and how she came to be.

I once had visions of how I could stand before this

 impenetrable wall and dismantle its symbol, one piece at a time,

 but I was wrong.

I can only help, as through the years I have come to

 understand that it's demise can only be from within.

 There does not seem to be enough years in my life to

 be witness to the end, but here I must stay.

I will labor at its entrance until my time is over, for the

 love I hold for you in my heart has bound me there for all eternity.

There seems to be some sort of connection, to our

being apart at a time we should not, that beings forth

 the voice that cries forth from within.

It reflects your conception of the pain that it brings

to my heart and your understanding of the cause.

There is a strength that you have created, called isolation.

It is your protection from the pain of desertion, that which you have

been a victim.

It has turned you cold in the presence of affection and

hardened a heart that is bursting with love.

I hear the voice my darling, but the door in the wall opens from inside.

I am here! Let me in!

This morning I find myself in rare form! One of those days when you wake up, and for some reason you feel like putting on the gloves and going round for round with whomever wants to jump in the ring with you. Then I pour my first cup of coffee and turn on the radio! Now that would be like throwing fuel on the fire! I once again listen to the media telling everyone that the housing market most certainly has collapsed around us and the end of the world is close at hand. How many times do I have to listen to this nonsense?

The media, God forbid, seems to take on the role of shepherd and gather the sheep around, to mold whatever seems to be the fanfare in our "Breaking News" of the day. They will present, alter, or contrive every statistic known to man, and manufacture what it is they want to feed society. Creating a fictitious reality! Ref: The collapse of the housing market!

If you listen to the major investors within this country, people who have become millionaires buying and selling real estate, they will tell you that this is a market prime for investing in real estate. Buyers have a wonderful opportunity to succeed in purchasing the home of their dreams. Sellers should have more buyers than ever wanting to look at their homes. We as Realtors® need to colligate this knowledge to our clients.

Too much negative feed out there right now! Be positive, and lets all walk on the sunny side of the street instead of dwelling in the shadows. We cannot stop the media from its regurgitation of doom and gloom, but we sure can get in the ring with them and slug it out. We are not going down without a fight my friends! Our clients need to hear the truth and most importantly, understand that this is a great opportunity to "Make it happen!"

I feel much better now! J

I wanted to take this time to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas!

I hope all is well in your world and that you are sharing the season with family and friends.

Please don't forget those men and women who are away from home and fighting for all of us.

May we all help each other to keep God in the center of our Hearts, today and always!!
Beautiful....! I love this song!
http://www.andiesisle.com:80/didsheknow.html

Merry Christmas!

I wander around AR reading Blogs, joining some Groups, and making a comment here and there. I will tell you that I am still trying hard to fit in and actaully begin to get an understanding of what it is I am pursuing here.

I see some folks who belong to a great many groups. The have more posts than I have minutes in the day! I feel there might be one of those creatures lurking within our realm, that no one ever sees! I think this creature may be called "Addiction!" :-) You know, kind of like an "Underwriter!" No one has ever seen one, but they jump out when you least expect them and drag you under. I fear I may be it's next victim! OMG!

So here I am! Do I Blog? Where do I Blog? If I Blog, does it go to each group that I belong to, or does it remain here under My Home? Should I respond to each and every response I receive individually, or as a group? Do I say something funny in the Technology Group or will I be spanked for doing so. If I say their about to spank me, instead of they're about to spank me, will they spank me? How do I get folks to talk with me? Do I have to add you, beg you, or try to force you to be my friend? What are the points for? Can you exchange them for some sort of designation?

I can go on and on! Is it just me?

So please don't respond and tell me where the manual for AR is located. Don't tell me to read the directions! I'm a guy, we don't read the manuals or the directions. We just jump in and start running down the road! Sometimes we find ourselves a good piece down that road before we ever figure out where it is we are going.

There..I feel better now!

Can you believe it, I'm actually doing my very first blog! I have always been a bit skeptical when it comes to opening one's self to the public on a website. Now that I'm in the process it's really kind of exciting!

I hope to meet a lot of you fellow business associates and hopefully each will mutually benefit from our relationships. This is a fun business and no matter how successful we become, we can always learn something new from others within our profession or associated with. I hope I am able to shed some enlightenment to you, and you to me.