Welcome to the new digital reality. Hint: It is whatever you made it.

As real estate agents, we're used to creating custom searches for our buyers. When a buyer contacts us, we carry on a dialog intended to help us find out how best to assist them. We find out what they want in a house and how much they feel comfortable spending, their time frame, and whether or not they've been prequalified for any necessary financing. Then we sit down at the computer and create a search which we save under their name. We usually set the search up to email them whenever any new properties that meet their requirements come on the market. They appreciate this and it helps them understand what is available that might suit their needs.

What we don't do is to send them houses in areas and price ranges which they don't want and can't afford. "Sure," you say. "That would be a waste of time and only confuse them." It's only common sense to give them what they want, isn't it.

Unfortunately, this concept, when utilized by many of the common search engines on the Internet, can lead to unfortunate and divisive results. I'll explain.

We all tend to read information which either confirms or agrees with the knowledge and opinions we already have. This is nowhere more true than when applied to political opinions. Progressives like to read information written by other progressives. Likewise with conservatives. People may sometimes read an article which espouses diverging views, but they usually stay with material which makes them feel comfortable.

When applied to the real estate community, many people may be excused for only reading articles which are oriented towards how the housing crisis is getting better and how real estate is a good investment. Please note that I'm not arguing with the orientation of the articles, I'm only using this as an example.

When you do a search on Google, the software uses 57 different metrics to identify you. It retains a record of your prior searches and it custom tailors the results of any particular search based on what it already knows about your interests. This information is also used to place advertisements. After you've built up a little bit of history browsing the Internet, you might be surprised to consistently see ads based on things you've looked up or clicked on in the past. The same thing goes with search results. This is a nice touch and conveniently allows us to interact with only information which we find interesting.

Now, here's the problem. When we run searches, the information is tailored to our interests and we never even see conflicting information. In a non-digital environment, we may screen out conflicting materials, but at least we are given that conscious choice. We aren't even informed that there might be more material available, when a search engine pre-screens its results for us.

My fear is that this will inevitably lead to even greater divides in society than we already have. If people are only given information which confirms their opinions, then they will have an extremely difficult time believing that anyone could have a different set of facts and opinions. This makes the people on the other side of the spectrum appear to be totally irrational. After all, your information is complete (as far as you know) and, yet, they have somehow drawn an opposing conclusion. It's only natural to think that they are "nuts."

This sort of thing could actually be dangerous. I saw the results of a search on Egypt that was requested by two different people. One person got information on the soccer riot deaths and political unrest and the other person only received information about how great Egypt was to visit on vacation with not one result pointing towards possible violence and danger.

I submit to you that we, as a society, are being unwittingly divided by unintended consequences of software which is supposed to be helpful.

The next time you run into someone from the "other" side of the political spectrum, perhaps it would be helpful to keep this possible bias in mind and be a little more polite. They're not totally wrong and you're not totally correct. The truth always lies somewhere in between both ends.

Namaste!

The recent settlement of the robosigning case brought against a number of major U.S. banks by attorneys general of the states will most likely result in increased levels of foreclosure seizures. The involved banks have greatly slowed their foreclosure process during the negotiations, allowing some homeowners in default to remain in their properties without paying for months or even years. Now that the case has been settled with what amounts to a slap on the wrist for the banks for engaging in practices which resulted in allegations of fraudulent paperwork, the banks are likely to move quickly to help their bottom lines.

The $25 billion settlement will be parceled out in chunks. About $17 billion will go to help about a million owners who are facing foreclosure. The settlement includes $5 billion to pay for foreclosure prevention programs and $3 billion to lower homeowners' interest rates with a small residual of $1.5 billion left over to compensate homeowners who suffered from poorly handled foreclosures.

It seems that about 750,000 people are supposed to receive direct payments of around $2,000 to partially compensate them for servicing errors. Regardless of how the money will be handed out, it must filter it's way through the existing or new bureaucratic structures to actually reach the homeowners' hands. This has proved to be a slow and not too effective process in the past with other government assistance programs. It remains to be seen how quickly it will happen and how much this settlement will actually help.

The end effect, however, will most likely be an increase in the rates of home seizures and an increase in the REO inventory levels. If this is not dealt with carefully by the banks, it will result in a further decline of the market as these properties are placed for sale and increase inventory levels.

A reasonable speculation is that investors are likely to purchase many of the REO properties and convert them to rentals. The central Florida market has seen quite a large amount of this sort of sales action in the past few months. As a result, our inventory levels here are lower than they have been for some time and there has been enough competition to actually bring prices up a few percentage points during the past year. This situation may very well change as a result of the settlement and resultant actions by the banks.

There is an old Chinese curse which goes something like, "May you live in interesting times." The real estate market is poised to get a lot more interesting shortly if the above speculations are correct.

Namaste!

Did you ever stop to think that Realtors might have a duty to their fellow man beyond simply selling houses and ensuring that the transactions proceed smoothly? Well, there's nothing in the Code of Ethics which states that we do and we certainly don't learn about it in any classes, but I'd argue that we have an affirmative duty to set good examples for our fellow humans.

Here's why: We jointly make our living by strategically positioning ourselves at the intersection between supply and demand. We are able to retain this position because we repeatedly demonstrate that we are able to add value to the transactions we facilitate. This added value has to do with our expertise and reliability and we're usually well compensated for these traits.

What if we weren't reliable? What if we didn't demonstrate any expertise and almost always did a shoddy, haphazard job as a group? People wouldn't hire us and our profession would disappear. You see, we have a financial interest in providing expertise and reliability. This self-interest actually goes much farther than the real estate transaction. It extends into our personal and public lives. The more people respect us, individually and jointly, the more likely they are to use our services. The better our character, the more people respect us.

It's simply good business and life practice. It somehow reminds me of something I read in an old book somewhere. I think it went something like, "...treat others the way you'd like to be treated..." This principle extends farther than simply dealing with others, it also implies that if you demonstrate good character, you will be able to view yourself in a positive light and this will lead to greater personal happiness.

The reason I'm expounding on this idea is that I was recently reminded of a series of psychological studies which had to do with people's response to "authority." In these experiments, volunteers were told to give an electric shock to a person in another room. They couldn't actually see the other person and, in fact, the other person was never actually shocked. When the volunteer would push the button, though, the person in the other room would exclaim out loud and the volunteer could hear them. The study showed that, if the authority figure told the volunteer to set the electricity at a dangerous or even obviously fatal level, the majority of the volunteers would unquestioningly "shock" the subject, even when he screamed loudly. An obvious parallel can be found in the documented behavior of prison camp guards in past wars.

Most of us would agree with the war crimes tribunals that have tried such individuals.  Following orders is no excuse.  Sadistic brutality is just that, regardless of orders or not. As humans, we always have a choice.  We can stand up against orders and situations we know are wrong, or we can allow ourselves to be intimidated and just go along.  Sometimes it's a difficult choice that can lead to personal inconvenience.  This is where people who are moral relativists almost always knuckle under.

The power of this choice has been demonstrated experimentally. When volunteers see just one person refusing to mistreat a subject, about 90% of them will also refuse, even though the act is sanctioned by authority figures. As a group, most of us really do understand the difference between right and wrong!

Now, pair this finding with the fact that studies at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have demonstrated that when just 10 percent of of a population holds a strong belief, that belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. This 10% point is the tipping point where a society can move from bad to good or, unfortunately, from good to bad.

An early study showed that local crime rates soared about 10 years after television came to small, isolated towns in northern Canada. This is rather chilling when you think about how many acts of violence are portrayed during the average TV program. Information published by the University of Michigan indicates that the average child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV and it's been repeatedly shown in a large number of studies that children model their behavior to a certain extent on what they see on TV.

Likewise, people model their behavior to a certain extent on what they see other people doing. Most of us have probably seen the recent commercials on TV which portray an individual seeing another doing a good deed. That person does a good deed for another person and eventually the chain circles around to the original individual. That's how it actually works in reality. It doesn't happen instantaneously and there are a lot of breaks in the chain, but given enough time, society will actually change for the better.

The population of Realtors is large enough that we can jointly have a very positive effect on society, if we think about our behavior and act in such a way that we provide positive role models for others. If we'd each take that attitude, we might find that our career of selling houses could change the world for the better.

I want to ask you to do me a favor: Don't reject the concept out-of-hand. Take a few hours or days to think it over. We can make a difference!

Namaste!

Got a high interest rate mortgage and want to refinance? Too bad! Fannie and Freddie stand to profit if you can't.

Based on some dynamite investigative reporting by Propublica and NPR, it now is public knowledge that many people who are locked in with higher than market interest rate mortgages are being told they can't refinance by publicly owned companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The really ironic part of this commonplace event is that both agencies have effectively bet against the homeowners by purchasing investment instruments which pay off when homeowners remain locked into high interest rate mortgages.

While not illegal, the investments are easy to categorize as counter to the mission of both publicly owned companies. Freddie Mac and cousin Fannie Mae were bailed out in 2008 and are now owned by the taxpayers (that's you and me). The companies insure most home loans with the intent of making it more likely that banks will lend money to house purchasers. Freddie's charter calls for the company to make home loans more accessible and yet, recent investment actions seem to give the lie to this public-service oriented goal.

Mortgages are commonly accumulated in so-called "tranches." These tranches can contain a large number of mortgages which are then used as the basis for securities which are sold as investments. The securities are divided into two separate types. Type one is backed by the principal of the underlying mortgages and is fairly safe, but pays a low return to investors. Type two is backed by the interest payments on the mortgages and is risky. To compensate for this risk, this security pays far higher rates than type one.

The problem is that the high risk securities benefit most when the home owners who are paying the high interest rates on their mortgages continue to pay the high rates. In short, there's more profit in keeping the home owners on a high rate loan then there would be if they were allowed to refinance.

Now here's the point: Who controls at least part of the rules which permit or prohibit home owners from refinancing? If you said, "Fannie and Freddie," you get a gold star and go to the head of the class.

If you're prone to high blood pressure, take some medication prior to reading the next part.

Guess what investment instruments seem to be in vogue at Fannie and Freddie? In the last two years, Freddie purchased a few billion worth of so-called inverse floater securities based on high interest rate mortgages. If people pay off their loans early, this stops their interest payments which are the basis of inverse floater securities and Fannie and Freddie loose. Their interest is best served if John Q. Public can't refinance.

Based on that potential for loss, any rational individual or business would try to minimize the number of people refinancing and it seems as if both companies are working to make it harder for borrowers to get loans. This has been accomplished in several ways ranging from tightening lending criteria to raising settlement charges.

One is tempted to ask, "Why is this happening?" The individual in charge of Freddie's investment portfolio made $2.5 million in 2010. His bonus is tied to "supporting and providing liquidity and stability in the mortgage market," if you believe the annual SEC filing for Freddie. It doesn't really seem as if locking people in to high rates furthers this goal. My natural instinct is to follow the money and when I don't quite understand something, I just naturally assume that there is some kind of financial benefit for the companies and individuals involved. In this case, it doesn't seem in the public's best interest.

For more on this topic, visit

http://www.propublica.org

In my last post, I tried to make the point that we are responsible for the events and people that come into our life. In some mysterious way, we summon them at precisely the correct time for us to learn some critical lesson. Many of us refuse to take responsibility for this and are stuck in an arrested state of development which commonly takes the form of victim-hood. Nevertheless, whatever we focus on is drawn into our life.

When you're getting results you don't want and you're convinced that your attention is on results you desire, you might be tempted to think that the law of attraction is a myth. The problem is that you have conflicting beliefs. You are harbouring beliefs which get in the way of your stated desire. If, for example, you want more money, but you believe that you don't deserve it (and most of us believe that, since we've more or less unconsciously been indoctrinated from childhood to believe that we're not worthy), then that belief of not-deserving will get in the way of our conscious belief and interfere with our desired results.

What we have to do is to learn to release our interfering beliefs and develop a pure intent. Then the summoning process works well.

Let's digress for a moment. Modern quantum physics implies that everything is interconnected. We live in a universe full of energy waves. The quantum principle of entanglement states that particles which were once in touch will remain so, no matter how far apart in distance they become. Take two electrons which are in close proximity and separate them by millions of miles. Each seems to mystically "know" the state of the other. This has been experimentally demonstrated. Humans sometimes seem to show examples of this. In order to cut this short, since I don't want to go on too long, I'm simply going to assert that we are all in touch with each other. Humans are interconnected energetically in some way which modern science does not understand as yet.

When we don't have a scientific explanation for things, we call them mystical or psychic and tend to disparage the people who believe in them. Nevertheless, I'm of the opinion that if you are in sales, you've most likely had experiences which lead you to know that sometimes there is some esoteric force which conspires to make things work. I could go on and give a quasi-scientific explanation or I could give an explanation which is based on religion. I'll leave those discussions for another time. Instead I'm simply going to assert that if you accept responsibility for your life, then you MUST accept responsibility for the people who appear in your life.

If you're summoning people who are difficult and who cause you problems, then your own subconscious beliefs are getting in the way. If you are working in real estate, you know that people are the sole cause of all of the problems that you encounter. A couple of years ago, I ran into an agent who stated that she just wanted to work with nice people. A few months later, she told me that she had made a mistake, not only did she want nice people, but after dealing with a series of difficult clients, she also now wanted to specify that they must be sane.

What if you could work on yourself and clear and clean the energetic connection you have with anyone? When you have a relationship with someone, there is an energetic connection between the two of you. If you are holding a particular opinion of the other person, they will, to a certain extent, be limited and forced to appear to you as consistent with your view of them. If you could clear that view and free them from your expectations, they will be able to behave differently. If your expectations are positive after your cleaning exercises, you'll find that they will tend to live up to them.

If I've made myself clear, you may be saying, "Well, that would be wonderful, but how do I accomplish this so-called clearing?" It's actually very easy. You can use four statements which you say to yourself while thinking about how the person makes you feel. You can even use these four statements before you meet the person, say, for example, when you're going into a listing appointment.

Here's what you say and you can say this in any order: "I love you." "I'm sorry." "Please forgive me." "Thank you." These phrases have an amazing power to change your thinking and thus to change your relationship with another person. You should use them to work on your relationship with anyone who ever caused you a problem; with any guilt feelings you have for problems you've caused others; even with feelings you have about such material things as money and health and so on. The secret to remember is that you're not just speaking to yourself, even if you're simply thinking the phrases. You're actually speaking to the energetic universe, to, if you'll allow me to suggest it, Divine Source.

We've used these words successfully to change relationships and I know they work. Imagine if every human on the planet thought or spoke these words to everyone else! Do you think that the overall energy of the world would change for the better? Even if you simply think them about another person, they will somehow sense the different attitude in you.

Now, from me to each of you: I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you!

Have a great day!

Namaste!

If you'd like to see and feel this in action, here's a short video to watch: http://youtu.be/mqiCa3wpHC8

I was dead.  My brainwaves were flat-lined and my heart was stopped for nearly seven hours.  During this time, a skilled surgeon restructured the delicate leaves of two of the valves in my heart.  Please excuse the dramatic way I started this post, but I've got something important to say to you and I wanted to get your attention.

For several years, my heart had been trying to tell me that it didn't approve of some aspects of how I was living my life, but I'd ignored its attempts.  It wasn't beating regularly.  I had atrial fibrillation due to erratic electrical signals in my left atrium.  This is a common problem.  About 25% of 80 year olds suffer from it.  At my then-age of 60, it was quickly becoming life-threatening. 

A-fib causes your heart to pump less blood than it should and your heart gradually expands to try and compensate.  This expansion stretches out the valves and I'd reached the point where mine weren't closing completely and my heart action was severely compromised.  All I knew was that I got tired quickly and I had a fluttering feeling in my chest much of the time.  My heart was only pumping about 25% of what it should actually pump.

In case you're wondering, there's nothing that can happen to a heart which can't be fixed with modern medicine.  I'm now better than I have been in years and my heart is pumping as well or better than it did twenty years ago.

In retrospect, I realize that I was being given a huge opportunity to learn some lessons which I'd ignored.  I'm so hard-headed that it took something major to get my attention.  I believe that the lesson is something that we all should learn, although the vast majority of people fail to learn it or ignore it.

All of us start life with a victim mentality.  Being in real estate, we see people every day who have financial problems related to housing issues and many of them refuse to take responsibility for their problems.  They find some other entity to blame.  Perhaps it's their boss; perhaps they just got laid-off; perhaps it's their ex-spouse; perhaps it's their health; or perhaps it's just that the world fails to recognize their value and they just can't find a job which pays enough.  There's an infinite number of possibilities.

The thing is, being a victim means that you're full of self-pity and consequently you can't see your way clear to taking responsibility for the situation.  Taking personal responsibility is absolutely the only way that the situation will begin to clear up. 

If you've studied the law of attraction, you probably already realize that we summon situations into our life.  Generally, these situations are ones which carry a lesson for us.  We have an option of learning the lesson or ignoring it.  When we ignore it, it comes up again and again until we finally get the point.  Then we're ready for the next lesson. 

That's what life is all about: Learning; and there is an infinite number of lessons to learn.  If you feel like a victim (we all do at one point or another), realize that you have a choice.  You can choose to either remain a victim and search for external sources to blame or you can choose to begin the healing process by taking responsibility for your predicament. 

I've met many people who have heart problems and who simply place the whole mess into their doctor's hands and refuse to take any responsibility for their situation.  By so doing, they are pretty much ensuring that the problem will re-occur or become worse.  You've got to take personal responsibility and make changes in your life in order to heal.

The same can be said with relationship problems and financial problems.  They won't get better as long as you're blaming other people.  Only when you accept responsibility and search for the lesson embedded in the situation will you begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This post is running a little long, so I'm going to complete it tomorrow.  In that section, I will state a fact which will probably stretch your mental paradigm.  I will also show you how to quickly rectify almost any situation by placing yourself into a mode where you can begin to heal.  This technique can even be used to ease your relationships in real estate.  You might even find that it can make it easier to find clients and establish a good relationship. 

Hope to speak to you tomorrow.
Namaste!

BTW if you're faced with A-Fib and want some encouragement, contact me.

I've been researching on the Internet, looking for a credible set of predictions for the real estate market in 2012. There are plenty of prognosticators willing to promulgate their purview regarding the upcoming days. Unfortunately, a close read of their predictions reveals that almost all of them are biased towards their view of normalcy.

A brief description of the general features of the articles would include the generic statement that the market has reached the bottom and that things are getting better. This would seem to be justified based on the general behavior of the regional markets. Studies such as those published by Case-Shiller give a complete overall view of the statistics in the past months.

Where I get indigestion is when the prediction turns all rosy with assumptions that we'll be back to the glory days in just a few months or maybe a year or so. This statement is usually paired with some politically oriented hogwash that assumes that all we need for the recovery to become a reality is for our government to spend more money or for the right politician(s) to be (re)elected. This kind of statement is obviously self-serving and its validity should be questioned by any reader who is even mildly aware that the economy is unwell.

Our estimable NAR economist usually comes out with cheerful statements, but as far as I'm concerned, he's being paid to pump the consumer's confidence and that consideration moves his predictions from the realm of reliable to some spot in the "hopeful" spectrum. You can also look at nationally known economists who write columns, for example. Some of them may even have Nobel Prizes. Of course, a brief observation of the Nobel Prize awards in recent years might lead you to accidentally come to the conclusion that some of the more politically driven awards are relatively worthless as predictors of real-world (as opposed to academic) knowledge.

The main thing that I try to keep in mind is that the country is simply and obviously deeply in debt. The numbers may change from month to month, the fact remains that our government has grossly overspent and we, as a nation, have promised to continue overspending. Now, I'm a relatively simple guy, so I just like to think of it as similar to a family where the two parents work and bring in $100,000 jointly every year. The family doesn't like to budget, but likes to spend and they have 20 credit cards, all maxed-out. In my imagination, I can see them sitting around the dinner table discussing the situation. The father is saying that all he needs is to qualify for another credit card so he can use that to pay the interest payments on the 20 maxed-out cards. Then the mother interjects that if they can't get that additional card, they might have to do something radical like cancel their Netflix account or perhaps forego their daily latte at Starbucks. Needless to say, this dangerous statement brings a huge outcry from the non-producers in the family. None of the kids wants to miss the latest movies and dad just adores his morning latte.

This is obviously an unsustainable situation and, whether or not the adults or children want to take serious action, reality is just about to smack them in the face. I believe that our nation is in much the same situation. We can only temporize so long before the reality of the situation will force us to take action. Unfortunately, history seems to indicate that this sort of situation will lead to extremely unpleasant events.

Some people argue that it doesn't make any difference if we're in debt, because we can simply print as much money as we need. Once again, I like to look at this in a simple fashion. Despite the commonplace idea that you can, indeed, get something for nothing, the basic fact behind money is that it's supposed to represent work. Let's explore this in this fashion: I've got a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I could have simply purchased the belt and worn it around. If I'd have gotten in a fight, the belt wouldn't have helped much. I actually practiced for 10 years and that practice and work would mean something in a conflict situation. The same can be said for money. Print as much as you want and pass it out to your cronies, Mr. Government. You'll find that there is a certain cushioning effect as it filters down to the general populace and it retains some of its value, but eventually, the idea of it being free will cause a gross failure of confidence in the population and it will become worthless in the real world. History says that this is true.

What does this mean for real estate? Traditionally, in times of economic turmoil, real property has served as a cushion and a store of wealth. This implies that the right property or properties can help you through a tough time. Of course, the lack of liquidity can be a hinderance, but rental property or agricultural property that can generate cash flow is going to be good.

The main thing that occurs to me is that I fully expect to see the real estate market come to an almost complete standstill as we get closer to the upcoming election. This is based on my memory of the last election and the one before that. People became so focused on the results and fearful about what the election portended that they were reluctant to commit their funds. Sure there were still some sales, but things slowed down to a certain extent.

My conclusion is that the first two quarters this year will represent the best time to work and will be a good time to sell property. If you're thinking about investing, you could hardly ask for a better time to get into the market. If you're a Realtor, remember that real estate is like farming; you've got to make hay while the sun shines.

Namaste!

Life is Difficult! Note that I capitalized Difficult. There's a reason for that and it's generally because the problems you face can be quite recalcitrant. If you've read many of my previous posts, you might remember that I seem to be pretty stuck on personal responsibility. I'd like to explore some of the reasons for that in this post.

I've noticed in my time here that events seemingly conspire to continually stretch your comfort level. Whether it's the constant pressure to succeed or to be liked, to convince people to work with you or to negotiate a difficult sale, there's almost always an element of surprise--something that you haven't faced before. That little something poses a challenge and whether you meet it successfully or fail at overcoming it, it provides an opportunity for personal growth. That is, you'll grow as long as you take responsibility for the success or failure.

Failing to accept responsibility is one path that will ensure that your personal abilities don't expand. After all, why should you change if the results you're getting are the fault of someone else? If you view yourself as already perfect (and everyone's ego has exactly that tendency, you'll just develop better ways of blaming others for your failures and you won't learn from them as you should.

The road to success is rocky and it's necessary to use personal discipline in order to make the journey. There are several aspects to discipline which are all elements of what I'll call "adult behavior." These include sacrificing present comfort for future gains, acceptance of responsibility, a strong dedication to honesty in your language, your outlook, and your actions, and the ability to prioritize miscellaneous, conflicting requirements. Developing these tools is critical and as we go through this world, we're quite likely to realize that suffering through problems is the primary way that we develop.

There are people who fail to learn one or more aspects of discipline. Being in real estate is one great way to ensure that you have the opportunity to meet and interact with this type of person. Of course, you'll also inevitably meet and interact with them if you're not in real estate, but you can often just distance yourself from them. A Realtor who is set on making a living cannot afford this luxury. If you're dedicated to helping people in your real estate career, you're more apt to recognize that the person who has failed to learn has some problem which makes the transaction difficult or impossible.

I'm not saying that you can't help such a person. We do it all of the time, but most experienced agents I'm familiar with have developed a fine sense that allows them to recognize that some people will be more of a problem to assist than others. This type of person seems to me to be mostly self-absorbed and driven by something that you might call self-pity. What I mean is that they are consistently self-deceiving so that they can maintain their self image. They will not hesitate to lie to others in order to maintain their ego's image of self-perfection. They may engage in egregious behavior towards others, since, in their mind, they are the only ones who actually count as as "person." They believe that other people are simply objects to manipulate. Love is something that they reserve for themselves.

On the other hand, love as demonstrated by those people who don't focus on themselves is an investment in another person's well-being and development which leads to personal and spiritual growth. It begins with physical attraction and matures into a deep caring for the other person's well-being. The development of the ability to feel this way is part of the lesson of life. It's part of the reason why we're here on this Earth at this moment.

My hope for you is that you prosper and develop in the year that is ahead of us. It's certain that we're going to meet many difficult problems and the only way to make sure that we overcome them is to accept self-responsibility. The more people who do, the better our community, country and world will be.

Namaste!

I've been reading that the US Post Office isn't doing too well (an understatement) and now even worse news has come down from the North Pole. Santa's contract has been re-negotiated.

We regret to inform you that Santa will no longer be able to serve the Southern United States. Due to the growing population, his contract was re-negotiated by North American Elves Local 243. He now only serves certain areas of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. He also gets longer breaks for milk and cookies, paid vacation time, retirement benefits, health insurance, and workmen's comp.

However, we are certain that your children will be in good hands with whatever local replacement happens to be in your region of the USA.  For example, Santa's third cousin, Bubba Claus will be covering the southeastern part of the country. Bubba Claus has signed the corporate goal statement and has fully bought into the goal of delivering toys to all good boys and girls; however, there are a few differences that you might notice, so don't be surprised:

1. There is no danger of anyone stealing your presents from Bubba.  His sleigh has a bumper sticker that reads "This sleigh insured by Colt!"

2. Instead of milk and cookies, Bubba Claus prefers children to leave RC cola and pork rinds on the fireplace. And Bubba don't smoke a pipe. He dips snuff, so please have an empty spit can by the side of the fireplace if you don't want a mess on the carpet.

3. Bubba's sleigh is pulled by coon dogs instead of reindeer. The issue of Blitzen going missing after Bubba visited the North Pole has been solved with the discovery of Blitzen's head hanging over Bubba's fireplace.

4. You won't hear the traditional reindeer names when Bubba Claus arrives. Instead you will hear "On Earnhardt, on Wallace, on Martin and Labonte. On Rudd, on Jarrett, on Elliot and Petty."

5. "Ho, Ho, Ho!" has been replaced by "Yee Haw!" Bubba has also been heard hollering, "Hey, Y'all! Watch this!" when taking off from a particularly steep roof. He's also been known to steal Christmas lights and wear them around his neck after imbibing in too much eggnog, so don't leave any out for him.

6. Bubba Claus' sleigh has Yosemite Sam mud flaps with the words "Back Off". His sleigh has other decorations as well. He has a Ford logo with lights that race through the letters and a caricature of Santa Claus going wee-wee on the Tooth Fairy.  Featured prominently on the upper back of the sleigh are both the Browning Buck logo and a large-mouth bass leaping.

7. The usual Christmas movie classics such as "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life" will not be shown in your viewing area. Instead you will see "Ernest Saves Christmas" and "Smoky and the Bandit IV" featuring Burt Reynolds as Bubba Claus.

8. Bubba don't wear a belt on his work jeans. Please ensure that the wife and the kids turn the other way when he bends over to put the presents under the tree.  They might not be able to go to sleep after that.

9. Stocking stuffers have been changed. Instead of chocolates, candy canes and such like, children in his service area can expect to get hot-peppered jerky, Vienna sausages, and a fishing lure. Adults may find a can of beer or a sample of Bubba's best moonshine (don't drink this unless you want to miss Christmas with a hang-over.)

10. All toys delivered in the South have been painstakingly assembled by Bubba Claus's elves in his Freedom Homes doublewide workshop.

11. Christmas songs such as Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" will be replaced in his service area. "Bubba Shot the Jukebox" and "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" will now be the rule.

Living in Florida makes me qualified, I believe, to poke fun at some of our southern stereotypes. I particularly like the reference to Earnest Saves Christmas, since both my children can be seen for about seven seconds in the library scene. It was their one and only movie performance. The scene was supposed to be during the afternoon and we'd dutifully arrived at about noon. When the crew finally got around to shooting it, it was 3:00 AM and the kids were just wiped out, not to mention the parents. They got $45 each and we missed a lot of sleep. It wasn't an experience that I'd want to repeat.

Anyway, have a Merry Christmas to those of you who appreciate that idea. Happy Holidays to those who do not. And, just have a nice day to everyone else. Take your pick.

Namaste!

Here's another post in my series of quotes from Uncle Joe. If you haven't read the previous ones, I'll need to explain. Almost all of us have an "Uncle Joe," although he may have another name in your family. He's the family member who has carefully studied life and has enough experience to codify it into a series of pithy nuggets of wisdom.

I asked Uncle Joe why every picture taken of him shows him waving his right hand. He responded that he was waving to himself, so that when he saw the picture, he'd be happy knowing that he was still here to see the wave. After thinking about that for awhile, I came to the conclusion that he really isn't egotistical, he's just got a weird idea of how time works. But, on the other hand, perhaps he knows more about it than I thought. He certainly always has plenty of time to relax.

Here's what he has to say on a variety of topics which relate to having a good life:

• It's said that money can't buy happiness or love, but the average man can impress women more in a Bentley than on a bicycle.
• If you help someone who has a really bad problem, not only will they remember you the next time they have a bad problem, but they'll tell their friends and they'll come to you with their problems too.
• Trying to drink your cares away with booze doesn't work, but it's a lot more fun than trying to drink them away with milk.
• If it were legal to shoot rude people, life would be a lot more pleasant and polite.
• They say keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but why give them a chance to stick a knife in your back?
• If I were able to exchange all of the money I've wasted in my life by giving back all of the wisdom I'd gained by wasting it, I'd just blow the money again.
• Some people wish they could start all over. I just want a younger body, but I'd like to keep my knowledge.
• People who inherited their money are sometimes referred to as someone who was born with a silver spoon in their mouth. That's nice, but those people will never have the satisfaction of putting a silver spoon in their own mouth for the first time and knowing that it's entirely due to their own efforts.
• If you depend on the good will of others to survive, then you'd be better off practicing making yourself agreeable and pleasant.
• If you depend on the government's force to take money from others to give to you, then you'd better work at making those others feel guilty. It keeps them busy and then they don't resent having their funds taken from them so much.
• Retirement is horrible! I've seen what happens to retired people. They usually waste away and die within a few, short years. I think it's the contrast between working every day and then doing nothing. To avoid this fate, I've made it my policy to be semi-retired my whole life.

Perhaps it would be a good thing if we'd all take some time to think about life in some of these ways. Uncle Joe is usually pretty happy and my observation of people leads me to believe that happiness isn't very common. People are usually over-worked and over-stressed and cranky. Within certain limits more possessions don't help us. Maybe it would be a good idea to go fishing and relax rather than working on that project of dubious value.

That's our problem. Most of us don't work at things that we love to do. If you can find a job that you really love, the stress that comes with it is seen as just a little spice to add interest.

My wish for you is that you enjoy real estate. It has its challenges, but it is certainly interesting and rewarding if you enjoy helping people.

Namaste!