I can't believe this is happening.  I'm a big Laker fan since childhood.  I was in various states of depression, disillusionment and bitterness during the fall of 2007.  The teams star, Kobe Bryant, had made several public statements about his desire for a trade.  His feeling was that the team had not brought in the right support around him to win a championship...and that was his ONLY goal. There was much debate whether the team should trade a player, who most experts agree, is the best in the NBA.  Are you going to get enough value to replace him?  Things were falling apart quickly for a team who had dropped from elite status after dumping Shaq and his huge contract.  They were starting to remind me of my other sports love...the Raiders...almost dysfunctional.

Then a weird thing happened...the team ownership and the players decided to play basketball and quit talking about how bad things were.  They focused on fundamentals and began to win games.  They suddenly were beating teams they previously couldn't compete with.  It became obvious something special was developing with their core group of young players.  They got back the swagger of a winner. Kobe learned how to be a team player instead of "the show." 

Just prior to the league imposed trading deadline, ownership made a blockbuster deal giving up a few young role players for Pau Gasol a very talented European big man.  Wow talk about team chemistry...Gasol meshed immediately with his new team and good things happened.  Within two weeks the team had won about 14 out of 15 games.  They were now labeled "the team to beat" in the powerful Western Conference.  The playoffs are right around the corner and it the new look Lakers are still fighting for the #1 seed.

I can hear you asking..."what does this have to do with real estate?"  Don't I always find a way to get back on track?

No matter how bleak things look in our market...there's always hope for a rebound (notice the sports phrase?)  As bad as it's been, if we just quit the doom and gloom talk, and get back to the fundamentals...things will improve.

I know this market is a complicated mesh of our nations economy and local buyers and sellers.  Nothing about it is simple...no matter what the Fed wants you to believe.  You can't just "drop rates" and expect everything to be all better.  The bad habits (can you say "sub-prime"?) that got us here won't go away overnight.  The 5 year ride we just went on, had to end...and you know that "jerk" you feel when the roller coaster slams to a stop...that's what our market is doing.  It couldn't continue or nobody would be able to afford a home. 

But the trouble is...our society (maybe just us "boomers") don't want to wait for anything.  We want it fixed NOW.  Instant gratification. We want pop tarts in 20 seconds rather than fixing breakfast.  Can you believe Pop Tarts even have "micro-wave" directions...if you don't have time to wait for a toaster and must nuke your Pop Tarts you better seriously evaluate your life.  Our parents expected to work their whole lives and at the end have a nice retirement with a monthly social security check.  They had no illusions of grandeur.  Heck, they were just happy they didn't have to go through the Great Depression like their parents.

We need to keep focusing on fundamentals...buying and selling good property, in good neighborhoods...putting away as much as possible for retirement...educating ourselves as investors. When we do that, time will begin to heal the industry's wounds.  We will appreciate the much needed correction our market takes.  I just hope the government keeps it's hands out of the fix.  It is not fair to bail out all the "bad decisions" at the expense of those who made good choices.  Why should a flipper who is behind on 4 mortgages be offered "relief" when other investors who made prudent decisions and struggled to keep his payments current...not get relief?

Have you heard the latest?  If you call your bank and ask them to re-negotiate your current loan...they will consider it if you're late on your payments.  It makes sense to them...stop a possible foreclosure from happening by renegotiating the current "bad rate" the borrower agreed to and signed off all disclosures about (basically, "yes I agree to borrow at 9% and will pay it back..but now I can't afford to since I bought a boat, hot tub and new car...please help me out")  But try calling and asking your bank to lower your rate by 2% if you're current on your payments.  They'll laugh your ear off.  Why should they? You're making your payments just fine. 

We just need the Fed to stay out of the mess and let the pieces crumble.  This will bring further correction.  The banks who created the mess should be the ones to pay the penalty not the tax-payers.  What a difference a few months makes...I hope we're saying that soon...along with Kobe and Co.

I'm not sure exactly how or why this happens, but I'm laying, lieing, lying (my apologies to all my past English teachers) curled up in bed at 5AM thinking about the Bear Stearns Investment Bank meltdown.

I'm kidding, right? Nope...just thinking about some poor schmuck like myself, let's say a middle aged (I hate the thought) guy named Melvin (what kind of parents would actually name someone Melvin?).  Melvin has been with Bear Stearns for 25 years, worked his way up the ladder and is some kind of Assistant (to the) Regional Manager (thanks to Dwight Schrute).  He's making about $175K a year (OK, that's where the comparison with me goes bad) which is above average for a long term investment banker...but hey, it's Bear Stearns, once the 5th largest investment bank in the country. 

Melvin has been living the high life recently. Driving the Beemer, fishing vacations in Cabo, splurging on diamond earrings for the wife.  He's thinking about early retirement.  He's done a wonderful job of loading up his 401k with Bear Stearns stocks and options...of course the company has been generous with matching contributions and doling out generous bonuses for mid-level managers.  Melvin is tickled pink when he checks the balance in his retirement account in January of '07...Bear Stearns has hit an all time high of $164.85 per share....wow.

Let's fast forward about 14 months...ouch. Melvin shows up to work and hears the horrible news.  JP Morgan Chase (with aid from the Fed...don't get me started) is buying out BS for..."Melvin, are you sitting down?"...2 bucks a share. Hot flashes, knees buckling, light-headed, feeling sick to his stomach.  Poof....gone!  Gone is the 401k, IRA?..history, Beemer? Traded for a Dodge Neon, family vacations? Gone...even the grandkids educational savings...whoooosh (that's the sound of a vacuum, in case you're wondering).  Melvin doesn't know whether to sit and sob or head for the top of the high rise and jump.

Time to reel this story in...remember, this is a real estate blog.  I just wanted to put a face on a headline we've all read, but don't really care about.  Doesn't affect us (yet)...so what's the dealio?  Well, you know each of those BS employees are in the process of what we all know as a "major life change".

My point is...why do people fail to see the security of real estate in comparison to the stock market?  Stocks are so volatile, based on what somebody "thinks" they're worth. Even in the midst of the worst real estate market in the last 25 years, a saavy investor, using the services of a real estate professional, can locate several properties in many different locations over diverse sectors that offer excellent returns and an ultra safe place to grow your retirement. 

By taking advantage of either a self-directed IRA or the new self 401k (better yet, both) investors can purchase real estate, let it grow and take TAX FREE distributions of all the growth (in a Roth) when they retire. Why let the stock market determine your lifestyle in retirement?  There are many options available, even for those who don't like the "landlord lifestyle".  How about a totally "hands off" investment in an investment grade property?  Using a TIC (tenant in common) group, many times you can reduce your risk and management headaches while yielding a very nice return.

I want to make it perfectly clear...this is something I DO PERSONALLY...not something I talk about to generate sales. It's what I believe in enough to have my own personal retirement invested in.  Using a custodian I believe in (www.PenscoTrust.com) I have most of my retirement in real estate.  I don't believe real estate can ever completly "vanish" like paper value in stocks.  You're always left with the hard asset..the house, the land and a place for someone to live. Let me know if I can help with any questions regarding this concept.  On my website (www.SiskiyouHomes.com) there is additional information regarding these ideas.  Feel free to check it out....and if you happen to see Melvin...buy him lunch.

So....I've been thinking.  I know that might come as a surprise to some of you that know me, but it's true.  What have I been thinking about, you ask (you did ask didn't you)? How is our world changing from life as I knew it growing up in small town America? More specifically, how is Wal-Mart affecting our society?

We all realize the "Leave it to Beaver" days are long gone.  Wally and the Beav are grown and have kids of their own while Ward and June are probably in a Senior Assisted care home. Almost gone are the mom and pop stores that were the norm along Miner Street, Broadway and Main streets.  As consumers, we all love the concept of "rolling back the prices" but are we aware of the true cost of the Wal-Mart effect on our society?  I shop prices just like the next guy...and don't like spending more than I have to...but I've begun to wonder about the true cost of this mindset.

I would challenge you to walk the aisles in Wal-Mart and actually find a product made in the USA.  The philosophy of lowering prices daily comes with the poison pill of shutting down manufacturing jobs in the US.  It means we outsource jobs to India and Pakistan (have you tried calling a tech help desk for any computer hardware lately)? It means we are constantly buying out higher paid, long term employees to re-hire younger, cheaper replacements. This philosophy means we travel out of town to buy a refrigerator at Circuit City from a kid with a pierced tongue, instead of shopping local from a small town store who will deliver and install for $30 more.  The low prices at any cost theory, means the clerk is earning minimum wage and possibly a side of fries, after 5 years of work.  It means you can no longer go into an office for Pacific Bell, Pacific Power or your Satellite TV company to ask a question or dispute a bill.  We have outsourced and downsized our way to a society built on 800 phone numbers and the Internet.

What we fail to take into account when price shopping ONLY is the SERVICE we receive. What a perfect segue...I know you were thinking "what does this have to do with real estate?"  As an agent fighting to survive in the current market, the aspect of SERVICE is what sets us apart from the crowd.  I provide a service to my clients...I offer them my direct phone number where you can call and not fight through the "press 1 for English" frustration of voicemail hell.  The landscape of home buying is changing...much like the rest of small town America.  It's going the way of the Internet.  It's becoming a "search the web" for the best deal, in the best neighborhood, mentality.  Buyers and seller alike are questioning the value of the role of a professional real estate agent.  For sale by owner listings are everywhere. What they often fail to remember is the service provided by the professional.  Ultimately, should one of the most important decisions in a persons life, be minimized to the results of a Yahoo search engine?  Without a doubt, the complexity of the current real estate transaction should involve professional counsel for all parties involved.  The stakes are too high to go it alone.

As that landscape changes, the agents that adapt will be the ones that survive.  With a focus on service, we can set ourselves apart.  By providing professional guidance counseling for clients, we offer value.  The first step for me, as a professional agent, has been the development of a high quality, professionally designed website.  I hope you will take the time to visit http://www.siskiyouhomes.com/.  My vision is to provide my clients the ability to educate themselves on real estate related issues, while also making available current listings in our market. 

I hope you might think twice about shopping local, buying American and supporting the mom and pop shop down the street.  You might just make a friend and a contact that will do business with you in the future...and preserve the Cleaver family for one more season.

I'm working on removing the haze from my brain.  It's 6:25 a.m. I'll admit...I'm a night owl. I'm lying in bed with the smell of fresh coffee drifting down the hallway urging me to the kitchen.  Then I notice the disco tune playing on the radio...Tell me Something Good by Rufus and Chaka Khan. 

The song really takes me back a few years, but it hit me how it applies to our lives and the media today.  Everything we hear is negative.  It runs the gamut from the politicians bashing each other while avoiding the issues, to yet another stupid suicide bomber, to the economic woe du jour.  I really wish somebody would just "tell me something good".

As a real estate agent, setting out with a new website and getting on the blog train late...I guess this is a good place to start.  How do you and I deal with the everyday ritual of negative news? I guess it comes down to the ol'...is the glass half empty or half full analogy.

Do you really want to believe that we're in the middle of the worst housing market in 20 years? Are we really at the beginning of a new recession? As withmost issues in the media...it's never as good or as bad as they want you to believe.

While our current market has certainly put the hurt on many sellers and subsequently their agents....there does seem to be some positives if you're willing to look for them. We are starting to see a price correction in many markets that will make housing more affordable to the masses. In many areas there seem to be bargains sprouting up for those willing to search. 

Another "good" thing to hear about...how is your retirement looking?  Whether you're 10 weeks or 30 years away...it's always good to evaluate.  One thing you will be reading about in my blog (please come back) is the idea of using your retirement funds to invest in real estate.  I could go into quite a bit of detail on this but it's another topic for another day. Until then "tell me something good".

KB