Or perhaps the smart will OR maybe a combination of the two.........I thought maybe I had seen it all....in my wildest imagination and even worst case scenario versions, I never even came close to thinking the real estate /mortgage/ credit industries would be where they are today. The most recent news about the drop in home sales, the current inventory (11.2 months worth) and 25% of all sales were estimated as foreclosures is literally mind boggling. It is enough to literally make my head spin.

So, if that and all the other negative market indicators that seem to not have any end point is the bad news and man is it bad, it begs the question, "where is the "silver lining" in all these blacks clouds"?.....

Buckle up!....is it going to be a wild and crazy ride.....and we are all responsible for finding that lining ourselves!

The first thing is to know the realities of the market. In order to do that, lots of research is required.....the old adage, "knowledge is power" is one of my mantras.... I personally read a lot. Here are a few ~ Jon Burns Real Estate Consulting (see link below), John Mauldin (see link), Reuters online, The Economist and subscriptions to the NAR newsletter and several other reputable sources, help me to arrive at an educated perspective for the general market and a closer look at the local market. The more resources you access, the better the perspective (there is such a thing as too much information, but too little is never a good thing).

The next thing is how do all of these indicators directly affect you and your market and most importantly, how does one react to it. It is more important, now than ever to utilize every marketing and networking resource at your disposal.......BE CREATIVE, BE DIFFERENT, BE INNOVATIVE and above all else do NOT panic (customers can sniff panic and desperation with a radar that would rival anything the Pentagon could muster!)Network yourself with other professionals either by joining groups (like Active Rain or LinkedIn) or create your own network OR do both. Make sure the members share your vision, enthusiasm, drive and include them in your plans for how to capturing market share. My personal approach is to look for centers of influence that complement my area of expertise. If you can help drive business to others, then naturally, they will return the favor. This is explicit in all my contact and networking efforts and is the most organic sense, simply good karma!

The next step is perhaps the hardest..... be constant, be consistent and be diligent......never, ever, give up! There is business still out there and the fruit is still on the tree. But when you can't walk around and pick it off the ground or it is not low hanging, go get a ladder to climb to where the fruit is.....I promise it is still there!

And the best part is you will be capturing and solidfying your place in the market, so when the industries mentioned above turn around (and they will ~ most of the pundits and analyzers, etc. say between 3rd quarter of 2009 and 1st quarter of 2010), you will be WAAAY ahead of everyone else.

Good luck and let please share your successes (and failures), so we can all learn.

LINKS:

http://www.realestateconsulting.com/Newsletters.aspx?quicklaunch=true&newsletter=Local/local200805

http://www.investorsinsight.com/blogs/thoughts_from_the_frontline/default.aspx

Matching experienced and expert title processing with state of the art technology, gives the best loan closing in the country.

Bo Hussung
Vice President of Sales
phone ~ 615-438-7300
fax ~ 678-261-1594

email ~ bhussung@cogentca.com

web ~ www.cogentca.com