A life in sales prepares you for lots of ups and downs. Since I worked for Apple Computer from 1984 until 2008. I got to see plenty of both.  As I survey the real estate markets I see some parallels to Apple's comeback as a computer manufacturer.

If any company has risen from the dead to great success it would be Apple.

Maybe the comparisons jump out more easily if you are new in the real estate industry like I am.  Perhaps the comparisons do not work for all areas, but certainly in the spot that I know well, Carteret County, NC, there are some interesting parallels.

Fundamentally what brought Apple back were great products.  However, Apple had great products during a long period when business magazines took turns predicting the company's death on the their covers.

One of the keys to Apple selling more computers was for the company's computers to become more competitively priced.

Certainly shedding thirty percent or more in price over the last few years has made our coastal property far more competitively priced.  Today you can get a home on or near the water for prices that people did not think they would see again in their lifetimes.

Another key to Apple's success was the web.  In my early days with Apple, we would get more literature than it was possible to hand out.  Every two or three months, we had to clean our closets of the literature or be overwhelmed.

By the time I left Apple, Apple had completely abandoned paper literature.  If a potential Apple customer wanted information, a sales person could print it out or the customer could access it on the web.

Providing high quality information on the web became a way of life at Apple.  I can remember a PDF file on security that we wanted to distribute to clients taking a year longer to write than the lines of code in the actual operating system that we were describing.

Obviously with real estate we are moving more and more to the Internet being our best source for information.

The next thing I would credit with helping Apple recover would be their retail stores which provide knowledgeable human help to guide people through a process they often started on the web.  Many people are unfamiliar with Apple products other than the Apple ads that they might had seen. The Apple Stores provide needed guidance and trusted advice.

I think the downturn in real estate will drop the number of real estate agents to the point that only the most dedicated and skilled will survive.  When a client walks into our real estate office they will hook up with someone willing to spend whatever time necessary to get the client through the process of buying or selling a home successfully.

The next thing that I would see as similar is that a positive buzz turned Apple into a company whose products were desired.  We are not there yet in real estate with a positive buzz, but we are positioned for that to happen.

First prices have declined while builders and sellers are working hard to deliver great value to attract buyers.  At the same time, other investments such as the stock market have become more risky.  At a certain point real estate is going to get its buzz back.  With property at prices which will eventually return handsome profits, we will have some investors down the road who will be very happy.

I do see some differences between Apple and real estate.  First, Apple came up with the iPod and then the iPhone, both products which attracted many new customers to the Apple Store and eventually to Apple's computers.

At this point we do not have clients coming into our offices, but we will get there, and I think a lot of our success will be driven by having products that do demonstrate great value to our clients.

Not all areas are going to be winners in this respect.

I think our area will continue with relatively low taxes.  I do not see anything that is going to change our mild climate or our wonderful access to the water.  Our growth has been slow and relatively manageable.  We are not swamped by foreclosures, and our supply is gradually being cut back.  Our schools continue to be great, traffic is a non-issue and the variety of services available continues to grow.

I have confidence in our area.  I know it will come back.  I have no hesitation in recommending the area as a second or retirement home area.

Right now we are suffering from a crisis in confidence.  No one is confident what is going to happen tomorrow so most people are frozen.

That will change.  I actually think I have seen a slight improvement in the last week.  One week is not much of a trend, so we will have to wait and see if the trend continues.

In the meantime, I will keep honing the technology I use and the skills that will differentiate me from other agents.

I have a post, What Sales Is Really All About, which pretty well defines my sales philosophy. I am confident that our new electronic village for the Crystal Coast will eventually define a new way to sell real estate.

With the low mortgage rates we are seeing and the poor return on other investments, it is only a matter of time before some investors start searching out real estate deals.

Searching out those deals will be far easier with all the information that is now on the web.  Social networking, lifestyle blogs and area specific blogs will greatly help speed up the process once it gets going.

I plan to be around to for some of the good times just like I was at Apple Computer.

Pictures of our recently very sunny area are availabe at my Picasa Web Albums site.

If you need some peaceful beach sights and sounds to distract you from real estate challenges, try my recent December Beach Day video on YouTube.  If you want to read a little about the technology behind the video, check out my Applepeels post.