The Elephant in the Room

Everyone has heard the question, "How do you eat an elephant?" and the answer, "One bite at a time." Well, The Elephant in the Room is a title of chapter in Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture, but I couldn't help but think of eating the elephant when I read 30 Second Elevator Speech by Marvin de la Vega.  He didn't realize that he was giving his readers an excellent way to eat the real estate elephant in the room.  Randy started the Last Lecture by quoting his father who had said if there is an elephant in the room, introduce it.  Randy had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was speaking at Carnegie Mellon.  He flashed his CT scan on the screen with arrows pinpointing the tumors.  "We cannot change the cards we a re dealt, just how we play the hand."

As real estate agents, mortgage brokers or anyone associated with real estate we have encountered questions or negative comments about the state of the economy.  Instead of sounding like a Pollyanna or someone out of touch with reality, when asked Marvin addresses the issue head on. 

Quoted from Marvin's blog:  "You know a little about the tremendous amount of foreclosures in San Diego, right? (Yes.) And the trouble a lot of homeowners are in, yes? (Yes!) Well I'm a REALTOR® that helps homeowners avoid foreclosure AND I've helped many first time buyers purchase a home they couldn't afford two years ago. Do you know anyone in either of those boats?"  Kudos Marvin.

Last Friday I had lunch with a commercial agent who has been in the business for 7 or 8 years who said that he has started cold calling for the first time in his career.  Most agents I know would rather eat an elephant than make cold calls or do any type of prospecting.  Maybe they are afraid the elepant will eat them per chance.  My area has 20-25% fewer agents in 2009 than in 2008. Either they have chosen to get out of the business or perhaps they became elephant food.

How do you respond when asked about the real estate market in your area?