Some time back I wrote a blog post that I titled "hoisted by our own petard" in which I discussed how a decision on real estate developments in Michigan that was made some years back has come back to haunt the state. Michigan made it easier on developers by allowing a development classification
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07/31/2009
"Refuse to accept the inevitable." (Unknown) - from one of my favorite sources - the Jack's Wining Words blog. It is particularly important in the midst of the worst recession that most of us have ever seen to refuse to be lulled into accepting things as they are as inevitable. That acquiescing
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07/30/2009
I'm working with a few buyers right now who are a part of the so-called "sandwich generation". These are mostly baby boomers that find themselves in a position where they still have children of their own to care for at home and now they have become caretakers for their parents. They are "sandwich
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07/28/2009
"We will either find a way or make one." (Hannibal, about 200 BC), from one of my favorite sources - the Jack's Winning Words blog. Hannibal used elephants to cross the Alps and defeat the Romans. If Hannibal were around today and in real estate he'd likely notice that the elephant in the room
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07/25/2009
I have been doing a lot of Comparative Market Analyses (CMAs) lately for people in lots of different price ranges ands certainly in differing houses and different personal situations. In almost every case I get push back on the news that I break to them about the current value of their houses. So
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07/25/2009
Sometimes talking to my sellers and trying to explain to them why their house isn't selling is like trying to discuss why someone's favorite daughter didn't win the beauty pageant. It's not that their daughter is ugly; it's just that she was competing against other girls who were significantly be
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07/23/2009
The old TV series by Rod Serling called "The Twilight Zone" used to present a lot of episodes based upon irony. Serling liked to use dramatic techniques, like not showing the faces of the actors or lighting them from behind, so that you couldn't quite make them out . One episode that I remember
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07/21/2009
I get offers these day (and make some, I must admit) that the sellers get insulted at and just reject outright. When the sellers are insulted there is no negotiating with them. In fact many try to say that they won't even entertain any further offers from the buyer, because the buyer in their min
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07/19/2009
Recently I heard a report in the news that only a few thousand people have actually been helped by all of the Federal programs that were created and ballyhooed in press conferences and telecasts as our saving grace. Like much of what comes from politicians at almost every level, this was high dra
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07/17/2009
Lately I've been encountering a number of people who are being forced to start over in life, many with little or nothing to show for their time up to the present. That can be particularly disturbing when these are people in their 50's and 60's. Most, through no real fault of their own, have foun
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07/15/2009
