st louis real estate thoughts: When Inclusive Becomes Exclusive And Wrong - Diversity In The Workplace
- 01/22/08 08:22 AM
This morning as I was driving across town I had my radio tuned into my local NPR affiliate when a local show called, "St. Louis On The Air" came on. It's a call in talk show and the today's topic was, "Diversity In The Workplace".
It turned out that the guests were all associated with a program called the "St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative" which is a program that was created and funded by a group here in St. Louis called, "Civic Progress" which is a business group made of the CEO's of St. Louis' largest 30 corporations.
As I drove I … (2 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: If You're Got Aging Parents Or Are Getting Up There Yourself, Please Read This
- 01/21/08 02:53 AM
In our roles as real estate agents many times we are called upon to serve our customers in other ways. Sometimes we're something of a financial planner. Sometimes we serve as an interior decorator. Sometimes we're even marriage counselors. We wear many hats and play many roles. Two of the most important roles that we play are that of Parent and that of Child. When you're parents start to age, sometimes you play both.
Well a few of you might remember the posts that I wrote while I was dealing with the passing of my mother. She died after having suffered with … (3 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Four Concrete Steps To Stop The Slide In Housing Values
- 01/17/08 04:49 AM
The honest truth of the matter is that the US economy is in a world of hurt. The fiscal policies of the last 7 years have painted the Fed into a corner. If they cut interest rates, the dollar is in danger of tanking. If the dollar tanks, inflation is likely to raise it's ugly head.
If they don't cut rates, then the economy stagnates. The worst case scenario is when we have both, inflation and stagnation at the same time. This happened in the 70's and the term "Stagflation" was coined to describe it.
This is how come the Fed hasn't … (7 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Is It Too Late To Save The Empire?
- 01/16/08 04:26 AM
This post is the follow up to my post, "Take Two Fed Cuts And Call Me In The Morning" where I compared the Bush administration's economic policies to those of college students with their first charge cards. In it, I painted a dire economic picture that I feel accurately reflects the current state of our economy. In this post I'm going to suggest some concrete measures that we, as a country, can implement that can restore our economy.
Bob, Is There Anything That We Can Do To Help Our Economy Recover?
Yes, there is. As bad as it is, there are self-correcting mechanisms … (6 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Take Two Fed Cuts And Call Me In The Morning
- 01/16/08 03:29 AM
If you watch the talking heads on the various business/news shows on a regular basis, you might have noticed that they change their tune to fit whatever the realities of the day are. A couple of years ago when the economy was slowing they would say that housing was keeping the economy afloat.
When the sub-prime flu hit and the housing market got sick, consumer spending was what was keeping the economy afloat. Now it's over seas investors who are going to keep our economy afloat. What or who is it going to be next? The Martians coming to our rescue?
The fact … (0 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Another Reason To Blog
- 01/15/08 04:24 AM
Every once in a while I'll read a blog on blogging. Some of them go into the technical aspects of it. Others go into the SEO benefits, etc.
Well, today I discovered another benefit. The joy of communicating!
What happened was this, I posted a blog called, "Traffic Cameras, Good Thing or Bad" and while I only got a few comments on it, I enjoyed writing it because it got something that was bothering me off of my chest.
I'll admit, that I thought that I would get a bit more response from it and was somewhat disappointed in the lack of … (6 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Happy Birthday to ME!
- 01/15/08 03:26 AM
I've got a question for you...how many of you are familiar with The Lake Of The Ozarks? While it's pretty well known here in the Midwest, I've got a sneaky suspicion that a good number of you folks outside of the region aren't aware of this gem!
Lake of the Ozarks is a 93 mile long, 55,000 acre, man made lake located in south central Missouri, about 3 hours or so from St. Louis and slightly less from Kansas City. At one point it was the largest man made lake in the United States and one of the largest in the world. … (0 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Time For A Revolution II!
- 01/11/08 03:04 AM
Yesterday I wrote a post called, "Is It Time For A Revolution" where I talked about an article that I had read on how the very rich spend their money. I thought that the post had turned out pretty good, but what impressed me the most were the comments!
The comments that I received on it were out of this world! I couldn't believe how insightful they were and a couple of them actually tugged at my heartstrings! Suffice it to say, that there are some truly extraordinary people who blog on here and I'm honored that they took the time to … (3 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Is It Time For A Revolution?
- 01/10/08 03:42 AM
I'm a capitalist and I sincerely feel that capitalism is by far the best economic system that humans have been able to come up with in.
The socialistic idea of "everybody taking what they need and providing what they can" would be great if people weren't the way that they are. That is, greedy.
Capitalism accepts this fact and uses it to motivate people. The end result is that people are rewarded for doing things better and/or smarter than other people and this leads to resources being utilized in efficient ways. Also in capitalism, at least in theory, is the concept … (12 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Traffic Cameras, Good Thing or Bad? Let Me Know
- 01/09/08 02:53 AM
Got a question for you guys. How do you feel about municipalities putting those cameras up at intersections?
I recently moved to an area where a couple of municipalities have done so. Yesterday I saw the strobes going off as the camera took the picture of a guy in a truck that had to stop in the middle of the intersection because the guy in front of him stopped for no apparent reason.
I've also seen people slam on their breaks when the light turned yellow as they were entering the intersection. While I haven't seen anyone rear ended yet, I'm sure that … (4 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Stop Blaming The Mortgage Broker II
- 01/08/08 04:25 PM
I recently got a comment on one of my posts, "Stop Blaming The Mortgage Broker" from a member of the general public, who was, shall we say, not convinced by the arguments that I made in that posting. Her specific comment was,
"Interest only loans, and some ARMs ought to have never been allowed. Whoever allowed these frauds to be perpetrated on the unsuspecting comsumer should be in jail. Is it the baby's fault he chewed on a poisonous toy from China? You Cowards."
And while I understand the frustration that her and many like her have with the whole mess, I … (10 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Too Damn Many People!
- 01/07/08 06:32 AM
Growth, growth and more growth! That's what it seems that we're all looking for, just like a cancer cell!
Yep, I just equated the human race to cancer. Think about it and look at what we're doing to our planet,can you see the similarities? From what I understand, a cancer cell is a cell that, unlike a "normal" cell keeps dividing and growing until the point where, if left untreated, it kills the host.
Is this not what we're doing to our planet? From the beginning of time here on planet Earth it took until about 1830 for the global human population to … (3 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: How Do You Eat An Elephant?
- 01/04/08 05:24 AM
One bite at a time! I had to remind myself of this fact this morning when I came downstairs to my home office. Over the past several weeks I started a couple of different projects and picked up a few that I had already started...such as organizing my filing system!
The end result today when I came down and looked at the piles upon piles of files that were stacked on the floor in my office and in the reception area ready to be refiled or destroyed, my heart sank. "I'm never going to get done with these!" I mumbled to myself … (14 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Predictions For 2008
- 01/02/08 08:12 AM
Bob's Chrystal Ball predicts the following for 2008
1) AR will still be featuring Broker Bryant's postings at least 40% of the time.
2) Home prices in most markets will stabilize in spite of the government doing nothing practical to fix the credit and housing markets.
3) AR will surpass 200,000 members.
4) 80% of real estate agents over the age of 40 will continue to use their glamor shot from more than 5 years ago.
5) The stock market will take a tumble and finish the year at less than 10,000.
6) Jennifer Allan will still be hot!
7) Interest rates will have to be raised to … (3 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Thoughts On The Iowa Caucus
- 01/02/08 07:30 AM
Tomorrow the voters in Iowa will take the first official step towards selecting the two major party candidates for President of the United States. If your only source of news is the major networks, you might be under the impression that the race for the democratic nomination only has two contestants, maybe three.
Hillary Clinton
Barrack Obama
John Edwards
I think that this is ashame! Especially when you consider that Iowa is the very first state to go to the polls in the country. How can the press be so sure that Ms. Clinton or Mr. Barrack is going to be the standard bearer for … (2 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Are Builders Being Stupid or What?
- 12/28/07 03:11 AM
The figures on new home starts came in today 9% below a month ago. Available inventory of new homes also went up. This last factoid got me to thinking....What the hell are the builders thinking? Are there still some builders out there building spec homes? Did that many deals die, leaving the building holding the bag with a 2/3rd's done house? Why would inventories still be rising in this market?
Have the builders not been paying attention?
With the current credit and housing crises going on there is a glut of properties on the market. The laws of supply and demand require … (9 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Blogging Bertha and The Fair Use Doctrine II
- 12/27/07 06:07 AM
If you haven't read part one of this post, please check it out so that you can be brought up to speed.
In the comments to that post, Broker Bryant, TLW and a couple of other folks disagreed with me regarding the use of a copyrighted image that I used in my post, "Twas The Evening After Christmas". Out of respect, I pulled that image, but disagreed with the contention that I didn't have a right to use that photo in the context that I did.
I also left a fairly lengthy comment on the post stating why I disagreed with them. … (17 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Twas The Evening After Christmas
- 12/25/07 01:28 PM
Twas the evening after Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even Uncle Al, the drunken louse.
The stockings had been torn down
by curious girls and boys
Wrapping paper littered the floor
along with the dog's new squeaky toy.
The children had been bundled and
off they were sent
To spend the rest of the holiday
Where the Child support pays the rent.
I looked at my girlfriend
and a smile did appear,
The holiday is over
We've drunk all the beer
Let's dash to the bedroom,
we don't need a map
The house is finally empty and
I need a nap!
Santas done his job
and now he's broke
The Visa's Over … (7 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Sneak A Workout In
- 12/24/07 03:10 AM
I just posted my sign off post for the holiday today and tomorrow and in it I mentioned that I was going to get a light workout in before I started cooking. As I was getting ready to head into the workout room it dawned on me that for the last couple of weeks that I have been pinched for time and haven't gotten as many work outs in as I would have liked.
I imagine that quite a few of you are in that boat too. Now, if you look at the clock, as I just did, you might find that … (13 comments)
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st louis real estate thoughts: Time To Put The Phones On Forward! Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays To You All!
- 12/24/07 03:00 AM
Time to put the phones on forward! I don't know how many of you out there even toyed with the idea of getting any work done today, but I have a couple of deals working and I have my normal Monday rituals that I normally go through, so I went into the office to get those done.
Turns out that just about no one else is open today, so I probably would have been better off just taking today off totally, but at least I feel like I touched everything and pretty much know where I'm at on those deals. So, now … (4 comments)
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This morning as I was driving across town I had my radio tuned into my local NPR affiliate when a local show called, "St. Louis On The Air" came on. It's a call in talk show and the today's topic was, "Diversity In The Workplace". 
;)
;)
