My wife Wendy and I got back from a Real Estate Educators Convention in Portland, Oregon. It was held in Portland because the title for the conference was "Going Green." Portland is reported to be the Greenest large city in the US of A. It truly has the most LEED Certified Buildings of any major city and the public transportation could be the envy of any metropolitan area. Most of the central city transport was street cars running on electricity and free. To go on longer trips to the suburbs it only costs about $4.50 both ways. All of that was pretty impressive until we learned the sun really did not come out till mid May and we never saw it for the week we were there until around 4:30 PM and some times from 6:30 AM until 7 AM. However, there were Solar Collectors on some of the roofs.
It is always interesting to get outside of one's area and find out what the rest of the country is doing. As for sustainability, the West is really into it. There was recycling everywhere, the produce in the local Farmers Market was almost all Organically Grown, and we went to a Winery that was almost completely solar. Nine months of the year (except for the Crush) they actually put electric power into the grid and the electric utility paid them for it.
The Midwest was wrestling with a multitude of empty houses. 15% of the homes unoccupied, 9% of the homes built since 2000 unoccupied, homes over $500K are just as likely to be vacant as homes under $100K. Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana were not expected to turn around till 2015 or beyond. Thankfully Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee and Oklahoma were predicted to come out of recession this year.
Another phenomenon that was explored was Social Networking. We learned that Twitter was like an on-going Cocktail Party with a lot of chit-chat similar to what would occur at a party. It was useful to some in keeping clients informed about the purchase and selling process, but only if they appreciated Tweets, more helpful, it seemed, in the big cities. Face Book seemed the most productive for Realtors, again mostly in the larger cities. But I do see some of my FBF (Face Book Friends) that are using the medium effectively in NWA. It depends quite a lot on the audience. I notice a good many fellow Realtors wanting to be friends, but don't hear much from them after the initial Hookup. A good Real Estate site is "Active Rain" with helpful information on the daily blogs. There was a mention of Plaxo and LinkedIn as a good way to connect with other professions and may be even to find jobs.
All total, to a country boy, it seems that once again things happen other places and finally get here, and certain thing work a whole lot better where there is a large concentration of people. In regard to "Hard Times," we are a whole lot better off than most
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