Running in Neutral?

If you feel like nothign is going right, perhaps it is because you are turning left.

transaction times are going longer, loan approvals nad underwirting are becoming more challenging, and life seems to be beating us down rather tha fulfilling our dreams... Or is it?

I focus on distressed proeprty ales, and for the resyt of you out there, a part of this post is preahing to the choir, but bear with me. I'm not eriting about short sales. I am writing about short sightedness.

We all got fat an lazy, somewhere between 1988 and 2009, and many new licensees entere the business, then. I left my prior IT/telecom career to become par tof the crush in 2002. In some of that span of time, if you could sign your name, and use a kleenex, you could earn a decent iiving. For many people, the pt at the end of the rainbow was now in sight and all sang athe Hallelijah Chorus on their way into the banks.

Subsequently, many of these folks learned illicit shorcuts, and some were rpomotiing and conducting illegal activities, scams, and doing many other things that would later label the inductry with the phrase "tainted." Unfortunately, some of this criticism was deserved.The market and regulatory bodies have a way of eventually weeding out people who break rules. At some point those of us who are left to clean up the mess that remains go through a period like the one we are in now.

The distress of the market, government interference and regulation, and current market instability on a global level create a trying and sometimes disheartening climate for our profession. SOme are leaving the business, tired of battling "the elements." For thos

e who are remaining, take comfort in the fact that these things don't last forever. We have all seen cycles in real estate. We know that things never truly dtay the same in the real estate business.

What do we do, then? How can we maintain the joy we take in helping buyers buy and sellers sell? How do we remain on top of the game and productive, instead of frustrated? We cannot react with the fear of entering a room where the lights have been turned off. We know the switch is shoulder hig and near the right or left door jamb, right? The same truth exists in the market, too. we

will work it out for the public and bring the market bacl to a normal pattern. That is what we do, maintain and act as stewards of the market, preseving value, and serving the public.

As the saw goe, :The journey of a thousand mile begins with a single step," reaching the destination means continuing to place one foot in front of the other. This is going to be an unusual journey, but if we complete it, we will have a deligth waiting for us at the destination.

Bless you all!

  Lou Farris, "The Denver Deal Maker" cook, bottle washer, writer, speaker, and your servant