<-----Do you see it? The little warning at the bottom of the cup telling you how extremely hot your beverage is? I saw it too, but I figured enough time had passed since ordering my venti, and I tipped the cup back and proceeded to sear the kris kringle out of my tongue. Which left me wondering a couple of things:
1. Why do we ignore warnings if they aren't convenient for us to heed? If the small print said, "If you bring this cup back to Starbucks to recycle, we'll give you $1," I think I'd be all over reading and following directions. But instead, I smugly chuckle at the idiocy of a nation that needs warning labels on everything it makes...and then burn my tongue.
An ice cube later, I started thinking: What were the warning signs in our housing market? Was it the shift in the profile of the average real estate investor, from savvy and ambitious to cocky and impulsive? Was it an unsustainable 30% appreciation in home prices within a 12 month span? Or possibly an amusement park, day-after-Thanksgiving exhuberance that led people to camp out overnight to get first shot at a condo conversion or first phase of a neighborhood?
Yeah, easier to figure out after we've been burned. But the lesson is to look for the warnings now. Moving forward. I need to study our economy and figure out where it's headed. Read what Fannie Mae is doing to change the rules of lending. Understand what my lenders can do by reading their e-mail updates instead of hitting the delete button. Read the Fed's policy statements and see what Big Ben is thinking. I can't afford not to pay attention, and neither can my tongue.
2. How does the tea stay hot for so long? One word. Insulation. Well, that, and the fact that it's 212 degrees as it's being poured into the cup. But back to insulation. It made me think of the things I'm doing in my business to stay hot. To protect myself. I spent a big portion of the day yesterday calling private funding and hard equity sources, printing out their guidelines, and tagging their websites. God forbid, if Fannie and Freddie ever get to the point where they cut out all wholesale lending, I need to be ready to find other sources of money for my clients. I'm also networking with other mortgage and banking professionals to discuss solutions to our lending issues and see how we can work together to achieve them.
So despite taking my tongue out of commission this afternoon, I've been reminded of a couple of important object lessons. And if I had a cup for my business, I hope it would read, "Careful, the mortgage you're about to enjoy is extremely hot."
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