One of my friends, whom I have not seen for quite some time came to my company's (Frank Howard Allen) first Annual Warm Coat Drive to drop off some coats two nights ago. He asked how I am doing business wise. I told him that I am having my best year ever.
"That is Great!" he said; I can see the slight grin on his face and the twinkle in his eyes, "Sometimes it really does not matter what's going on around you, the one that keeps on going still has a great year."
And he is right on target.
I am a 'Glass is Half Full' person. Life is too short, time is too precious; there is just no sense of looking at it any other way!
I am also a big believer in Not Wasting Time and Energy to Worry About Things I Can't Change. Just Change the Things that I CAN!
That's how I look at life and how I dealt with the whole 2008.
Gloom and Doom all around me, but I just charge ahead and there is no looking back.
The market might be down considerably, the lenders might have tightened their belts, listings are much harder to sell, sellers are discouraged, short sales are time consuming and no guarantee of closing, REOs are difficult to pin down and the buyers are frustrated, and on and on.
BUT.....
The housing prices are down considerably and the buyers who could not have afforded before are out looking now, Mortgages are harder to get but qualified buyers are still getting great rates (under 6% today) and buying, Government backed FHA loans are putting buyers in homes like never before, Sellers who have great equity from the boom time are getting realistic and are pricing their homes more in-line with the market. There might be 12 offers on REO but 11 will be out buying again. Questionable mortgage brokers are out and only resilient Realtors are staying in. and on and on....
Keep on doing what you normally do and more, work hard, work smart, know and be known, find your nitch market, get exposure, imagine and improve, stay positive and upbeat, stay connected - to the market, to your friends, to your clients, to the current and the future; always ahead of the curve, .....
It is Real Estate, It is Life! All depends on How YOU Look At Things and How YOU Take On Things.... There are many bright sides to everything, we just have to look harder to find them!
When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Gets Going - That's How We can Stand Out from the Rest!