Rebuilding

I had the opportunity yesterday to watch a video of a presentation that had been given last month in New Orleans at the annual convention of the National Association of Realtors. The subject was the current state of the real estate business, and where it’s going from here. In a nutshell, right now we are in the depths of the valley of despair. The market is in a shambles, and it’s not going to get any better until we – real estate brokers – actively get to work to rebuild it. There is a lot of sense in what the speaker said, and I’ll talk more about his speech in another post.


What he said, though, resonated strongly with me. While I would not say that my career is in the depths of the valley of despair, it is definitely at a low point. It is time to rebuild, which has been somewhat of a theme around here lately.

Of course, building with a plan always makes more sense than just throwing a bunch of stuff together and waiting to see what will survive. The first step in making a plan, is determining what you are really trying to accomplish, and then comparing it to where you are now. For me, the end is still the same as it has always been: I want to be a trusted advisor and consultant rather than a salesman. To that end, I will be working toward strengthening my ability to analyze the financial aspects of real estate transactions to help create situations that make sense for my clients.

A lot has changed in the financing of real estate in the last couple of years, and the effects have been profound. Some folks, in fact, are convinced that real estate is a poor investment now. I don’t think it is; it never has been. The key is finding the way that makes most sense to you. In the next few years, that way is probably going to look very different than it has looked for the last few years. I’ll be talking more in depth about some of these changes in future posts.

The road to success is always under construction. -- Lily Tomlin