the mesh network | northern california real estate

The Forgotten Man

I’ve just finished a book recommended to me -- The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression.  With all the talk about the current recession, I have heard many people drawing comparisons to the Great Depression so I wanted to find out more about it to get a solid perspective.  Author Amity Shlaes compiled enormous amounts of research and delivers an intensely detailed month-by-month depiction of the events, personalities, politics, and economics from 1928 to 1940.  Here are some of my thoughts.

When the book starts out with a story of a 13 year-old boy who kills himself so that he could save more food for other members in his family, you know that any comparisons of our current recession to the Great Depression is wholly unjustified and disrespectful.  I didn’t know how close the US came to converting to Communism or Socialism during the early years of the Depression, but it makes sense when you think about it.  Since the country was thrown into a huge tailspin and desperation was everywhere, it seems that was the best time to reconsider if capitalism really does work and see if there is a better alternative.

The author makes a good case for why the early moments of the Depression became deeper and worsened due to the government trying to “fix” things.  With this point, I do feel we are seeing similarities between what the Depression administration did and what the current administration is doing now.  Of course some level of stimulus is needed to keep markets from stopping entirely, but capital markets work best when they are allowed to reach their equilibrium naturally.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The research and attention to detail is amazing, so much so that each of the characters draws into their place in history, thank you Amity Shlaes.  I find it hard to compare what we are going through today to those who lived through the Great Depression and I’m very thankful that we won’t have that experience.

-mark

Getting Organized

Once in a while, Sabrina and I have our “date night” at the nearest bookstore.  We treat it like a chance to walk around and discover something new, then we sit down at the coffee shop and talk about what we found.  This time, an interesting title caught my eye so I began reading a few chapters -- One Year To An Organized Work Life by Regina Leeds.

As our business grows, I’ve been struggling to stay as organized as I want.  I’ve come to believe that personal and business organization is a key component to succeeding at the highest levels.  The reason I liked this book so much is that it takes a step-by-step weekly approach so that I can systematize things into habits.  It is kind of like giving out assignments instead of saying go do it this way.

So, this weekend I began a new journey that is expected to last ONE full year as I have committed to the process of One Year To An Organized Work Life.  As I enter this “get organized” journey, my expectation is how this is more of a “habits and routines” issue for me than some kind of cleanliness problem.  I know where everything is and I can put my fingers on anything I need very quickly, but, I need a better system for handling the massive amount of email, statics, clients, contracts, disclosures, reports, etc that it takes to run a thriving real estate enterprise. 

I have great expectations for this book and it’s results! And I will keep you posted.

-mark

The rich get richer, Why?

Have you heard the expression “It takes money to make money”?

I’m not inviting a philosophical debate on the merits or dangers found in the pursuit of wealth.  The basic fact is that we all survive on money and we have each been raised in a household environment with a certain viewpoint towards money.  If the subject of being or becoming rich is an uncomfortable one for you then I suggest some excellent reading on the subject found in Jack Canfield writings that may offer a healing perspective.

Sabrina and I are always looking for growth -- personal, professional, financial, and all other areas of our lives.  We also like meeting and talking with experienced and successful people who have achieved great things in areas where we want to improve.  I had one such conversation with a mentor from our Keller Williams office a few days ago.  Her opportunities to work with high net-worth clients over the decades have taught her some invaluable lessons and her comment is still ringing in my ears:

“Why is it that most people want to buy when everyone else is buying (multiple offers on homes that often aren’t even very desirable) and don’t want to buy when everyone else is waiting (like now - bigger inventory of many properties staying on the market for a longer period of time)?  Clients with large amounts of money (or investors), most of whom stopped buying property in 2005 when they recognized the price-to-value ratio stopped making sense, are beginning to get back into the market now.  They see the next 2 years as the best time to acquire more property!”

Here are some of suggestions:

1) Meet with accomplished people as much as possible, treat them to lunch or a coffee, ask questions, and listen to everything they say.  Devour books and articles on subjects in which you are looking to improve yourself.  Find an accountability partner to help articulate your goals and commit to working together to focus on and support each other in the pursuit of these goals.

2) Work on being counter-culture.  In a world where we are under daily attack by advertisements of all kinds to spend money, you need to be saving.  When you see other people selling out of a good stock, or commodity, or property and driving prices lower, you need to be a buyer.  Of course you need to continue to make sure the fundamentals make sense and usually consulting with professionals in their field is the best way to validate your intentions. 

3) Have a long-term view.  I’m going to write another posting on this point because I have so much to share from people I’m currently working with that it would be too lengthy to write here.  Real estate is not meant to be something you watch the value of daily or weekly like many stock traders do with their investments.  Forget about trying to “time the market” looking for a bottom – this leads to analysis paralysis.  Buying a property should be viewed as a long-term hold for leveraged growth over time.

People with money make more money by being different than everyone else.  Read The Millionaire Mind by Dr Thomas Stanley to understand more about how they think.  It’s fascinating.  They are not different people; they just know how to think differently than average people.

-Mark