Popular Posts of 2008

Another year has come to an end. 2008 was pretty rough for businesses and consumers alike. Massive foreclosures, unprecedented fraud, huge bailouts and one crisis after another and yet we survived. Las Vegas has been pretty hard hit since tourism and construction are the main engines of our economy. The news isn't all bad though. The massive foreclosure glut has driven down home prices, making them affordable again for the average homebuyer. Steve Wynn decided to not stop development of the Encore resort and it opened on time and has done well. The following list of posts are based on traffic over the past year in no particular order. Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you have a terrific new year.

• The Monte Carlo Fire The start of the new year news cycle started with this fire.
• Barack Obama Town Meeting This meeting was a harbringer of the effect Obama would have on Nevada voters. The venue was woefully undersized and staffed for the massive crowds that turned out.
• Spaceship House for Sale A short video about a spaceship home for sale as well as examples of other spaceship homes around the United States. Check out the Futuro, home of the future circa the 1960's.
• OJ Verdict America's fascination/disgust with Orenthal has died down a bit since his first criminal trial, but plenty of people were interested in the final verdict.
• Top Five Las Vegas Condo Communities Everyone loves lists. Lists my picks for the best condo communities Vegas has to offer.
• Spammed by a former "Apprentice" The repeated spamming by a former apprentice of the "Don". I doubt he advocated that technique. No wonder she was fired.
• Health Crisis The legal battle with this clinic is still ongoing. My father actually went there, thankfully he didn't contract Hep C.
• Renters Protect Yourself Earlier this year many renters were finding themselves thrown out due to foreclosure. Thankfully, many banks are realizing having a tenant in a property isn't a bad thing.
• How I spent my Summer This past summer I was diagnosed with a rare, progressive syndrome that led to full paralysis. Thankfully it was treatable and I am fully recovered.
• Rental Scam on Craigslist These scams are still going on, despite plenty of coverage warning people.

Here is last year's 2007 popular posts

OJ Sentencing

Today, OJ Simpson was back in court, this time for his sentencing hearing. OJ was convicted of several felony courts earlier this year. Judge Jackie Glass sentenced Mr. Simpson to 15 years in prison, with the possibility of parole in nine years. That means OJ will be in jail until he is at least 70 years old before he could even have the possibility of being released on parole.

Has Justice finally been served?

What Does It Take?

Last week I was listening to the BBC radio (only because I was really, really tired of the negativity of the other radio options) and heard a man with a heavy British accent speaking about how people tend to think they are intellectually superior when espousing pessimism lately when what is actually needed is optimism. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, especially from a Brit!

This caused me to reflect over the slight bit of history that I know and I realized that truly nothing has ever been accomplished with a negative attitude. The Panama Canal, landing on the moon, the fall of the Soviet Union, to name a few easy to remember instances, never would have occurred without supreme optimism in the face of otherwise obvious evidence that none of these things could be accomplished. It really occurred to me that pretty much all good comes from people that ignore bad and move on anyway. Of course, most of the truly great accomplishments have occurred prior to the onset (onslaught?) of 24-hour news.

Thanksgiving weekend was the start of the big retail season and is being closely reported. Last week the expectations reported in the news were that retail sales would be greatly off the prior years figures and that it would be devastating to the economy. The results of the weekend are now coming in and showing that sales were actually above the prior year! How is this reported? As negative news of course since surely the figures represent deep discounts from the retailers that stimulated such unexpected success. I wonder what it takes to get a good news headline these days.

Seems to me that those desiring success need more backbone today to deal with all of the negativity that is surrounding us 24/7/365. I wonder if with today’s media we would ever have actually done anything new.

No Agents Please...

I read yet another ad in the paper, this one from a buyer, stating what they want and then including the phrase “no agents please” in the ad. I wonder what the expectation is.

One possible hope is that a truly stupid seller will call the buyer running the ad and offer their property for a below market price. Another possible hope may derive from a buyer with terrible credit or not enough cash that they may be able to talk a seller into doing business with them when agents have told them already the reality is that they need good credit and a reasonable amount of cash equity.

On the seller side I suppose the hope is the opposite: that they will attract a buyer who will pay them an above market price for the pleasure of buying directly. Or that they can unload a dog property that has problems that an agent would spot and disclose.

So how does it otherwise hurt to have an agent represent principals? It doesn’t. The agent should give buyers all of the for sale opportunities in the market, not just the sellers who are reading the ‘for sale’ ads and the agent should likewise give a seller access to all of the buyers in the market, including those already relying on the assistance and representation of an agent. There are countless little things that an agent can and should do for their clients that enhance the value of their representation but what they cannot do is misrepresent or otherwise operate in a vacuum, ignoring the general marketplace. I wonder if any deals ever actually occur in such a vacuum.

The older I get the more I realize the wisdom of the ancient sayings. This time it is the phrase “only a fool represents himself”.