I attended an exciting conference last week all about Mortgage Planning. The most rewarding moment, however, may have come when I did not receive $1,000,000. On the second night of this three day conference they played one of the many games designed to keep the energy level high. This particular game was based on the TV game show Deal... or No Deal and the player had a chance to win $1,000,000. I was as excited to play as the next guy; that may not be a lot of money, but you can probably live on it!
The first step had all 3900 of us go to side tables where we randomly picked a chocolate bar. Twenty-six of those bars had a golden ticket inside, a la Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I was one of the lucky 26 and we all went on stage. Now they had to narrow us down to one contestant so they handed us each a black envelope as they collected our golden tickets. All but one person would open their envelope to find the word "Sorry" printed on the card inside. But that one person - he or she was going to continue on and play the game. There was a glitch though, as often happens in life, and when they finished handing us our envelopes they realized that they had given out more than 40 chocolate bars with golden tickets! How to fairly deal with the people who did not get an envelope? The host decided to collect all the envelopes from us and divide us into two groups; he flipped a coin and half the group had to leave the stage. The other half were given the envelopes anew and after opening them one person went on to play the game. Yours truly was in the group that had to leave the stage.
Now what I neglected to mention is that I did not know what the envelopes were for when they handed them to us and before the host decided to take them all back I opened mine and glanced inside. You can probably guess by now that mine did not say "Sorry" and I would have been the person playing!! While I sat in my seat watching the game play out (after passing on the chance to take $29,000 and losing the chance at $1,000,000 early on, the lone player walked with a cool $9,000) I at first felt a little frustrated and angry. But I soon realized that I was walking away with much more than a million dollars. After all, even if you win $1,000,000 it begins to lose value instantly due to depreciation, taxes and so on. But I was the only one in the room to leave with a secret message from an envelope. A message of priceless value that can never be taken or stolen or depreciated. A message that was fated to end up in my hands. Inside the envelope, there was a card and it read: You ARE a WINNER!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
A Season in Tme
I missed the Brokers' Open last week while attending a conference on Mortgage Planning in Las Vegas and I came back with great info and lots to tell you about. Today I want to share the most exciting parts:
- The market is expected to continue its contraction from $3.9 trillion in 2003 to $3.0 trillion this year while inflation (rates) continue to rise... THAT IS GOOD NEWS
- Over the course of 2007, the number of loan officers should drop from 480,000 to 250,000. That means 230,000 less people dropping rate sheets on you, 230,000 less people attempting to buy your business rather than earn it and 230,000 less people trying to explain yet another convoluted loan program with "assisted this" and "deferred interest that" when they can not get THE PAPERWORK RIGHT ON A BASIC 30YR LOAN, OR EVEN RETURN A PHONE CALL... (and that is very good news).
- By the end of 2007 the number of Real Estate agents will drop from 2.7 million to 1.4 million... AND THAT MAY BE THE BEST NEWS OF ALL!
Let me share with you one of the most important things I learned last week: there are no bad markets!! There are seasons: times of contraction and expansion, times to sow and times to reap. But for the successful Real Estate agent it is never a bad market; just a change in positioning.
If you do not have a plan for the seasons, if you are not sure how to dial in your success, that is OK. See me after the rally, or see Katie of Lisa. I have strategies and plans to grow your business. Who is going to be successful during this time of transition, this change of season? That is a mystery here at the Mystery House Tour. I will tell you one very good indicator though: people whose professionalism demands that they make time each week to preview properties in their area and know their inventory! I congratulate every one of you that shows up on a regular basis. Enjoy the change of seasons, enjoy the Rally and most importantly: enjoy the Ride.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
"Life is Hard"
Each week I have the opportunity to share ideas and inspiration with over one hundred Realtors at the Brokers’ Open Caravan. Last week I shared the poem IF by Rudyard Kipling. It is a poem on life, happiness and what it means to be a truly successful person. I learned it in high school and amazingly, I have yet to encounter a situation that is not covered by this heartfelt letter from a father to his son. It is, in my humble opinion, the greatest piece ever written in the English language. If you have not read it, please do so here. You may find yourself, as I have, burning it into your memory and served by its wisdom on a daily basis.
Every night when I put my boys to bed we read a couple of stories. Occasionally, instead of reading a story, I recite the poem IF for them. As passionately as I feel about this poem you can imagine my desire to impart it to my sons. They are just coming into the age where they can begin to appreciate what it says and remember my telling of it. Two nights ago was just such a night. I turned down the lights and recited the poem with all my heart. When I had finished I had a tear in my eye, which I normally do by the time I have finished. My seven year old looked at me and asked: “Daddy, what do all those words mean?” This is a fair question given the old English nature and style of the poem. I told him not to worry so much about all the words, that we would discuss them individually over time (it was, after all, bedtime). I told them both that the poem was about life and a philosophy of living that led to being an upstanding citizen of the world. I told them that it was about the trials and tribulations that one may face and more importantly: how to face them. My five year old then asked: “Does that mean that all those things are going to happen?” I told them that they may all happen and they may not. This poem is about being prepared. This poem is about having a blueprint for how to handle anything that gets thrown at you. This poem is about life. There was silence for a moment and then my five year old said: “Life sounds hard.”…
How do you explain to a five year old that life is a celebration of daily wonder and effortless joy? How do you explain to a five year old that we experience magic and miracles every day if we live in the present moment? How do you explain to a five year old that life is only as hard as we decide it is going to be and tell ourselves that it is? How do I explain all this to a five year old when, nearing the age of forty-five, I still find myself saying at times “life is hard”?
We talk to ourselves constantly; not only in what we say out loud and what we think inside, but in the very words that we choose. Let’s decide that life is a beautiful, awe inspiring celebration. My thought for each and every one of us today is this: before we go outside we tell ourselves that today is going to be a terrific day overflowing with wonder and happiness. Let’s see if we can’t make it so just by the act of telling ourselves it is so.
Every night when I put my boys to bed we read a couple of stories. Occasionally, instead of reading a story, I recite the poem IF for them. As passionately as I feel about this poem you can imagine my desire to impart it to my sons. They are just coming into the age where they can begin to appreciate what it says and remember my telling of it. Two nights ago was just such a night. I turned down the lights and recited the poem with all my heart. When I had finished I had a tear in my eye, which I normally do by the time I have finished. My seven year old looked at me and asked: “Daddy, what do all those words mean?” This is a fair question given the old English nature and style of the poem. I told him not to worry so much about all the words, that we would discuss them individually over time (it was, after all, bedtime). I told them both that the poem was about life and a philosophy of living that led to being an upstanding citizen of the world. I told them that it was about the trials and tribulations that one may face and more importantly: how to face them. My five year old then asked: “Does that mean that all those things are going to happen?” I told them that they may all happen and they may not. This poem is about being prepared. This poem is about having a blueprint for how to handle anything that gets thrown at you. This poem is about life. There was silence for a moment and then my five year old said: “Life sounds hard.”…
How do you explain to a five year old that life is a celebration of daily wonder and effortless joy? How do you explain to a five year old that we experience magic and miracles every day if we live in the present moment? How do you explain to a five year old that life is only as hard as we decide it is going to be and tell ourselves that it is? How do I explain all this to a five year old when, nearing the age of forty-five, I still find myself saying at times “life is hard”?
We talk to ourselves constantly; not only in what we say out loud and what we think inside, but in the very words that we choose. Let’s decide that life is a beautiful, awe inspiring celebration. My thought for each and every one of us today is this: before we go outside we tell ourselves that today is going to be a terrific day overflowing with wonder and happiness. Let’s see if we can’t make it so just by the act of telling ourselves it is so.
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