I’m not a Harvard trained economist, I’m just a salty business guy who’s been around the block a few times or maybe has been put through the ringer, but it seems to me that we bottomed out about 3 ½ months ago.

As I travel around talking to brokers and seeing the general flow of business it appears that the market has stabilized for now. We do still face some challenges with high unemployment, increased national debt and the Alt-A mortgages starting to default, but I believe we’ve entered a period of relative stability in the housing market and the larger economy.

It appears that people have gotten over the initial shock, adjusted their lifestyles and begun living within their means, and are now beginning to make sensible purchases again.

The key ingredient in this market is making sure you are providing a lot of value and being cost conscious for your customers. If you’ve checked out Buffini & Company’s three Coaching Solutions you’ll see we’re starting to lead by example in that, and while it’s not time to throw a parade just yet, it is time to cancel the pity party.

Keep plugging along; things are going to be just fine.

It’s a good life!

Brian

When things seem out of control or circumstances feel overwhelming, we’ll often try some grand gesture or radical U-turn to catapult us out of a rut. The benefits of a single day can seem too insignificant to truly have an impact. The reality is, however, that every great journey begins with a single step. Day-by-day, note-by-note and call-by-call, when you keep chipping away and being faithful with the fundamentals of working by referral you’ll weather this market and come out with a great business.

I wanted to share something powerful with you today. It’s a 17th Century French proverb that deals with the importance of doing the small thing right:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost,

For want of the shoe the horse was lost

For want of the horse the rider was lost

For want of the rider the message was lost

For want of the message the battle was lost

For want of the battle the war was lost.

All for the loss of a lone shoe nail

(Anon)

The lead-generation activities we’ve laid out in the Summertime Surge have been designed to keep your eyes peeled for those loose nails so your business is battle-ready. Don’t neglect the fundamentals. Put these in your business otherwise you’ll be biting your nails from fear and worry.

It’s a good life!

Brian

I just had a conversation with one of the most important leaders in the real estate industry – a gentleman who has tens of thousands agents in many parts of the world. Without any knowledge of what of our Buffini initiatives for 2009 might be, he asked me what I was planning on doing for the first quarter of next year.

When I asked him why, he said he believed that the first four months of 2009 were as important as any time period in the last 20 years…that so many brokers and agents could continue to have long-standing careers in this industry if they could just find a way to have a good start to the year.

When I explained to him about the upcoming Buffini & Company Blitz, he almost shouted over the phone to me, “How can I get all my people involved in this?” to which I responded, “If they’re not Members we can't help them." I don’t tell you this to self-aggrandize our initiatives or myself but just to let you know how confirming it is when an industry leader affirmed our timing for the Blitz.

As a ClubNet or Referral Systems Member, this exclusive program is absolutely free for you to participate in. We’ve put a huge amount of our resources behind this because we want you to have a good first quarter, stay in business, build market share and be one of the great professionals who come out on the other side of this recession with a great business.

This is my Christmas gift to all of you.

It’s a good life!

Brian 

I’ve been flooded with emails from people wanting to know are we headed for another Great Depression. Now just to set the record straight, neither the Secretary of the Treasury, nor Warren Buffet are calling me asking me for my input…but I don’t mind providing my understanding of where we currently fit into history.

Panic doesn’t cause depression; bad policy does. Foolish decisions regarding increased taxes, trade tariffs, and monetary policy are what caused the Great Depression. A great read on the subject is a book called The Forgotten Man – A new history of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes. You’ll see how the 1929 stock market crash did not cause the Depression.

Another great example of how different a time this is to 1929 is that during the Great Depression countries, especially America, were isolationist by nature and tried to enact a win-lose economic policy. Just last week the Fed, European/British and Canadian Central Banks all lowered rates in unison and even though this cut won’t do much to bring up the credit market, it is a radical contrast to what took place during the Depression.

We are obviously in a recession and will be for a time but, as we are already seeing out West, there’s plenty of demand for discounted homes. Many short sales and foreclosures are in multiple bid situations. There’s money to be made in times like this but it requires us to take the emotions of our fears and apprehension and pour it into the diligence of our daily activities to generate leads.

I don’t know about you, but I am keeping my eye on the situation and then putting my head down and getting back to work.

Hope this helps.

It’s a good life!

Brian