So, I noticed today I wasn’t on the Forbes list yet…

It’s been 7 months since I’ve posted anything. Hmmmm. Maybe I should rename this life in the trenches, rather than live from the trenches…. Because that’s where I’m at— I’m living in them, not reporting from them, hence the 7 month delay. I’ve been writing a ton, but truthfully it usually feels irrelevant by the time I hit save. I’m going to go back and post some from the last 7 months, but its kinda fun to look at what’s happened in the body of time versus in the moment. ..

The markets are still crazy—what’s up is down and sideways seems to be the new norm. We’ll be so busy for a moment that we feel like all has been restored to the real estate world, then just when we’re ready to proclaim full blown recovery, the phones go silent, the dings on our web hits evaporate into the ether and nearly all the buyers get diagnosed simultaneously with some kind of mental illness or at minimum a bad case of obstinate disease. For a while, sellers are jumping up saying we’re ready, let’s do this. They recognize market conditions and get totally real about pricing for today— then, some kind of cool wind blows across the plains and it grabs their fleeting reality check and blows it away just like summer heat. The banks free up money, ramp up their commercials and rhetoric about making loans available, everything begins to feel like it’s moving again—and then, spontaneously, they ask for 463,000 documents to prove you actually paid off the $68 electric bill from last October… And are you really you? PROVE IT. And how do you prove it? A ticket stub from Great America would be fine.. Thanks.

All this is true, however there is a lot more to it. Yes buyers are fleeting and seller’s reality ebbs and flows and the banks are certifiably nuts– but— hope is flowing in the streets and if you look at life as a classroom, these are incredible times. When this financial storm passes, think of who we’ll be as a society– imagine the impact we’ll make in our worlds with the increased patients we’ve learned while dealing in this chaos. Imagine the financial sobriety we will have when we’re learned to save again, spend less than we earn, not assume everything just goes up and to know our core values. Imagine when we help our neighbors as a WAY to help ourselves.

And you know, I’m already seeing it. I had the honor of representing a family a few months ago who, in the middle of the negotiation called me and said “please know that our only goal is a mutually beneficial transaction for all involved. Find that, and we’ll sign the contract”. This defined what I want in our world—equality for everything, people not trying to win but creating mutually beneficial exchanges where everyone gets what they need, moves forward with something that’s workable. I’m thinking… It’s possible that true success and happiness comes from creating a life that works.

We need this in every segment of our lives…… like the debt ceiling debate raging today in D.C.– nobody wins in this scenario– that’s just the truth— so where can we find a mutually beneficial middle ground? It always strikes me when we’re negotiating a deal and we are a few thousand dollars or a gas grill apart from signing a contract— I’m amazed when people’s vision of the larger goal gets gummed up in Ego and emotion and drama.

It happens to me too— sometimes I get gummed up in the ego and emotion, I get lost in the success of winning a negotiation or closing more deals. But these times have changed me—the true joy for me now shows up in new ways, ways that only this financial meltdown could have given me. The joy comes from seeing someone’s life unraveled, losing everything and standing with them as they redefine what really matters. The joy comes from helping someone at the last minute wake up and escape financial destruction by expanding what’s possible and helping them see again. The joy comes every day when we still move people, when we listen to the news and then experience the exact opposite—sellers selling, buyers buying and banks lending. It’s happening, still, every single hour of every single day—people just keep moving. Moving how they think and feel and buy and sell. I move too– I negotiate differently today, I remember the impact the deal makes on the buyer and seller, but also on the street and in the community and all the people employed when we close a deal—— the appraiser and the title officer, the attorney, the home inspector—the septic dude…. Think of all the people whose lives change when we move. Before this financial shift, I imagine I didn’t notice any of that and honestly, what else is there?

So, this morning, I noticed I wasn’t yet on the Forbes list—and I didn’t get a Nobel prize for anything even remotely remarkable, so it’s rather evident I gotta get up and go to work, work to move myself, my thoughts, my community… and all of you!

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