I'm GREEN!

Just wanted to share the news that I have now received NAR's GREEN Designation awarded by the Green REsource Council. After taking a number of courses on green principals in construction, smart-growth, water efficiency and conservation, practicing social responsibility, waste management and recycling and more, I am now offically "GREEN" - so they say.

But here's the glitch. AM I GREEN? I ask myself whether I am actually practicing social responsibility with respect to our environment in and out of my home. I have always been the light switch nazi in my household - running around turning off lights behind everyone, but I have come to know that there is so much more than can and should be done.

I have stocked up on reuseable grocery bags now. The challenge is now remembering to bring them into the store so that I don't have to keep buying more of them! But it goes on. while waiting for the hot water, should I save the cold that comes out first? What should I do with it?

Should I unplug (not just turn off) all of my gadgets every night? Should I start doing laundry at night instead of during the day (there is a reason that this is beneficial to the environment). Should I run out and replace every light bulb with CFC bulbs? The list goes on and on and on.

So I realized that many people probably feel like I do. How far is too far? How dedicated do you become before people think you are just obsessive or have OCD about the whole thing? Just how much can I reasonably do?

As an environmental science major, social responsibility for the environment has been something I have studied for over 20+ years now. But my focus was so much bigger during my course of studies and in the career that followed. I have seen the damage done by mining operations and other large-scale commercial impacts but I had never really thought about our collective impacts as individuals. However, it is just that - the collective "little things" that we all do every day when we make choices as to how we live - that significantly impacts our enviroment and depletes our natual resources as well. Why is it always up to someone else to figure it out, solve the problem, or make the better choices. We each have a responsibility to do what we can.

So, I have realized that I cannot eat this elephant all at once just because someone gave me a title. My commitment then is to do one thing consistently until it becomes a habit and then add something else. Little by little, I hope to TRULY earn my new GREEN designation, not because I took a few classes but because I truly practice being green every day of my life.

Well, I'm off to the store with my reuseable grocery bags! Oh boy...I may need to buy a hybrid vehicle!

Social Media Mind Bender

After engaging in two days of heavy social networking while preparing for a presentation on the subject, my eyes have now glazed over and my head is spinning. I believe that I have a social networking hangover. The layers of this social networking onion just keep coming and coming - and my eyes are watering! Just when I think I have something all figured out, I realize that there is something more I could do - or something more that I can't figure out!

This Wednesday, I will stand in front of a room full of RE/MAX agents (at least I hope someone shows up) and will talk about social networking for business like I know something about it. The funny thing is that I thought I did know something. I'm a facebook user, among other sites. I'm on LinkedIn. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Well, as I started really digging into these tools and checking out some folks who really know how to put them to work I was blown away! There is so much more that can be done.

Here are a few revelations I have had regarding social networking for business:

1. It's here to stay! If you resist, the joke is on you. Might as well jump in with both feet and try to enjoy the cyber-ride!

2. The time to start using social networking tools is NOW. More and more, companies and individuals are looking to social networking as their means of communication. Want to send out a mass text message? Twitter. Want to send pictures of your latest vacation to all your friends and family? Post them on Facebook. Want to search for a job? Check out LinkedIn.

3. It's fun. I used to view social networking as a chore. But the more I use it, the more fun it has become.

4. BEWARE of social network addiction! Time management is a must! Linking twitter and facebook to your cell phone is a great way to send updates daily without getting sucked into the vortex when you really should be doing something else!

5. Social networking for real estate is, in my opinion, still in its early stages so it's not too late to get started. But I do believe it will become more and more important as a tool used by the savy real estate professional. Snooze too long and you might lose!

6. Get personal! Go ahead and share what you did today or that you are a STEELERS fan! (Hey, who wouldn't be?!) Getting personal makes you and your posts more interesting.

7. DON'T get PRIVATE. Personal does not equal PRIVATE. Keep it clean. Don't post anything that you wouldn't feel comfortable letting ANYONE read.

So, just go for it. Pick your favorite site and get started. Understand that each one has it's own unique flavor. For example, LinkedIn is much more business-minded than Facebook. Don't forget to have some fun!

Business may or may not come from your networking on these sites but your market presence and ties to your sphere of influence will definitely improve.

Well, I'm off to tweet!

My Bailout

In today's news we hear day in and day out about the bailouts. First the banks and now the automakers, among others. In real estate, we are faced daily with the experience of working with good people who were sucked into this crazy frenzy of buying homes at ever-increasing prices. They often used liberal lending tools to do so and are now faced with foreclosure and/or short sales. Many of these people are good, hard working citizens who, up to now, have had impeccable credit and long-standing employment. Some have just had bad luck. They bought at the peak of the market and now, due to job transfers or lay offs or whatever, they must sell. Yet they have zero equity or are upside down on their mortgage. They did nothing wrong necessarily - they just simply had poor timing. There are other stories too of outright abuses of lending and money management but let's not forget those people who truly were victims of the "system" that the government is now "bailing out."

It is unfortunate that many people freely lump these folks into one category as "irresponsible" without understanding all the dynamics that came into play in the last few years.

We as Americans have grown up in a culture where credit uses and abuses are commonplace. Need something big? Finance it. Taking a trip? Charge it. But this situation that we find ourselves in today affects even the most conservative of Americans who didn't do those things - who paid cash for trips and goods but simply financed their homes and now find themselves in financial peril. Many of these people did so with little or nothing down but we in the real estate and mortgage industry ushered them through the process with a smile and pat on the back for the great investment they were making. We ourselves believed that to be true!

It is also apparent that many of us in the real estate and lending industry have ourselves fallen upon hard financial times. Our losses don't show up in the unemployment rates or in the job loss statistics - our income just simply dries up. I have seen many a seasoned professional either leave the business after many years or, at the very least, thought about it seriously.

But there is no real estate agent or mortgage lender bailout coming this way - even though licensed real estate agents accounted for 1.2 million Americans in 2006. Yes that's just too many real estate people and many of those SHOULD leave the business. But it leaves those who are in this career field with some hard choices - quit or find a way to fight through the challenges and make it work. There is no free lunch on the horizon.

I don't have the answers to our current economic crisis but each of us in the real estate biz is in one way or another facing our own personal crisis. Our business has been permanently altered. As a result, we must change too and formulate a plan to conduct ourselves as professionals in light of these changes and yet continue to make a living.

So I have decided to come up with my own "bailout plan." If you have read previous blogs then you are probably aware of my search for motivation and meaning in my work and daily life. I still continue to work on those things but in these serious times I believe that we must also focus on our "survival plan." Brian Buffini stated at his Turning Point Retreat that Success in 2009 is simply Staying in Business.

I have elected to stay in business. I want to help my fellow agents also stay in business - those who want to and who seek the best way to continue to effectively serve our clients while also having food with their meals! I see a few simple truths at this point:

1. Things are never and will never be like they used to be. The long-term experienced agents whom I see leaving the business are those that in many cases have been waiting for things to go "back to normal." I do not believe that our "normal" will ever be what it used to be. This is a new economic climate with an uncertain future and we cannot afford to sit and wait to see how it will all pan out. We need to dive in and understand the needs of this new age of client and what resources we can offer them in this financially challenging time.

2. The Internet has permanently impacted the real estate business in such a way that the traditional value of an agent finding a home or advertising a home is no longer the value we represent. The customer can put their own home on the MLS in very easy and inexpensive ways and has access to finding properties freely through the Internet. We need to truly understand our own value and unique selling points in this new age of real estate and lending. Bottom line: we need to add value and communicate it to the client. We no longer have a monopoly on information.

3. The idea that investing in property is a safe and sure bet for a return on your investment is no longer valid. People who are buying now do so because they NEED a house or they are investing for rental income in the long term. We need to better understand how we serve the needs of these buyers and how to serve those sellers who are upside down in their equity proposition. Essentially, we need to become experts not simply door openers and photographers for posting listings on the MLS. This is the age of the professional and wow it's a lot of hard work!

4. Agents need to pull together to share resources, better educate one another, understand the techniques to employ and the resources to rely on to serve today's client best. Let's eliminate posturing and poor business practices that have plagued us in the past. We need to pull together as a community of professionals and re-learn our craft in the best way we can. Sharing of resources, understanding the impacts of the Internet and adjusting our business to this marketplace are just a few of the items we need to consider doing now.

So I ask all of you now to begin crafting your bailout plan too - your success map for staying in business in 2009. Please share your ideas with me and I will share them with others in a future blog or e-mail. Get involved in your REALTOR Associations who lobby for us on Capital Hill, educate yourselves and stay in close contact with positive-minded associates who are really working on being successful and serving their clients well rather than rubbing elbows with those who find it easier to complain and justify their demise.

I have a dream! A dream that the real estate industry will come out of this crisis stronger and with a much more professional impact on our clients than the previous used car salesman opinion that many have had of our industry. I believe that we can accomplish that but only by actually stepping up to the plate as an industry and making the necessary changes. We need to increase our standards for licensure, have better education requirements and take personal responsibility for how we become true experts in our industry to name a few.

My bailout plan is in the works and I would love your input. Please share your thoughts too. May success and happiness be yours in 2009!