Promises Made Should Be Kept...

June 11, 2008

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC
Promises Made Should Be Kept…Today is one of those days spent thinking, planning and reading, searching, and sorting through all the newspapers, the on-line reports from our local MLS and the then, the National Association of Realtors. Except for the storm we have been having since dinner time, it has been a quiet day.Quiet day seem to summon voices from the past…I had forgotten we were so close to Father’s Day. My Dad has been gone a long time…and we were distant even before he died. But sometimes he hangs around and I can hear him …or not hear him because he was always working. And that is probably one of the best gifts he gave me…working and working through the challenges of our jobs. He started in the textile mills at 12, got as far as 5th grade in school…and became one of the leading textile experts in the world. He taught himself. He liked to see how each piece of machinery in a textile plant worked. In every department. He would go back to work at night and work with the machines and the machinists. He could separate things and put them back together and he could see how they interfaced.So, two things…I have been reading and thinking about what is going on with our market…real estate…credit…banking…and as best as I can tell, the stop is in place for the kinds of loans that brought us to this point. Not perfectly, not 100%, but curtailed. It’s the defaults, the foreclosures and the inventory. So the next wheel that turns is how to make the best of this…foreclosures become, sometimes, good investments. Builders are doing everything to get approved buyers and their brokers in the door. And the spinsters are doing their work, too. There is always that…and we just need to be aware that they are out there.The apartment market will grow…building permits were up in that sector. Some condo projects have been changed and are heading towards being apartments. Some condos that have sat on the market are being offered with many kinds of incentives with even some giving a part of their profit to non-profits. My mantra is the same. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Be careful. Be patient. Have good representation. And walk away from a deal that doesn’t feel good.
The second thing…I broke a promise to myself the other day when I did a podcast that poked fun at a developer. It was the Bark, Bark one…what I should have said about that developer who wrote in such a condescending, holier than thou attitude…that he affirms what I think about his kind…if you don’t agree with them, you are wrong. I should have said something about honoring his viewpoint but agreeing with the Op-Ed writer who was dismayed over the bulldozing of ancient trees and fifty year old azaleas and an old but stately house that could have been saved or re-used, but not just crushed.I could have done better. I could have kept the promise I made to myself to refrain from being cynical and critical and snide. So, please accept my apologies.
That’s for My Dad and for me. Happy Father’s Day!
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady® and Condo CanDo® in Charlotte, NC