New Year Happiness

2011 is here and I'm hopeful the weather isn't an indication of how the year will unfold. Rain, clouds and chill all day. I'm still recovering from a classic head cold--haven't had one in years. As I mentioned it gave me some odd dreams that may be productive in some way. Oh, my cat enjoyed my fever--a little extra warmth at night.

I didn't quite manage 2 posts a week last year, but pretty close--that's amazing in retrospect. Sorry if the posts were redundant--hard to keep track when you write on the same general topics and don't review all previous content each time you sit at the keyboard.

This year I'll try to broaden the scope a little, by focusing more on the larger scheme of things and less on the rather strange little world of organized real estate. One of the frustrating things about real estate is its insularity. It's interesting to consider how real estate reflects and differs from trends in other areas of modern life.
 
Despite all the references to serving the best interests of the public, the industry that's grown up around residential real estate has rather little to do with the public, what they want, what they think they need or what they actually do need. In this standardized world the trade associations have established a menu of strategies and tactics that the vast majority of brokerage follow pretty closely. It's a level playing field for the agents and the public, but, like any mono culture lawn, the diversity that enables selection and, ultimately, evolution is largely lost. The underlying assumption is that the world of real estate created by the trade organizations is necessarily better than any alternatives. That's a hypothesis that can't be tested, because there aren't any alternatives, at least at this time. Can you even imagine a brokerage advertising that they are NOT a member of the trade organizations and that they use contracts and disclosures that are user friendly?

Next post will address the fevered dream that illuminated the smooth path that leads in the wrong direction.

Have a great New Year! It will be an interesting one full of turning points--maybe some good!