Technology Transactions
Representing buyers is no picnic, especially when you are working uphill against your own industry. Buyers work with other agents while working with you, they look at homes without telling you, and they often deliberately or inadvertently cut you out of the deal when they purchase through another agent. Despite the incredible loss of man-hours and expense, the traditional real estate industry encourages such behavior.
We all have “too much to do.” True? Sure ‘nuf. And that says a lot of
Hire me, I work for free!
Poor hiring practices can cost company losses in time, money, reputation and loss of life. It all begins with screening out potentially violent candidates who could eventually become employees.
Communication continues to be the primary key to initiating, securing and nurturing a relationship in any business or personal situation. In today’s business we have become inundated with new tech solutions for keeping contact with tools that include phones, PDA’s (personal Digital Assistants) cell phones, pagers, voice mails, emails and a myriad of new additions on a daily basis.
Growing up, do you remember Mom saying “Look both ways when you cross the street and honey, don’t talk to strangers.” Here you are years later talking to strangers every day and even going into vacant houses with them all alone. Lets pretend I’m your Mom for a second, “Honey, if you must talk to strangers use as much caution as possible and be ready to gouge their eyes out of their heads, dear.”
We"ve seen interest rates hold near or at record decade lows for about five years. Concurrently, we"ve seen the National Association of Realtors report two years of record home sales in 2000 and again in 2001. New housing is also at all-time highs with a burst of closings reported in February, with the NAHB reporting rising affordability for home buyers.
In all areas of life, taking action is the key to success. Most people,
What lies ahead for us in real estate? The same thing looking forward or looking back—change! Our business is a never-ending cycle of change. The agent who adapts quickly will be the winner. You don’t have to throw out all the rules of how you do business, but you certainly should adopt some new ones to enhance what you are doing. You should still believe in the basics, but add some new basics to your routine.
I recently read a statement from Oliver Wendell Holmes. He said, “To reach the port of success, we must sail; sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it, but we must sail, not drift or lie anchor."
It"s a surprisingly simple success strategy - stay in the present.
How do “big picture,” sociable, highly driven, entrepreneurial real estate agents suddenly become “small picture,” structured, by-the-book, and detail-oriented? That"s what needs to happen when it comes time to put details onto contracts. If they can’t delegate it to someone else, what do they do?
Recently, I was asked what I thought about the following situation: a group of young 20-something men were sitting around a conference room table at the company where they worked. The mayor of the city entered the room and greeted the young professionals. The business owner was aghast when not one of the men bothered to stand when greeting the mayor.
Speaking before big-shot investors on Wall Street last week, assistant Treasury secretary Anthony Ryan said the marketplace needs to be protected against financial predators.
The horrific events that took place on September 11, 2001 have deeply effected us all. Many of us have taken this opportunity to reconnect with loved ones, friends and neighbors—and we’ve all been grieving our nation’s enormous loss together. This is also an important time to contact current and past clients, in order to offer support and service if they are needed. Current clients need reassurance from you at this time and both current and past clients will appreciate your thoughtfulness during this emotional time.
Real estate agents are professionals. Have you ever stopped to really think about what that means? We go to school, we receive specialized training, we take a test, and we earn a license to do what we do. Not every Jane or Joe on the street can sell real estate. That makes us professionals. So why don"t we act like professionals?
Life gives you many opportunities to ponder, to evaluate your progress and see the results of your labor. This is one of those moments, with the mid-year point just past, to replay the tape.
I used to put everyone else’s requests and needs first and if there was any time left over at the end of the day for what I needed and wanted to do, that was acceptable. That is until I began to realize that if you and I are going to be effective time managers, we have to stay away from allocating our time solely on the basis of those who demand it. Instead, if you and I are going to be effective time managers, we have to allocate our time on the basis of those who deserve it.
You may be well intended about getting things done during your day at work or during your personal time, but there are big time wasters that will conspire against you to take your productive time away. It has been said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. In conducting my Time Management Seminars over the last 20 years, I have identified five Big Time Wasters that you can attack.
Being extraordinary often requires going beyond what is comfortable. The very successful agents are the ones that are willing to do what others aren’t willing to do. They will prospect just a little longer…… Or they will risk trying a new marketing idea that is unproven, just to see what will happen….. They will go the extra mile for the client or even for the FSBO who has not yet decided to list…..
There you go again….the seller is waiting impatiently at home for you to present your buyer’s offer that you’re hurriedly writing up, and you can’t remember how to spell “obfuscate” which your buyer insists must be in the offer because….well, who cares why? He just wants to make a point about something…but you can’t find the office dictionary. If only you knew how to find basic things like this on the Web.
There are two key words that lead to success in life: attitude and expectation. These words control the successful outcome of your business, marriage, and many other areas of life. Although you may have incredible talent and skill in life, you will fail if you do not master these two words. Even if you have only limited talent and skill, you will win if you live by these two words.
I recommend taking time each evening to do Daily Planning for the next day.
One of the most difficult tasks in life is defining your purpose.
As a help in recruiting the technology-adept assistant, let me share with you the ad I ran when I hired my most recent assistant. Keep in mind that I’d already been through several assistants who were basically incapable of using even basic technology and that it had hurt my business severely.
Most real estate professionals are focused on "revenues" or "gross commissions." One way to keep more of what you make is to shift from focusing on revenue to focusing on profitability (i.e. how much you keep AFTER expenses). If you would like to increase your profitability, here are ten great strategies.
You have chosen real estate as your career and you are very excited about all the possibilities. You are ready to get going. You just know that you will be successful because you are not afraid of work. Why do so many get off track? Make good choices and you will realize your goals.
Every real estate investor knows the old saying: "Buy when there"s blood in the streets."
First-time buyer Teresa Aldana says her older home is turning into a money pit, and that she wasn"t treated fairly by her agent or the seller. Calling everyone she can think of from attorneys to the local TV station, she wants some financial help getting some repairs completed on her home which she claims were not disclosed by the seller. She didn"t get her own inspection done on the home and chose to accept the seller"s and agent"s word that the home was in good repair and that her new home warranty would cover any problems, she says.
How do you attract good agents to your company? You are your own best asset, says Dallas broker Virginia Cook of Virginia Cook REALTORS, a traditional full-service brokerage. "Your brand is your reputation," says Cook.
As summer slips in to fall and the days get shorter, perhaps your business activities need to change with the season too! When was the last time you checked in with your business plan for 2000? Look right now.
During thirty years as a time management speaker and
Condominiums are gaining in popularity in many markets. An estimated 42 million
Marketing new homes online is no different than existing homes. Or is it? There are some differences that you need to know, whether you are a Realtor representing one or more builders and their properties, or whether you are builder"s agent working for one builder.
You"ve heard about HopeNow"s foreclosure prevention efforts.
Still not coming to terms, getting your way, or resolving a conflict in a win-win manner? Here are some tips to help all sides get what they want.
Agents discouraged by the prospect of living on cheese sandwiches for six months while they launch a real estate career are getting wired and getting hired. Online brokerages offer agents the dependability of a salary, and often stock options. They also provide a workplace that values efficiency, technology and teamwork.
For years we have been taught as Realtors we must be there for our clients. I hear that all the time from agents across North America. "I want to be there for my clients," we say. But what does "be there" mean? Does "be there" mean we are available 24 hours 7 days a week for our clients? Does it mean that we sacrifice? Does it mean missing soccer games, tee ball games, and piano recitals?
A manager has to have a lot of tact when it comes to telling their agents that they need additional training—especially since they think they “walk on water.” Top producing agents know that continuing education is important, but they wonder where they will get the time. The manager has to make it easy to learn and fun, too.
Every office owner or manager knows that in order to stay “alive,” you need to recruit. Yet, it"s so very hard to do. That"s because we make the job so overwhelming. We expect our agents to prospect, but are we setting a good example for them? Recruiting is just prospecting for the office. Break the job down to size and tackle it, it"s fun and really easy.
What makes Sammy run? Well, if Sammy is a full-time Realtor(R) who depends on selling homes to make a living and support his family, it may be money. Sadly for some Realtors, it"s their only way of keeping score. But there may be better ways to keep score.
“ We’ve decided we’re not going to list our home with you. We went with the other company...”
We all prepared for the Y2K computer challenge of the century that never
With the onslaught of new Web sites and offline business models that rely on Realtor fee modifications, many agents are blindsided by the reality that they really don"t know what their time is really worth.
One of the most embarrassing problems that the real estate industry faces is the high failure rate of its new practitioners. According to studies performed by the National Association of REALTORS®, new Realtors drop out at a rate of 86% per year. Only 7% renew their licenses. The reason? Overall, the 76% of the industry earns less than $30,000 per year.
In the last couple of years, many housing markets have improved to the point that homes offered for sale frequently have multiple offers, raising the final selling price equal to or above the listing price. Does that mean in hot seller"s markets that buyers overpay? What can be done to make sure that buyers are treated fairly and don"t become disillusioned in a multiple-offer situation?
As both 1999 and the millennium draw to a close, the year 2000 looms ahead and with it new directions for real estate. What will change, and how will real estate be impacted?
Like Freud"s famous question regarding women, REALTORS® often ask
No matter how well you control your real estate business, you can easily
As the real estate business becomes more challenging and complex, top
If you want to imitate the success of the big ticket writers in the real
Call it the backlash after the boom: Major lenders and mortgage insurers are turning off the money spigot for investors who want to buy rental houses or condos with minimal downpayments.
You know the look. The FSBO (For Sale By Owner) opens the door. You introduce yourself. And that look comes over his/her face. That tired, "you are nothing better than a thief here to steal all my hardearned equity and who needs you anyway" look.
The first thing you must realize is that being a real estate agent is being the CEO of your own business. To maximize your success you must treat it as a business, not as an individual effort.
Knowing how well home values will hold up in a given market is a key point of knowledge for both sellers and buyers.
The same software company that helps prevent kids from visiting "blue" Web sites has developed software that it says could help prevent
Pick any major city and you"re certain to find lots of traffic. Big city traffic is how you flow in and out of most cities, it"s a threat to life and limb when crossing streets and since it"s often a molasses-like mass of belching vehicles, big-city traffic is the surest way to enrich local cab drivers when going crosstown, uptown or nowhere at all.
HousingPredictor.com"s list of the 25 worst housing markets in 2008 is dominated by California, who has 8 cities in the list.
The matter of Wachovia Bank, et al. v. Watters is now before the Supreme Court, a case that sounds duller then pavement except that the outcome could radically change the lending industry and many other industries as well.
Figures from the National Association of Realtors show that the market has done fairly well. Of 148 metro areas, 102 showed year-to-year price gains, 45 were down and one was unchanged.
There are now 8.7 million rich folks in the world, exciting news if it did not exclude massive real estate holdings.
The ongoing national debate regarding wealth and taxes took a turn toward reality last week when the House of Representatives decided after much debate and posturing that, yes indeed, the nation"s gilded elite will have to pay taxes upon their passing.
This one is hard to miss: Huge numbers of loans are being refinanced with larger mortgages. In the first quarter of 2006, Freddie Mac says that 88 percent of its loans that were refinanced were replaced with loans that were at least 5 percent larger. This is the highest rate of equity withdrawal in the past 15 years.
By any reasonable measure the states of Mississippi and Louisiana are bankrupt, their economies demolished by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The economies of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania may be next, and no hurricanes are involved. Let me explain.
It was in 179 B.C. when Emilio Lepidus and Fulvius Noblius decided the world needed a better place to meet and greet, so they built the basilica Emilia (Aemelia) in the center of Rome, a structure in use for more than six centuries.
I went to one of the new home builders in Palm Beach county two years ago and they offered a three-bedroom house for around $150K. Now the price for the same house is $280K. What"s going on here?
The start of a new year is always a benchmark of sorts, an opportunity to see where we"ve been and perhaps where we"re going.
It used to be that real estate regulation was an insider"s game, something that existed in large measure to protect brokers and salespeople from competition. To understand just how friendly the system was, consider these gems from the 1967 edition of the real estate laws in the District of Columbia:
The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.36 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.40 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.81 percent.
Mortgage Rates Trend Lower In January
Mortgage Rates Rise
For a very long time there has been a battle brewing in Washington, the question of whether the special federal status enjoyed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should or should not be continued.
By it"s nature real estate is a localized commodity. If you"ve ever
One of the great puzzles of our time is the matter of productivity. We like to think that the electronic revolution has made us more fruitful, but where is the evidence when it comes to real estate brokerage?
Mortgage Rates Edge Upward In Late March
The news from Ohio on the brokerage front is not good -- and more alarmingly, it may set a woeful example for other states.
The aging population will have a profound impact on all types of communities across Canada, but few municipalities are prepared to meet these challenges, says a new research report by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).
Logic tells us that in this challenging market, anyone selling real estate should be pulling out all the stops. You"d think so. But you"d be wrong if you read the results of a study just released by Two Denver area marketing services companies regarding homebuilders in the Denver area.
If you"re in the insurance business you have a right to be nervous. Essentially you have a bet with policyholders that if their home is robbed, burned or the scene of an accident the insurance company will pay a claim. The good news is that since these are not attractive events to most people, policyholders and insurers both prefer a claims-free existence.
NAR"s mid-year meeting and exposition will be held in Washington this week, a good time
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of an interview with Brenden C. Faber, President of First American Exchange Company in Salt Lake City [www.firstexchange.com]. To listen to, or download the show archive MP3, go to IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com.]
If you were an investor in the 1990s would you have done better with stock or real estate?
It"s common advice for those new to real estate sales: Pick up the phone. Call local homes 100 times a day, every day, to find listings and buyer clients.
The final numbers aren"t in, but it looks like 2001 will be a banner year for bankruptcies.
Is it true we"ve reached bottom, that this is as bad as the economy will get for the next several years?
The news from Homestore.com was hardly unexpected: After months of falling share prices on Wall Street, ongoing broker complaints, and doubts regarding its business model, the online giant announced yesterday that an "organizational realignment and cost reduction plan" were underway.
If you believed the predictions of the past few years, by now Internet growth would have caused newspapers to close, malls to empty, computer terminals would have replaced college campuses, and the Postal Service would have gone the way of the Pony Express.
Imagine this scene: You"re a buyer. You have a buyer broker. You look at a number of homes. One is especially recommended by the broker. You buy it at the suggestion of your adviser. At closing you find that the property is owned by your broker.
It"s a question that came up recently, and the responses were immediate: The city penthouse, the country estate, the mountain chalet, and the beachfront retreat were instant winners. Cost was a factor, finishing touches and amenities were required, and bigger was always better.
Speaking outside the U.S. Capitol late Tuesday afternoon, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman announced a new program to encourage telecommuting in five major metro regions: Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington.
The past year has seen technology stocks take a beating on Wall Street, and now the question arises as to whether a small-but-fundamental change in the world economic order is taking place -- one which would make the U.S. just another high-tech center rather than a world leader.
The Italian government is threatening to end electrical service to Vatican Radio. Why? Because the station"s towers allegedly emit excessive volumes of electromagnetic emissions. Of course, without electricity to the Vatican towers, papal broadcasts worldwide will end.
It"s one thing when hot-shot dot.coms with no hope and no cash go under, but the real estate news in the past few days has included names which are decidedly more familiar.
Chris Skrip is reporting that the Beaufort County, South Carolina market has seen a doubling of residential sales from December 2007 to January 2008.
The election is finally over, so now the question emerges: How will a Bush administration impact real estate?
It used to be that a million-dollar home was a big deal, the biggest place in town. But now, million-dollar homes are barely included in the "upper-brackets."
Peter G. Miller
Peter G. Miller
Peter G. Miller
Peter G. Miller
Peter G. Miller
Mia Burmeister-Laws says absorption rates in her area are on the increase, and sales exceeded new listings in March for almost all areas of Charleston, including the Historic Downtown District to Mt. Pleasant to the Outer Islands of Folly Beach, James Island, Kiawah, and Seabrook Islands, Johns Island and Wadmalaw.
Peter G. Miller
Peter G. Miller
Peter G. Miller
[Note: To follow is part 2 an excerpt of a radio show interview conducted by Peter L. Mosca, host of Income Property Investment Talk with the Cato Institute"s Senior Fellow Randal O"Toole who discusses a new study that examines how restrictive government policies choked off growth, encouraged localized housing bubbles, and triggered the current financial crisis. To read part 1, please click here. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/100709.]
A new joint survey by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC and BabyCenter LLC offers some interesting insights into the minds of mothers when it comes to real estate, namely what motivates them to move.
Peter G. Miller
Peter G. Miller
Ever wonder why fires can devastate some neighborhoods and not seem to touch others nearby? It may be fate, weather conditions or location, but then again, it may also be fire safety planning at its finest.
Capitol Hill was buzzing late last week about what was included -- and what got left out -- of a sweeping $15 billion housing market relief plan.
Question: I put down a pre-construction deposit (10 percent) on a Florida condo two years ago. The second 10 percent was due at ground breaking, but today -- more than 24 months later -- the developer has not broken ground. The good news is I"m not stuck in the broken bubble trying to unload a unit a miserable housing market. The bad news is I have no idea if or when this project will happen, and I want my deposit back. The contract has no explicit timeframe requirement for when the condo needs to be completed; however, it does use the language "time is of the essence." When can I ask for my money back?
Question: My home has been on the market since June. Although, we have had three open houses one additional time. The contract is up December 7th, and I was thinking about taking the house off the market until maybe January or February, then signing with another broker
Question: As a first time new home buyer, my wife and I are interested in how you feel the mortgage debacle will impact buyers across the board.
Question: My fiance and I are looking for our first home. We have been approved for financing, we have good credit plus we have cash for closing. We see that there ways to avoid paying higher monthly payments and higher rates. One way we keep hearing about is "assumption of title." I have researched what it means and basically it sounds that when the owner is distressed, he/she can transfer the title to people like us and we take over the current payments without "assuming" a new mortgage which is more costly. Is this correct or are there other implications involved with this process?
Question: I"m selling my lake property. It"s listed with a real estate agent until the end of this month. Recently my neighbors approached me with a real estate agent. They voiced interest but pulled me aside suggesting a private sale.
Question: I currently own a single-family home with $100,000 remaining in mortgage. I am now able to pay the mortgage off. However, I really want to make a start and invest in real estate. Am I better off paying off my current mortgage which will save money in interest (7 percent), or should I keep my mortgage and invest that $100,000 as a down payment into another home? If so, that means that I will now have two mortgages, but how else can one invest without borrowing?
Question: I have a buyer who needed closing cost help. In this case, what I did was I bumped the sales price and wrote a contract $12,000 more then asking price. My buyer never got any cash back, it all went toward closing costs. Is this okay?
Question: We purchased an ocean-front condo in south Florida last May. We"ve decided we want to sell. However, according to our real estate broker there have been few to no showings because people are just not coming to look and if we do sell at this point we"ll lose anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000 or more. We understand that the real estate market is flat right now, but how shall we understand that (a) no one is looking and (b) we will be suffering such a large loss?
Question: I was wondering about a paper we signed when purchasing a new home. It basically said that there were not to be any lawsuits or lawyers involved if there were problems during or after the building process. Are we allowed to seek legal advice? They originally told us the closing date would be in February and now March, but we think that it might finally be in mid-April.
Question: I have a $62,000 lien on real property. It"s recorded on the official records. Still, the owner was able to get a $77,000 home equity line of credit. How can a lender provide such financing when there"s already a lien on the property?
Question: My wife and I live in a mobile home park and would like to know if HUD can help us pay off the balance on our double wide and move it onto a piece of land?
Question: Do you know if trees add value to a home? If so how can I get more information regarding this issue?
Question: I"ve been trying to buy a property sight unseen in another state but the broker seems adamant that I visit the property before I make a offer. Is there a reason why he won"t let me make an offer on the property before seeing it?
Question: We came across a beautiful brand-new home. We fell in love with it but found out that the property tax would be about $8,000 a year while other houses in the same price range had taxes of $3,000 to 4,000 a year. Why is it that the property tax on the new home is so much higher.
In the midst of all the gloom and doom on the housing front, one remarkably-bright statistic has just been announced: Last week the National Association of Realtors reported that 12 percent of all existing home sales last year were not primary residences, they were instead vacation homes.
Question: We had our house on the market for four months and took it off the market. Does this negate the listing contract? Our assumption was that it did, but now I find that it did not. We would like to put the home back on the market with a different Realtor, but cannot because the previous contract is still in effect.
Question: Our private mortgage insurance payment amounts to $300 a month. Isn"t this too high? We purchased a home last year in May (our first one) using a conventional loan with zero-down (6.5 percent interest), and were at a somewhat high credit risk level. We know others who have similar factors involved in their purchase with significantly lower PMI payments.
Question: I am in the military and at present I am in Iraq. My divorce proceedings have begun and my soon-to-be ex contacted me to sign some papers concerning a refinancing loan. She is claiming that I need to sign a power of attorney (POA) to give her authority to sign to get my name off of the mortgage. I have someone serving as my POA already, but she claims that the mortgage company wants to deal with me directly. I do not trust her, but I really want to get my name off of that mortgage so that I will not be half accountable in case of a defaulted loan. I know that she has to refinance under her name only for this to happen. Should I sign that POA?
Question: Our HOA is billed in bulk for electricity. Each unit has a submeter which is read monthly and billed to each unit owner. Subtracting the total unit usage from the bill leaves the total usage for the common areas. Currently, we are adding 3 cents per kilowatt hour to each owner"s bill to pay for the common area cost. So, owners who use more electricity pay for a larger percentage of the common area electricity. All other HOA costs are shared equally. Are we doing this correctly?
Question: I"m a senior citizen interested in buying a home for myself and my husband. Can a reverse loan be used to acquire a home?
Question: I"m having a new home built. Should I pay for an independent inspector to inspect my home before I agree that everything is satisfactory?
Question: I inherited property along with my stepmother and would now like to sell; however, I have not been able to locate her for six years. The court named me as overseer of the property and anything that pertains to the property including all decisions must be communicated through me. Can I sell without her consent?
In February of 2008, the Oregon Legislature overwhelmingly passed SB1080, a bill that prevents illegal immigrants from obtaining an Oregon driver"s license. The Governor signed the bill into law on the 19th of February. This bill was passed to prevent driver"s license fraud, as well as to comply with the first steps necessary for homeland security regulations.
Question: I co-signed on a home for my boyfriend. The original agreement was that he pay half the mortgage. We broke up and in my grief I had my name taken off the title with a quitclaim deed.
Question: I am a real estate salesperson who listed a 1-bedroom, 1-bath condo last March. It"s still for sale. Two people have looked at it-- in total. We have lowered the price two times and have offered a $1,000 bonus to the agent who brings a buyer. Nobody is even calling. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Question: We signed a purchase agreement to buy a home several weeks ago. We had a loan approval, builders inspection, appraisal scheduled, everything going right and then the seller wanted out of contract. We said no. The owner has offered to pay all of our costs but we still want this property. We lived up to our agreement and just love this house. If we took the owner to court for "specific performance" would we win?
Question: We purchased a timeshare in 1989 and have been trying to sell it for 6 years. It is listed at 25% of purchase price with no takers. We asked the company we bought it from if we could give it back to them for nothing and they refused! Can we just donate the property to a charity?
Question: We are purchasing a home. An offer has been negotiated and accepted. Earnest money has been paid. Friday was the home inspection which passed except for the need to replace the roof.
Question: We have been contacted by a real estate agent to sell a lot we own out-of-state. A selling price has been accepted verbally, but when the papers were received, we noticed that the brokerage fee was more than twice what we expected. Are there factors that justify this cost?
It looks like the beginning of the end to one of the worst housing markets ever.
Thirty-one percent of top executives interviewed in a survey by the Business Roundtable said most will cut payrolls in the next few months. By how much is not known, but one thing is for certain -- they won"t cut their own pay.
According to a statement by an executive vice president at Global Insight, one-quarter of homes for sale by December 2008 could be bank-owned. Foreclosures depress any market and in a decreasing market, an increasing number of home sales are short.
The Housing Flu has spread from the three sickest hosts to the rest of the country, says a new report by Global Insight, a financial analysis firm.
One of the side effects of a slowing market is reduced liquidity. Home prices make selling less attractive, which has resulted in many people choosing to rent their homes instead. But these accidental landlords have a thing or two to learn.
You can take almost any piece of information and make it sound good or bad. And no one is better at spin than the financial press when it wants to get behind a story like the housing slump.