Take Two Recessions and Call Me in the Morning: Why these times are good for us.

The market sucks! GM is bankrupt! Companies going out of business! 1 in 5 homeowners underwater! Sale! Sale! Sale!

Yay! The news headlines make everything so exciting! I am so pumped up! No really, it's a great time to get into real estate! I'm going to learn so much! If I can survive in this market, I can survive anything! (can you taste the sarcasm)?

*sigh* I've had enough. I'm tired of the glass half empty. I'm tired of everyone making the best of bad news. "The first time homeowners tax credit will help all of us." "Prices are so low, interest rates are low." Buy Buy Buy! But first time buyers can't afford down payments. "Saving for a down payment and closing costs is still too great of an obstacle for 82% of house hunters looking to take advantage of the current market," said NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth.
http://rismedia.com/2009-07-13/what-are-the-greatest-obstacles-to-homeownership/#ixzz0LIZY3wRT&D

I'm tired of seeing the bad when there is SO MUCH GOODcoming out of this recession. And it may be hidden in places you might not expect. For example, for the first time ever my home town of Bellingham, MA is holding free movie nights in the high school football field every other week this summer. Big deal, you say? My city does that too. We're not talking about a city. We're talking about a bedroom town. We're talking about a town that has been facing and dealing with major budget cuts and lower home values. BUT! Local businesses are sponsoring these movie nights. Giving back to the community. And that's what I mean when I say these times are good for us.

I can remember as a little girl (when things were tough for my family), my mom would have a grocery budget and add in her head what she was spending as we rode on the back of the cart. "Why are you putting that back?" "It's not in the budget," she would say. I went grocery shopping recently and with the same mentality in mind, put an item back that I wanted to try. "It's not in the budget." I said to my two year old. He's too young to understand, but even at his young age he can still take advantage of all this recession has to offer. From free movie nights to free concerts to free meals. Local communities are offering free opportunities to get together.

And that's what I mean when I say these times are good for us. We're getting together. We're meeting as communities in ways we haven't done in many years. We're not so focused on I, me, mine. We're more focused on us, ours, theirs. There is always someone less fortunate than you. When you go through a job loss, a medical emergency, a loss of a home, you understand that. As a generation Xer I understand that. I learned from the experiences my baby boomer parents learned from my depression era grandparents. They prepared us for this time whether they knew it or not. And we are teaching our children whether we know it or not. My mom didn't know that on every trip to the grocery store she was preparing me for future trips, with her grandson.

Yes, there will still be those who live for themselves only. Those Gordon Geckos who believe greed is good. But I can't help in my glass half full mentality (at the moment) to think that we are only going to benefit from this. We are going to realize how good it feels to help one another. How good it feels to spend less than we make (for once)! How good it feels to live our passion and be able to make a living from it. How good it feels to inspire others. And more importantly that we are teaching our children and grandchildren to be kind, giving, loving. To teach them that money isn't everything. To teach them that making a positive impact on the world and on the people around them is more important than making a positive impact on their wallet.