Larry Stanul

Hello and welcome to another Sunday. For those of you who never have open house, this will not mean anything to you. For those of us who once again, feel that the open house is a good way to show your home, here we are.

After a one year sebatical, I am again opening my homes to show the public just what this property looks like. I have changed a number of things with my preparation to show the home however. The first, and probably the most controversial, is the fact that I no longer advertise the property in the local newspaper. This was very difficult for me to do as I used to spend in excess of $30,000.00 annually for newsprint and other printed media. This is a new era and I think the impact of newsprint has outlived its price/value ratio.

Now, internet marketing, opens on local MLS sites, opens on Re/Max.com and other real estate sites is where I place all of my energy. Also, don't forget the placement of the signs. Very critical point and one that may hurt your open if the signs are not placed in the right locations.

My question to all of you is this. How many of you feel like I do about media advertising? How many feel that open house still works, or better yet, is beginning to work once again? Or, am I all alone in this tool of marketing my homes?

I would love some feedback and some help in this matter.

Thanks and have a great Sunday.

Larry Stanul

I was reading another forum the other day and came across a piece that so moved me that I knew that I needed to post it here for all of us to see... many of us to remember, but most importantly, for us to digest and use in our daily walk of life.

Have you ever worked with someone who, because of life itself has become hard and course? A person who not only made you feel inferior but one who also was demeaning in their tone of voice? I have and it is not a pretty picture. The mood that I was left with after our conversation was one of anger and hurt. Now, I am a big boy and I am supposed to be able to let water run off of my back and move on with life. And to a great degree, I always do. But there was a hole left in me the day or the moment just after the conversation.

We need to remember that whomever we talk to, whatever we say to someone will have a lasting effect on some of us. Maybe a deep hole, maybe a gouge, maybe just a scratch, but a hole none-the-less.

I have been trying to be possitive with most of my posts here because the times that we are in dictate this from me. Not all is lost just because our economy is not doing as well as we may be accustomed to. So, I try to lift the hope and spirit of all of us. I hope that it has worked to at least some of you.

So, here it is... the story that I was talking about. It meant something to me and I sincerely hope that it will move some of you also. Move you to always remember that we are all in this scheme of life together. None of us will ever leave this life alive and we all need to treat others, no matter how inexperienced or inept they are, with respect and with an attitude of our peers, clients, friends and lovers too.

I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

By Michael Josephson
When I confronted my daughter after she hurt another child with a mean comment, she cried and immediately wanted to apologize. That was a good thing, but I wanted her to know an apology can't always make things better.

I told her the parable of Will, a 9-year-old whose father abandoned his mom two years earlier. Will was angry, and he often lashed out at others with hurtful words. He once told his mom, "I see why Dad left you!"

Unable to cope with his cruel outbursts, she sent him to his grandparents for the summer. His grandfather's strategy to help Will learn self-control was to make him go into the garage and pound a two-inch-long nail into a four-by-four board every time he said a mean thing.

For a small boy, this was a major task, and he couldn't return until the nail was all the way in. After about ten trips to the garage, Will began to be more cautious about his words. Eventually, he even apologized for all the bad things he'd said.

That's when his grandmother stepped in. She told him to bring in the board filled with nails and instructed him to pull them all out. This was even harder than pounding them in, but after a huge struggle, he did it.

His grandmother hugged him and said, "I appreciate your apology, and of course I forgive you because I love you, but I want you to know an apology is like pulling out one of these nails. Look at the board. The holes are still there. The board will never be the same. Your dad put a hole in you, Will, but please don't put holes in other people. You're better than that."

Have a great and productive day.

Good news. I just heard on the Today show that this spring may be the best spring in real estate sales in over three years. That mortgage rates may fall to as low as 4%. Wouldn't that be a blessing for all of us?

Let's not make holes. Let's do this together. Team, Team, Team.

Larry Stanul

May the sun always shine in your face and wind always be at your back. May the sun never set on an unhappy event in your life and may it never rain on your parade.

Wouldn't this be a wonderful way to live our lives? Always sunny weather. Never any hardship or stife.

I know I would love it. Or would I? Would I then never appreciate the good times? Would they become so mundane that they would be second nature to me and go unnoticed?

I remember several years back, while visiting a very good friend of mine. She and her husband lived in Sarasota, FL. And on an island no less. Wonderful memories of our visits with them. Any way, my wife and I were jogging one beautiful winter morning. The reason that I mention winter is for those who have not visited Florida in the Winter, you don't know what you are missing. Warm, dry, sunny weather. Love it.

Anyway, back to the rest of the story. We were passing an old man and as is our MO we always say good morning to everyone we meet. He looked at us and didn't say a word. We said a few more words to him. They were, "isn't this a beautiful place? The ocean here to our left, the causeway here to our right. Beautiful sunshine above. What could be better?" His response was somewhat surprising. He said to us, "That ocean looks no more like water to me than a plowed farmers field in fall. I see it everyday and I am so used to it that I don't notice it anymore."

How sad. Living in paradise and he thinks it's not better than a farmers plowed field.

This story has so many valuable lessons for me and if you think about the story, for you as well.

For those of us who have been in the Real Estate Profession for many years, you have experienced the sun shine. You have experienced the good times. Now, times, they are a changin. We need to change with them. But, I promise each and everyone of you who make the commitment to change with our times, that the sun will shine again. That the wind will once again be at your back and that the rain will never fall upon your face. And I promise, you will appreciate those times much more than in the past.

We all need reality to set in from time to time. This is that reality check.

Take care and A HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU.

Larry Stanul

As I sit here watching "Meet The Press" this Sunday morning, I am amazed at some of the comments and verbiage that is being used in this economic crisis. There are words such as: Crash, Panic, Hysteria, Fear, Trepidation and many more that are causing to some degree, the current lack of confidence in our economic system.

I have felt for many years now, our news media, as good and necessary as they are, have over the years Created the News rather than Reported the News. And there is a difference.

It reminds me of a story that goes something like this. And please forgive me to any of you who really know the entire story if I get some of it wrong.

An older man who was blind had a hot dog stand that he owned. He had been in business for many years and while he never got rich, he was able to support his family in a modest fashion. As the years passed, he continued to sell his hot dogs and never once raised his prices. He sold and sold and sold his hot dogs. People loved his product for a variety of reasons but one of them was because he had a good dog for a very fair price.

Now, one day his son came home from college and was a very learned man. He was educated and being young, believed many of the articles that were being written in newsprint and other forms of media. One of the articles that he read and believed was a basic principle of economics. Every product has a price point and in order to make more money, you need to either sell more product, or increase your price, or both.

He told his dad that he needed to increase his prices so that he could begin to enjoy a better quality of life. After all, higher prices equate to more profit and more money for you dad. Now remember, dad was blind and couldn't read the newspapers and therefore never new about such things as price point marketing and P & L statements. All he new is that he made and sold Hot dogs and paid his bills.

He, being a good and loyal father, dedicated to his family, began to listen to his educated son and believed that his son knew what he was saying. He raised his prices. Now, after increasing prices, sales were the same for several weeks but then gradually began to fall. He asked his son what to do as now his daily income was falling a little. The son said, dad, your profit margin is not what it should be, you need to once again raise your prices. Dad listened to his son again and raised his price one more time. This time, the amount of hot dogs sold dropped dramatically and many of his daily customers found another hot dog stand and began buying from a variety of other vendors.

Soon, the old man had to close his stand as he didn't have enough money to pay his daily rent for his vendor station.

He made one major mistake. He listened to his educated son, who had all of the good intentions to help his father, but lacked the common sense to let a sleeping dog lie. The father, as long as he ran his own business, doing well enough to support his family for years, began to listen to another, panic and finally fail.

Sound familiar?

We all need to go about our business daily as if we know how to generate business and maintain our client base. Report optimistic news about the opportunity that exists right now. And never portray the panic that is being reported on all of our news media at this time.

Turn off your TV's ... don't listen to all of the reports about a looming crash...

Do you want to be a part of the solution, or a part of the problem? The choice is yours.

Larry Stanul

With the ever increasing trauma in the financial world, there are more and more individuals who are beginning to panic. They are pulling their money our of the market with standing orders to sell all of their stocks. At least this is what national headline news is saying.

It is true that there is more concern and panic in our economy than we have had in a long while. Another announcement is that GM may be filing for bankruptcy. Just heard it 5 minutes ago.

I have always been a very staunch supporter of the free economic system. Supply and demand economics will always work themselves out and will insure a balance of price, quantity and quality. Well, that was the plan. Seems that over the past several decades, we have tried to manually adjust some of the key areas of this supply and demand equation.

Now, I am not an economist and am not trying to stir emotions to the point of boiling. I am only reporting what I am hearing so that I may better understand just what is happening.

With all of the scare in the stock market, doesn't it make perfect sense for anyone you talk to to once again look toward real estate as a safe, long term way to save money. Granted, the real estate value has eroded along with stock prices. Or have they?

When companies like GM announce they may file for bankruptcy, what does that do to the piece of paper that has your name on it and reads, One Thousand Shares of General Motors Corporation. Par Value, $25.00? If you said that it is worth the paper it was written on, you are right.

Now, take that home that was purchased in any town USA. Your property is tangible. It is real and yes, the value has been on the decline. But, it still has a value. If you are not forced to sell due to other financial hardships, that real estate will have value today and in the future. It is a safe investment. We got ourselves into a real jam with the greed and availability of home ownership, just as with other avenues of investment. But with real estate, there will always be a value. Something.

I know that for a long time, we allowed ourselves to be lulled into thinking that real estate will always be worth more tomorrow than today. We now see that this may not always be the case. We call this decline in values a Market Correction. Just as in stock market terms.

Market correction can be a good thing. I know that it is hurting many people who have become overextended due a variety of reasons. Always remember however, that we all need a place to live. Our home will always have value.

This market has allowed many of us to once again re-connect with our clients, peers and circle of friends and family. Not as a social gathering alone, but as a time to help, counsel and offer suggestions for a solid plan to get past this time of trial.

If you take the time to help those around you in the area of expertise that you all possess, you will yield rewards that are not measured in currency alone.

A piece of mind that we did our share to help get through this time of trepidation.

Good luck.

Larry Stanul