Matt Grohe CRS, GRI, ABR

On Kindness: I'm posting a collection of quotes from people who should really need no introduction. These people support kindness.

When you have saints, geniuses, lumninaries, intellectuals and other assorted titans going on the record promoting kindness, I have to ask myself if it's maybe dangerous not to be kind! Please use them and share them, and your kindness, with others.

Great persons are able to do great kindnesses. --Miguel de Cervantes

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.--Washington Irving

No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves. --Amelia Earhart

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. --Albert Schweitzer

You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force. Pubilius Syrus

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile. Mother Theresa

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the and the blind can see. Mark Twain

Be kind to unkind people - they need it the most. Ashleigh Brilliant

Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses. Confucious

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Leo Buscalia

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle. Plato

Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end. Scott Adams

The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person's life. William Wordsworth

The only way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard. Henry David Thoreau

I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels. Pearl Buck

No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. --Aesop

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. --Mother Teresa

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kindness in words creates confidence, kindness in thinking creates profoundness, kindness in feeling creates love. Lao Tzu

When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace. Dalai Lama

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. Dalai Lama

Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine Kind words and kind deeds. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than 'try to be a little kinder. Aldous Huxley

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together. Goethe

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. George Washington Carver

The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible. Albert Einstein

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. Tennessee Williams

One of the basic points is kindness. With kindness, with love and compassion, with this feeling that is the essence of brotherhood, sisterhood, one will have inner peace. Dalai Lama

One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession.
Kindness it is that brings forth kindness always. Sophocles

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? Jean Jacques Rousseau

Believe nothing merely because you have been told it...Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide. Buddha

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others? Martin Luther King, Jr.

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness or abilities that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. William Penn

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. Plato (428 - 347 BC)

Saturday May 2nd 2009 was the official Rebuilding Together Day for the Greater Des Moines area. It is estimated that over 1,000 volunteers participated.

For those who are not aware, Rebuilding Together is a nationwide non-profit that helps elderly, impoverished, infirm or otherwise disenfranchised homeowners whose homes may be in various states of disrepair but the homeowners themselves lack the capacity or wherewithal to make the needed improvements. On Rebuilding Together day volunteers descend on approved homes and perform extreme makeovers with no cost or obligation on the part of the homeowners.

The project I had the honor assisting on was a home at 4010 Burnham Ave. in Des Moines. We actually had two rebuilding days because our major project, a ramp for handicap access for Jeff, the son of the homeowner Lori, required that we set concrete for post supports. Jeff, age 40, had for his whole life, (true story) thrown his wheelchair out the front door and crawled down the steps to then pull himself up into the chair so he could leave the house.

On a rainy April 18th Larry Draughn, project leader and owner of Draughn Construction Co. and I met at the home to start digging the support post holes. We were soon met by two of his eager employees, Seth and Mike. About four hours later we had the 8 holes dug down about fifty inches with deep wide bases. The next weekend Larry poured the concrete so the supports were ready for the official day.

On May 2nd the official Rebuilding Together Day Larry and I again met up at the home, this time joined also by Larry's sons Russ and Patrick and Larry's wife Patricia. As Seth got busy on the decking covering the old patio, Jeff and I tackled overgrowth and lawn debris in the backyard. With the aid of a large dumpster we were able to get the backyard cleaned up in short order. I was also happy to remove a gas grill that had not functioned for fifteen years yet remained hooked up to the home's gas system! Lori and Jeff celebrated as it was pitched into the burgeoning dumpster.

Larry, Russ, Patrick and I got busy on the deck with the late arrival of the post supports, materials courtesy of The Home Depot. By noon the deck and ramp had really started to take shape. Just in time came Patricia, Larry's wife, with pizza and beverages compliments of Sam and Gabes Italian Bistro in Clive. The pizza was fantastic and we enjoyed a much needed break.

By 3:33pm we had the ramp and deck completed enough for Jeff to make an inaugural run. We all cheered as he went first up and then down with pride and humility. He thanked us profusely. A lifetime of dragging himself out his front door so he could see the world ended in one fell swoop. It was all our little gang could do to keep from just bawling our eyes out right there, but we still had work to do. There were some smoke alarms to install in the home, some safety bars for the bath and some much needed help with household items for Jeff's mother Lori.

As the day drew down the time came to break up our merry crew. We lingered on the deck exchanging compliments and singing each others praises, no one wanting to be the first to leave. I had three children and a wife at home that I missed dearly, so I hastily bid my final goodbyes and we parted company.

As I drove home I passed several other houses swarming with crews dressed in the signature Rebuilding Together Day 2009 white T-Shirts emblazoned with black and green logos. I felt a strong sense of community and pride on seeing them. I knew that all across the city there were many thankful homeowners and many more exhausted yet fulfilled volunteers who didn't want the day to be done. I enjoyed it immensely.

Even though we had a late snow today, email, showing and phone activity reflect the fact that buyers are coming out of hiding. I even received an offer today on a resale listing and it's not distressed or below market! We aren't even that far off!

MLS stats have shown that we have been about 1000 to 1100 units under inventory for the past six months, around appx. 5,000 units vs. appx. 6,000 for the period in 2008. It's real obvious out on the streets that inventory is thin.

Our foreclosures here are in good supply, however the aggregate age of these properties is pretty old. Not a whole lot of empty subdivisions in these parts, just sporadic pockets of distressed homes from the late 1800's up to the 1980's. There are some newer foreclosed homes, town homes and some brand new condo projects up for sale, but I think buyers are leery of new town homes or condo units that are foreclosed due to the uncertainty of how they will be managed and by whom. Additionally it seems like the newer homes often come moldy or with some pretty heady pet odors.

Having presented a large number of listing proposals this year, one fact is pretty standard, little or no equity. Reasons: 1.) Refinance-equity stripping 2.) Selling a home bought in the past three years. 3.) Seller overpaid slightly hoping prices would rise, and they didn't. 4.) Market values have declined and will not deliver an acceptable price.

Sellers are pretty consistently armed with two things: 1.) An inflated assessment 2.) A worthless appraisal. I often find myself the bearer of bad news, and even though Sophocles admonished "Don't shoot the messenger" in about 450 BC, I think some folks did not get that message. Playing cleanup is not for the timid, and the truth business is lot harder than a con.

Still though it is spring and it seems from the MLX hot-sheet that inventory is ticking up slightly. It'll be interesting to see what the March stats say. Until then it's back to basics, the phones, email and the offer on the table. I love spring.

Sadly these days America is scandal central. It's hard to read through a publication such as The Wall Street Journal, or the average local paper for that matter, for even one day without coming across a story about how some other fund, fund manager, investment adviser, development group, builder, contractor or other assorted cretins have absconded with a large sum of money leaving untold victims in their wake. The dollar total alone is staggering but the human cost is immeasurable.

In this market we've had several large developers go under, leaving piles of liens and unpaid loans in their wake. Several took out development loans or received money from homeowners or services from contractors and simply walked away with the cash, forget the pretense of business expenses. To me there is a crisis of conscience here. It seems like some well placed folks lost theirs or just plain never had one.

I list a lot of property and therefore meet a lot of sellers. Many are very beaten down. They might have lost jobs, spouses or suffered a demotion or transfer. I can almost script their disappointment when I tell them what their home is worth now. This economic crisis appears to be falling particularly heavily on the shoulders of the American homeowner. This shell shocked soldier of the new American economy has no foxhole to duck into, unlike those at the top who jet off to count their cash in Barbados, the Caymans or Switzerland. These people are stuck and don't think it's right to just burn their house down and run away.

The temptation is always there for the listing agent to look at older comps and try to figure out the best pitch to get the listing. In an unstable market where little is selling, doing good CMAs can require as much work time as I used to spend when I was a rookie because you look so hard at the very few comps, or go farther afield to find any sales. In this market however I've found that rosy prognostications should be discarded and clients need to be given the realities:

1.) You're not selling against your neighbors, you're selling against the banks, or asset liquidators for failed banks 2.) Prices are not stable 3.) Sellers must market condition their homes 4.) You may need to take a loss to sell even though you've been in the home ten years in some cases. 5.) Your home might not sell anyway.

I don't list foreclosures so I'm feeling the pain of the resale homeowner. Retail product has to fight fiercely against distressed sales and often loses anyway. Buyers have been militantly conditioned by the media and our industry to adopt a take no prisoners approach. In the midst of all this we need to try to make a living, be able to look at ourselves in the mirror and serve our clients well.

Folks who were lucky enough to be able to read today's Des Moines Register got a hint that we might not have yet seen the bottom of value and sales declines in the Des Moines metro and surrounding counties.

According to the top of the fold front page article "Developers land goes to auction" huge swaths of development ground are scheduled for sheriffs sale in the coming months marking yet another sad chapter in the near annihilation of the metro's home building market. Local banks are holding about $163 million" in building and commercial property" foreclosures and are holding a total of $200 million in foreclosed property all told. $38 million is set to go to sale in the next few months.

These parcels represent properties from the portfolios of Regency Homes, Walters Companies, John Kline and the Ed Boesen estate according to Donnelle Eller the article's author. Earlier last week it was announced that Walter's 13,000 sq. ft. personal home had been foreclosed on and was up for sale for $3.5 million making it at once the metro's most expensive ever listed home and foreclosed residential property.

The planned sherriff's sales follow on the heels of surging area foreclosure rates for 2008: Polk County 1,735 foreclosures, or just over 1% of all homes. Dallas County 158, Warren County 116, Madison County 28 and Jasper County 128. (Source, Iowa Independent 02/03/09)

In related news the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors issued its sales numbers for January. Unit sales were down 28.5%, average sales price down 16%, and average days on marketing vaulting 17 to 107, an almost 19% increase.

With its heavy reliance on finance, insurance, agriculture and publishing, Des Moines has not been immune to the job and wage cuts that have become everyday headlines across the nation. We've been somehwhat insulated because our annuity and ag businesses have done relatively well, but Farm Bureau Financials announcing 920 layoffs recently shows that area employers are feeling the pinch with the rest of the nation.

Then I turn on the TV and see what s going on outside our little bubble: a veiled woman joins a group of pilgrims in Iraq and blows them and herself up, insurgents burn girls schools in in the Swat valley, Pakistan conceeds swaths of the rural countryside to religious rule, Japan's GDP shrinks 10%, Russia is essentially lawless, A member of the Khmer Rouge goes on trial for genocide, the Tamils are shooting fleeing civilians, and we haven't even got to Africa. All in all I'd say I'm pretty happy I'm in Iowa. As bad as it gets, were pretty unlikely to be shot by militants, blown up by extremist splinter groups, hijacked or kidnapped and held captive in malaria infested jungles. And these days, that's something worth noting, daily.