Richard Foster, RRG, CREN, ABR, ABRM

I am selling some extra Electronic Supra lockboxes. The blue colored "Ibox".

It does not matter if you are not in my area, the boxes function the same everywhere. If you are not a member of the Greater Las Vegas Area REALTORS Association though, you will need to get your lockbox "programmed" by your local Realtor(R) association prior to using them. If you are a member of GLVAR, you will also need to sign off on a lockbox transfer form that I can email to you.

0 Please call me at 702.837.6686 (9:00 AM to 7:00 PM west coast time please) to set-up the transaction.
 

What is wrong with this picture???

What is to follow here is a pure RANT... It is meant to stir the pot, to get us talking, to share ideas... People, give your two cents, just don't write me with flame mail, I know where the delete key is...

This is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA... This is our nation... This is a Nation of the people, by the people, and for the people... Where did we go wrong that we forgot the words of the Gettysburg Address??? Now America is a nation of corporate greed, by the Wall Street and Foreign investors, and for every unscrupulous nutcase that can put on a golden parachute.

I was an investor in the 80's and 90's... I lost my ass after 9-11 and had to file bankruptcy... I lost EVERYTHING... I am not proud of it, but it is that facts of my life and what I had to do, no one bailed me out... I just got my credit back to high 600's all these years later... Now... My income is down almost 70% and I am fighting to pay my bills and save my own home... What does it say when the politicians want to take care of Wall Street and ignore the common people on Main Street???

I AM PISSED OFF...

• WHAT ABOUT MY FAMILY???

• WHO CARES ABOUT THEM???

• WHO IS GOING TO SAVE THEIR HOME???

NO ONE!!!

So what do we do??? Here is a copy of the note I sent my Nevada State Senator Reed (yes the Majority Leader)

**** Start Message ****

With all due respect, STOP BAILING OUT WALL STREET and focus on MAIN STREET... Where is the help for the average American in this bill??? I am a REALTOR and my income is down 70% from when I purchased my house. I am facing foreclosure in the near future if I don't get some HELP... All the posturing is not helping me and my family. I can not qualify for a loan and do not want to lose my house...

HELP ME FIRST... Then consider bailing out the fat cats who caused this... If this bill does not include help for me and my clients I will make it my mission in life to make sure everyone who votes for it does not get my vote in the future and I will do all I can to stop others from voting for them too...

We need you to stay in our homes and you need us to stay in office…

**** End Message ****

We need to take back our country,

• We need to rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges...

• We need to create new jobs here and stop sending them over seas...

• We need to invest in new forms of energy...

• We need to get the heck out of OTHER PEOPLES BUSINESS...

• We need to focus on AMERICA...

What do you think $700,000,000,000 can pay for (yes that is how many zeros is in 700 BILLION)? What is we took the over $10,000,000,000 (10 BILLION) a month from the war and spent it on AMERICA???

PEOPLE... YELL... SCREAM... HIT... JUMP... FIGHT... PUNCH... Heck lay down in the middle of the street and wave your legs and arms in the air... It is time for a change... I say vote EVERYONE out of office, every last one (Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green Party, etc, etc, etc...)Send a clear message to future politicians... Speak up for us and our needs or get out!!!

OK, I will climb down off my soap box now... I welcome your comments now...

I really want to hear from you all regarding this post, please give me your two cents...

Ok, so... Who is at fault for this mess??? There are multiple winners in my book...

1. Wall Street - For buying loans that did not make any fiscal math... Ok, it did because the loan was originated, then sold, them sold again, then sold again... Until the loan reached the end servicer who used peoples pension funds and 401K funds to purchase the discounted loans at rock bottom prices.
2. The Actual Lenders - Our favorite villain the people that made all the loans that had no qualifications, no standards, and teaser rates to die for. They did not care what happened as long as they could sell the loans to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or some other greedy investor.
3. The Loan Agents - These people are EVIL in my humble opinion. The goal of these wonderful people were to drive there own commissions higher and higher. The Lenders were offering big bonuses for every high risk loan they originated. That's right the actual loan agents were given more money in their pockets if they gave their clients BAD SERVICE and put them in high risk loans because they couple be sold for more money and more times.
4. The Builders - Sold to anyone that would pay their high prices and increase the stock holder profits. Almost no builders gave a half of a seconds thought about the fact they were selling to investors and no one was moving into the areas to create active vital neighborhoods.
5. Home Investors - The sharks were in the pool and tossing chum in the water as fast as they could... It did not mater as long as they could flip the house for a fast profit, and that drove up the prices past the real level and now homes can not be sold for what they were purchased at.
6. The Clients Themselves - There was so much greed that the home buyers were ready to take anything to get a taste of the American dream... Well they got the American nightmare...

You notice anything missing here??? That's right the REALTORS are just as much to blame if not most. How many agents bothered to take the time and talk to their clients and explain these loans and what they meant? How many agents told their clients that the home was priced well above the buyers ability to pay? How many agents told their clients that the home prices had been climbing and climbing and climbing and that what ever goes up, MUST come down???

I can take great pride in the fact that out of all the transactions I did in the last five years that I only had one client... Count it ONE (1) client lose a home to foreclosure... This is because I took the time and stood by my ethics and disclosed EVERYTHING... The one client that did lose the home purchased a home for $200,000 higher then they said they originally wanted and took an INSANE loan, both issues I told them not to do and they did anyhow.

I say look back at this mess and ask yourself, how much of this is YOUR FAULT??? And then change that in the future...

Do you ever get the feeling you are living from day to day and nothing ever changes???Are you bored and just don't know why you do what ever it is you are doing??? Well that is because you are just existing and going through the motions and not living life to the fullest... Sometimes you just have to F.A.R.T.

That's right I said it F.A.R.T.

Fall Back And Re-Think

Take a look at your life (and your business), see if you are on the right road. We all get so busy and forget to take stock in ourselves. Take a step back and rethink your life and direction. Most times you will find just making little changes once in a while will be very helpful.

Take a minute and think of how you can help your life and just the littlest of changes you can make to improve your life... Then take a second and share it with us (unless it is too private). You don't have to write a book, but write a short paragraph and make a commitment to yourself, before you get committed.

Better ways to market???

There are always dozens and dozens of people and services trying to show you a better way. Each of them are charging their fair share to help you get there (go figure). I say there is nothing free in life, but there should be value for the service. I became so frustrated that I started to put my own systems in place that allowed me to CUT COSTS and increase my productivity and increase the response of the pubic to the listings, and at the same time help my sellers understand the results of the marketing.

It is so simple:

• I place every home I list (EVERY ONE) on my website
• I build a special custom site that I build for the home (i..e. 123456mainstreet.info)
• I place a custom sign rider on the for sale sign with the web address
• This one will surprise you, I DO NOT place any flyers on the sign
• I drive ALL MARKETING to my website for that home
• Last once a week I review the results with the sellers including the website traffic results.

There is far too much to go into here and it is not appropriate to advertise in a blog, but trust me when I say, you can do it better. I went form spending an average of $750 per listing to properly ,market down to about $250 and my results in creased.

The end result is take the time to think outside the box and you can get great results.