Oklahoma City, OK

I am from Oklahoma City, a place where optimism is strong, and the future looks bright. It wasn't always that way. In 1982 we had the dual collapse of the energy and agriculture industries, and went into a bad economic state that people in Detroit could appreciate. In 1993 we started to see recovery, then on April 19th, 1995 the worst act of domestic terrorism happened when two lunatics decided that they would destroy the Alfred P. Murrah federal building, no matter that they killed innocent children, older people at Social Security, and people just earning a living. I lost dear friends there, and it took me 10 years before I could even visit. I wish it would never have happened, but something remarkable came out of it. Were we angry, of course. Did we want justice, of course. Did we sink into name calling, depression, and hysteria? No we did not. Instead a miracle happened. This city unified in a way that I still find remarkable. It did not matter anymore whether you where black, white, yellow, or brown. It did not matter if you where rich or poor, from the north side or the south side, highly educated or not, we came together in mourning, and we all vowed to rebuild this city, and to tell the world we cannot be defeated by this senseless act. In the midst of a down economy we voted two huge issues that added a penny to our sales tax, and we rebuilt our schools, revived our downtown, and more. Now Oklahoma City has the lowest unemployment in the county, and gets accolades like the best place in the US to start a small business among others.

What does this have to do with blogging? Simple. Our country is in crisis. There is so much anger that wants to be against whatever is presented, tear down things and people, but does not suggest real change. We have a country where American pragmatism and optimism has started to hide in a hole. We see people more interested in assessing blame than intelligent dialogue. We have people attacking others with labels they have little intellectual understanding of like socialist and fascist. The right hates the left and the left hates the right. I say enough as a blogger. This does not mean that I can't have an opinion on what is systemically wrong, but I need to realize that it is an opinion not the absolute truth. If I have a bad experience with another Realtor, so what? Does this give me the excuse to rant about them? Od course I have the right but what does that say about me? Where is my sense of personal responsibility, and my need to help not tear down? My mantra is simple. Be tolerant, and the only thing not to tolerate is intolerance. Our blogs come with consequences and in some cases we may not even know the results.

In Oklahoma City we could have let a tradegy sink us. Instead we made a decision to take personal responsibility to make things better for all citizens. Our solutions where creative, out of the box, and enjoyed comprehensive support because we strived to be fair to all. Let's not add to misplaced anger, let's find ways to suggest a better path. Let's not become bitter and cynical, instead let us remember that through World Wars, and tragedies like 9/11, we found our resolve. I usually get to bed early so when I wake up it is that time where light is barely moving out the darkness. At that half asleep time I smile because I know that it will keep getting brighter and I can meet the challenge of a new day. It is dawn in America, and I believe that if we can overcome our differences, celebrate our diversity, and work together for solutions that are creative and fair, and it will only get brighter if we do. I hope our blogging reflects that better nature in our American way of life.

Oklahoma City has fewer people in mortgage default than most areas, but we are seeing a rising tide of them. I am a positive person by nature, but sometimes you see a problem and wonder how to solve it or if it could be solved. The practice of conventional mortgages going into a short sale, and the handing off the value responsibility to a briker price opinion has gotten me both steamed and discouraged. When someone loses their job or has serious medical problems and can't pay a mortgage, then our team feels like it is our responsibility to rescue them no matter what the extra work load is, and it is a big workload. If it is an FHA or VA default we get to deal with real apprasiers. That is not always perfect becasue some appraisers don't understand short sales, but they can be educated and most of them get it.

But not with conventional defaults. They pay a Realtor a pittance to in many cases go out and screw up person's life with incompetent opinions. Let me give you an example. I have two short sale contracts two books apart in the same neighborhood. One is Fannie, one is FHA. The FHA one is 1089 square feet usable square footage, and it has a two car attached garage. Overall it is in good shape, has an updated roof and updated central heat and air. It had a full appraisal and with the net given to us, the sales price is $54,000. The Fannie had a BPO. It was 1026SF, had a converted garage used as a second living room, but with the garage door still on. It was in poor condition. The BPO agent said it was 1284SF (she included the garage), said that she couldn't put in repairs like a bad roof, damaged carpet, and a non-functioning and old CH/A system. Totally wrong. With her net accepted by BOA we would have to sell it at $70,000.

The German word for the BPO agent is dummkopf. The garage cannot be used for the same SF value, the condition of property is put into BPO's all the time, and honestly, all she wanted was her $45 and maybe a chance at getting an REO listing, although not this one. At least that is not allowed. Meanwhile this $40,000 value homeowner is headed to foreclosure with the probable 350 point credit hit and can't get an FHA loan for at least 5 years. The same week I had a First Franklin subprime loan where they had a full blown apprasial done. Does any of this make sense to you because it does not to me. We are in the midst of one of the greatest housing crisis ever yet we are going to trust an incompetent Realtor who violates our Code of Ethics which tells us don't do something you are not capable of doing well. We will challenge it and maybe two to three months later we will get it resolved. Is it any wonder that realtors don't want to do short sales.

FYI, most times on BPO's the Realtor with the fastest finger and can press the enter button on their keyboard before everyone else gets the BPO assignment. Some qualification for the job, isn't it.

For a team that cares and will fight for your rights on short sales, call 405-590-2135 or for answers to your questions go to www.avoidforeclosureoklahoma.com.

Part of my daily habit is commenting on post at Active Rain. I started blogging and commenting regularly a year ago while I was in cancer treatment in Houston. As I was commenting on post today I felt more emotion in not only my responses, but in how the post affected me. As I went from pricing historic homes to did I make a ndiffernece in people's lives today, to shedding materialism to live a simpler life, I was moved my the people who wrote them. They cared enough about sharing "secrets" with others they never met, they were telling family stories, and some were talking about epiphanies that changed their lives. Not one was a ego oriented look at me post like some I read. Or was it me that was different. So I made a decision. That time in Houston was awful, but my connection to the outside normally functioning world was my comments on Active Rain post, and the remarks back about what I said. In this year I only remember one unkind response. Considering that I have commented over 2300 times in less than a year, I think that is a great percentage.

So what about the decision? Since I love commenting soemtimes even more than posting, I am going to go back to November 2008 and start reading all of them. I want to see where I started and how I ended up today feeling very emotional. I will do a post after I finish, and hopefully have some conclusions to share. One comment I would like to give to the 2309 post I commented on is this. Last year I was fighting for my life, and it was a fight it looks like I will win. I go back to Houston in December to have all my scans done which will tell the tale, and I am confident. What I want you to know is what you meant to me. You have busy lives, and you may not think about the impact you are having just by sharing your thoughts here. This goes for all the post I read without commenting too. You connected me with your wonderful, and sometimes awful world. You gave me responses of hope, sometimes disagreed with my conclusions, but always treated me with respect. You can't ask for more than that from a community. Just don't ever think that even with a rant you are not making difference in someone's life. One of the reasons I am still here is because of my connection to you and your responses. If you want to know how I feel about you and how countless others feel about you click this link to Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball speech. I couldn't have said it better.

4 bed 3 full bath one story home on 3/4 acre lot. Fully fenced agriculturally zoned with chicken coupe, pole barn, circular drive. Has brand new roof replaced in 2009 remodled kitchen and mother in law capable with 4th bedroom having its own full bath and entrance. Covered screen room. To directly access this property, use this shortcut: http://www.fizber.com/oklahoma-buy-acreage-land-home-11648772.html

A new book just came out called "Celebrating Failure" by Ralph Heath. I had some recent experiences in short sales that went bad, and my first thought was to say I know better, then to ask myself how I could have been so stupid. I failed again, but now my thoughts are different about it. First I reminded myself about taking Socialogy in college back in the 60's, and remembering what a self fulfilling prohecy was. We see it all the time when people get on a jag or rant to show how bad things are. They look for what can prove to them that failing is okay without going deeper inside. You see it in real estate offices, when Realtors try to top each other to see who had the worst client or the worst closing. After one is finished the other says I got one worse. We can find this everyday. So I want to contrast failure with FAILURE.

FAILURE comes when we want to stop trying to make something work. Failure is when we try and it doesn't work, but the main point is we took the risk.

FAILURE is when we don't get immediate results and we quit what we are doing and say I told you so. Failure is when something new is not working, but you have the patience to say, let's give it another month.

FAILURE is when you don't even try because it is new and it requires that you stop and get some training. Failure is getting the training, and willing to make mistakes as you go along.

FAILURE is stopping the process because someone gets mad or ciriticizes you. Failure is continuing to make mistakes even though people are mad at you or criticize you.

We are not going to succeed without risk, and taking risk is probably going to involve failure. Let me make some suggestion about how to trun failure around.

Did I plan properly? Ideas are great, but action requires a schedule. Did you set a definite time aside, and did you have the support to get it done.

Did I judge myself too harshly? I am not a big fan of judgement and self criticism. it tends to freeze the moment in time, and does not allow for flexible thinking. You may find that a little tweak will change results.

Did I give it enough time? We all hear that patience is a virtue, and timing is everything. Yes they are cliches but that diesn't mean that they aren't true.

Am I committed? Sometimes people try something because someone tells them to do it, or they hear it from a trainer. Ask yourself the question, do I really believe in this?

Finally celebrate your failure. Find something noble in your struggle. Don't give up on the dream if you think it can still work. Ask yourself what can be done differently. Find people to brainstorm with, and don't make any rules. Sometimes the most ridiculous ideas are the ones that when they are brought down to earth are the ones that work. Don't be afraid to be thought of as ridiculous. The ones that laugh at you may be the ones with the most fear of change.

One last warning about celebrating failure. There is a danger. You may have to learn how to live with success.