Earth Week 2008: It's not just for tree huggers anymore.

Breaking News. I'm late to the party. The effort to recognize
'saving the planet'
began decades ago and even though I remember vividly planting a tree with my elementary school class on Earth Day, I've never fully embraced the concept. Not that I disagreed with it mind you, it's just that either I didn't have the time or was far too shallow and self centered to get it.

Well I've come around. No, I won't be making any appearances at TreeHuggers anonymous anytime soon (Hi I'm Greg and I'm a tree hugger) but suddenly having a conscience about the condition of the world we live in has become clear. It's not just any one thing that has changed my view, perhaps it was many. Perhaps it was my eight year old watching someone toss a bag of trash on the highway and ask me why they would. Perhaps it was the recognition of how magnificent a Bradford Pear looks on an Indiana Spring day. Perhaps I'm just getting older and am finally realizing what am amazing world we live in. Perhaps it was the simple understanding that my personal business can be done in a way that uses less of everything perishable than it did two years ago.

I'm not interested in simply putting people out of work to make certain a specific strain of weed has more of a natural environment to procreate in but I am interested in balance. Balance between doing one's job or living one's life and doing so in a way that doesn't trash the world around us. In other words a simple effort to exist without gobbling every usable resourse around us when it's not necessary to do so. For me, technology has actually furthered the Earth Day cause.

Technology has brought my real estate business to a point that we can almost go paperless if we make the effort. Frankly we should be going paperless because it's easier and it's better for the world we live in. We're at the point today where very little cannot be scanned and filed electronically. In fact we do that after every real estate closing we have. Our company sets up a web storage for every document that takes place during a transaction and maintains it for seven years after the closing. We should, as an industry be doing it for every aspect of a transaction from listing a property to the day it closes. Yard signs made from recycled paper, creating recycling stations at our offices, finding ways to cut office energy costs and yes, giving up the industry mandated Sedan DeVille in favor of a more fuel efficient way of getting around would all help. If the real estate business would take the lead and make an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, think about the results it would cause. We would instantly raise awareness of eco friendly policies simply through our marketing and frankly we would get a little love from a general public who often views us as one level above ambulance chasers in the business food chain.

So let's all make an effort. Not to throw out the baby with the bath water like many who are utterly hypocritical about green, but to just do what each of us honestly and reasonably can to 'do well by doing good.' In the meantime why don't we finish on a lighter note with a rant by my good friend Lewis Black on Earth Day 2007. He spares no one...which is why I've always liked Lewis.



Questions? Comments? Donations? Greg@GregCooper.com or 317.848.GREG (4734).

Taking Stock(dale). Where are we? The American economy feels a bit like that phrase uttered by Ross Perot's running mate, Admiral James Stockdale during his vice presidential debate a number of years ago.

"Who Am I? Why am I here? How did I get here"?

Contradictions abound as to where we actually are right now. Oil prices are skyrocketing due to demand (by the way with China putting 2500 NEW vehicles on the road every day, don't expect that to get better anytime soon). Consumer confidence has reached it's worst point in more than a decade and banks and major lending institutions are being watched daily for some stress point that could lead to a failure. Recession? Recession? RECESSION? (he says in Jim Mora like amazement). Of course we're in a recession. We don't need two quarters of documented history to tell us that. Yet despite all of that the stock market seems to have stabilized over the past week or so. While I don't agree with the overall observation that mortgage rates are historically low, many do feel that's the case. NOTE: In my mind, far too many people have 5.0%+- mortgages obtained in the '04-'05 years to think 6.0% is a 'good deal.'

While the credit crunch has lead to significantly more stringent guidelines for getting a mortgage, don't think anyone with a pulse couldn't get a VISA card right now. I think even this guy would qualify today:

While the unsecured credit market has become a dead man's party at this moment in history, that too should tighten some as lenders take a pounding this year from defaults on bank cards and the like. Frankly that couldn't come soon enough. It is beyond ridiculous how easy it is to get unsecured credit given how easy it is to wipe it out and start over. It's also a major contributor to identify theft, another problem plaguing the 'good credit' market.


So where does that leave us in the housing market? The summary version is that I still believe, as I have for months, that those who buy homes in our current environment over the long haul, will look at it as one of the best investments of their lives. The cost of building new product will never be less than it is today. If you're a seller, forget trying to understand the market. It's not about price point, meaning you're better off at $250K than $800K. What's selling today is unique.

Well perhaps not quite this unique but unique none the less.

By my definition what qualifies as unique in Today's New World Of Real Estate is a home that fits the perfect need of an active and motivated buyer in the market place. Sound simple? It's not. There aren't that many of those active and motivated buyers out there. If you are one of those, try and avoid this pitfall: Don't think when you find the home that fits your wish list you are going to offer .60 on the dollar and buy it. The overall market has already forced that property into a price contraction. If it hadn't, you wouldn't be looking at it.

When will it all come back? Oh that's easy. When new construction grinds to a complete hault so that current inventories are absorbed and employment and wage growth occur, thus reinvigorating demand to the point where it exceeds supply. Pretty simple stuff and economically sound....and no if you're wondering I didn't write it but I agree wholeheartedly. The time is coming when we will see prices begin to rise but in the meantime, don't believe everything you read about how horrid it is out there. There are challenges but the cycle will turn.

Questions? Comments? Donations? Greg@GregCooper.com or 317.848.GREG