Could
Gordon Gekko
have been right?

"Greed is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the very essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of it's forms, for life, for money, for love, for knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, mark my words, will not only cure Teldar paper but also that other
malfunctioning corporation known as the United States of America." -Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) from Wall Street, 1987

Considering the current mess on Wall Street this
is not exactly a 'feel good' diatribe from a 'feel
good' character from over 20 years ago but there's
a point here. Greed, for lack of a better word, has already begun to save the real estate market in several places across our country and ultimately will do so in every city and town in America. In California where home prices have plummeted 40% or more, home sales in units have actually increased at least in part because of greed. Yes, we would all use different identifiers here (free markets, capitalism, opportunity) but the bottom line is that Mr. Gekko had it right in one sense.

When the markets get down far enough that opportunity is present, greed takes over. Recent buyers in California are not making purchases because they're feeling altruistic. They buying for investment and personal opportunity. They're buying because the free market is working. In fact when prices fall to that tipping point in many other markets in our country, homes will begin to sell again with regularity. If we updated GG's infamous speech with the words free markets, I can almost hear that booming voice calling out the housing mess in Today's New World Of Real Estate.......

"Free markets are good. Free markets are right. Free markets work. Free markets clarify, cut through and capture the very essence of the evolutionary spirit........"

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? DONATIONS? Greg@GregCooper.com
or 317.848.GREG.

SIDE NOTE: Michael Douglass has been asked to resurrect the Gordon Gekko character for a sequel to 1987's classic picture and he's considering it. Douglass has been asked repeatedly about the current mess on Wall Street with one reporter actually questioning him in character. Douglass' reply: "I'm not Gordon. He's simply a character I played 20 years ago and if you would pay half as much attention to nuclear proliferation as Wall Street, we'd be in a much better world."

As God As My Witness.....Let Us Give Thanks.




We'll get back to the hard stuff in a day or two. For now...thanks for sharing the ride with me through 2008.

All the best,
Greg Cooper

Greg's appearence on WIBC from 11/25 explaining the latest real estate numbers can be heard here!

___________________________________________________

NO NO NO NO NO!

I like the Indy Star. I am a dying breed in that I like getting the hard copy of the paper every day at home to read with my caffeine. Today I have a grudging disagreement with them. On second thought, why sugar coat it, I'm just pissed off at them.

The top headline that states 'Area home sales plunge 24%' is true but not accurate. That number reflects closings of home sales in the month of October which has NOTHING to do with the current market. Closings are a combination of things that have happened over the last several months and not just October. Why does something that happened six months ago reflect on the current market.?

IT DOES NOT.

The ONLY key number is not the number the STAR used but in fact, in simple terms Pending Sales in October for our area. That number as a 3 month rolling total is down 7 percent from a year ago. It is not a 24% drop as the Star attempts to convince us it is. The Star tells us we are far worse off than the national average. It is less than reported on the National Association of Realtors site that states:

"The median price of U.S. resale homes dropped 11.3 percent year-over-year in October -- the largest ever drop since the National Association of Realtors began tracking the statistic in 1968."

Let's see that's an 11.3% drop nationally versus 7% drop here....hmmmmm.

That is not the figure used in the Star today. I understand where the Star got their numbers. They cherry picked them to blast a headline that gets people's attention and sells papers....I GET THAT. However, they are not telling the entire story when they use that tack and frankly lose credibility on the issue now and in the future. I was on WIBC last night (Monday, 11/24) and preempted their headline by giving the whole picture instead of just a headline. I'll post that audio link at the top of this page today as it's available. In the mean time, yes it's a damn hard time to sell a home and great time to buy one but it's not the Michael Stipe 'end of the world as we know it' in local real estate. It would have been nice if the Star had actually asked someone who knew what the data meant before printing the article.

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

On Tuesday we'll post the archive of Greg's appearence on 93.1 WIBC from Monday evening. You can find it here during the afternoon of 11/25.

This Too, MUST Pass...

The dust has barely settled on the 2008 election cycle and already law makers are heading towards a significant discussion over the fate of Indiana's property taxes. Governor Mitch Daniels won reelection in part on the promise that he would see through a constitutional change that would cap Indiana's taxes at 1% (for residential) and proportional amounts for investment and business properties. Speaker of the House Pat Bauer has stated (paraphrasing) that he would rather wait until he has time to further evaluate the current system, perhaps readdressing the caps issue in 2010.

To that I would offer this gracious epithet:

@#%& NO!

Here's why:

1) Indiana's housing market has been battered to a higher degree than the national norm in the last 2 years with the utter nonsense that our property tax system has become. ANY additional delay in passing this constitutional cap will cause further damage to the value of real estate in Indiana.

2) Indiana's citizenry deserves the tax relief and consistency that a cap would create and sustain. How about we let Hoosiers know their taxes are going to be reasonable and stable in the near term?

3) Indiana's local municipalities must also have financial consistency in order to plan for schools, public services and the like. Capping property taxes will go a long way to create that stability.

Speaker Bauer, in addressing the issue of the lease of the Indiana Toll road several years ago, I sat listening on my computer as you actually stated a concern you had over such a lease by wondering out loud in the house chamber 'what would happen if we ever went to war with Australia?' That lease put millions of dollars in Indiana's coffers and will end up putting people to work in our state for the better part of a decade. Mr. Speaker, stop jockeying for your personal power and whatever else by doing what is best for the citizens of Indiana. Cap the tax NOW or I as an average citizen may have to take strong punitive action like denying my wife unlimited shopping in your 6th district. Trust me...no one wants their constituents to suffer like that.

Questions? Comments? Triptophan Hotline?
317.848.GREG (4734) OR Greg@GregCooper.com

Changing a Life:
My most Thankful Experience.

It was roughly 20 years ago and I was a real estate newbie. I had been assigned a relocation couple who was going to be transferring from the San Francisco area to Indianapolis as a part of the United Airlines move of their maintenance facility. Ping and Dao were an incredibly nice pair of customers to have but we had challenges. They were an Asian couple who spoke broken English at best and I was a clueless Hoosier who had little experience with people of different cultures.

Side note: I've learned since then that understanding and accepting diversity is not about being open minded, I'm embarrassed to say. It's about the actual experience of successfully interacting with and appreciating people of other cultures. Many of us in Indiana think diversity is simply not being bigoted. That's half the battle. Real understanding comes from true experience...not just saying you 'get it.' Those of you in HR are now free to have your heart attack after what I've just written.

They had an additional challenge that weighed heavily on their lives as well. They had recently lost a young daughter to a horrible illness. They were grieving and being uprooted from the only place they'd ever lived, California. Their family was giving them significant pressure to leave United and find other work out west. The opportunity they were being offered to move to the Midwest was in their minds the best for the two of them and their young son. That recognition didn't make it any easier.

We did a great deal of 'attempting' to communicate before that weekend they were to visit and make their home purchase. I understood they lived in a home that would be about $650,000 where they lived near Vacaville, California. It was to be sold or bought out by United after 60 days on the market so that Dao and Ping would be able to make the move and get settled on the right deadline. They wanted to be in reasonable proximity to the Indianapolis International Airport where Ping would work and in a home of similar value of what they were in. Sounded simple enough but with a major language barrier it was still an uncomfortable anticipation for both they and I as their trip neared.

On that Thursday I picked them up at the airport, took them to their hotel and waited patiently in the lobby while they got settled and came back down for us to begin looking for houses. I think we all had a headache trying to understand each other at the beginning but as time went on we worked through it. What happened that day is something I will cherish for all of my real estate career. As we drove up the driveway of the first home, they were engaged in a very animated conversation that I couldn't understand a word of. Ping looked at me before leaving the car and through great effort asked if in fact the price on the home was correct....that it was priced about the same level as their home in California. It was. He shared this with her and there was silence as we walked to the door.

We entered the foyer of the home as I wondered what was wrong...what had I done or not done? Almost immediatly Dao burst into tears. With her face in her hands standing in the main entry to our first house she couldn't control her gentle sobbing. I waited while Ping spoke with her in hushed tones. The next words, I presumed would be the order for me to take them back to the hotel. What Ping said suprised me. 'She's crying because she's so happy,' he explained. 'In California we live 90 minutes each way to my job in a 1700 square foot home on a 90 by 60 foot lot.' 'Here we'll be living in a home we could have never dreamed owning.' We'll have 2 1/2 hours more a day together as a family as my communte will only be about 10 minutes each direction.' 'We'll have a huge yard for our son to play in and be close to his school where we are far away from it now.' 'Our family told us we'd be coming to live in the middle of a corn field.' 'Instead we'll be starting a new life that we never could have imagined for it's quality.'

I was stunned. I couldn't have imagined their perspective. In all of their stress and pain, they recognized in the entry of that first home they had made the right decision. I felt incredibly humbled to be a part of that transition.

Today, their family has expanded by 2, their son is approaching high school and Ping has started a successful business outside of the airline industry. They are happy and content and having a quality of life they never seemed to be in reach of where they were before they moved to Indiana. I got to experience a true life transformation for a family that badly needed it. Every year when the calendar nears Thanksgiving Day, I think about that Thursday in Brownsburg, Indiana when Ping and Dao saw their new life. It's one I will never forget. It's the reason that through all of the pain of 2008 that I will press on in my chosen profession. The profession that allows me, on rare occasion, to play a role in the changing of a life. God bless you Ping and Dao...and may God bless us all in our country on this Thanksgiving week.

Hey
Congress.
Where's
Our
Personal
Bailout?

Apparently everyone is now unofficially eligible for applying for their 'fair share' of the bailout. Cities are doing it. Companies are doing it. Homeowners are doing it. So where's our share?

It's now obvious that any additional bailing out should be viewed and analyzed with the highest degree of skepticism. Not being able to see who's getting part of the initial $250T allotment is bad enough. Why would we trust these clowns in Congress when they have denied us total transparency on where the dollars are going. You can get the best information available at BailoutSleuth.com but don't think you're going to get the full story.

[EDIT: I am not an insensitive ass. There are people who genuinely need help in this world and as human beings we need to do what we can to help. What I'm NOT in favor are idiots who choose to be victims and exploit the system. Let them eat cake.]

Again...where's my personal bailout?

GM, Ford and Chrysler are an absolute joke asking for a bailout. First, they're paying their workers an average of $78 per hour in total costs and benefits adding over $2000 per car to the expense. Toyota pays only $36 per hour for the same product and is subsequently kicking our clueless American butts in the auto industry. Next, you have industry executives like the president of GM who made $15.1 million dollars last year sitting in front of Congress asking for a bailout. Absurd. This is the same guy who thinks the Cadillac Escalade is a mass appeal product getting about 11 miles per gallon. Give it up big 3. You're in way to deep to recover. You don't get it and it's too late to change. A financial reorganization is the only way for you to go. Get rid of the costs and start building cars that are financially competitive again. Yes I have empathy for the workers but they're toast anyway if there's not a complete reorganization of the auto industry. Stop asking for a bailout and do something about the mess YOU'VE created.

Meanwhile I'll ask the question again. Where's my personal bailout? Perhaps my national trade organization who keeps saying 'it will get better very soon" will get off their sunshine and butterfly back sides and get us Realtors a bailout.........NOT.

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

Henry Paulson's Magic Act

This week Secretary Paulson did what many thought would happen and what many hoped wouldn't happen.

He changed the game.

In announcing this week that the bailout was not going to support distressed mortgage assets to stabilize the housing market, good old Hank picked up that giant crystal ball known as the American economy and shook it up. Now instead of having a bailout that our good friend Jim Cramer promised us could potentially pay us back in full, we have a quagmire that most certainly has encouraged every conceivable entity from the City of Detroit (and others) to General Motors to ask for a personal bailout. In essence our friend Mr. Paulson has taken the bailout and started moving it around under the three cups much like the carnival barker. Many had hoped for calm after the passage of the bailout. Many had hoped for stability. Nope. Now we have just about as much fear and loathing as a financial market could have. Pardon my curtness but what it in the hell were they thinking?

I have said numerous times over the last month I'd give anything for the stock market not to go up or down more than 100 points per day over an entire week. So much for that pipe dream.

In Today's New World of Real Estate stability sells. Fear and uncertainty do not. While many of us hoped that with the presidential election behind us there would be hope and a desire to move forward in our country, what we have is another step into the muck that will most certainly be with us for years to come. With the October home sales stats due out soon, we're going to get a first hand glimpse of exactly how far into the muck we've stepped.

Of course my national trade organization has smiled and sailed happily along with chief economist Lawrence Yun proclaiming this week that Indiana was primed for a quick turnaround based on housing affordability and good employement rates. This was the same clown that told us in January of '08 that things would be better by the summer of '08. Mr. Yun I'm begging you ....just stop talking. As our mothers told us often in our younger years, if you don't have something nice to say.....

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

No RESPA for the Weary....

In my continuing efforts to serve you 25/8, I have uncovered serious new issues with something that no one with a pulse wants to actually care about but must be aware of in Today's new world of real estate. Well, there are attorneys who may care and for that reason it should (grudgingly) matter to us.

RESPA. The Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act. AKA....the really boring alternative to watching paint dry.

Simply put RESPA is the general set of guidelines that covers how real estate closings are to handled. RESPA has usually been this mostly inert set of rules that were the 3000 pound elephant in the room. Everybody do what they're supposed to and nobody gets hurt. Poke that behemoth and somebody could be recovering from a severe blow to the pocketbook.

The latest, not so subtle changes in how real estate closings are going to be handled stem directly from new legal interpretations of RESPA. For consumers it will mean more choices. Choices that could cost you money. Specifically my brothers and sisters here's what it is and what it shall be:

In the pre economic melt down world it was generally the home Seller's job (or Seller's Realtor) to choose a title or settlement company where the final closing took place. Contrary to popular belief real estate closings are not generally stress filled occasions with buyers, sellers, attorneys, closing agents, et. all using loud language and threatening everyone else in the room. That usually happens (if ever) well before the actual closing. I have witnessed few nightmares over my 20 plus years at closings. There was the one situation where a coffee cup plunked off the forehead of a middle aged divorcing husband when he brought his new 20 something girl friend along to sit across the table from the soon to be Mrs. ex. Mr. forgot the decree that states "those who trade in should do so out of view of the past model." It was a stellar effort by the future former Mrs. ex. She hit him squarely above his unibrow.

Back in the day the seller's side chose the closing company, all parties arrived, sat across the table, signed a series of docs and after a long period where everyone waited uncomfortably for the checks and documents to be distributed, keys and well wishes were exchanged and that was that. Now there could be a different scenario. Buyers may be choosing their own Title Company as to where they want to close. Seller's could choose a different company which means we could have closings that take place at two different locations. Who cares? Only the people who are trying to do this in the most cost effective manner. When Sellers choose a Title company and everyone closes there, only one closing fee is charged for the transaction. If buyers choose to close at a different location today, there will be a second settlement fee charged to someone ranging from $250 to $500 additional.

Oh and there's more documents. Have I mentioned the additional documents? Apparently to cover their assets, Title companies are going to be required to read a series of disclosures that could total some 17 pages prior to a closing with all participating parties. 17 fun filled pages. Can someone please bring along a copy of the complete Harry Potter collection?

If you are a consumer, just make certain it is spelled out in detail in your purchase agreement what exactly will take place and who's paying for what. Buyers and Sellers are going to have more choices in Today's New World Of Real Estate. You're going to need a representative who covers your assets so that it doesn't cost you more money. In the world there's legal protections for the consumer and then there's.....well, RESPA. Good luck with that consumers...if you don't get the right help to understand it all.