Here's What Happened and Here's What it Means:

Christmas came a bit early, sort of, for the American consumer this week. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates on 12/16 to the lowest rate they could at essentially 0%. Let's hope this works because the only place to go now is triple dog 0% and I don't think anyone wants to see Paulson and Bernake with their tongues stuck to the flag pole out in front of the school.

What the Fed is trying to do is spur spending either through use of credit lines or some form of home equity line to help the overall economy. If you are a homeowner, credit card user or equity line user tied to real estate you are affected by this in some significant way depending upon how your particular credit is dictated by the prime rate. In many cases home equity loan rates will go down and lower monthly payments for consumers. This lowering will eventually ease pressure on many different forms of credit either directly or indirectly.

The single biggest fallacy of the post credit crash world is that there is no money to borrow. This is simply not true.

Here's what you must have in order to borrow money for a home purchase:

1) A decent credit score which in the post credit crash world means mid 700's.

2) A job. (not always the easiest thing to maintain in Today's New World of Real Estate)

3) A down payment. This means anywhere from 3% to 20% down depending upon load size and credit score. Yes there are still minimal down payment loans available but you need tremendous qualifications to get it.

4) A savings account with actual money in it. Imagine that....saving money and not spending it.

When I spoke on WIBC on 12/17 with Big Joe Staysniak and Terri Stacy it's clear that consumers are struggling to differentiate between the lowering of Fed rates, the buy back of troubled loans by the Fed and the ending of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac foreclosure moratorium. These things are NOT all tied directly together other than they all affect the big pot of monetary stew our country is in at the moment.

As I said at the outset, let's hope this works. The Fed has now taken us to 0. Unlike the car commercials or the 1980's song by the group The Fixx, the phrase 'saved by zero' has a much bigger impact, a critical impact on all of our financial futures.

GAME OVER.

As cultural shifts go, this was a blitzkrieg. We can all say we're shocked, amazed, saddened but this happened quicker than I had ever imagined. It's been no secret that media was shifting as print has become a dying art, but the economy has made this an occurrence of speed multiplied by 10. Tribune media has filed for bankruptcy protection that also includes their print and broadcast media outlets as well as other second tier magazines and niche hard copy products. For the love of all things Mark Cuban at least the Cubs were not included in this. This bankruptcy and it's affects are punctuated locally by the massive layoffs the Indianapolis Star announced in October .

Last month I linked a video by marketing king Gary Vanyerchuck where Gary expounds on where marketing dollars are being spent and more importantly where they are not. Gary, as usual, was dead on in his theory but gave print a bit more of a lifeline than the reality of world economics. The only question now is where and when will the other shoe drop.

I've been astounded lately by listening to both my local radio stations and networks like ESPN radio to hear with some consistency what amounts to public service announcements touting the benefits of radio advertising.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Running self serving marketing ads in the middle of the holiday season that is the broadcasting equivalent of black Friday? Absurd....and revealing. Radio is hurting badly. Television is no different. Soon you will see cut backs at the local level affecting everything from how you get your 11:00 news on T.V. to potentially what people (or lack there of) that deliver the live, local and late breaking news, weather and traffic coming out of your car radio on the way to work. Some of you won't notice because you're already on to an Ipod or Satellite radio. Hence the problem. I've been saying for years that all media is getting to be THIS < > WIDE. With the Tribune bankruptcy filing, it just got narrower.

What does this mean for Today's New World Of Real Estate? Marketing, access and transfer of properties are going to look A LOT different in the months and years to come. Open your mind Mr. and Mrs. consumer. Change has come to the real estate industry and the learning curve will be steep for you and those Brokers who represent you.

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? DONATIONS? Greg@GregCooper.com or 317.848.GREG (4734)