1. Time is Money.  Or get back to work, you are costing me money!
2. In the nick of time. (procrastination)
3. All in due time. (justice)
4. Just in time. (relief)
5. Only Time will tell. (wisdom)
6. Give it time. (patience)
7. Times up. (ultimatum)
8. There is no time like the present. (decisiveness)
9. Nothing but time on their hands. (patience)

What is time?  Is it measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, years? Or is it measured in seasons?  Spring, summer, fall, and winter?  Or is it measured in lives? Some people would choose to have their life measured in its entirety. Who said, “I only regret that I have but one life to give”..  (Nathan Hale)

Perhaps it is relative? Can we make time stand still? Can we make it pass quickly? Can it seem to drag on?

I mean what is it? Why do we talk about it? Why do we measure it? Why is it so important to us? Or do you know someone who could care less about time. Each day being a day to itself; unconnected to any other. To be lived in the fullest.

I want to give you two ideas I have embraced in my life regarding time.

I am sure someone has said that time is the real currency of life. It is what we really have to spend….

Time is valuable; Once spent it can never be recovered; you never get it back. Some might think they are living on borrowed time… borrowed from whom? I guess I should pay more attention to how I spend it. It seems that I have a limited supply.

(Bring out the jar with the marbles in it) How many marbles would you say are in here? 1040 to be exact. If you divide 1040 by 52 you get 20. Here’s the thing. 1040 equals the number of weekends you have to spend during the next 20 years. Let’s say you started counting the numbers last year, lets take them out. They are gone! You can’t get them back. (Holding a marble in my hand) How did you spend this one? (at work again) or (watching the golf channel) or (reading a romance novel)….

Each one of these has so much potential. Imagine using your weekend to enrich your life or the life of someone you love. Imagine giving yourself away for a weekend! Wow. Imagine taking a long walk on the beach, doing some really deep thinking; then going to a coffee shop and writing a letter to your kids or your parents.

Time is limited, but we don’t want to believe it. Do we.

The other concept about time that I have thinking about is this.

Time is a measure of what we value…

I value things by how much time they take or how much I spend on them….

I have always hated people who have said about raising kids: “Its not about how much time you spend with them, it’s the quality of the time you spend with them.” I am sure the kids understand quality time vs. regular time.

If you have a job or you have a family or both, then there is only so much time you have control over.

How much time do I spend on serving others? How much do I spend on me? How much do I spend at work? Working out? On the golf course? Surfing the internet?

If I tracked my time during the day and labeled each section with what I was doing at that time, I could see what I value. The thing I spend the most time on is what I value most? That can’t be, because it is obviously going to be work…

Ok. I did that I broke it down as best I could. On paper there are 72 hours left for me to control

How do I invest my time?

Let’s see…

There’s time in the evening when I watch TV or a movie or do household work; there is time at church; time at Toastmasters, BNI, other group functions; I drive about 350 miles a week; at 50 mph… that’s 7 hours; I commit about 3.5 hours a day to being at home and watching Isabella.

                Isabella from 7 to 9 am

                Isabella from 6pm to 7:30pm

And that is 3.5 hours a day… or 24. 5 hours a week. Fully 1/7^th of my life, right now, is caring for my granddaughter. 1/3^rd of the time I control is spent on her.

Now you know why I call her a “time bandit”. Having her in my life has required me to re-prioritize I spend time on.  This little exercise took me less than ½ an hour. The time I spent on this reinforced what was important to me. I realize now what it “costs” to drive 350 miles a week. It isn’t the cost of the gasoline. It is the 7 hours!

Then there is the idea of how much time do we have. Is this all there is? What happens after I die? How will I be remembered? Does anybody care? Do I care?

Ah legacy…. Perhaps how we spend our time is our real Legacy.

It was a spur of the moment thing. We happened to be there at the right time to take this 4 hour guided explorers trip. There we were, all dressed in coveralls and helmet with a head lamp; each equipped with some water and extra batteries; One by one like rats in a maze we follow each other into the mountain. We have to bend and climb down an entrance that looks like the inside of a caterpillar. Lots of rounded off edges for footing; and slippery hand holds. It’s dry and it’s colorless, just streaks of grey, light brown & dusty orange. No dramatic crystals, very little color. Only two textures, dirt and rock… My son and I are spelunking.

We lower ourselves further into the cave… In a matter of yards, there is no sunlight; just the light from our lamps. The only sound is our breathing and the sound of cloth scraping against the rocks. It was going to be a hot august day outside. It was a very cool & damp in the mountain.

Maybe 30 minutes into this impulsive excursion, we come to a hollowed out bowl that we all rest in. At the end of the bowl there is a small hole. Next we are going to crawl through this hole. This is by far the smallest opening we have seen so far. The hole is so small that I have to turn my head sideways to fit. Maybe 25 inches wide and 15 inches tall.

I watch as one after the other of my companions disappear into the hole. I look into the hole and I can see everyone lined up in a row, squirming down this long narrow tunnel that seems to get tighter and tighter as you go. Finally the first guy disappears out the other side. This tunnel is maybe 25 yards long. It might as well have been a 100 yards. It was long enough that everybody fit in the tunnel at once… As I start down this tunnel, little did I know that I was going to face something I had never faced before!

But I obediently begin the crawl, bringing up the rear. But it is tight, tighter than I expected.  I can feel the mountain on my back and on my chest… all at the same time. The side of this tunnel is so tight to my sides that I can’t bring my arms up front of my head. They have to stay at my sides. I proceed to do my best worm impression. I make progress, but it is tiring, I am not in very good shape and I am not acclimated to the altitude (6,500 ft). I am getting very tired, exhausted even, and I am only about half way to the other side, then it happens.

I start to panic. My pulse quickens, the adrenalin starts to flow. I imagine what would happen if I get stuck; or what if there is an earthquake. I can feel the mountain on top of me. I am now being held down by this mountain. It has gotten a hold of me and won’t let up.

This moment was my “bridge too far”. This was as close as I have ever come to full blown panic. I had reached a kind of personal limit. What started as a shared adventure with my son is now a personal stress test. This is my first experience with claustrophobia; and I am more scared than I have ever been.

Nobody can help; my rescue is up to me; I have to move through this. I take charge of my feelings and start to move; a little at a time. Inch by Inch.

After this experience, I watch as my son disappears with the guide to try to make it through something called the “birthing hole”; a very narrow, but short tunnel in the rocks that requires you to angle your shoulders to wiggle through. You have to swim through this with one arm outstretched and the other one left down by your side. Out of no discernable opening, like an optical illusion, my son slowly appears across the grotto we were sitting in. He is coming out of the side of a wall, not unlike a child being born. First a hand, then his arm, finally his head, and then his torso. He is smiling. One more challenge met. One more time he measured up.

Meanwhile, I am depleted of any strength; the adrenaline has left me weak and tired. If we have to go back through that tunnel to get out, I will not make it. I am in full need of a break now. I mean I need to shut down for a bit in order to purge my system of the adrenaline. I literally sit out the next event, while they crawl off with the guide. I am by myself under this mountain with no idea how to get out. I turn out the lamp. It is dark. More than dark, there is nothing. I got the sensation of being totally alone; Buried alive. I turn the lamp back on and continue to rest. I hear the group coming back. The guide explains there is an easier path back, one we can almost walk through and I have hope. But it is still another hour of spelunking.

In the late afternoon, as we emerged from this little hole in the mountain, I looked around at the satin sky. The hills are gently lit by the westerly sun, I stood up straight for the first time in 4 hours. I looked at my son. We had survived. My son had conquered the cave and emerged as a legitimate explorer. If anything I emerged as a retired explorer.

I wanted to share this experience with my son. Share the excitement, the fear, the exhilaration, and the sense of accomplishment. In truth I got to be a spectator more than an accomplice. As I realized this, I sensed that Mike would be the one having the great adventures in life now. I had to gracefully step back and allow him to venture forth, fearless and unafraid. For me I had tasted fear, raw unmitigated fear. The torch had been passed.

Since our experience under the mountain, Mike has chosen to jump from a perfectly good airplane, helped sedate and treat a full grown Bengal Tiger for a tooth ache, rescued baby seals in Puget Sound & lived on an island for a summer. He spent 2 years in the Andes living within a village of 400 people; climbed a 19,000 foot mountain peak using crampons and an ice axe, he has white water rafted many rivers in foreign countries without a guide; he once had to give a full grown bull (that was tied to a tree with a piece of rope) a shot of antibiotics; he has castrated numerous pigs; he once was treated by a “witch” doctor (when he passed out from dehydration), and he lived at 11,000 feet on the equator for over a year, and traveled to the Galapagos islands.

The torch burns on….brightly!

 I had panicked. That had never happened before. Beyond that, I had experienced desperation, hopelessness, a sense of being totally alone, lost, buried alive. I a short 4 hour span I travelled to the edge of my physical and mental capacity.

I believe in limits. I believe it is healthy to know your own limitations. Finding the boundaries in life is in an odd way freeing. You sense who you are and where you belong. No more spelunking for me.

I believe in passing the torch. My message to dads is “don’t wait for the torch to be jerked from your hands”. Each of us has limits. Passing the torch allows us to expand our limits through the lives of our children.

• My first career was moving furniture.
• My father was a Bekins Van Lines Driver. He packed and loaded households full furniture and moved people all over the 11 Western states.
• I spent my high school summers running the road with him and being paid when there was work.

How to build a tier (3 minutes) 450 words

• Start with the stuff that will not change shape
• Some furniture just fits together because it is the same height and same width
• Pad all the wood and painted surfaces
• Fill every hole
• Load all the way to the ceiling

What to load first (Rules to move by)

• Load the hard stuff first
• Separate it from the rest of the furniture with forgiveness
• There are no shortcuts worth taking, we have to move the whole house; everything goes. Nothing gets left behind.
• Keep the walkways clear.
• In every move there is a key piece of furniture that is special to the owner. No matter how small or how rickety put it in a special place organized just for that piece. If that piece makes it unscathed, the move is a success.
• Never make a trip from in the house to the truck without carrying something.
  • Make every step count – it is going to be long day
  • It is the trips in and out that wear you out. Not the lifting. 
  • Carry boxes on your back, you will last longer
  • Be flexible, don’t make it fit.
  • Be Creative, there are 6 sides to everything
  • Pianos get tied to the wall, so does the couch
  • Rock Collections go over the axles.

Conclusion: (3 minutes) 450 words

• We don’t always move thru life as well as the furniture my father loaded.
  • Shouldn’t we take the hardest, most damaging aspects of our lives and take care of it up front and tie it off with some self forgiveness and forgiveness of the others.
  • Do we build our relationships to withstand the stresses that we encounter as we move thru life? Are they based on things that don’t change shape? Things like shared values?
  • Do we take care of our relationships by filling in the holes? You know the small stuff in a relationship can keep the furniture from being damaged.
  • Do we use enough padding in our relationships? I think the padding in a relationship is small doses of forgiveness and understanding and perhaps a little thick skin at the points where we rub each other a little wrong.
  • Where do we carry the heavy stuff of life? For me I carry that with the help of my faith. My faith is the axle under the moving van.
  • Finally it seems to me that it is the little stuff the makes it all work. Who ever said don’t sweat the small stuff was not a mover. I think we need to be creative, be flexible and fill every hole, so that as we move from place to place in our lives our most important relationships come through undamaged.

I think people base their hope for the future on the stability of their family, their retirement account, the equity in their property, their ability to make good decisions (or their education), the stability of our government, and on other things, like their job, marriage, good looks, and perhaps finally on God. Lately it seems that many of the above bases for hope have been eroding. Certainly the job market could be better to say the least. We know our retirement funds have been hit hard by the economy; and some have had to tap into those accounts early. Every year I see evidence that financial hardships place extraordinary pressures on a marriage. And the last time I checked, nobody was getting younger. I believe that the two final reasons for hope for most people boil down to a trust in our government and/or a faith in God. 

My religious and conservative friends would say that a trust in government is irrational, given the desire for change in Washington. My secular friends would say that having faith in God is irrational, given the constant controversies found within “the Church.” Here is how I see it. 

When it comes to trusting something or someone, I watch their actions, not their words. Given the actions of the Congress and the Administration I don’t trust them with my future or the future of my children. It feels like we have locked the grownups out of the government and let the children be in charge. All decisions seem to be based on instant gratification. The current administration has stated that they wish to tax us more, limit our health care, decrease our freedoms, be more socialist, and tax our energy. The more I try to understand what is happening, the less confidence I have. Personally I conclude that our future is not as bright as it once was. 

My faith in God is based on His actions as well. I know that He is not changing. I know that He is constant and I am the one who is changing and evolving. His teaching, His values, His promises do not change. I can count on His council, no matter what I am going through. So I base my confidence in the future on Him. Not just the idea of Him, not just on His words either. I base my hope on answered prayer, on the miracle of life, and on his Living Word. The more I try to understand His plan for my life and His plan for creation, the more I realize that I can rely on Him.

Add the fact that these friends are in an industry that has been particularly hard hit the past two years. Each family had openly discussed bankruptcy as their only option to keep their homes. Against a backdrop of record unemployment, record state deficits, a federal government that spends our money at a heart stopping rate, seemingly endless incompetence and impotence in local government, I can’t blame them for being desperate, mad, even despondent. But that is not what I encountered when I reached out to them. What I found in one case were questions like; what does this mean? How do I live with this? How do I adjust to this new situation? What have I done wrong to deserve this? Could I have been better or done more to somehow change this outcome? I had to be honest; I didn’t have any answers to these questions.  My only attempt was to say you live with this one day at a time.  In the other case there were no questions. There were only shared memories and a request to be a friend if needed and to be supportive and understanding as the parents grieved and dealt with this terrible reality.

These two young adults weren’t killed in battle or a car wreck. They weren’t killed by cancer. One died 3 weeks after a very routine surgery; one died from a probable drug overdose; Both events seemingly random and definitely unforeseen.

Funeral on Tuesday, Thanksgiving on Thursday; not a short emotional journey; which brings me to my point. This holiday has made me think about how much easier living is when you have a thankful and hopeful mindset.

What is our culture’s mindset? I think it is “fear”. We have become a nation driven by fear. I think what drives our government, our media, our businesses and our leaders is fear. We have become a nation that is afraid. Name any issue that comes up in the next 24 hour news cycle and the emotion behind is probably fear. Fear there won’t be enough. Fear there will be too much. Fear that things won’t work out. Fear that things will work out. Fear that this is bad for you. Fear that this may be good for you, after we told you it was bad for you. Fear that you might die, Fear that you might live and need health care. Fear that someone is making too much money. Fear that some others aren’t making enough. Fear about temperatures rising, ice caps melting, animals dying, habitats being ruined, smoke in the air, forests burning. Fear that it will rain. Fear that it won’t rain. Therefore our daily lives tend to be lived in fear. If you listen to the news during the day or check in on the web for what is happening in the world, you get a healthy dose of fear. I mean things are not working out. Nobody is happy. 51% of the country hates the other 49%. The 49% percent fears the 51%.

Our media has one message. “Be afraid”. Here in southern California they manage to make us afraid of the rain. We live in the desert and they make us fear the rain. Why do we watch and listen to these talking heads telling us to be afraid? Has mankind always been this way? Is this our default setting? Is this why we are the most highly evolved species? I have to say if we are afraid of the rain and we live in the desert, we can’t be the most highly evolved species. 

How can you combat the constant messages they craft? Do they understand what they are doing to us? Do they care that they are lessoning our quality of life? Of course I don’t think the media does this on purpose. I don’t think they feel the effects of this constant drum beat “be afraid”. Somehow the news they read doesn’t affect them.  It is just a job. They are just trying to sell news for a profit. 

We get two breaks from this barrage of negativity, the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. The media is forced to deliver messages that bring hope and good cheer into our homes. The media turns out positive hope filled movies for the Holiday Season. Note they are not released the rest of the year. It is only appropriate to deliver these positive movies during the Holidays.

So fill up now. Take in all the hope, love and thanksgiving you can. It has to last you through next year. Don’t be fearful. Don’t believe the “sky is falling”. As my friends would say, enjoy your family, call your kids, be loving and accept being loved.  You have a lot of be thankful for. Take your eyes off yourself and take care of those you love. Take a break from the news this month.  Get into the Holiday Spirit early and often. Give something away and don’t let anybody know you did.  You will feel better.

There are many messages in the media this time of year. I think they all say one way or the other “don’t be afraid, be thankful.” Thank goodness this message sells too!

So, we have some good news. The reserve requirement has been reduced to 10% of the loan balance. Look for the higher end homes to start selling!

For specific market information in your area, drop me a note at sjcdave@gmail.com.

Part III on Leadership

(This was a presentation made to the Boy Scouts, age 11 -15)

Let’s take a minute and discuss what some older cultures do to mark the evolution of a boy into a man. See if something similar is going on in our culture.

 In ancient Greece boys started being recognized at age 14, they registered themselves as members of the community; junior members. At age 18 they had mandatory military service for 2 years and they were then recognized as full members of the community.

• “Men are made, not born. Across a broad sweep of cultures, this central theme recurs with stunning regularity, as David Gilmore’s cross-cultural study shows. Unlike women, men must take actions, undergo ordeals, or pass tests in order to become men. They are told to “be a man” whereas women are not told to “be” women (though certainly women too are socialized into gender roles). In this way, a surprising number of cultures converge in treating masculinity as something that must be created by individual and collective will against the force of instinct or “doing what comes naturally.”
• Culture after culture features rites of passage from boyhood to manhood. Only select men can achieve “manhood,” and it must be won individually. In many cultures’ initiation rituals, older males systematically inflict pain and injury on young ones, who must hold up without flinching, or face life-long shame. Men who fail the test become “negative examples … held up scornfully to inspire conformity.” The particulars of these rituals vary by cultural context.
• In fishing communities, would-be men go on dangerous expeditions into the water.
• In hunting cultures they risk their lives in hunting exploits.
• In societies with frequent warfare, young males must participate in war – and, for some, kill an enemy – before being called a man.

Despite these variations, the passages to manhood are surprisingly similar across cultures in terms of passing harsh tests bravely. These practices recur in cultures worldwide that “have little else in common,” including those with frequent or infrequent war, and simple or complex social organization. In East Africa, boys endure “bloody circumcision rites by which they become true men. They must submit without so much as flinching under the agony of the knife. If a boy cries out while his flesh is being cut, if he so much as blinks an eye or turns his head, he is shamed for life as unworthy of manhood.”

•  In an Ethiopian society where whipping ceremonies are the test, “any sign of weakness is greeted with taunts and mockery.” For the warlike Sambia in New Guinea, boys endure “whipping, flailing, beating…which the boys must endure stoically and silently.”
• For the relatively peaceful Kung of southwest Africa, before males are considered men and allowed to marry they must “single-handedly track and kill a sizable adult antelope, an act that requires courage and hardiness.”
• Pueblo Indian boys aged 12–15 are “whipped mercilessly and expected to bear up impassively under the beating to show their fortitude.” (Joshua S. Goldstein, from Men and War)
• What manhood requires of fighters is not blood-lust or activation of murderous impulses. Rather, manhood requires men to willingly undergo an extremely painful, unpleasant experience – and to hang in there over time despite every instinct to flee.

What about your life? What are you doing to challenge yourself to become a leader? What difficulty are you enduring? What test are you enduring? What pain are you being asked to endure? Who is challenging you? Are you rising to the challenge?

1. To be a good leader you need to have a good character.
2. To have a good character you need to walk the talk.
3. To walk the talk you need to practice the walk.
4. To practice the walk you need accountability.
5. To be accountable you need to be with others who want what you want.

 Be with others who want what you want; be accountable to them; walk the walk together every day; that builds character and good character can make you a good leader!

 Now you know a bit more about yourself. You know that you were created to be a leader. Boys of this age need to find ways to challenge themselves. But they also need to be recognized for “answering the call”.

I hope you understand that without this awareness, the world out there is designed to keep you thinking and acting like a boy.

(this is part of a presentation made to Boy Scouts age 11 – 15)

Why go into all this?

Our biology, our strengths and weaknesses are important to realize. When our expectations are aligned with our actual experience in life, our lives can be more satisfying. You will have an unhappy life if you always try to be somebody you are not.

With all these advantages early in life, you would think women would be ruling the world. If we don’t get better at understanding our strengths as boys and men, your boss will be a women, your eventual wife will be dominant in your relationship. Your sisters will be more successful than you…

You were made in the image of God. So you are not unimportant. You are gifted. Our culture just doesn’t recognize your gifts. Much of your educational experience is designed to make you conform to the norm for girls! That is right, unless you can be highly verbal, write about emotions, keep your space neat, keep your hands to yourself, etc. So you have to accept these constant corrections from your teachers, your coaches, your moms, even; and still strive to excel. You can’t let this world, our culture make you feel like you are not worthy. You were born with the potential and the skills to lead.

Maybe you are saying, I don’t want to be a leader…..

God said, he made us in His image. He made us to be the sacrificial leaders of our families. He made us to lead, to step out, take risks and make things happen…

What qualities do you like in a leader? Fairness, Steadfast, Flexible, Sacrificial, Encourager, Disciplined, Accountability, Curiosity (problem solvers), Vision, Motivator, Good Listener, Effective Communicator are just some examples; can you think of more?

Who makes a good leader?

1. Men who listen and think
2. Men who believe in God
3. Men who are sincere
4. Men who are secure
5. Men who have discipline
6. Men who display fairness
7. Men who ________________

 Are you a leader?

 God created you and asked you to be a leader; At least the leader of your family. Someday you will be asked to lead your family in worship, in prayer, in sacrifice and in many ways.

 Let’s talk about God’s plan for young men.

 He didn’t intend for you to stay a boy. He designed you to become a man! He thought that you would be able to see examples of manhood all around you, and that becoming a man would be the most natural thing. The problem is, God’s manhood is a little different that he manhood most of us see in the media and in our culture.

Our culture celebrates the beauty or the beast. Our culture only celebrates athletic competitive men, famous men, or men with money. The average guy is given no perceived value in our society.

If you are not gifted physically, mentally, or genetically, your only chance celebrated is to make a lot of money.

Who in your life is a normal and a good role model for men? Many boys grow up today without their father in the home. The most reliable adult in their lives is their mom…. Who can you look to as a role model for manhood?

God’s plan that would make every young boy into a man isn’t there in Western Culture today. But it is present in other parts of the world. (con’t)

(Part 1 of 3)

This is a presentation I made to the Boy Scouts. Age of the audience Boy Scouts age 11 – 15. The premise… “we need more of our boys to grow up and become leaders”.

1. What makes a good leader?
2. Who makes a good leader?
3. How do I become a leader?
4. Why do I have to be a leader?

We used to talk about men and women as if they were totally different creatures. Men were one thing and women were another; each having their own gifts, their own special nature, their own strengths and weaknesses.

That way of thinking, that paradigm, doesn’t work today. Men and Women are treated much the same in Western Culture. Despite what you believe or know to be true, in today’s business world, men and women have more similarities than they do differences. One is given no advantages over the other. Each is expected to rise to the challenge and display the qualities necessary to get the job done.

Leadership is one of those qualities.

In this discussion about leadership, I will only be talking about boys and manhood. This was and is intended for boys to hear. I am not saying that women would be or should be less effective as a leader.

With that said, let’s talk about men and boys.

Did you know?

1. Testosterone kills brain cells when it is released into your brain. And that happened to you when you were in your mother’s womb.
2. Did you know that testosterone interrupts the communication pathways between the left and right halves of your brain? We tend to be “right-brained” because of this.
3. Did you know that these and other development differences in our brains are a primary reason we are different than girls? We think differently, we perceive things differently, we problem solve differently … we are different. In some ways school is easier for girls than boys. When you are older your left brain will “catch up”.
4. The right hemisphere of the brain is where math, science, spacial relationships, etc. are developed. So boys first learn about the world by touching it, moving it, throwing it, colliding with it, counting it, etc.
5. You need to know that at younger ages, girls are generally better at words and feelings and colors and sounds, and being emotionally intelligent.
6. Because of the setbacks of testosterone, we develop these strengths later in life.
7. Studies show that adult males speak approximately 20,000 words per day. Adult women in a similar life (job, home, etc.) would average 40,000 words spoken per day.
8. Statistically more girls are born and survive, than boys. Did you know baby girls are stronger and more resilient than baby boys? Premature baby girls survive more often than premature baby boys. Girls’ lungs develop sooner than ours do.

There are predominantly two types of buyers in the market today. 1) First time buyers who have been priced out of the market prior to this correction. And 2) Investor/speculator types who are bringing thier cash into the market to buy well located homes from the banks and from the short-sale sellers. Real estate investors/speculators are notoriously short term players. They are not what we call equity owners. There is a small but growing industry that caters to these short term “flippers”.

In a normal economy the sellers would be receiving most of their equity and would be re-purchasing another property (move up property, trophy home, or retirement home). That is not the case today. The vast majority of sellers today is in trouble. There is no equity for them to use in a re-purchase. Our sellers today become renters. And adding to the problem, many of them are moving out of the area. These facts point to the problem. Sellers of luxury homes, move up homes, vacations homes, and retirement homes are fighting over very few buyers.

Until prices rise enough to give most sellers some equity, the rest of the real estate market will remain stagnant. There is so much inventory in these larger home neighborhoods that some sellers have not seen a buyer in weeks.

Those of us who take a longer view of real estate, realize the incredible values that exist in today’s market. It is like we have travelled back in time to 2002. The market has unraveled 5 years of gain (peaked in 2007).

There are tremendous opportunities in these large homes. There are families who can pay $4,000 a month in rent, but can’t buy a home right now; that is $48,000 dollars a year in gross income for someone who owns one of these homes.

Here in south Orange County you can buy a 3,000 sq. ft. home for around $700,000 and rent it for up to $4,000 a month. That is almost a 5% return using a 30% expense factor on the income. If you keep the home long enough for confidence to return to our economy you not only get your principal back, you could gain another 30% in return if prices just rise back to 2007 levels.

Just consider that we used to sell one house and start a chain of transactions that sometimes was 4 or 5 transactions long. Now the only thing that happens when we sell a home is we create a renter and job for a mover. There is a growing pool of renters who have good cashflow, but bad credit and a bad mortgage history. They will need to rent for years.

Sounds like an opportunity to me.