Capitalist Slog

For any of you needing some help with upcoming events - whether small and intimate or a bigger bash - stop by www.partyoriginals.com. I was fortunate to have a small consulting role on this site and think that it is a great service. Barb Baron is an event planner who wanted to take her services to a national level. That means that when you visit the site you can literally buy just about anything you need to throw a party via her e-commerce module. There’s also a ton of content, including party ideas, how-to articles, downloadable resources, etc. However, the really cool part is that if you would like some help with your event - Barb provides private one-on-one event consulting. This is a fantastic service for many people and she is off to a great start. Check out her site for your next event and definitely spread the word to any friends or business associates if you like what you see.

Another first hand update from the real estate trenches. I was fortunate to sell my former primary residence to my tenant recently. It was an interesting experience because it really brought me up to date on what normal home buyers (good income, credit and a down payment) are thinking and what they’re experiencing.

The tenant is great and was doing a wonderful job showing the home while he and his family were living in it. However, my goal was to sell it or to move a family member into it. Since I’d had only five showings in four months and not any interest I told my tenant he had 30 days. He said he would find another rental, as he was waiting for a killer deal on a foreclosure or someone who would finally relent and lower their price. Well, three days later he called me back - he wanted to make a deal.

Over coffee on my deck the next morning he described his situation. One, he liked the house and two, he did not want to move. However what persuaded him to meet with me was the fact that he was just not finding the great deals in our neighborhood (semi-affluent and older near a 5-Star Hotel) and even the rental market was tight. Also, he said he was amazed by how tight credit is, especially for jumbo loans above $413,000 (in our area).

So despite the fact that he thinks the home may be worth less in a year (already dropped 20% from its high so I disagree on this) the other things in his life trumped finding that killer deal - family happiness, schools, staying put rather than the hassle of moving.

We came to a price that seemed fair to me given the market and was on the high end of fair to him. Yesterday, I ran the deal past a friend of mine who is an investor. His take on it was that I was lucky to sell the house at all in this market and that I got a good price - for this market.

In the end I think it’s one example of a home purchase deal that actually is still a win-win for both the buyer and the seller. Despite how bad the market may be (in my market anything below $300K is selling briskly), and despite the fact that many people are looking for the proverbial killer deal, there are going to be homes moving because both buyers and sellers realize that they need to negotiate on price - based on market conditions - to a place that makes sense to both of them and their individual housing and financial needs.

I’m also sure we’ll also be seeing more buyers waiting for steals along with some sellers who hold pat on their price - even if it takes another year or two to get it. These two parties will never come together and they will be the basis of many real estate stories during the next year - since they both think the others are nuts.

You may have read a positive review of my experience with phpBB2 in a previous post and it was not inaccurate. However, when you visit the Capitalistslog Forum you will notice that I’ve changed to vBulletin (www.vbulletin.com) a commercial Forum software package. I had a problem with spambots registering links to a adult sites and when I began to install the necessary mods from phpBB2 I entered into a quagmire of issues. Though they have a passionate community of users I spent literally days on the Help Forum waiting for other users to weigh in on what was not working with the install process. The problem was not one of interest, it was one of speed. So finally, thanks to Jeff and Tony at Zing Studios in Boulder and Rackspace, I made the decision to go with vBulletin based upon the superior tech support options. If you are mildly programming savvy with php and CSS (for when problems arise) and have the time phpBB2 is excellent, as proven by its huge following. However, if time is precious and you want access to higher levels of tech support from the company (and are willing to pay for it) take a look at vBulletin.

Rather than head off to the mountains yesterday I went to the club for one last hurrah of summer beside the pool and lake. The choice proved a good one, as I had it almost to myself and it brought back in miniature my childhood memories of growing up in Chicago and spending whole summers at the beach.

An old friend and his family had the same idea, and as we sat catching up with each other the real estate market entered into the conversation. He had started his career as a real estate appraiser and then branched out into some other businesses, facilitated partly I’m sure by the help of his wife’s salary from her position as a doctor.

I met him at least seven years ago, when he had just started to buy single family homes at the low end of the price range for our market. At that time, he owned about 10 or so and his goal was to own as many as 30 homes.

Apparently the past few years have been very good to him, as he had a contrarian view on the current real estate market. I’ll mention here that part of my interest in this is that I started a small design/build firm in late 2005 to redesign and remodel high-end single family homes in niche markets. After a very enjoyable year spent remodeling my first project from top to bottom and excitedly presenting it to the market, I promptly received little interest because it hit the market just as sales were grinding to a halt. So now I’m quite contently living in a very nice home in a great neighborhood. However, I would really prefer to be underway on my second or third home.

When asked about the current market, he relayed the following story:

“A guy a lot smarter than me once told me that real estate is a lot like walking into a locker room. You walk into the locker room and you see the showers and there’s a bunch of shower heads. One of them is always running. In real estate something is always running - all that you have to do is stay wet.”

He proceeded to say that this is the best buying opportunity in 30 years. He’s snapping up apartment buildings and single family homes. The problem he said, is that most people can’t get a loan, so they’re frozen out of the market. But for guys like him who pay cash or have individual investors lined up, now is a wonderful time to be increasing his portfolio. And, he’s been able to sell some of his properties, which are in excellent condition, to other investors who have cash and are looking for close to perfect properties that don’t need a lot of work at a reasonable price.

So, there’s a totally different perspective on the current real estate and sub-prime meltdown. This answers my question as to who’s buying all the foreclosures out there and why. Maybe I’ll jump on one of the undervalued Class A remodels I’ve been eyeing after all.

This blog was an idea for a long time and then was under development for a year or more, with many starts and stops as other projects took precedence. However, it’s all coming together this week. It’s been fantastic to reach some major milestones. Enabling Google Adsense, Search and Referral was a tremendous step for both the site and I truly hope for all visitors. So far the ads that I’m seeing are for the most part from quality companies offering legitimate, valuable services. One of the earliest was www.prosper.com, which you’ll see in the Links section. It’s a wonderful resource. In addition, I’ve just finished configuring a new Bulletin Board, via the excellent phpBB2 package. I installed it over the course of the past two days with the help of Rackspace Managed Hosting and the wonderful Support Forum at phpBB2. Thanks to all the individuals at both organizations. A button to link to it is all that’s left and will be up by this weekend. Finally, I’m looking forward to a bit of spit and polish on the design. If you’re visiting, please weigh in with your thoughts on the site and what you’d like to see. My personal take on this process is that persistence is definitely a virtue.

As you can see I have decided to utilize many of the programs that Google offers. Sorry about the less than perfect layout. I will fix it tomorrow along with a more thorough redesign of the site over the coming days. My experience with Google so far has been wonderful. They feature easy account creation, thorough documentation, and what I hope is a great business model for this blog. And most importantly, I hope that having Search capability right on my site along with targeted ads that readers will actually appreciate will be a benefit for all of you. Please write if you have any observations on how I can make this site better. And since I’m literally just getting off the ground I would certainly appreciate any recommendations about what you would like to see here regarding resources and information on capitalism, entrepreneurship, and creating wealth through company building and investment.

I just spent some time catching up with my little sister. Her husband is a wonderful example of someone who is building a great little company with only chutzpah and hard work. He started buying and selling Hummer parts a few years ago and now is a major Hummer parts dealer and sells all over the US. He has a sizeable Ebay Store and does a good volume on Ebay. Here’s the fun part. A while back he began assembling a fully armored Hummer from his inventory of parts with the goal to sell it to an enthusiast looking for something unique. He recently found that enthusiast and the Hummer is sold. While all of this has been underway, he also found time to talk to some people in the movie industry about perhaps renting the Hummer. Well, there is a film studio interested in leasing his armored Hummer for use on a major movie being shot in Chicago.

You just never know where a good idea and hard work will take you. And I’ll never give up on people with the chutzpah to dream big and the will to see it succeed.

After months of starts and stops Capitalistslog has reached an important milestone and some critical mass. I was able this week, with the help of Rackspace, to place Google Adsense into the code on my servers and am now featuring ads via Google.

Though I am developing quite a bit of PHP programming knowledge it was Rackspace’s Fanatical Support Team going above and beyond that helped me get the code onto the blog much sooner than I would have been able to do myself.

They also referenced a great Plug-In for Wordpress which I will probably activate sometime soon. Check them out here: www.acmetech.com/blog/adsense-deluxe.

I had seen the Plug-In via Wordpress’s Website but being new to blogging and to Google, was being cautious as to what I uploaded.

Rackspace’s recommendation sealed the deal to download it.

It was extremely gratifying to finally see Google Ads on the site. And the quality of the ads was superb, and totally in keeping with my goals. For example, www.prosper.com showed up. It’s a great organization and if you’re looking for funding you should visit their site.

Next up, improved page design via modified CSS and imagery and better content and interaction that is more in keeping with my journalism background.

Encouragement to all of you out there to not forget the fun side of life. After weeks, really months, of long hours I went sailing in high winds for just two hours a week ago. There’s nothing like 28 mph gusts in a small boat to take your mind off of professional and personal responsibilities for a while. I left the water wet and cold and with a clearer head and my internal compass reset to True North.

Have you heard the quote, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” It’s attributed to Albert Einstein and you can find the quotation at www.quotationspage.com/quote/26032.html.

I hear it used every once in a while in a derogatory manner, usually in regards to a person the speaker thinks has issues of some sort. Frankly, I’ve had friends and relatives say in essence the same thing to me. “Get a normal job” is what I often hear when we have a conversation that touches on some of the less positive aspects of being self-employed. They just don’t appreciate what I’m doing and why. Amazingly, I most often her negativity from my friends in corporations, who seem totally unable to imagine a life outside their company.

I was in a meeting recently with a person who deals with peak performance and I happened to mention this quote to her. She acknowledged that in certain instances it had some validity, but quickly laughed and said that some of the most successful people she knew had done just that in their careers and lives.

I think that there must be a disconnect somewhere here. This quote is widely used, and yet here was a professional who not only questioned it but said that it was outright wrong in her experience. I think that this may be not because Einstein was wrong, but because the writers’ utilizing it are taking it out of context or perhaps applying it to the wrong examples.

I was struck by the fact that I had bought the validity of the quote, based solely upon having seen it referenced numerous times and after making a cursory decision that yes, it made sense. When in reality, after this peak performance expert debunked its common usage, I realized that some of the people I most admire exhibit this very behavior. They go after a problem and don’t stop.

Two non-business examples of this behavior are readily available from the world of craft and the world of athletics. I cannot even begin to count the number of craftsmen and artists who work at a project, whether in wood or paint or with a camera, over and over, sometime dozens of times over weeks or months, to do the very thing this quote says is insanity, to get a different and better result. And of course, in sports, how many thousands of balls do professional and even serious amateur golfers hit, striving for the best result. The examples in sports are legion.

Certainly there is a time to wisely call an endeavor quits. And perhaps that was to what Einstein was referring. Each of us needs to learn through experience when that point is. However, I speculate that far too many stop before reaching their goal, never having the opportunity to enjoy the success of their efforts.