Surveying Scottsdale and the greater valley beyond, I was struck by the absolute lack of desperation in the vista. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but the serenity of the open desert, whose tide washed through the sea of rooftops, wasn't it. I was braced for a visual manifestation of sorts of the turmoil which I knew swirled inside all of those stucco walls.
A fortuitous set of circumstances allowed for the diversion in an otherwise wall to wall day. Ostensibly at the vacant home that my client has under contract to ensure that no additional components magically walked off in the past week, I would have taken the detour just for the brief glimpse of perspective that it offered. Funny, but from way up the hill, a fettered existence looks much the same as an unfettered one.
The majestic saguaro knows nothing of short sales. The mountains, which take on a violet hue as the sun fades into the western sky, know nothing of foreclosure.
The life cycle of a Realtor is an interesting one. Much like the tectonic shifts that gave rise to these mountains eons ago, some agents will burst into their careers forcefully and gradually settle into their respective niches. Once a certain magnitude is reached, they tend to stay the course as the denizens of the valley below occupy themselves with seemingly lesser pursuits. Once they've arrived, they forget to keep arriving.
Other agents tend to more closely resemble the tumbleweeds that I don't see on this particular afternoon. As cliche to the West's Most Western Town as they are to our industry, the tumbleweed tends to flitter about with no discernible course. Bouncing from gimmick to gimmick or brokerage to brokerage, such an agent is a restless kind of soul whose creative heart and crooked spine are always at odds: the inability to follow through on the conceptual bursts of genius a constant saboteur.
Most of us fall somewhere in between.
This is a time of both unprecedented opportunity and danger. We are all making daily decisions as to which courses should be stayed and which abandoned for a more worthwhile approach. Every single choice feels fraught with consequence. Stick it out with the same business model or look to reinvent yourself as some newfangled specialist of sorts? Maintain an affiliation with the same brokerage that has served you well over the years or cut cost by moving to a more streamlined virtual operation? Get back to basics or blaze new trails? Original Kraft Mac & Cheese in the box or the kind that comes in a pouch?
I've always been a basic box kind of guy. Do the job right and cultivate genuine relationships that promote career longevity and peace of mind. This nuts and bolts approach has served me well over my first decade in the business, and I am wont to dance with the girl I brought. I've always preferred proven effectiveness over the all too often unsubstantiated flash of the next great thing.
Show me the numbers, not the infomercial.
And yet, this is not the time for mountains. As strong and sturdy in appearance on this day as any before it, there exists an undercurrent that threatens to erode the rocky foundations while all eyes remain focused on the pinnacles. A flash flood is coming to our industry. It's best not to remain sedentary.
Forced to look further around the bend than ever before, I will not be a casualty of this market. Too many are in pure survival mode at present and are forgoing the tools they will need to survive the future. They are focused only on the next sale. Not me, partner. Not me.
I blog, I Twitter, I Facebook, I Link-In ... I create verbs out of thin air.
As a newly cast tumbleweed in this virtual desert oasis, however, I have tried to be judicious as to where I invest my resources. There is always opportunity amidst chaos, as evidenced by the housing bargains to be had at present, and that truth extends to charlatans. Credit repair, loan modification services, foreclosure prevention specialists ... the general public has its fair share of snake oil salesmen of whom to be wary. We agents are likewise deluged with upstarts who would put us at the top of the search engines, guarantee "x" amount of closed monthly leads or turn us into overnight short sale or REO specialists. All for a modest fee, of course.
With a skeptical hand over my wallet, I take each new come-on with a Costco sized grain of molecularly engineered salt. Thus, when the notion of paying for a product that I already utilized for free originally came down the pike via our good friends at ActiveRain, I couldn't understand the benefit. Post after post from bloggers touting its genius failed to make a dent in my dubiosity (I invent nouns now, too).
Until I spoke with Brad Andersohn this morning, that was. After Brad walked me through a few simple benefits including the vastly improved link structure, I spent the morning tweaking my very own individual blog. There are no guarantees of increased success, but I believe my business horse has been led just a little closer to water. That's all I really ask. I'm confident in my ability to make it drink.
I will always invest in me.
So without further ado, I give you ScottsdaleHousePeddler.com.
Because you can't pack too many canteens when you live in the desert.
Your source for Scottsdale Real Estate since the dawn of time ... or thereabouts.
Launch your Scottsdale Home Search now!
