For those of you who slept in Friday morning or are out of town, here are a few shots from our fabulously traditional parade:
I just read a fascinating article in the New York Times this morning about how we ended up in this energy mess, when for the last forty years we have known it is coming.
One quote particularly stood out to me, "Mr. (Newt) Gingrich says, 'Our culture favors driving long distances in powerful vehicles and the car as a social expression.'" There is no arguing the accuracy of the statement, nor the has been rationale behind it.
On Friday night as I sat in my front yard watching the crowd thin from Menominee Park after the fireworks, I saw an historical record of our past oil consumption love and the new (perhaps old) direction we should and will be taking.
The cars lined up in traffic were mostly big SUVs and trucks, idling one after another, for their chance to zoom back out to the former farm fields where 3 car garages now take up residence. A few vehicles were filled were excited revelers, but most had one or two bodies occupying a space befitting a family of 10.
The new direction that passed in front of my vantage point was one of bicycles, strollers, walkers and neighbors. It used to be like this and appears we are heading back to the future. I know this is a good place to go.
As I work to encourage folks to consider living in town, in our older neighborhoods, I often describe a scene as played out Friday night. Some one will definitely argue they must drive to the fireworks as they don't live in my neighborhood. Very true, but why are they not demanding the city provide public transportation to Sawdust Days and the fireworks?
We were a culture of "driving long distances in powerful vehicles." Today we are a neighborhood culture.
I am on, and contribute to various social networking, real estate and professional sites. Some times its great to read the various comments people post on life, work and real estate. It amazes me how angry some people are at real estate agents. I wish I knew who these agents were that are ruining so many people's lives. The anger is real and very strong in some folks. It is sad.
I don't often read about the other side, the angry agent. I hear it a lot behind closed doors, seminars and quiet lunches. But we are not really supposed to talk about the buying/selling public with anything but great respect and patience.
The other day I read someone remarking on "the rich real estate agent." Do consumers not really know how little money real estate agents make and how great the expenses are for gas money, advertising, sprucing up a place for sale. This is not a complaint by any means, I love what I am doing. I get to help people make one of the biggest decisions of their lives. I use what I know and what I can learn to guide them through an avalanche of reports, data, inspections, applications, contingencies, etc.
What upsets agents is when things go wrong for their client. The angriest I ever see a fellow agent is when their client isn't being treated right, or a deal falls through. Does the public see that? Every time something goes wrong, the agent is the first one staying up at night dealing with it. The cell phone at the ear, the lap top open frantically searching for some document or miracle that will make things all right.
In the short time I have been an agent I have already been there, am there. Sometimes it is your client creating the havoc which actually makes things worse. You don't have access to the other party so all you can do offer abject apologies, try to solve the problem.
So from us agents who love what we do, for very little money, I want anyone to know that we get angry too.
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