Real Estate Off The Leash

…or is it just time to get rid of the Legislature?

In this day and age with lightening speed modern technology, why are we not the one’s making the decision on our future?

We put people in office to represent us, but is this really the case? Do they actually represent us or that of their own personal agenda & their corporate campaign contributors?

Yes, if we are not happy with our congressperson, we can vote them out of office.  But, that may be too late.  The damage could already be done.  The missed opportunity may be gone.

Is what we are seeing a true democracy? I’m surely not promoting autocracy or oligarchy.  But don’t we need changes in our present system to really and ultimately represent that of the people?

Presently our system is that of a representative democracy, but don’t you think we should possibly consider a more direct form of government with limited representation.  Just take a look at Vermont where they have yearly town meeting to decide local issues.  On a larger scale, we have Switzerland where they vote on national referendums two to four times a year.  Granted, we have not seen direct democracy utilized on any large scale such as that of the United States.

With all the information at our fingertips, why not change, besides the fact that many of our representatives would then be out of a job?  Think of the monies that we could save and be put to better use.  Wouldn’t you like more of a say in our government and how it works? Wouldn’t you be more involved if you were given the chance to say yea or nay to an issue?

Of course, then this begs further on other issues such as campaign reform; lobbyists; and, of course, the dreaded electoral college.

President Theodore Roosevelt, in his “Charter of Democracy” speech stated “I believe in the Initiative and Referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government, but to correct it whenever it becomes misrepresentative.”

We hear a lot of talk from all levels of government, but isn’t this just rhetoric? Is what you are hearing generally representative of your point of view?

Till next time….Marc It Sold!

Earlier this week I spent a couple of days in Tallahassee with the Florida Realtor® contingent for the Great American Realtor® Days, our Legislative Days in which we meet & greet our elected officials and discuss with them what we are supporting and feel is necessary to Florida’s future as well as asking them how we can help as well. In general, the meetings are very productive and warmly accepted.

One of the main issues that we, The Florida Association of Realtors® and the Orlando Regional Realtor® Association, are following & supporting is SunRail, the proposed 61 mile commuter rail stretching from Deland to Poinciana formerly known as the Central Florida Commuter Rail. Before we go into the he said/she said and some of the motivation behind some of these half-truths, etc. about SunRail, let’s look into the economic impact of such.

The Florida DOT hired an outside company to perform an economic impact analysis of the proposed SunRail. What their findings showed was that it would almost immediately create 13,000 more construction and operations jobs with an impact of more than $350M in household income.

Additionally, it was noted that within a one-half mile radius of the station stops it would further create an additional 113,000 construction jobs; $4.6B in construction dollar earnings over the next 20 years; an increase of almost 9 times the value of property; and a further economic impact of $2.5B from workers living and spending in that area.

This is a phenomenal impact in this day age and does not even take into consideration the benefits that this will allow others a reasonable form of transportation. And let’s not forget the health benefits. Without SunRail and additional two more lanes would have to be added to I-4. Instead, we should be seeing a reduction in this traffic and its associated pollution.

OK, so let’s now look at another aspect of why SunRail is needed and why it has to be now! Several years ago, the Federal Government earmarked monies to Florida for a similar purpose. Unfortunately, we could not get the measure passed and the monies went to Charlotte, NC, which is running what I understand to be a profitable system. If Florida does not pass this legislation, I do not see the Federal Government ever offering us these funds again for commuter rail. Why should they? This isn’t baseball where you get three strikes!

One of the main opponents to SunRail is Sen. Paula Dockery. She states her main concern is because the freight trains will divide the downtown of Lakeland & she’s been also been touting the liability issues. We’ll discuss those in a moment, but it must be understood that she also has a personal background and I think this goes much deeper. You have to understand that her husband lost millions upon millions of dollars when the high-speed rail amendment did not pass several years ago. Think she has a bad taste in her mouth and might just be a tad retaliatory? I do, but then again that’s just my opinion.

Firstly, the State of Florida is buying CSX’s tracks and this figure is not overstated and in fact falls between two independent appraisals of such. Secondly, she states that the no-fault liability unfairly benefits CSX. The liability provisions are basically the same as those of South Florida’s Tri-Rail system. What’s even funnier is that Sen. Dockery voted in favor of that back then.  Hmm…do we see a contradiction here?

The are other arguments on both sides that are unfounded and the fact is that the citizens of the State of Florida will not be on the lam to pay for SunRail if the federal funds are not received.

Sen. Gary Siplin, another opponent who is not fully cognizant of the whole situation, was under the impression that the monies should be used elsewhere, such as for education. That’s all well and good, but there is a problem in that the funds we are talking about here can only be used for transportation projects. When this was explained to Sen. Siplin, it appeared that a light bulb went off in his head.

The benefits of SunRail to Central Florida are great. But if we do not go ahead with this project, we will not see any more federal dollars coming through for other rail projects in Florida and that will be a tragedy of greater proportions.

Call your Legislator today! The State of Florida Needs SunRail and so do you!

Till next time…Marc It Sold!

Yes, it’s been quite some time since I’ve written about real estate and politics on a regular basis.  Basically, I’ve just been sitting back and watching what this new administration is doing in efforts to try to correct a very bad situation that we’ve all been enduring.  I felt that my cynicism and sarcasm needed to be put on a leash for a while.  Goodness knows there are enough pundits out there spewing about as it is.

Next week, I’m heading to Tallahassee with the Orlando Regional Realtor Association for the Great American Realtor Days with the Florida Association of Realtors.  It should be interesting.  Last year there was a legislator that was so rude to us that I was ready to walk out of their office, but didn’t out of respect for the other Realtors with me.  This person was more interested in opening their mail than talking to us, yet they wanted out support - go figure!!

Anyway, look forward to new posts coming soon!

Til then…Marc It Sold!

On March 10, 2009, Marc Grossman, GRI opened Marc It Sold!, a real estate services firm serving the Greater Orlando Central Florida area.

…or at least that’s what he’d like people to think. Guess that’s why he’s named himself that on his website. But Florida Governor Charlie Crist is anything but. He is just a political animal looking for his next appointment. He can’t even get through one term in office and he’s already been vying for one job and is now looking forward towards another possibility.

My reason for writing this post came about after a Government Affairs Committee meeting for the Orlando Regional Realtors Association last week while talking with a couple of colleagues. We were discussing the upcoming Legislative Days in Tallahassee and I made a disparaging remark about our Governor. One of the woman asked me why and my response was that Charlie Crist surely can’t like his job as Governor of this state. Additionally, there is a great editorial by Mike Thomas in yesterday’s Orlando Sentinel, As rendezvous with harsh realty nears, Crist may consider Senate bid.

Since he’s been in office he’s been trying to get other positions. He couldn’t have been further up Senator John McCain’s derriere following him around the country seeking to be his running mate for the Vice Presidential nomination. Now, that is gone he wants to run for the U. S. Senate. Sorry, but maybe you should take some time and take care of things at home before moving on.

You never know what will come from Charlie Crist. He hasn’t accomplished one of his campaign’s goals and on top of that has reversed his stance several times. To make himself more appealing to the McCain ticket he thought it would be good to change his opinion on Offshore Drilling. The heck with the environment and the people of Florida.

I can understand wanting to get ahead and being politically motivated, but….doesn’t there have to be a limit? It’s understood that Charlie is looking towards the White House and the thought of that really scares me. He can’t take care of his present position, how the heck can he take care of this nation.

Crist is very charismatic and we’ve all got sucked into his speeches, but when you look at them, they’re all rhetoric. He speaks about being bipartisan and reaching across the aisle, but he is only interested in one goal….and that is promoting Charlie Crist at whoevers expense that may be. His approval rating is unfathomable for such a poor Governor.

None of his Real Estate initiatives, whether it be taxes, insurance or promoting increased sales and production has had any success, whatsoever.  In fact, they’ve all been abominable including his much touted Amendment 1.

Seriously, why do you think Charlie got married? Because it would help his political career. He needed it to supposedly dispel the rumors that he’s gay or bi or whatever the heck he is. Who cares, but again it’s just political motivation. It’s been shown that as Attorney General he knew of the Mark Foley scandal a long time before it became public, but just pushed it under the carpet.

I really don’t care what he is, but I do care that he’s possibly a hypocrite. There is no room for Charlie Crist in the State of Florida and surely he won’t be much help to the people in other offices as well.

Mike Thomas wrote, that “his poll numbers have an inverse relationship with reality. There is little more to be gained, and lots to be lost, by staying in Tallahassee.” Please move on Mr. Crist and preferably out of politics. Then you would be doing us a favor and we’ll call you a – Man of the People!

Till next time…Marc It Sold!

Recently, Florida State Representative Darren Soto (District # 49 – covering parts of Orange & Osceola counties) introduced legislation entitled, the Homeowner’s Foreclosure Bill of Rights that will hopefully help millions of Floridians that are facing foreclosure.

The bill is not a freebie, but would force lenders to renegotiate loans of owner-occupied properties that have been devalued. The way it would work is that homeowner and lender would renegotiate the loan at the property’s present value with the difference from the original loan to the new loan being tacked on at the end of the loan. Basically, we’re talking about a 30-year fixed rate loan with a balloon payment.

To get to this point the lender and homeowner would be forced to mediate. This unfortunately, would further burden a legal system that is already overburdened.

This would allow many to be able to stay in their homes and afford them, especially during our current economic situation. Of course, the homeowner would have to qualify for the new loan, otherwise it would be for naught and just an even more costly mess.

According to Rep. Soto, “What we are trying to do is stabilize the market, we want these people to stay in there homes.”

If this legislation passes both the House & Senate, it would take effect on July 1, 2009.  It’ll be interesting to see how our legislators react to the bill.

Until next time….Marc It Sold!

Day in and day out we always hear about numbers. The price of this, the cost of that, the value of those, but what do all these things mean. The fact is numbers and statistics can be misconstrued. On the surface, you may think that they are black and white in character, but the reality is that they can be easily skewed in most instances.

I love dealing with numbers and part of what may have brought this to a head is my dealing with financial investment calculations and pro forma income statements while studying for my Broker’s exam.

The only reason that someone will skew the numbers is to sway someone else over to their side. What other reason could there be? What other use could there be? The sad part is that someone is being deluded & I take issue with that.

Part of the reason this post came about is because of David Lereah, the former NAR (National Association of Realtors®) Economist’s revelation that he put a ‘positive spin’ on the numbers during his tenure. I’ve felt the same with Lawrence Yun, the present NAR Economist. Like Lereah stated, he was working for the association and therefore it was his job to do so.

So, therefore, he’s spouting what is basically bs, but because of his position many will take it at face value and believe it. This happens all the time, whether it be in business, politics, etc. Again, I have a major issue here. You may wish to call it a spin or whatever, but the long and short of it is that it’s still blatantly a lie! I don’t care how you want to color it or what name you wish to put on it – it is what it is – a LIE!!

Another reason that brought this to the forefront was a paper that I read yesterday issued by Morgan Stanley entitled, Interest Rate Strategy: Implications of a 4.5% Mortgage Rate. While again the paper is very interesting & there are some hard facts there, I also think that there are some intrinsic items that are missing and cannot be denoted with numbers.

This also brings me to the Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) which you hear about so much. All it is an ‘opinion’ of value and should surely not be construed with an appraisal. I stopped performing CMA’s many years ago because it is just so easy for anyone to skew those numbers. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure most Realtors® are very realistic in their analyses. But at the same time I’m fairly sure that there are many that will skew those numbers just to get the listing. That does not help anyone in the long run & surely hurts you the consumer. And furthermore, does not help this industry, just as what the NAR economists have done.

This is a gross injustice to the many that work so hard at building our good reputations.

I use numbers and statistics quite a bit myself. Every month I produce 14 market statistics posts for cities and counties in which I work. When I use these numbers I try to make them black & white. If I skewed the numbers, all I’m doing is creating misinformation. I don’t see the use of that for it would only come back to haunt me.

This was not meant to be a rant, but hopefully just an eye opening awakening. Many of us are naïve in so many ways. It’s not that we are Pollyannas. It’s basically that we just wouldn’t expect such. I personally try to take things that I encounter at face value until proven otherwise. I think that treating things differently might make us a little jaded. So may be I am somewhat Pollyannish, but I moreso consider myself a realistic optimist.

With that said…until next time…Marc It Sold!

To my readers,

I know it’s been quite a while since I wrote on this blog. It’s not for a lack of something for me to write about, that’s for sure. Part of my reason is because so much has been said about all these issues throughout the media and blogosphere. Also, I’ve been busy working on some projects and getting ready to take my Broker’s exam in a couple of weeks, hopefully.

The other reason is that I’m really waiting and looking forward to seeing what the new administration is going to put forward. Already, there are some things that I’m seeing that look very promising. I’ve enjoyed watching President-elect Obama putting together his cabinet & espousing some of his ideas, etc. At the same time, I know that Rome was not built in a day. There are just too many things that are presently wrong with our economy, etc.

I really do have faith in our new President. He is a very well-educated and dare I not say brilliant man. But then again we are dealing in politics & I just hope this administration does not pander to big business as we’ve been seeing for the past many years. Enough is enough!

With that said, I want to wish all my readers a very, very Happy, Healthy, Prosperous and Peaceful New Year.

Best Regards,

Marc

bailout

There’s more that needs to be addressed since writing the previous post, The Bailouts of 2008 – What’s the Cost? Take a few moments to read it if you haven’t. It will shed more light on to what you’re about to read here. OK, good, thanks for reading.

The long and short of it is that the $700B Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 needs to be stopped. It’s out of control already and is costing us, the people, more than any benefits that are being derived by us. Plain and simple that makes no business sense whatsoever.

One item that was mentioned in the previous post was in regard to “insurance companies are trying to get a piece of the pie by purchasing financial institutions (Insurers find path to bailout billions).” Even though there are many more articles to support this, there was another one in the Orlando Sentinel yesterday entitled, “Troubled Orlando-area bank is big prize for Hartford in bailout deal”

The Economic Bailout is a mess and there aren’t enough constraints in place. Look at TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). I wrote about this in the post, A Move Towards Socialism - Should the Government be Buying Stocks? Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and gang can’t even decide how the heck to work it. It was supposedly designed to buy risky mortgage-backed securities. Now they are changing the game plan and in turn are creating a worse situation.

It appears that the focus of TARP is not only being shifted into purchasing stocks in non-bank financial institutions, but also to include consumer debt securities. Both of these are bad ideas. It’s not that the government is extending their reach into more and more areas, but that they are putting us at more risk. Something that we, the people, should not be asked to shoulder, but most likely will.

Now to the Automobile Industry Bailout. A couple of comments I received on the last post and what we’ve heard bantered around in the news were in regard to the CEO’s of the Big Three and their corporate jets. What the heck is the big deal here? There really is no need for this discussion. They are asking for money. Fine, I think that it might be necessary as I previously explained, but at the same time the government should be demanding concessions. Didn’t they learn anything from the AIG fiasco? Seriously now, so is there really a need for discussion of their jets. No, it should just be demanded. Hey, you want some money, get rid of those jets, etc. End of story!

As was also mentioned in the previous post, the UAW needs get a grip on reality as well. They stated that they don’t feel concessions are necessary. I read recently that labor costs for the American made imported vehicles are approximately $41 compared to the Big Three which are at $71. Hmmm, does anyone see a possible problem with this equation?

As with any bailout, there needs to be concessions on all fronts for it to work. Everyone needs to have a stake in its being profitable again. Otherwise, it’s more like hooray for me and the heck with you. That attitude won’t work and surely does not belong in the equation.

And maybe not a bailout, but bankruptcy is the correct answer. This way there would be no need for asking for concessions. They would just be imposed by the judge overseeing the bankruptcy. Simple, done, wash our hands!

We know the bailout of Chrysler worked in 1979, but will it work this time? Will the Big Three change their ways? Will they have learned a lesson? Many more questions need to be asked of the CEO’s. There is an interesting article in regard to this matter written by Andrew M. Grossman (no relation, or at least I don’t know of one) for The Heritage Foundation, The Automaker Bailout: Questions Congress Must Ask the Automakers.

Let me know what YOU think. Another viewpoint is always appreciated and you might be seeing something that I’m currently not seeing. Thanks for reading.

Til next time Marc It Sold!

capital building washington d c

In a previous post, The Bail-Out – Who’s Being Bailed Out & Who’s Bailing Out!?!, the $700B government bailout of financial institutions was discussed. Unfortunately as expected, this has proven to be a fiasco.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was supposed to buy up distressed assets of financial institutions with the overall effect of banks having more liquidity to therefore originate mortgage loans.

There were also several other provisions of this bill which have failed miserably. Many financial institutions have been given money under The Bailout Plan, but instead of seeing this money enter the mortgage market, we’re seeing them purchasing other financial institutions. In the long-term what this is creating are mega financial institutions that we will have to bailout in the future, because if any of them failed it would be devastating to the economy. Even insurance companies are trying to get a piece of the pie by purchasing financial institutions (Insurers find path to bailout billions). This is not in the best interest of us - the people.

The Hope for Homeowners Program was supposed to assist at risk homeowners avoid default and therefore foreclosure. The program is voluntary to the lending institutions and has also proved to be a miserable failure.

One other aspect of the bill that needs to be discussed is the grant money being given to cities to purchase properties; fix them up and then resell them under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The City of Orlando is getting $6.7M and is planning on purchasing 20 homes to be resold and then be a landlord for another 11 homes. As nice as this appears, how much dent do you think this will put in a market where there are a total of 11,414 residential properties for sale with 4,557 in some stage of foreclosure?

bank and drive-thru

Again, all this money could have been better spent. Is it increasing Consumer Confidence? Most likely with very little if any effect. So is this $700B bailout assisting you and I – the taxpayers? Unfortunately, not!!

This brings me to the Automaker’s Bailout that is being bantered around Congress. You may at this point think that I am against a bailout of sorts for the auto industry. Don’t get me wrong, they dug their way into this mess, but the overall implications of failure for the American auto industry are quite far reaching.

The Unemployment Rate has been rising consistently and currently numbers over 10 million people out of work. A collapse of the auto industry will add several more million to those roles. Presently, we are fighting a recession. With a failure of the auto industry we would surely be pushing ourselves toward a longer induced depression. We simply can’t afford this. We’d only be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

Hopefully, our government is learning its lessons by the failure of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Unfortunately, I’m concerned that they won’t help the auto industry due to that fiasco that they created. If they would only learn that you just can’t throw money at a problem and expect it to resolve itself. There needs to be safeguards in place. There need to be concessions made by all parties. There needs to be simple common sense.

automobile dealership sales lot

I believe in labor unions as they took very good care of my family while growing up. But when the UAW (United Auto Workers) comes out and states that they oppose concessions, then I have a major issue with that. Let’s go back to the Chrysler rescue of 1979 – that worked!! The reason that worked is because there were concessions on all sides – labor, management and investors.

Again, I am not denying what the auto industry did, but so did the financial institutions as well. These fiascos didn’t just happen. They occurred because of greed and mismanagement.

We are dealing with a faltering economy that is teetering on the brink of disaster. We need level heads and sound judgment to bring us out of this miasma.

Till next time…Marc It Sold!