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October 10, 2005
The Delphi Effect
Well we knew it was coming but still…. To see a giant in the automotive industry crumble like this is humbling. As I reading the articles in Detroit News my heart went to the workers worried sick about their pensions, health care and compensation. No matter what side of the debate you are on – with UAW or against UAW, approving cost cutting as a long term survival strategy or not – you have to have ice in your heart not to feel truly sorry for the hardship and uncertainty these families have been thrown into.
That is one of the reason that I am 100% against the outsourcing mania sweeping Corporate America. I love Thomas Friedman and his books but The World Is Flat left a sour taste in my mouth. Who cares if outsourcing is going to create cheap goods for Wal-Mart in the next 50 years? You still need customers to buy them and I am sorry but I cannot be in a good buying mood if my brother-in-law and several of my friends who work for the automotive sector lose their jobs to some factory in China. What is the good thing about them? And what the hell they are supposed to get trained in? We had talks- during parties and cookouts and they are always wondering how I deal with running my small business, day in day out without the blessings of a big bad corporation all around me? I tell them that I had a choice – and I took a different road. But with no regrets. Even in the dark days of my start-up, when I realized that how much I had to learn very quickly about everything to run a business – I would not have traded those days for a day in a cube. Personal preference, that’s all.
I can see Flint’s depressed real estate further sliding into a black hole. If you have ever traded stocks (yours truly did for less than spectacular results) then you should already know that investment works as much as on psychology as by hard numbers. When investors are willing to pay a higher premium for a house in Ann Arbor it is not just the 12% appreciation but it is hope, happiness and excitement for living in a happening place that also makes it O.K for most people to pay a premium price for real estate.
On the other hand, if you were uncertain and gloomy about a particular area then even a good deal would not attract your attention. Who cares how good a deal in Highland Park is? Who wants to buy in a city without Police, Fire Department and a crumbling school system?
Unfortunately I foresee bad days ahead for the Flint Real Estate market too. Adrian, even though a small town does not looks that hot either. But that is a smaller town by comparison and I cannot see too much investment activity going on – Flint on the other hand is a larger city and a hub for investment activity.
If you are looking to buy your first property – look at the area harder than the house. Too often we are seduced by equity. When somebody is driving in their car on a Sunday with their entire family in the backseat, they are looking to buy a “home” and not your “house”. They don’t care how much money you are making or not. They just a nice home in a safe neighborhood with decent schools. Ask yourself, your income notwithstanding, would you live here yourself? And if not then why it is all right for you to assume that anybody else would. And this has nothing to do with the square footage or the number of bedrooms but rather how you “feel” about the area.
On a side note – while I was reading the article in Detroit News – I thanked God, one-hundredth times in my heart of hearts for showing me the way to create my own future with own hands and not rely on a big corporation or somebody else. What a true blessing it is when you are happy and excited every morning to get up and go to “work”?
My sister-in-law asked me if I mind doing workshops on weekends? She was feeling sorry for me that I had to do the Blueprint Bootcamp this Friday and Saturday – and I replied, “What work? I had an awesome time!”. It is hard to explain to people who don’t own their little business the amount of joy that comes from seeing your little baby flourish in front of your eyes. To someone outside looking in, it looks like lots of work. For us in the eye of the storm – we will not trade this for all the tea in China.
I saw my Foreclosure DIVA – the undefeatable Theresa Payne pulling suburban REO’s out of the MLS hat today, one after another. I asked her she was tired? And she started laughing. She gets it now.
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Posted by Mark at October 10, 2005 11:55 PM
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