As many of you are watching the fox story unfold, I wanted to make sure you had the latest update.  Channel 4 news has been giving it top priority so I hope you will go on their website and provide POSITIVE comments as a way of encouraging all concerned to help the foxes find a legal sanctuary. 

The majority of our neighborhood residents do not want to see them go.  Unfortunately, the neighbor who hired the trapper is within their legal rights to have them removed.  The issue now is that the trapper is legally required to euthanize them once captured unless he can transfer them to a permitted facility for sanctuary.

If any of you have any pull with the DNR, I need you to contact whomever you can to help draft a statement that no one will press charges or fine the trapper who simply wants to save the baby foxes. 

The good news is that the mother and the other two kittens are still roaming free in Riverland Terrace.  I pray that she has relocated them to another section of the neighborhood away from the frightened resident.  Most of us are proud to have foxes roaming free here.  

Foxes represent a balanced ecosystem. They control the over population of rats, squirrels, voles, moles and other small creatures.  They have lived in our neighborhoods for decades without incident.

Back in the 1950’s naturalist and artist Ann Worsham Richardson created a permitted sanctuary in her own yard along Wappoo Drive to assist in the rehabilitation of countless animals and birds.  She has asked that I communicate to you that it is a giant leap backwards when we allow fear to destroy our hard-earned sanctuary.

You can  help by contacting Channel 4 and offering your support.  PLEASE give helpful suggestions for a postivie outcome to our dilemma.

The sign above this says: Do not remove brick or you could get electricuted. What an incentive to buy! BUY THIS HOUSE - GET SHOCKED!

I saw a bumper sticker this weekend but couldn’t get a photo (I was driving at the time.)  It read:

The Recession is Over…Buy Something!

I wondered if it could be that easy?  If enough people convince themselves of something positive, can we create a positive outcome?  Perhaps we are just fooling ourselves.

My Money & Markets experts change their tune almost daily. Like the stock market, one blog is up; the next is down.  So I’ve decided to listen to them as though I am watching the stock market.

In other words, just as the Dow Jones average ticks up and down daily but aggregately seems to take a long-term direction – usually upward over time – so too can our economy.  I guess it’s like defensive driving. Always keep your predominant focus 1 mile ahead but continue to check your immediate area for potential dangers.

In Real Estate, the long-term strategy is to appreciate 3-5% per year over 20 years.  However, the recent economic tsunami convinced people that you could double and triple your money in a very short period of time.  Some took the bet and made lots of money while others are suffering the fallout, not only of loan adjustments, but also of price crash.

Seems like no one is talking about that.  Everyone wants to blame the banks for handing out loans on inflated values but no one thought they were inflated at the time.  In fact, all most of us saw were dollar signs in our pockets.  Everyone wanted in and like a school fish, as soon as deflation hit everyone turned on a dime and suddenly wanted out at the same profit.

Let’s face it.  Free markets just don’t work that way!   Real estate cannot sustain short term gains forever.  It has to go down before it goes up. It’s simple economics. And the higher it climbs, the more severe it crashes before it begins to climb again.

In Real Estate the rule of thumb is to price it right from the starting gate, make it show like a model home and advertise it everywhere to attract the most buyer attention.  But here are the mystery questions of the day?   I welcome your opinions. In fact, give me a call and we’ll chat about them.

If the seller cannot take a loss, what do you to stay competitive with houses that are now selling for 10-20% less than you paid?

If you know most buyers will offer 10% less than the asking price, do you add the 10% buffer and risk losing out against other homes that are priced lower?

If you dress it like a model and it’s still ugly, what then?

Jack, zippy and Peazie teaching me a lesson

During the course of the storm these last few days I noticed that my dogs were peacefully curled up on the sofa. The wind howled, the branches scraped the tin roof and tumbled across the leaf-littered grass, the pond overflowed. Yet the dogs slept with an uncharacteristic calm. At one point I even tried to excite Gizmo just to make sure everything was okay. She simply looked at me like I was the crazy one and went back to sleep.

Of course, in hindsight I guess I was crazy. I was stewing over a controversy and couldn’t get my mind to that quiet place where reason and logic prevail. Someone was pushing my buttons and I just wanted to bite back. But looking at the dogs and the storm outside, I paused to consider another alternative. Calm inaction.

Someone told me recently that in the midst of a hurricane there is always the eye; a place of total calm, seemingly unaffected by the chaos all around. To find that place all you have to do is remember that you can choose not to be pulled into the storm. Of course, there will always be those who poke and prod, much like I was attempting with the dogs. But if you maintain a sense of groundedness, your choice not to act may be the best action.