1. Real estate is tangible
2. Real estate generates income
3. I’m in control – not Wall Street
4. Real estate has sustainability
5. Real estate gives people a place to live
6. Real Estate is local
7. I can trade real estate
8. I can leverage real estate
9. I can gift real estate
10. I can live in real estate
11. I can borrow against real estate – to buy more real estate
12. Real estate teaches life lessons
13. Real estate is emotional – Residential
14. Real estate is not emotional – Commercial
15. Real estate is exciting
16. Real estate is happy
17. Real estate is a Home. Whether it’s for your family or for your business.

There’s a terrific scene in the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart. His father just died. Jimmy Stewart is in a board meeting sorting out details relative to his dad’s savings and loan business. And just giving a verbal tongue lashing to Mr. Potter, the town’s resident unscrupulous money monger. Because Potter is upset that the old Bailey and Loan Company loans money to less than “qualified” folks to build new homes.

I’m paraphrasing here. Jimmy Stewart says, “$5,000! Do you know how long it takes a working man to save $5,000 to buy a house!? It would take his entire life! Why, is it too much to ask for a man to have a roof over his head, a fireplace to keep him warm, and a bathroom for his family!?”

Damn right.

Jennifer and I are building a house. Our builder said something that struck me as odd. He said, ‘it’s really nice to be working with people who are excited and happy about building a home.”

Wow. Really? You’re telling me that you are building new homes for folks who are not excited? How can that be?

Puzzling, because isn’t everyone excited about building a home? Excited about affording to build a home? That business is good and grateful for the opportunity? Living in America where you can actually legally own a home? Excited that a bank will actually loan me money? Excited about creating memories with family, friends, neighbors, and a home teeming with children and grandchildren? Guess not. And that makes me very sad.

I’m sad because it seems folks may be blithely and gratuitously careless about building a new house. Perhaps taking a new home for granted. Maybe it’s entitlement relative to, hey, I work hard, pay my bills on time, do the right things, I deserve a home. Sure, I get it. And agree to a certain extent. Or maybe it’s because we’ve forgotten what an SOB life can be sometimes. How vulnerable life can be. How it can all change in an instant.

So I thought to myself, how can this be? In searching for answers, I think it may be two things. One, I think it’s less about that and more about our beach resort market here along the Emerald Coast which is primarily second homes. Over 60% pay cash. And with the median sale price along 30-A between $450,000 and $678,000, that’s a boatload of cash. It’s just common place here to see $500,000 + condos and properties. We become desynthesized to a degree.

Two, maybe it’s because some folks have never done without. After all, this is the generation of I want it all right now… right? I know I’ve taken a home for granted before. And a business. It didn’t start out like that but evolved into ungratefulness. In the early 90’s I built a furniture, appliance and electronic business from the ground up. I became self- absorbed, selfish and took many things for granted.

But thankfully life has a way of kicking you in the teeth and bloodying your nose.

If you’ve never come to such a desperate point in your life that you have not fallen exhausted to your knees searching for answers, completely at the end of yourself, you haven’t truly lived a freaking day in your life. You may not have lived yet – but you will. It happens to all of us. And after that, you’ll be excited and happy to build a house. To breathe air. To see. To hear. To remember. To hold a loved one. Or just to walk.

Jennifer and I and our family are not in real estate by accident. It is our destiny. We didn’t choose real estate. Real estate chose us. And I’m grateful. Because I believe all our real estate education, real estate and banking experience, and overall life experiences in general, have been designed for us to help folks make sound real estate decisions. And to protect you from making bonehead real estate decisions.

We protect you by giving you Principled Advice Always.

We care deeply about all of our clients. Jennifer does it her way. I do it mine. And we know real estate isn’t all that fun sometimes. It can really suck. We know it’s stressful for you. Tough, big money, important decisions. And the older you get, the less time you have to recover from a real estate mistake. Don’t.

If you’re not happy and excited about real estate, we’ll help you get excited! Because we all have much to be excited and happy about! And only a short time to enjoy it all. Get’r done.

BBQ: “If you do not like real estate, all you have to do is make hamburgers, build a business around that hamburger, and franchise it.” – Robert Kiyosaki

BLT: “Happy” by Pharrell Williams

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