Posted on December 31, 2007 @ 9:36 pm - Written by BawldGuy
There are three categories of Best Bawldys. From those three winners will be chosen the Bawldy of the Year.
General
General Economy
Real Estate Related
General
Jared Sanberg’s excellent post on the foolishness that is multitasking hit the nail on the head. If those who insist their multitasking skills are worth more than a used Snickers Bar realized how often they have literally hung themselves, they’d never do it again. It’s my view multitasking is one of the biggest myths accepted by the general American culture in the last decade. I know many who have convinced themselves of their ‘efficiency’ via this excuse for mediocrity.
I catch myself doing it all the time and it irritates me no end. Bottom line? Humans simply aren’t wired to analyze three different investments comparatively while listening to talk radio, and talking on the phone. It’s a joke, isn’t it? Yet we all do it. It’s an infection. 
I’ve even been ridiculed for doing one thing at a time. The world screams for excellence. How has multitasking survived at all? It’s beyond me. If there was ever a practical joke on all of us this has to take the blue ribbon.
Multitasking is a recipe for mediocrity at best, and abject failure on multiple levels at worst. And Jared puts it far better than I.
General Economy
Max Whitmore is one of those over night success stories that took a few decades. Actually, that’s probably not quite accurate. He’s been pretty dang successful for over 40 years now. He’s been a partner in a successful venture capital firm, and an S & P Trader for decades. In fact, as a trader there he found himself often ranking as the No. 1 trader out of a very select group of over 35 S&P traders nationwide.
In his post More On The Dropping Dollar Max showed why he’s respected nationwide as not only an astute investor and trader, but a a tutor for his readers who are legion.
In this brilliant post Whitmore exposes the Emperor completely, while maintaining a G rating. When all the smoke clears, nobody can touch the dollar, most peg their own currency to it, and since it’s been falling like a rock, they’re now complaining about having to compete with our quality products — now at prices making their inferior goods look like what it often is — overpriced and overrated.
Real Estate Related
This one was especially difficult, as most of what I read is obviously RE related. Duh.
I read very good to excellent writing on real estate blogs daily. Kris Berg is not only insightful, but often hilarious as she sneaks in her daily bit of education. Athol Kay who I swear comes from a galaxy far, far away, is an incredible photographer. His daily take on bad MLS photos of the day is a favorite all over the country. BloodhoundBlog, sporting about a million contributors these days, informs, critiques, and generally dominates the real estate room these days, should be required reading. (I don’t say that just cuz I’m a Bloodhound contributor.) Then there’s Agent Genius which also offers many contributors. Their take is different from many of the group blogs, in that they couldn’t care less what readers think. Their readers count on that. I could go on and on, but you get the point. There are some pretty smart folks writing about real estate on a daily basis.
Picking one post of the literally 2-3,000 I’ve read this year as ‘best’ is a direct result of BawldGuy subjectivity gone amuck. Then I nearly gave up.
However, Brian Brady’s HARD MONEY: Buy at Eight. Sell at Twelve. Repeat. managed to make an pretty dry and BORING subject easy to grasp. In essence, Brian shows the average home owner how to be his own bank. After all, if you borrow at X% and lend the cash out at X+3% yer probably gonna come out ahead.
I’ve been on every side of hard money lending, and gave up long ago trying to explain it. It’s one of those subjects surrounded by misunderstanding so deep and wide, it’s scary. Brian cuts through all that arriving at the jackpot — without any pain whatsoever.
Arbitrage is not a dirty word — it’s what’s made some families incredibly wealthy for centuries. Brian explains it in a way folks get quickly. Check it out and see what I mean.
The 1ST Annual Bawldy of the Year Award goes to…
Max Whitmore’s More On The Dropping Dollar hit on why I think is the real untold (under told?) story of the year. Not only that, but his explanation of why it was actually beneficial to us was deserving of a public service award. Max sometimes makes the so called ‘expert’ talking heads appear like the, well, talking heads they are. Blah blah blah, with little meaning, and often very little conclusive value.
You’ll never find yourself shortchanged by Max Whitmore — whether you agree with him or not.
I love his plain spoken style, founded upon slam dunk knowledge, supported by 40 years of mostly being — RIGHT.
2008 will see an increase in Bawldys posts. Daily won’t be happening, but once to twice weekly is in the cards. At least that’s what it says right here.
Happy New Year!!
Posted on December 27, 2007 @ 7:45 pm - Written by BawldGuy
There’s so many important tasks on our plates this time of year — laying out your plans for world domination being just one of them, right? One of my tasks is picking the Bawldy Bests of 2007. Your input is much appreciated, and will have significant weight.
That’s code for, ‘Please tell me your favorites, but I’ll still be making the final decisions.’
The following is my short list for year end awards.
As usual with these kinda things, don’t infer any importance from the order in which they’re listed.
Kevin Boer’s post of June 29th addressing, If Alan Greenspan Were A Realtor.
Max Whitmore’s piece, More On The Dropping Dollar which explained in plain English why the dollar dropping wasn’t the end of the world by any means.
Rich G. over at Simplerich wrote a non-real estate related piece on August 14th called The Set-Up. It was for Rich a chance to show off his skills at just writing. I said it was a good read then, and nothing’s changed. It reaffirmed, for me anyway, why we should often put our immediate ‘real time’ reactions to life’s little surprises on the back burner. That one strategy allows you (me, all of us) to retain what’s important for the big picture, or long view.
Jared Sanberg wrote a piece well over a year ago titled, Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work. Unless you’re wired differently than the rest of humankind, your brain simply can’t get the jobs done — or if they can, the quality suffers measurably. You’re not that good, no matter what hype you’re feedin’ yourself. Nobody is.
Steve Farber shows us via video of one of his speaking engagements, what an OS!M is. Your recognition will be instantaneous once he explains it. I know Steve personally, and he’s 12 ounces in a 10 ounce cup in person.
Brian Brady reveals real time empirical evidence of the BawldGuy Axiom — Lenders Lend. I include this post to illustrate what is so often lost in the unceasing Chicken Little approach applied by mainstream media on subjects near and dear to us all. When Lenders Stop Lending, Another Lender Lends caught the axiom in real time application. It was no coincidence Brian was the pro who captured the moment for what it was.
Chris Cree gave some folks another reason to blame for their lack of success back on July 28th. His piece on Hard Work is kind hearted without losing it’s razor sharp cutting edge. Well worth revisiting, especially this time of year.
Brian Brady explains Hard Money Lending so even a real estate agent can understand. Buy At Eight. Sell At Twelve. Repeat is the best I”ve read on the subject as far as simple explanation. I’ve been both a direct lender, borrower, and purchaser of hard money trust deeds. For those who think his method is risky — you should stick to tax free treasuries and call it a day.
Your suggestions and comments will be appreciated. Good, bad, or ugly — we’re game.
Posted on December 20, 2007 @ 8:23 am - Written by BawldGuy
It’s not that I don’t want to put out a Bawldy’s post daily. As many ‘good ideas’ it has slammed into reality the way San Diego sports fans do every football and baseball season.
Today I have four posts for your perusal.
Phil Hoover tells us exactly when the market is gonna hit bottom. He’s a very experienced real estate guy. This has to be the most valuable stocking stuff a real estate investor could hope for. Phil’s a pretty conservative guy, (that’s code for old school dinosaur ) and he wouldn’t just make this stuff up.
David Stejkowski gives advice to budding real estate lawyers. The advice is brief, to the point, and in my opinion, right on target. He’s also right about mitigating risk — it can be carried to far, or not far enough.
Sellsius gives us 20 ways to maintain a healthy level of insanity. I guarantee you, you’ll be using them as your own before the day’s over. You know how you are.
Athol Kayis an agent in Connecticut who happens to be one of the best real estate photographers I’ve ever seen. His daily offering of ‘Bad MLS photos’ are a favorite of readers across the country. Today he published a video of what I think may be the next Judy Garland — and she’s six years old. Forget any other kid you heard sing. This little girl is once in a generation. When you’ve finished the video, don’t leave. Click on the video below with ‘final’ in the title. This is a MUST SEE.
“…and remember. The daily Bawldys have approximately 1/365th the value of our annual awards.”
Posted on December 2, 2007 @ 8:35 pm - Written by BawldGuy
I know, I know — haven’t exactly been turnin’ out the Bawldy’s of late. It’s partly my fault, probably mostly my fault. Anyway, here are some worthy posts.
Craig Harper is, as some of my friends have insisted, me in Australia, blogging about motivation and good health. He’s a no nonsense kinda guy, who thinks PC stand for Pretty Cool. He takes no prisoners, and asks for no mercy. He’s been on my reader for quite awhile. He’s in demand as a speaker, and is on radio often. In this post he talks about overeating during the holidays, especially Christmas. If you want a good laugh, and don’t take yourself too seriously, have a fat ol’ time readin’ what Craig thinks of PC and the word fat.
Chris Smith is a real live real estate investor — who knows what he’s doing. He writes about it on his blog, equityscout.com. If you’re a gal, don’t read his about page resume, cuz you’ll get excited — then learn he’s happily married. Same advice to guys, except for us, his resume leaves us feeling slightly depressed and way inadequate. Think real life character in a Tom Clancy novel, and you’ve described Chris. Anyway, in a recent stellar post, he wrote how best to prepare for keeping a tenant’s deposit when they’ve, uh, behaved badly. I ran Brown & Brown’s property management division for 10 years. Chris hits this one outa da park.
James Hsu is a fellow contributor to BloodhoundBlog, the second largest real estate oriented blog in the country. He wrote a post last week about the soon to be norm — the paperless office. You’ll want to read the comments, as the Dirt Lawyer, at my request, graciously took time to read and contribute to the discussion. Both the technical and legal sides of this topic are pretty interesting. If you’re a real estate investor — you may have already experienced at least some of this technology.
“…and remember. The daily Bawldys have approximately 1/365th the value of our annual awards.”
Posted on September 1, 2007 @ 7:43 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Today I’m going astray, with but one exception. I’ll let the following posts speak for themselves.
$4,080 to Man Who Loses Head in German Hospital is something only Stephen King would make up. The fact it’s true is even more macabre. Answer the question for yourself at the end. It also gives us some insight into another culture’s values.
Brian Brady writes San Diego Mortgage Rates Report: August 31, 2007 - Don’t Hold Out For A Hero, which warns lenders Bernanke will let the market decide whether they’re each worthy of continued existence.
Jared Sandberg of The Wall Street Journal Online, upholds what I’ve said from day one about multitasking. The post is almost a year old, but makes a point that might will change how you look at both time management and quality of results — two pretty important factors in the life of any business.
“…and remember. The daily Bawldys have approximately 1/365th the value of our annual awards.”