Posted on May 10, 2008 @ 11:36 pm - Written by BawldGuy
If you wanna find out what ‘through thick and thin’ means in terms of application, most moms qualify as role models. I know mine sure does. Having just turned 77 last month she still works out regularly, signs up my local clients when their loan docs are ready, and makes Josh and I lunch on Thursdays. We call it Lunch At Mom’s. We get home cooked meals, get to hear great and sometimes forgotten family tales, and hugs from Mom (Grandma) when leaving.
So often it’s Mom who gets you through those tough spots in life when there’s not much anyone can do. They have that sixth sense mom’s have about what to do and say when their kids need ‘em.
She’s the one whose voice came through the crowd in Little League when, as a pitcher I couldn’t get a break. ‘Calm down’ in the soft, yet strong voice wafted through the din. Immediately calm. Figured a way for me to get my band uniform when, as a freshman I surprised everyone, mostly myself, by making the traveling marching band in a high school known regionally for their band. Oh, not impressed? That year at the Long Beach All Western Parade and band competition we took fifth place — out of all the high school bands in the 11 western states. In a word? We’re were flat out bitchen.
A single mom with kids in the 50’s and 60’s was no walk in the park, but she pulled it off. Looking back as a man with grown kids, I simply have no idea how she did it. She flat took care of business. If there’s ever a role model for true blue, take a bullet for the team, loyal to the end, don’t irritate the mother bear, mom? She’s it.
She’s never wavered in her faith in me, and there have been times when it made the difference. She and Grandma, along with her sisters, incredibly strong women all, are the reason strong women don’t scare me, and never have. I love strong women to death. Married one. You’ve heard her referred to here as The Boss, a term you should take the way it’s intended, which is literally. Upon meeting for the first time she asked me if I was intimidated by strong women. I laughed out loud, then told her I’d remind her she asked me that after she met Mom and her sisters.
My ability to remain calm in the storm while everyone around is running for cover, is a direct result of watching her in real life. The pressures of investment real estate? A joke compared to the pressure under which she consistently performed. Much of what I am today is due to watching her step up to the plate with the game on the line. The difference? It wasn’t a game, it was real life, with two kids depending on Mom comin’ through. Seems she’s been doing that most of her life. We should all have her batting average.
Mom reminds me so much of Grandma.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I love you.
The following is offered as a warning to sons everywhere. If yer gonna have Mom on national live TV, you might wanna ensure you’ve been spending some time with her. Ya think she’ll be on next year?
Posted on April 4, 2008 @ 3:56 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Focus on this — Dallas is now thought of as the best real estate investment market in the country. Opinions vary, but I’d surely put it into the top three without hesitation. All the factors required to put a smile on investors are in place. This hasn’t happened since I didn’t have kids. Wait a second, it’s never happened in my entire career — which began in October of ‘69.
We called this last year. It’s a win however you wanna look at it. Get in on some of it yourself. It’s not difficult — just email me. Before long we’ll be laughin’ and scratchiin’ and pretty soon we’ll be talkin’ about investing in real estate too.
So how’s your day been? Ever wake up without a care in the world? Today wasn’t one of those days.
First of all, The Boss is outa town for a week and a half being Designer Girl in Chicago and New York. When I’m in her world, I’m about as close to being a complete nobody as you can imagine. “Oh, you’ve never met my husband, have you? Honey, this is Michelle.” This is when I first realized my real world ranking. “Oh hi Mr. Designer Girl, how ya doin’ today?” “Oh, just fine thanks. Gotta love those new earrings, eh?” Then I’m off to the nearest flat screen sporting the ESPN logo.
Now you know why she goes on these trips sans Mr. Designer Girl.
Anywho, woke up this morning with about half a gallon of ‘I give a #$%#@’ for no reason I can think of. Grab a huge cup of coffee, then remember Josh and I are supposed to work out this morning ‘cuz it’s Mom’s 77th birthday. We’re takin’ her to lunch at our favorite Mexican place. Still, gotta workout in the morning, and with an amazingly ah, inferior attitude.
We’ve all had these days, right? Anyway, Mom’s birthday lunch was cool. I was feeling so superior as we sat down for lunch ‘cuz I’d worked out hard on a ‘bad’ day. That’s when Mom let us know she’d gotten her workout in before lunch. 77 years old and still goin’ to the gym. Talk about a pin in your self congratulating balloon.
Called my lender while walking into the restaurant. He’s more distracted than a six year old at the zoo. He excused himself, saying he was having a strong ADD day. I told him, “I thought I’d seen you at the meetings.”
Grandma always said talking care of business on the days you wanted to play hooky was called being an ‘adult’. Blech.
Posted on February 25, 2008 @ 11:52 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Before you play the video, a few words about what folks are looking for when searching for a real estate investment broker, a baker, or a candle stick maker.
Are you old enough to know who The Kingsmen were? 45 years ago they became, at least from where I stand, the poster band for the concept — One Hit Wonders. They were what’s known as a garage band. They recorded a song back in 1963 titled Louie Louie. It was a song written in ‘55 by Richard Berry, and though it made it up to #2 on the Billboard charts for six weeks, it never made #1 on Billboard. The Kingsmen never had another hit, not even close. They faded away into Rock ‘n Roll history. Still, Louie Louie is one of the most covered songs in the history of the genre. I’ve performed it with a friend locally at a local karaoke bar. (Ah, just let it go, OK? Thanks)
They tried their best to be the real thing, but couldn’t stand the test of time.
The music consumer loved that record but became apathetic to everything else the band ever recorded. It doesn’t matter why. The consumer voted no overwhelmingly.
Ever seen Dave Mason perform? He shows up on stage with his group, on time by the way. Usually wearing a baseball cap, a simple shirt and Levis. He greets the crowd, almost always a sold out crowd, small talks a couple minutes, then starts playing.
What’s the difference between The Kingsmen and Dave Mason?
RESULTS — simple, glitter free, hype free, sans any ‘look-at-me-me-me’ RESULTS.
That’s why Mason’s in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, and The Kingsmen are footnotes.
Dave Mason doesn’t have to act the fool on stage, because his talent produces the results his consumers have come to expect.
Mick Jagger delivers results too. He’s known as the ‘consummate’ performer. Fair enough. Still, we all know this truth — if he didn’t strut around the stage like a pigeon-peacock crossbreed on speed, he’d still be one of the best of all time because — he delivers the results consumers expect.
Everything else can be hyped and faked and smoke & mirrored and produced/directed within an inch of its life. But if the consumer/client goes to see Dave Mason and doesn’t eventually hear World In Changes or Only You Know And I Know — they’re gonna feel ripped off. Why?
‘Cuz they wanted a specifically defined list of results, and nothing less was gonna make the grade. I’ve seen Dave Mason live many times and he never disappoints.
GETTING THE EXPECTED RESULTS ALMOST NEVER DISAPPOINT
Results are the Gold Standard of all business measurement. The rest is good for debate or rhetoric, but not much else. You can be slick like Jagger, or just show up and get the job done stunningly like Mason — but the common denominator remains the same and is easy to ascertain — Results. Real estate investors are perfect examples of regular folks in search of results. If there’s any group more results oriented than investors, I’m not sure who’d they’d be.
BawldGuy Axiom: Retirement is built on years and years of solid results.
Segue To The Video.
When we go to a major sporting event in America we expect the national anthem to be played or sung. We’d prefer it be pure and inspiring to match the words and concepts for which it represents. We’re often disappointed.
When I watched and listened to these oh so young ladies, I began to get chills, followed quickly by glassy eyes. They delivered stellar results and I wanted to share them with you as a perfect example of delivering the hoped for results.
Thanks to Marian Brown for sending this to me. See you Thursday for lunch, Mom.
Posted on January 2, 2008 @ 2:18 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Just ask Audrey Davison about the reality of her future. She’s been living it in real time, and it’s not what she dreamed up for all those years of sacrificing. It’s what I’ve been calling a life sentence for years.
Here’s her story. As you finish reading this post, keep asking yourself what you’re doing differently than Audrey did. How many sacrifices did she gladly make in order to pay off her mortgage?
If her story doesn’t move you to action, nothing will. Her life is real time empirical evidence of the tragic results of using Grandpa Economics as a template for your retirement Plan.
Set aside some alone time to contemplate this New Year’s Resolution: I will take full control over my retirement plan by constructing a Purposeful Plan. I will construct this Plan knowing I’m the only one who can ensure a magnificently abundant retirement.
Audrey Davison has lived in Greenburgh New York for 43 years, and doesn’t wanna move. Until recently she was living out her retirement, which included a fully executed Plan taken verbatim from Grandpa Economics OR How To Turn Your Dream Retirement Into A Nightmare Life Sentence.
Audrey will be asking dozens of strangers each day if she ‘may help them’, while working for less than half of what my college student daughter makes for watching toddlers. She’s working for Greenburgh to pay off past due taxes on her home — the same home she’d worked and sweated to own sans debt. Free and clear. Without mortgage. No monthly loan payment.
Her Social Security check is a paltry $643 a month. She’s been forced to take out a reverse mortgage to make ends meet. Greenburgh has offered her a receptionist’s job at a pay rate of — no
Posted on June 16, 2007 @ 7:13 pm - Written by BawldGuy
Yesterday marked my 40th year as a San Diego resident. On June 15th, 1967 I’d just finished my last day of school. I’d decided to move from Orange County and live with Dad. There were no problems with Mom, a teenage boy just needs a dad, right? Anyway, San Diego at the time sported about a million people in the county. They now have more than that inside the city limits. There are 3 million in the county — triple, and it’s been that way for awhile.
As one looks back, the changes are mind boggling. I clearly remember taking the train from the Fullerton depot to San Diego on visits to Dad. He’d pick me up at the downtown Sante Fe Depot — which is one of the few things that haven’t changed much in 40 years. There are several finished new freeways that go to centers of population that simply didn’t exist the day I first arrived. There are also several regional malls now. Downtown was scary after dark, and no day at the park otherwise. Today? It’s the polar opposite. The Gaslamp area is now nationally known. There have been hundreds of condos built and sold, many with breathtaking views.
The Padres were a minor league team then, and played downtown at Lane Field. A caveat: I’m not at all sure when it was demolished. The aerial shot was taken long before I was born. It’s long gone, as it was near the water and not exactly the highest and best use of the location. Today, they are a major league team, have been to the World Series twice, and are on their second stadium, located — you guessed it — downtown. The wheel has gone full circle. Here’s Petco Park in all its spendor.
Less than 30 months after first arriving in San Diego, October 1969, I was driving to one of my dad’s real estate offices for my first day of work as a licensed agent. I took a listing six hours later from a FSBO — $18,100 for a 4 beddroom home. Since it was overpriced, it never sold. Go figure.
My guess is back then, the median price for a home was give or take $22,000. In fact, when someone once listed a home in a neighborhood known as Del Cerro for almost $35,000, we couldn’t wait for caravan day to see what a home that expensive looked like. That home today? Even with the current correction, it couldn’t be less than $570-600,000!
There are so many more high schools since I moved here. I can’t name many of them. There are a few new junior colleges. San Diego State soon became so overcrowed, the ‘four year degree’ became a local joke. My daughter attends SDSU — and gets there by trolley. Today, the largest traffic problems at rush hour are generated by North County residents. 40 years ago? It was unwanted vacant land, populated by folks wanting to be away from ‘the masses’. In that area of the county there are at least a half dozen new high schools. And the home? The vast majority of homes in that area are easily above the county median price.
The one thing that hasn’t changed? It’s the one bad thing about living here.
You don’t know where to go for vacation.
Lunch with Mom (Grandma)
Looking at this photo, taken at her sister’s place, it’s no wonder the BawldGuy grew up properly oriented to authority.
A while back I thought it would be cool for Josh and I to visit Mom for lunch once a week. We get to eat her home cooking, visit with her, and catch up on family goings on. Josh gets to learn about Dad sometimes, but generally hears family stories told in the first person by Grandma. It’s been a super addition to our weekly schedule. A sit down lunch with a very nice salad of some kind, and we’re often served entres made directly from her Grandma’s (her mom) old cook book. It doesn’t get much better than that.
This week we had chicken fried steak with mashed taters ‘n gravy. You could hear the arteries closing while you ate. It was so good, it was like lunch was a giant dessert. Mom’s 76 years old but still works out regularly, does a lot of my local loan doc signing, and pretty much whatever else she feels like doing. Fortunately her little sister lives here too, about 45 minutes away.
Sometimes Mom says something during lunch which inspires a blog post here. It happened this week.
She reminded me of how much I’d learned from all the previous market corrections. I’d said after each one that the next time I’d do things differently because I’d seen the movie before. She was right, as we’re going to several states and acting as if this correction won’t be different than the last half dozen. Thanks to the ‘we’re always one step from another great depression’ media, we’ve been able to stay under the radar almost everywhere we go.
My thought for this Saturday is this: Though my crystal ball is a cracked as yours, I’m beginning to believe the days of sneaking into Boise, or Kansas City, or Denver etc., under the radar, and buying great property at great prices, might be coming to an end. At least the under the radar part. I think it’s possible that by the first quarter of ‘08 only the stubborn, blood thirsty media will still be claiming the sky is falling.
Real estate investors — buying now won’t be the worst thing you’ve ever done. Just don’t do it in places like San Diego.
They were what’s known as a garage band. They recorded a song back in 1963 titled Louie Louie. It was a song written in ‘55 by Richard Berry, and though it made it up to #2 on the Billboard charts for six weeks, it never made #1 on Billboard. The Kingsmen never had another hit, not even close. They faded away into Rock ‘n Roll history. Still, Louie Louie is one of the most covered songs in the history of the genre. I’ve performed it with a friend locally at a local karaoke bar. (Ah, just let it go, OK? Thanks)
