Sifting through all of the economic news it’s rare to find analysis focusing on the fundamentals. Two such tidbits were found on the American Economic Alert’s website and dealt with manufacturing, globalization and free-trade. The tie-in of free-trade to real estate and housing will, hopefully, be made clear.
Alan Tonelson’s article on export-led growth being at the core of our current economic meltdown (http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/view_art.asp?Prod_ID=3068&x=medium&fontsize=large) points out the logic of American manufacturers once again focusing on the domestic market as their best hope for growth and viability. Current trade policies favor other nations exporting to us in exchange for limited opportunity for U.S. manufacturers to export to them. This has been going on quite some time but has taken on gross proportions of unequal trade for the past 15 plus years or so.
Turning away from the financial and economic havoc these trade imbalances have wrecked on the American economy, let’s look at another victim: American urban culture and viability.
Cities and towns that were once thriving because of having manufacturing driving their economic engines are now, to varying degrees, rusting, and rotting shells of their former selves. Their remaining populations are often struggling within a third world- like existence. The global economy, like a gigolo lover, has promised a lot - but delivered nothing.
So, how does this tie in to real estate and housing?
President-elect Obama has long touted populist and working-man rhetoric. Now, it seems he may be in a position to actually make good on those promises (http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/news_item.asp?nid=3501886). If Obama and a recently elected and decidedly more fair-trading, pro-manufacturing Congress (read: renegotiating NAFTA, et al,) can make good on even some of their promises, look for the beginning of an industrial resurgence here at home. If that happens, cities may yet again be sources of jobs, culture and desirable, affordable housing. Economics, like politics, is, after all, local.
November 19, 2008
November 11, 2008
Getting back to basics
Deciding to switch my method of keeping in touch with clients, colleagues and others interested in real estate from my email newsletter (BG on Real Estate) to blogging at Home Practical has been some time coming. More and more frequently I was faced with questions or issues about the real estate market and housing / living trends.These issues needed to be handled in a more timely way and have a wider audience than by what was possible or practical with the newsletter. Referencing of past articles through archiving was also a consideration. But, the immediacy and certain directness of blogging is what is most compelling.
Monday evening 11/ 10 I attended a networking / Open House event with Dr. Veronica Waks at the Fairfield office of Janice Schwartz. Janice is the owner / practitioner of Health Touch (http://www.healthtouch-massage.com/). With things going as they are with the economy, it's no wonder Janice has such a bang-up practice helping people to unwind, detoxify and de-stress. But, it was throughout the evening that I was asked by quite a few people when I thought things would change for the better in the real estate market. Answer: "Who knows"? Mortgage money is available, prices continue to adjust more favorably for Buyers, so for them it's already a good market. Yet...people are yearning for stability and the focus on the real estate market is where they are hanging their hats. Let's see what February brings - after the presidential inauguration.
Meanwhile, most people who own or manage businesses are looking for ways to keep going in this economy. Small businesses may, ironically, again be the life blood of a new economy that will emerge from our present morass. The big box outfits and mega malls are experiencing a reaction to the sameness of it all. People seem to be wanting to have a feeling of connection with those that make and sell what they need on a day to day basis. This topic was touched upon during the 11/13 morning segment of NPR radio during an interview with Miami bookseller, Mitchell Kaplan http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96945363
Forming small business networking groups for mutual support and /or referrals is a growing trend in today's economy. I'm part of a newly forming network group that is made up of owners of a variety of businesses and services. We're meeting at my office Coldwell Banker 1700 Post Road in Fairfield @8:00A.M. every other Wednesday. For info just give me a call, 203-254-7100.
In reviewing some of my past writings I came upon The Courage to Change article I wrote this past summer just before things really went south. The idea of simplifying and doing more with less may finally be an idea that's time has come. This theme will be explored more and more within this blog. With a few changes, here again is:
The Courage to Change
Sometimes, what we have been doing for so long seems so deeply ingrained that we barely give it a thought. Perhaps, now is the time when we should no longer ignore that little voice that whispers, “…time to do it differently”.
All of us, must have the courage to change; to change what we think is necessary in our lives and to let go what is not. Most professional “organizers” have a rule of thumb when de-cluttering and simplifying their client’s homes or offices. If something hasn’t been used for a year – throw it out. But, how much better would it have been to never have accumulated so much stuff that there developed a need to hire someone to throw it out!
The principal of simplifying can also be applied to how we live. The building boom of the late 90’s to 2006 saw the expansion of “mega-house” construction. Homes having space of 4,000 square feet and larger – became more and more common. The architecture of these homes is often garish and characterized by wasted, inefficient use of space. The attempt to portray these homes as “energy efficient” or “green” by installing thermal windows and energy efficient appliances was often misleading. Vaulted, two-story ceilings, huge, cavernous rooms and improper materials or installation quite often resulted in highly inefficient homes. Were such homes necessary for the majority of the people that bought them? After a year or so of living in a mega-house, many owners find themselves surprised that the number of rooms or space actually used in the house on a regular basis is much less than they envisioned. The rest is unused or become areas in which to store, “stuff”.
William Morris, an important designer from the Arts & Crafts period of American architecture, said, "Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."
The same may now be said for the house itself - is it useful, beautiful and necessary? If not, might we ask ourselves, “Is it time for a change”?
Monday evening 11/ 10 I attended a networking / Open House event with Dr. Veronica Waks at the Fairfield office of Janice Schwartz. Janice is the owner / practitioner of Health Touch (http://www.healthtouch-massage.com/). With things going as they are with the economy, it's no wonder Janice has such a bang-up practice helping people to unwind, detoxify and de-stress. But, it was throughout the evening that I was asked by quite a few people when I thought things would change for the better in the real estate market. Answer: "Who knows"? Mortgage money is available, prices continue to adjust more favorably for Buyers, so for them it's already a good market. Yet...people are yearning for stability and the focus on the real estate market is where they are hanging their hats. Let's see what February brings - after the presidential inauguration.
Meanwhile, most people who own or manage businesses are looking for ways to keep going in this economy. Small businesses may, ironically, again be the life blood of a new economy that will emerge from our present morass. The big box outfits and mega malls are experiencing a reaction to the sameness of it all. People seem to be wanting to have a feeling of connection with those that make and sell what they need on a day to day basis. This topic was touched upon during the 11/13 morning segment of NPR radio during an interview with Miami bookseller, Mitchell Kaplan http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96945363
Forming small business networking groups for mutual support and /or referrals is a growing trend in today's economy. I'm part of a newly forming network group that is made up of owners of a variety of businesses and services. We're meeting at my office Coldwell Banker 1700 Post Road in Fairfield @8:00A.M. every other Wednesday. For info just give me a call, 203-254-7100.
In reviewing some of my past writings I came upon The Courage to Change article I wrote this past summer just before things really went south. The idea of simplifying and doing more with less may finally be an idea that's time has come. This theme will be explored more and more within this blog. With a few changes, here again is:
The Courage to Change
Sometimes, what we have been doing for so long seems so deeply ingrained that we barely give it a thought. Perhaps, now is the time when we should no longer ignore that little voice that whispers, “…time to do it differently”.
All of us, must have the courage to change; to change what we think is necessary in our lives and to let go what is not. Most professional “organizers” have a rule of thumb when de-cluttering and simplifying their client’s homes or offices. If something hasn’t been used for a year – throw it out. But, how much better would it have been to never have accumulated so much stuff that there developed a need to hire someone to throw it out!
The principal of simplifying can also be applied to how we live. The building boom of the late 90’s to 2006 saw the expansion of “mega-house” construction. Homes having space of 4,000 square feet and larger – became more and more common. The architecture of these homes is often garish and characterized by wasted, inefficient use of space. The attempt to portray these homes as “energy efficient” or “green” by installing thermal windows and energy efficient appliances was often misleading. Vaulted, two-story ceilings, huge, cavernous rooms and improper materials or installation quite often resulted in highly inefficient homes. Were such homes necessary for the majority of the people that bought them? After a year or so of living in a mega-house, many owners find themselves surprised that the number of rooms or space actually used in the house on a regular basis is much less than they envisioned. The rest is unused or become areas in which to store, “stuff”.
William Morris, an important designer from the Arts & Crafts period of American architecture, said, "Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."
The same may now be said for the house itself - is it useful, beautiful and necessary? If not, might we ask ourselves, “Is it time for a change”?
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