by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
Who said, “If you do it right, you can have all the business you can stand.” ? If you guessed Greg Swann, you were right. Click the link to hear his exuberance about the power of weblogging.
Here he is bragging about being the second best real estate blog in the country. This is one of the few times you’ll hear him get excited about coming in second place.
One of my favorites, Greg talks about the OLDEST sales tool and why everyone MUST have one.
Here’s Greg trying his hand as an anchorman on Bloodhound Blog TV.
This came from a phone call we recorded about a year where Greg tells you why we should “think globally and blog locally“.
Here’s Greg on national televison (advance to the end of the 20 minute video) where we find out that he sat in the same seat as former Presidential candidiate, John Mc Cain.
…and Greg’s inaugural interview with Russell Shaw.
Why the Greg-Fest? It’s his birthday today !
Wanna wish him a Happy Birthday? Don’t do it here rather post it on his Facebook page. Greg’s presence is woefully inadequate on that social platform. You aren’t connected to him? Friend him up!
Happy Birthday, Padnuh!
Sean Purcell says:
Happy Birthday to one of the best minds I have ever met and to one of the most giving people I have the pleasure of knowing. Your discussions are a gift and your contributions are a blessing. Slainte!
November 14, 2008 — 1:21 am
Teri Lussier says:
Happy Birthday! What a dear friend you are. Here’s to many many more!
(facebook…grumble…grumble…How many friends do you have on facebook, Brian?) 😀
November 14, 2008 — 3:06 am
Barry Bevis says:
Happy Birthday Greg…
May the next year bring as much inspiration and enthusiasm!
November 14, 2008 — 3:35 am
Steven Leung says:
“and many more…”
November 14, 2008 — 3:49 am
Susie Blackmon says:
Happy Birthday Greg. Great ‘meeting’ you at Bloodhound last weekend. Wanting all the biz I can stand… so I can be in Phoenix in 2009! You are just a puppy, I can tell!
November 14, 2008 — 4:06 am
Dave Phillips says:
Happy Birthday Greg! Thanks for all you do to push the discussion forward.
November 14, 2008 — 5:28 am
Russell Volk says:
Happy Birthday Greg! You’ve been an inspiration to many of us here.
November 14, 2008 — 7:15 am
Eric Blackwell says:
@Greg- Happy Birthday! I was singing in harmony with Steven so no need to add to “and many more!”
@Teri- (smile-too funny)
November 14, 2008 — 7:20 am
Greg Swann says:
Oh, good grief. Thank you, Brian, and thanks to all the people who have commented. Birthdays don’t mean anything to me, so as much as I love you all, don’t wait up for my phone call on your birthday. I promise I’ll forget.
But since Brian raised the topic, I’d like to point you to three links, things I see as being the most important work I have done here:
First, take a look at Real estate licensing laws are a criminal conspiracy against the consumer created by and for the benefit of a cartel. There is no chance that occupational licensing laws will be repealed any time soon, but it were well for wise minds to be on their guard against these kinds of hustles.
Second, I commend you to the e-book version of A consumer’s guide to the divorced real estate commission. This is a reform we might actually hope and pray for, if not from a litigation-fearing NAR then from a wise judge thundering with benevolence.
Finally, because the purpose of life is not squalor but splendor, I direct your attention to everything we do to list homes for sale. Get thee hence and do ye likewise.
And now I’m all sentimental despite myself. I really love what we do here. I love it that we can push the real estate profession to be faster, smarter, cheaper — and morally better — as a result of the work we do here together. I don’t care about birthdays, but BloodhoundBlog is a gift I treasure very much.
Bless you. Thank you all for being here.
November 14, 2008 — 7:31 am
Tom at the Real Estate Bloggers says:
Happy Birthday my friend.
While you may not go overboard celebrating the day, many of us do celebrate that you are around.
Keep up the great work and take a few minutes for some introspection on how wonderful life is.
November 14, 2008 — 7:55 am
Greg Swann says:
> Keep up the great work and take a few minutes for some introspection on how wonderful life is.
Your read my mind…
November 14, 2008 — 8:09 am
Sherry Chris says:
Greg, from all of us at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – have a wonderful birthday! We are sending you a little birthday gift…..
November 14, 2008 — 8:49 am
Greg Swann says:
> We are sending you a little birthday gift…..
You’re too sweet. Thank you.
November 14, 2008 — 9:02 am
Michelle DeRepentigny says:
Have a happy one. I think I will celebrate by reading some more over at
Greg Swann Writes. I’m fascinated 🙂
November 14, 2008 — 10:57 am
Dennis Blackmore says:
I don’t believe the others saying you are older than “dirt”?
November 14, 2008 — 10:58 am
Daniel, The Real Estate Zebra says:
. . . and many more!
November 14, 2008 — 1:16 pm
J Boyer Morristown NJ says:
Happy Birthday Greg,
Keep up the great work and have a cold one on us.
November 14, 2008 — 1:55 pm
Mark Madsen says:
Happy Birthday Greg!
I heard Andy Andrews speak this week at a convention. He is the New York Times best selling author of The Traveler’s Gift.
Andy said “It is our obligation to make this world a better place….”
He obviously said much more, but that one statement made me think of Bloodhoundblog, along with some of the other online leaders that work so hard to make our industry better.
Thank you for your commitment to enrich the lives of others around you.
November 14, 2008 — 7:50 pm
Jillayne Schlicke says:
Happy Birthday, Greg!
November 14, 2008 — 9:01 pm
Greg Swann says:
Bless you all. Thank you for your kind wishes here, in email and on Facebook. People are always telling me in person that they expect me to be mean, which is funny to me, but it is beyond doubt that other people are much nicer to me than I am to them.
Here’s a blast from my past: I was driving long before I was of driving age. I don’t have any huge respect for laws — had you guessed? — and the high-D always drives. But I realized I would be in deep shit if I ever got caught driving without a license, so I lied on my driver’s ed application, telling the state that I was a year older than I actually was. I got my driver’s license at 15 and all was right with the world. I eventually corrected the factual record in 1995 in Arizona. But evidently the State of Illinois still thinks I was born in 1958. They sold my information to the American Association of Retired People, who sent a birthday card to my mother’s house to celebrate my 50th birthday. I’m 49 years old today, which is plenty old enough, thank you. But I’m 50 in Illinois.
November 14, 2008 — 11:33 pm
Doug Quance says:
Something must have been in the air at that time. I, too, was born in Illinois… just five days before you. And like you, I learned to drive very early. In my case, at the tender age of eight.
I lived in Hawaii when I was 16, and managed to get a full-blown Commercial Driver’s License with only a motorcycle restriction. (I drove a crane for my driver’s test, but had no motorcycle to test with.)
With my “type 7″ CDL license, I applied for a job as a city bus driver. At 6’2” – and with full beard – I was accepted… right up until after they xeroxed my license and commented on my age.
“There seems to be an error… this license says you were born in 1959…”
“I was born in 1959,” I replied.
“That would make you 16 years old…”
“I am 16 years old,” I fearlessly stated.
“You can’t have a Commercial Driver’s License at 16!”
“Ah, but I do!” I fired back.
They did not let me drive the bus… which, in retrospect, was the right decision. I was able to skirt the rules of gaining a CDL by technicality, as state law required an applicant to be 18 years old to obtain a license to transport interstate goods. My claim was that all goods, by nature, were domesticated in Hawaii… and that argument worked well enough to get the license.
Both a friend of mine and myself obtained the only CDL’s in state history at the age of 16.
The state of Hawaii promptly added two more classifications of licenses… types 8 and 9 – both of which required the applicant to be 18, as these classes were chauffeur licenses – and all bus and limo drivers had to get the new licenses as a result of my efforts to get behind the big wheel.
Now if you tell me that you were born in the same town as Hillary Clinton – I’m going to fall over…
November 15, 2008 — 7:16 am
Greg Swann says:
> I lived in Hawaii when I was 16, and managed to get a full-blown Commercial Driver’s License with only a motorcycle restriction.
Oh, Bravo! That’s a great story.
And: Happy birthday, Doug!
November 15, 2008 — 9:27 am
Doug Quance says:
My bad – and a belated Happy Birthday to you, as well, sir.
I’ll give you a funny recap.
Owning a ’67 GTO at the age of 16 posed its own set of problems… namely the police.
While in line to pay a speeding ticket, the gentleman in front of me at the cashier’s window asked, “What am I supposed to do with this?” in reference to the receipt he had been handed.
“Save it,” the cashier replied, “When you get four of them – you get a bicycle!”
😆
As long as I have a memory, I will never forget that.
November 15, 2008 — 9:50 am
Brian Brady says:
“Save it,” the cashier replied, “When you get four of them – you get a bicycle!”
That’s classic
November 15, 2008 — 4:43 pm
Doug Quance says:
I’m not even sure the guy got the humor. I think he might have actually thought that they were giving away bicycles…
😆
November 15, 2008 — 5:20 pm