Category: Group Therapy (page 45 of 81)

January 25, 2011

Heads up, America: Slavery is not somehow virtuous when you enslave each other. If you want freedom, you must demand freedom.

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Here’s the political issue that matters: Government is crime.

When your local City Hall tells you which trees you must plant in your yard, that’s a crime against you.

When your state taxes your income in order to give your money to people who did not earn it, that’s a crime against you.

When the federal government dictates the specifications of the products you can buy and the tariffs you must pay to obtain products you want still more, that’s a crime against you.

We are not a family composed of 300 million strangers, we are each one of us individual human beings, each with our own minds, our own lives, our own families, our own hopes, dreams, wishes and plans. When the government impedes your life in any way — that’s a crime against you.

We don’t need to reduce this or reform that, we need to rid our civilization of this systemic criminality.

That is the message we should be hearing from the newly-elected presumptive friends of human liberty. If the new Congress is not committed to individual rights, then it’s just more Collectivism-on-the-Cheap: All the intrusiveness but even less satisfying!

Nobody is going to change anything overnight, nor very dramatically very soon. But if we don’t start making dramatic changes in the way we govern ourselves, we will succeed only in enslaving ourselves and our children.

That is what we need to focus on: Ridding our society of all criminal intrusions into the lives of individuals innocent of all wrong-doing.

So-called technological and economic “miracles” will result, of course, but that’s irrelevant. It is wrong to prey upon individual human beings, no matter what the nature of the predator. It is no less an abomination to be enslaved by a democracy than by an aristocracy or a dictatorship. It was freedom from all forms of tyranny that the American patriots fought to win for themselves and their children.

If you want freedom, demand freedom — which can only mean individual freedom. Demand that your governments stop committing crimes against you and your neighbors.

If you’re not willing to do this, you and the people you elect to represent you Read more

January 16, 2011

Just be yourself

by Robert Worthington

Realtor, Guerilla Technologist

If you believe in not siding with any party in an attempt to remain neutral, please stop reading. This post is a post that has been on my mind which is about being yourself and doing what makes you happy. I was 22 when I bought my first home. My parents told me not to buy that home, 5 years later it was the best thing I ever bought when I sold it. I was told you CAN’T say your a Christian believer that Jesus Christ is your savor on your real estate website; I’ve sold houses to Christians and made really good friends in and around the industry because of it. I was told flat out, find a job that more steady that real estate, something safer; however I love living on the edge. I even doubted myself when I thought my family couldn’t afford to tithe; my wife thought otherwise and we do. I was told not a buy a used Cadillac as they don’t hold up; I still drive it to this day.

I love being myself. It’s not about always pleasing other people including the customers in your business. I had a prospect call me a year ago. He asked me questions up and down that was raising red flags left and right, my gut feeling told me to hang up on him; I did. I was told I was too young to be in the real estate business, I’m still young and still in it today. Russell Shaw stated himself, if his team goes on a 1,000 listing appointments, he’ll take 500 of them. Wow. I believe in myself and I believe in my decisions, and that’s exactly what I want you who is reading this right now to believe. Greg Swann is an Author and Eric Blackwell is an seo guru, relationship builder. We all make mistakes, (liking hanging up on a call in), but the point is this, believe in yourself and BE YOURSELF.

January 9, 2011

Final Scene. Cut, Print… That Was, Unfortunately, a Wrap.

by Sean Purcell

Real Estate Renaissance Man

EXT. CHICAGO STREET – NIGHT

The MAN walks up to the cab. The back door is open and a PASSENGER sits inside. The Man leans in and talks to the Passenger.

MAN

I’d like to tell you I’ll stay in touch, but… hell, I haven’t stayed in touch at all over the past years.

PASSENGER

Don’t worry about it.

The Man reaches out to shake hands. He’s trying to come across with a kind of distant warmth common to men who don’t express any real feelings, but his smile only makes him look sadder.

MAN

It’s been great to see you bro’.

The Passenger accepts the Man’s handshake and pulls it in tight, bringing both men together. The Passenger wraps his other arm around the Man, embracing him in a hug.

PASSENGER

You too.

MAN

(still hugging)

I had a great time this weekend. I really miss talking to you… And getting to see everyone again, like old times? You were always the one; you always brought everyone together.

The Man begins pulling back from the hug. They drop the handshake, but the Man remains there; leaning into the back of the cab. They are close in proximity. The Passenger is relaxed… accepting, but the Man feels a little awkward. He holds on to the front seat of the cab to steady himself. His grip tightens, willing himself to hold the position. To remain close.

PASSENGER

(in a tired, weak voice)

Yeah?

MAN

Yeah.

(looking directly into the Passenger’s eyes)

MAN (CON’T)

You know, if there’s anything I can do… Anything you need…

PASSENGER

(nodding gently)

I know.

The Man lets go his grip on the front seat and begins to straighten up out of the cab. The headlight of a passing car reflects wetness in his eyes.

MAN

Take care of yourself brother

PASSENGER

You too…

It’s dark and it’s snowing and the wind whips at the Man’s jacket collar. He turns and walks five or six steps back to the sidewalk. His face looks like it might have been five or six miles. The snow muffles everything and it is quiet. The Man turns and looks back into the cab; through the front windshield. He sees only a silhouette now. He raises his arm up, bent at the elbow, hand about shoulder height. Read more

January 5, 2011

I’m Back – ready to entertain my fellow bloodhounds again

by Robert Worthington

Realtor, Guerilla Technologist

I’ve been absent for a bit. 2010 was the year I decided to move my life and business from Wisconsin to Florida. Bascially, I was tired of selling homes for $125k, tired of freezing cold winters, and tired of not living the dream. I’d always dreamed of buying a retirement home in Florida. Today however, I can tell you I’m writing this blog post from my family’s small 2 bedroom apartment. We sold our house, and moved to Florida.

In short, the past six months have been filled with setting up a real estate brokerage, all while studying a 400 page book for the state brokers exam, all while my wife is pregnant and going to give birth 1-6-11, all while running a business in Wisconsin, and all while trying recruit agents, and start a successful real estate business in Florida.

I can confidently say that never ever again will I attempt to go to the extreme of moving a business, although moving a business is a 4 to 5 part blog post just in itself. Greg Swann can no longer write about the how nice the weather is in Arizona while I used to be jealous, envious, and wishing for his Arizona weather year round. Although Florida is not Arizona, it’s the paradise I currently live in and plan to enjoy till the ticker stops ticking.

Most of all, I’m glad to be back in the saddle again. I’m glad to be reading posts from bloodhounders, instead of picking up that state exam book. If any of you reading this post right now are thinking of moving your real estate business, there is much work involved. Geeez, maybe in five years, I can tell you if it paid off or not for me. Either way, I’m living the dream!

December 30, 2010

My New Years Resolution: To take care of today’s goals today, tomorrow’s tomorrow, and to track my progress every day.

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Yikes! The end of the month is upon us. The end of the year is upon us. I have no good opinion of New Years Resolutions, by now, but I think the world of chipping away at your goals day-by-day. Here’s a calendar for January to get your New Year off to the right start. Set some goals and track your progress. You’ll be amazed at your results, if you will just follow through one day at a time.

December 16, 2010

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

by Teri Lussier

Rust Belt Realtor

… which brings a groan from the deepest depths of my soul. I’m not holly jolly Christmas type. The hustle and bustle part of this season can put me in a funk. I used to wonder about that, but now I think it might be because I already have all I want for Christmas.

I do look forward to my own little family’s one Christmas tradition that isn’t pillaged by the outside world: Our Christmas Eve dinner of duck served with a changing assortment of side dishes and always a cordial glass worth of wine for the almost-of-age among us. It’s a time for us to slow down and reflect and love each other, and for each of us it’s become our favorite part of the holiday.

This is an amazing band from Cincinnati- Over The Rhine. This song is for those of us who dread the holidays but have learned how to live through them by creating our own traditions and finding our own way to be happy. Sing it, sister.

December 14, 2010

The global history of health and wealth over the past 200 years — expressed visually in four minutes.

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

This is amazing, but what’s more astounding to me is to think of how much more dramatic this presentation could have been without the taxes, restraints and wars foisted upon us by the state. Health and wealth are found first and most in free countries, last and worst in slave states. The inference to be drawn is obvious: The less government there is, the greater the longevity and prosperity of ordinary people.

December 13, 2010

Ascent to Splendor: Want to really see God’s creation? Make water.

by Tom Johnson

Realtor, Peripatetic Iconoclast

This just in. The photography in this film that commemorates the Space Shuttle program is stunning. Here is the standard for photography. Remember, our listings do not move and do not shed a ton and a half of mass per second. Here is a canonical archive of human ingenuity at its zenith. A million moving parts assembled by humans in search of splendor.

As Ronald Reagan said: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”

All you have to do is make water with a whole lot of human brain power, courage and a million moving parts.

December 13, 2010

Christmas at the cemetery — with Bubba

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story

December 25, 1998 – Christmas Day

If you want to hear your thoughts echo into a perfect silence – go to the cemetery.

I do it a lot, actually, not to be too terribly morbid. Potter’s fields and VA graveyards and tidy middle-class golf courses of the dead and tony, upscale permanent condominiums where they frown loudly on walk-in traffic. But democracy makes her last stand at the cemetery, so no one is ever actually turned away, and I expect it would take quite a performance to get yourself ejected.

But the cemetery is not the story – it’s just the honest part. The other part – to be much too kind – starts with my growing a tail.

A Secret Service tail, that is. Last August I wrote a story called ‘How Bubba pulled it off.’ It’s about a teenage masturbator who just happens to be President of the United States, and just after I wrote it I started noticing the tail.

Like this is so hard. I walk from place to place, that’s what I do. Sometimes I take a bus or a train or the subway. Rarely do I fly. Mostly I walk. When you’re walking into an empty dawn on an empty two lane road in upstate New York and the only car on the road is a big black Crown Victoria with D.C. tags, when it’s following you at idling speed with the running lights on – it’s a safe bet you’ve been fed-infested.

Four teams of two agents each, it turned out. They worked in eight hour shifts, and there is no better way to draw attention to yourself than to walk through a small town during the shift change with not one but two big black Crown Victorias following you.

At first it kinda ticked me off. I would run little games on the bozos to lose them – skipping the wrong way down a one-way street, in one door and right out the other, exiting through the freight entrance, that kind of stuff. They would not get out of the car, so I spent about a Read more

December 7, 2010

When the grasshoppers vote to enslave the ants, the ants vote with their feet: “I opt-out of California.”

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

From newgeography.com:

So, in protest to the insensitive indulgent big-spenders that run Sacramento, I say, “Don’t touch my junk!!!” My beautiful California home is now on the market for $2,000,000. My next home will be in a no state income tax state like Texas or Nevada. I will not buy that new Jaguar that I was planning to purchase for $75,000. I will keep my old Cadillac and deprive Sacramento of $6,562 from its 8.75% sales tax. My next purchase for my real estate business will be an office building in Prague in the Czech Republic, a democracy that has lower taxes and fewer regulations. My income will remain either offshore or in a state that does not confiscate like the money grubbers in Sacramento. And, I will not be investing my capital to create any new jobs in California. In the digital age, my staff will be located in states that are a little more business friendly.

Apparently, I am not alone. Migration out of California exceeds the rate of almost every other state. Why are my fellow “high-earners” leaving the Golden State? Maybe it is because California ranks nationally in the bottom two for business friendliness while placing third in state income taxes.

We have Jerry Brown as our Governor again, meaning that he will live his entire life without a real job. The Central Valley, once agricultural wonderland of America, has Depression era unemployment, this as a result of a green-inspired court water shut-off designed to protect an Anchovy sized piece of bait called the Delta Smelt. And, our brilliant voters – including those working class voters most impacted – rejected Prop 23. That means that on January 1, 2011, California must begin to reduce our greenhouse gases by 40%. To achieve this noble goal, we seem certain to make ourselves even more uncompetitive with other countries and other states.

If that was not enough, voters also approved Prop 25 which allows the public union dominated Democrats to pass its budget with a simple majority. They did such a good job ($20 billion shortfalls) when they were forced to obtain a 2/3rds Read more

December 3, 2010

This Article is a Waste of Your Time

by Sean Purcell

Real Estate Renaissance Man

The NAR has come out against the Debt Reduction Commission’s recommendation to eliminate (actually, not eliminate but rather greatly reduce and alter) the mortgage interest tax deduction (MID)… Isn’t that a shock? No? You knew those dip-shits at NAR would knee-jerk react to their sacred cow? Hey, I warned you in the title that this article is a waste of your time.

What has caught my eye is the speed with which the NAR propoganda hit mainstream agents and found its way to popular social media sites like Facebook. A quick look this morning and I must have caught half a dozen agents I know personally, out there spreading the bullshit around on behalf of the NAR; not realizing how hypocritical and stupid they looked.

Attention All Agents: Taxes are theft. You may acquiese to some form of theft in the ignorant belief that it somehow does some good. But tax deductions? They are pure evil. They are, by definition, designed to separate you from your natural freedoms through bribery and penalty. The mortgage interest tax deduction is no different and in some ways worse.

You might make allowance for the mugger on the street stealing your money because (he says) his kids are hungry. (I think you should kick his ass, in no small part because it may be the best thing you can do for his kids… but that’s a different post.) But do you really want to defend the guy who takes your money and then tells you that if you will walk where he tells you and stop where he tells you and wear what he tells you, he might (MIGHT!) give you some of your own money back? Are you that spineless? Let me see if Ican put this into perspective:

I (the government) have declared that all real estate agents must give me 30% of their commission checks. But, I think funny underwear makes people laugh and laughter is a social good… so if you’ll wear funny underwear on your head I’ll give you some of your commission back.

Feeling pretty good about your deduction? Take that stupid underwear off your head and pay attention! It’s not even true! The vast majority of tax payers Read more

December 3, 2010

Zillow says, “If you will send us your clients as web traffic, we’ll be pleased to sell them back to you, again and again, from now on.”

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Q: What do you do when your massive Realty.bot web site, target-marketed to equity-rich home-sellers, finds itself in a real estate market where most sellers are upside down and do not give a rat’s ass what their homes might sell for?

A: Punt.

This is an eyeball play, up front, just pure traffic-baiting. But the genius of it is that it turns into FUD for the agents in the long run: A million necks, one noose.

These sites are just noise, by now, just more “media” — uninformed opinions from people who make their living doing something other than selling real estate. Delivering your clients to them strikes me as a poor idea.

December 2, 2010

Duh

by Jeff Brown

Real Estate Investments Broker

Early yesterday evening I was truly fortunate to be in a room with a buncha smart, highly successful, incredibly skilled people. There were bazillion$ sitting there, discussing what they do for a living, the real estate industry in general, marketing, and the normal stuff. I’m not gonna talk much about the whole syndication of listings comedy of horrors (my description), except as it relates to the difference between perception and reality.

How is it guys like me can sell a home in a matter of hours, 16% over the median price in the region? No syndication, at least none for which I paid. If some happened as a result of the listing hitting the local MLS, I can’t control that. In any case, it didn’t sell the home.

My efforts did. My experience did. My expertise did. And so does yours.

Let me make it even more irritating. Earlier this year a new client in another state had a small rental home, ripe for a tax deferred exchange. First step? Get it sold. He wanted to initially sell it himself, so I coached him. He did everything I asked of him, and did it well. Took about 30 days. Got his price. It closed. Completed his exchange. All he was interested in was results. I told him he didn’t need anything but his local MLS. Guess he must’ve been an M.I.T. grad, right? Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Back to the group in the room.

There were no newbies in the room, at least none I could identify by sight. 🙂 One was a fellow Bloodhound contributor. All agreed that what I didn’t realize is how the sellers themselves insist, before listing, that the broker agree to waste much of their marketing cash on worthless syndication, Zillow, Trulia, and the Usual Suspects. One even said many sellers insist she pay for freakin’ newspaper ads, money she knows might as well be thrown into a roaring fire. I was originally licensed in the Pliocene epoch of real estate, when Truman was still alive, McDonald’s hamburgers were 15¢, and offers to purchase were one page, 8X11, fill Read more

December 2, 2010

Unchained melodies: An ostensive exposition of the vital importance of shit-kicker music to the maintenance of a rebel attitude.

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

We’ve been listening to Badlands Country, a rockin’ kind of outlaw alt.country internet radio station. You can get it through the link above, but it should be available from just about any internet radio client. I found it first on iTunes, if that helps, and I listen to in on my iPhone by way of ooTunes, which is totally worth having just by itself.

Badlands has a pretty long playlist, most of it in-your-face rebel country — with zero Nashville pop pabulum.

The station is epoch-eclectic, to say the least, but one of the things I like about it is that they play a lot of classic country, the stuff you will never hear on broadcast stations.

Like this: When Johnny Cash was most enthralled by the music of Bob Dylan, he wrote an homage to Don’t think twice, it’s alright called Understand your man. The debt to Dylan is more than obvious, but the Man in Black wrote a song that is darker, funnier and much more true to the reality of a broken marriage:

I love songwriters as much as I love their songs, and Lacy J. Dalton recorded the absolute best song about songwriting in Sixteenth Avenue:

My pappy purely loves Tom T. Hall, one of the great Nashville songwriters, and I love it that there is still room for his music in the Badlands:

Is all that too old-timey for you? That whole Texas alt.country scene is well-represented, from Chris Knight to Reckless Kelly to James McMurtry. Here’s Fred Eaglesmith with I like trains:

And if you’re lookin’ for more of a back-beat, more of an urban rhythm, the Badlands has you covered, with tunes like this cover of Snoop Dogg’s Gin and juice from The Gourds (not safe for work, kids or your mom):

There’s always room for bebop in our lives — and especially in my car. But Badlands Country is a rockin’ way to deliver the goods in the office.

December 1, 2010

Jeff Brown says you might want to keep your goals to yourself. Jim Klein says every intentional action you take is the expression of a goal, even just the goal of wasting time. Greg Swann says simply this: If you track your achievement of your goals, you’ll achieve more of them.

by Greg Swann

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

So… Get tracking. Here’s a calendar for December.

Category: Group Therapy (page 45 of 81)

Heads up, America: Slavery is not somehow virtuous when you enslave each other. If you want freedom, you must demand freedom.

by Greg Swann

Just be yourself

by Robert Worthington

Final Scene. Cut, Print… That Was, Unfortunately, a Wrap.

by Sean Purcell

I’m Back – ready to entertain my fellow bloodhounds again

by Robert Worthington

My New Years Resolution: To take care of today’s goals today, tomorrow’s tomorrow, and to track my progress every day.

by Greg Swann

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

by Teri Lussier

The global history of health and wealth over the past 200 years — expressed visually in four minutes.

by Greg Swann

Ascent to Splendor: Want to really see God’s creation? Make water.

by Tom Johnson

Christmas at the cemetery — with Bubba

by Greg Swann

When the grasshoppers vote to enslave the ants, the ants vote with their feet: “I opt-out of California.”

by Greg Swann

This Article is a Waste of Your Time

by Sean Purcell

Zillow says, “If you will send us your clients as web traffic, we’ll be pleased to sell them back to you, again and again, from now on.”

by Greg Swann

Duh

by Jeff Brown

Unchained melodies: An ostensive exposition of the vital importance of shit-kicker music to the maintenance of a rebel attitude.

by Greg Swann

Jeff Brown says you might want to keep your goals to yourself. Jim Klein says every intentional action you take is the expression of a goal, even just the goal of wasting time. Greg Swann says simply this: If you track your achievement of your goals, you’ll achieve more of them.

by Greg Swann

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