Herb's Portland Oregon Real Estate Blog your RE/MAX Agent

Without becoming too political, I would just like to make a comment about our well being as a society. The past 30 some years has honed the skills of political attack machines to a fine science.

The goal line has shifted. The two major political parties have separate agendas. Republicans have taken the stance that the ends justifies the means. They spend very little effort telling and or debating the story of their candidate on the issues.

Instead they focus all of thier attention has been described as a tearing down of the other person. Destroy the other candidate and you win by default.

The naive Democrats on the other hand believe in ideals and truths. They often say " Americans are smarter than that and will see right through that" after reviewing a republican attack add that is made up of innuendo and in many cases down right lies.

The truth is that Americans are truly just lazy. Today on the Golf course I met a fellow who said that he was an Obama supporter. His concern was, he said , that Obama did not seem to have an economic plan. I asked him if he had been to the Obama Web Site.

His response was, No. I explained to him that if he took a few moments and looked at the site he would see for himself that all of his concerns were covered in great depth. Yes he did have a computer, but chose to listen to sound bites rather than take the time to research the subject matter on his own.

But I digress. I did not begin this thought process with the intention of writing a post about politics. Instead I want to cover Journalism or the lack there of in the good old USA.

I have in the last several years met many a person from outside our country. Each and every person has pretty much the same impression. They are all shocked about ' American News ' be it TV, Radio, Newspapers or the Internet.  

In fact many people that I have met describe the American news experience as Tabloid back yard Gossip. I have to agree. Long gone are the hard hitting news stories where Pulitzer writing Journalists applied their trade, vetting contributors and chasing down the facts.

Today's news shows are just that. SHOWS. Designed only to provide enough sensationalism as to garner ratings which equals advertising revenues.

In days past news stories without corroboration of the facts, was not published or presented in any fashion. Un-named sources did not hit the airways. Today's news is just the opposite. The star of the show simply asks the questions that they think will be the most controversial and allow the source to answer in any way that they choose. Follow up debunking of the answer is not even a consideration. The closest you will get to that is to allow the other side to respond with their talking points.

Beyond the disservice that this does for our citizens, it serves to validate our acceptance of lies and liars. Not only do we teach our younger generations that lieing is okay we also tell the world that this nation is a nation of liars.

Should we have political candidates that run for office? Yes I think we should. But I also believe that each party should put forth their best candidate and that a vigorous debate on the issues should ensue. The people would then be able to see what each party truly has to offer and we would show the world how true democracy and freedom are played out.

As real estate Brokers and sales people we hold our selves to a high standard. Lies have no place in our careers. Nor should they for normal every day Americans.

Down in the dumps? This whole real estate market thing got you rethinking your life and career?

Well now you can GET out of the Funk with these 5 Steps.

 Step 1:

Quit. By far the quickest solution to end this turmoil for you may be to just quit the business and move on to other things. I remember sitting in a Mike Ferry Seminar in 1990 or 1991 in Palm Desert California. The previous year had been a trying one for many agents. When asked about the failure rate being so high ( touted at about 80%) Mikes quick answer was " more like 90 to 95% as 10 to 15% of the agents are out of the business they just don't know it". Is that you? Are you one of the 15% that don't know you are out of the business?

Step 2:

Shore up your funding. One of the sure recipes for failure is to cut back on expenses that create business. Things like Advertising, and exploration of new business. When business slows down the cost to create it goes up. If you do not take the steps necessary to create that new business you will fail. Now is the time to shore up that funding. Be it through a personal loan or home equity line of credit, you must keep the cash flow coming to create future income streams.

Step 3 :

Pay attention. Do you know where your business comes from? Are you an informed individual, reading publications and reports that effect your industry? If not, then how will you decide who or what to make those expenditures to? What is the hottest segment of the market now? Do you know? Or are you still marketing in a segment of the market that is in the dumps?

Step 4 :

Accountability. Review, rewrite and take action on your goals. Enlist someone from outside your inner circle of confidants to help keep you focused. People love successful people. More than that, often times people love to be involved with others success. Preferring to live vicariously through others rather than taking those frightening steps themselves. " I taught him everything he knows".

Step 5 :

Avoid the Sap! Negativity is far too sticky. Stay away from the negativity. No single thing you do today will serve you better than getting away from the doom and gloomer's. It is too easy to commiserate rather than produce.

The previous five steps was taken from a seminar I attended from my lender Tammy Wittren of Northwest Mortgage. The Speaker was Ken Perry of Broker Knowledge Group. Ken is a very entertaining speaker I would definitely recommend him for your next event. You can reach Ken by email at ken@brokerknowledge.com

Be sure also when considering your next loan or refi. to give Tammy a call at 503- 452-0001.

And as always when you are thinking of Real Estate in the greater Portland Oregon Metro area be sure to

" Call Herb and Start Packing !" 503-515-8889 or

stop by Portland_Real_Estate_Web_Site and let your next home find you.

This Original custom built mid-century classic has been lovingly renovated including a second story addition with matching woodwork. Main Level : Oak Hardwood floors with Huge Living room spanning from the front of the home to the back. Coved ceilings and wood burning fireplace. Two Bedrooms on this level both with full baths. Dining room with lots of light and a fully modernized Kitchen with Upgraded Cabinets, Granite counter tops, Tiled Floor, Stainless appliances, Insta-Hot for you tea drinkers a Wine Cooler and panty. Plus a charming eating nook. Upper level : Features Huge Master Suite with Sitting room and Balcony offering Mt. Hood view. A large walk-in closet and a Master Bath with adult height cabinets double sinks a Jetted Tub and an oversized tiled shower with custom door. A second bedroom or master has full bath as well. Lower level with its Media Room for your Big Screen tv enthusiasts and bar all prewired for cad five. Also has wood burning Fireplace and access to the fenced back yard at ground level in this daylite basement. Another bedroom with a bath with shower only and a enormous Laundry Room with plenty of space for hobbies. access to the over sized two car garage as well.

• Balcony/Deck/Patio/Porch
• Hardwood Floors

Close up of a Fan Palm. Ahh the details in Nature.

The Photo Editor allows me to play around with this other wise fuzzy photo.

And sometimes They are just fine without any touch up at all.

All in all shooting pictures of flowers is just fun. I believe that I probably have more photo's of Flowers on my hard disk than anything. One of these days I should clean out the batch. I know for sure that there are all kinds of useless fuzzy photos that are doing nothing more than using up space.

After a long and protracted Spring with cooler than normal temperatures and a rain that I thought would never quit, my Summer flower garden begins to produce.

I love the Dahlia's as they are large and beautiful and they come in a lot of varietys and shapes.

It is fun to play around with the photo editor.

The Fan Palms can grow to over 8 feet in heigth this one is about 2 feet.

The flower garden is a great place to relieve stress. I look forward to it every year.

Yesterday while working at home on my fishing boat ( that's another story ), a woman out for a walk with a stroller stopped at my driveway.

Looking across my yard at me it was obvious she wanted to say something. I am used to people stopping and commenting on my yard etc. so I approached her as she stepped briefly into the driveway at arms length from the stroller and said " Sommalees".

" Excuse me ? ", is all I could come up with. She repeated " Sommalees ". " There is no Sommalees here " I said to this woman of an undeterminable race or country of origin.

 " No, No ", she repeated, " You want Sommalees ? " pointing to the stroller. In the bottom of the stroller wrapped in a cloth was a platter full of Tamales.

After the lady left I was left thinking about her entrepreneurship, and how she was out for a walk and stopping briefly at homes where people were outside.

How many of us miss marketing opportunities? Do we pass up great opportunities because they do not seem to fit the mold that we have set for them?

Entrepreneurism is thinking outside the box.

Now that Spring has moved into Summer, The Big Trees Leaves are out to provide plenty Shade and Beauty for all.

The Once Bare gentle giants are at thier best when full of Leaves.

When I say Leaves I mean Leaves. These Leaves are the size of Dinner Plates.

The Beautiful gardens of Portlander's bring many surprises. I do love living in fabulous Portland Oregon. Perhaps you will too. For more photo's and interesting articles stop by Rose_City_Blog .