How do you take life when it comes at you?

From the Jack's Winning Words blog come this gem -

“Life is 10% what you make it and 90% how you take it.” (Irving Berlin) Berlin came to the US from Siberia at age 5. His father died 3 years later, and Irving had to go to work, taking menial jobs in those tough economic times. Through perseverance and hard work he was able to survive. We know him as a successful songwriter, but his real success came from how he lived his life…10% and 90%.

How appropriate for buyers, sellers and Realtors in today's real estate market. Of course buyers are having a bit of an easier time than sellers right now taking the current market, but they suffer from being overwhelmed by the vast inventory and unable to make a decision. Their nightmare is the old "What if..." bug-a-boo. What if there was a better house out there at a better price. So they look and look and look and never buy anything.

The sellers have the obvious issue of "What happened to the value of my home?" Well, it dropped and dropped a lot. It followed the market and that market is driven right now by pricing on distressed and foreclosed homes. Accept it and get over It and get on with life. That lost value is not coming back for a long time - a decade or more - so, if you need to move are really want to move to get on with life, just do it. You can't wait this recession out in less than 10 years.

And for Realtors, ouch. These are tough times to try to make a living in the profession. Much of what's selling is in the $30-100K, with a few int eh $100-200K price and very little in what used to be the sweet spot of the market - the move up homes in the $200 - 400K range. You have to sell a lot of $50-60K homes to make a living, but that's the hand that we've been dealt, so trying to be the best $50-100K Realtor in the area is now the goal. Go for it.