Luxury Real Estate

By Robert Lockard

This is my last blog entry in this luxury real estate blog. After more than a year and a half of blogging, I'm afraid my time has come to an end. I'm about to move on to something new and scary, but I suppose change always involves some degree of fear and discomfort. I will no longer be the editor of the Luxury Real Estate Blog.

Thank you very much, everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts on this blog. I'm sorry if I wasn't able to respond to all of your comments, but I definitely read them all and tried to incorporate what I learned from them into future posts. I have grown a lot in the past year and a half and I think you can definitely see that by going back through my many blog entries and seeing me try to articulate my feelings and ideas.

I don't know if I'll be able to respond to your comments on this blog entry, so I hope you won't be offended if you write me something and I am unable to respond for some time. Thank you again for sharing a wonderful discussion with me. I would say more, but once again I feel compelled to hold my tongue and simply encourage you to keep holding to hope in these perilous times. Don't put your trust in men, but build your foundation on something sure.

Farewell, my friends.

Sincerely,
Robert Lockard

By Jim Walberg
From his blog: Some East Bay Real Estate Is On The Slippery Slide Of FEAR!

Once you get on the Slipper Slide of Fear, it is difficult to get off! Please stay off that slippery slide!

So, I picked up USA Today last Saturday on my flight to the Luxury Real Estate Fall Conference in Philadelphia where I was a presenter. The USA Today headline was, “FEAR is a slippery slide!” In some of my past comments I have used the sailor’s mantra, “Do not be fearful!” It still applies today, in spite of an almost 900-point recovery on the Dow Jones the past two days. Don’t forget… once you step on the “slippery slide” of fear, the momentum carries you away very quickly.

The voice of experience, the voice of the local authority, and the voice of credibility can still prevail. And we are the ones that need to be that voice. I just completed a walk from the Philadelphia Ritz Carlton to Constitution Hall, the Liberty Bell, and other reminders of the work our founding fathers did on our behalf 230+ years ago. What an inspiring day! (You may recall this is the organization that is the acknowledged authority of luxury real estate! It was founded by John Brian Losh with a vision of connecting the best luxury brokers and agents in the world – 1,900 members from 65 countries.)

Do you think they were afraid? Of course they were. But, the consequence of letting fear paralyze them from action was not acceptable. Instead of the “slippery slide” of fear taking them away from the liberty and freedom they so dearly wanted for our country, they discovered – step by step – the actions needed to create the most incredible democracy in our world’s history. It was very hard. Thousands of lives were lost as part of that payment for liberty. And, the founding fathers never lost site of end result that was required – FREEDOM!

There is a book I have enjoyed reading several times – “The Tipping Point.” They have a very insightful analysis of Paul Revere’s ride in Boston a few days before the Revolutionary War was officially declared. His ride was so effective that it mobilized the citizens along his route in a manner that called them to action in stopping the British from confiscating their arms stored in Concord. Did you know there was a second rider who was sent in a different direction to alert another section of Massachusetts to immediately prepare to defend Concord. Does anyone remember his name? In fact, I had never heard of him before I read “The Tipping Piont.” He was totally and utterly ineffective in his call to arms.

What was the difference between these two men with similar intentions? Paul Revere was one of the most respected local authorities on what was happening within the colonies which he believed required a liberation movement to break away from British rule – even if it meant war. I would like to be as effective as Paul Revere during these uncertain economic times. We are the local citizens calling our “citizens” to action in order to work through the financial crisis we are in. Will you join me as we serve our clients and communities, and help them off the “Slippery Slide of Fear?” (You get bonus points if you email me with the other freedom rider’s name whose ride was a waste of time.) Contact me with your thoughts. Until next time…


Editor’s Note:
Jim Walberg is the co-Broker/Owner of The Bay Area Team, the most-successful team at Keller Williams Realty-Danville. He is also a member of the global Luxury Real Estate network. Jim is an exceptional blogger, as you can see by visiting his blogs, East Bay Real Estate and Caribbean Islands Realty, and reading his great blog entries like the one above. He is the master of fractionals and other luxury homes in the Bay Area and the Caribbean, and he always has a lot of great opportunities to share. Simply marvelous. This is the last blog entry from Jim that I will have the privilege of editing and posting to the Luxury Real Estate Blog. I am always impressed by his enthusiasm, cheerful disposition and unparalleled kindness. Thank you, Jim, for being such a good person and being a light to a world of shadows and fear. You are amazing.

By Christine Watson
From her blog: Hide Your Personals! Protecting your privacy when selling your home!

Putting your luxury home on the market poses two very personal concerns:

1. Invasion of privacy: that your personal life will be on show;
2. Theft: your personal effects are prey to any “prospective” buyers

De-clutter your property before placing it on the market: this is my first piece of advice for those vendors concerned with their privacy being publicised to the world.

To some it means removing everything from bench tops, cupboards and shelves and to others it means keeping the home clean, neat and tidy. But how do you protect your privacy and hide your personal items?

Your home generally depicts your personal life, showing your taste in furnishings, colours, art, antiques and family photographs. Is opening your home to the public an invasion of your privacy? Absolutely!

 

The experience of Marquette Turner Luxury Homes shows that people buy the home that “ticks most of the boxes”. When selling your home, you should take the distractions away so the buyer can concentrate solely on looking at your home.

Furthermore, we are not great advocates of open inspections in a troubled market and it is important to appreciate that household-contents insurance does not cover the loss of personal effects during a viewing of a property. Remove the opportunity for theft and protect yourself as if you were a celebrity like Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise or Hugh Jackman.

Selling your home can be stressful enough without the concern that someone is taking an interest in your personal life and possessions.

Marquette Turner Luxury Homes we will not allow anyone to view your home without showing their photo identification. If someone objects they are not respecting your home and are not serious about buying the property. Only a luxury agency can truly protect your privacy.


Editor’s Note:
Christine Watson is a Director of Marquette Turner Luxury Homes, a member of Luxury Real Estate in East Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded on Australia Day 2007 by Michael Marquette and Simon Turner, Marquette Turner is a property consultancy company covering the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. Along with Marquette and Turner, now we have a new blogger providing excellent content for the Luxury Real Estate Blog. Wonderful! Thank you very much for the excellent advice, Christine. Don’t forget that both sellers and real-estate agents are at risk at open houses, so it’s best to be as safe as possible. The photo above is from www.flickr.com/photos/jef/1526987585 and it is the copyright of Jef Poskanzer.

By Robert Lockard

I am sorry to keep talking about sad things in my luxury real estate blog entries, but I just read an article in CNN entitled “Ex-bankers on pushing customers to rack up debt” and it once again brought up many familiar concerns to my mind on the topic of consumer debt. I wish that I could talk about happy topics. I would much prefer to discuss luxury properties or any other topic, including how getting adequate sleep can lead to more success, but, alas, I feel it much more pressing to focus on the problems upon us.

I am absolutely disgusted by the state of our financial markets. It seems to me that dishonesty is rampant and the very people who are responsible for this mess are asking for a great deal of money to supposedly solve the problem. But I care about people much more than institutions. And, based upon the testimony of the two honest women in the CNN article, who both have good consciences, I see little difference between the practices of certain banks and lenders and the practices of drug pushers. Many lenders trick people into taking more money than they need, they strive to get young people addicted and they keep people in a state of dependency for extended periods of time. All of that adds up to trouble.

Debt is a plague that, when handled unwisely, can lead to all sorts of problems that I think are even worse than the horrible effects of drug abuse. People can at least stop taking drugs and eventually go through a process of withdrawal and recovery. But with debt, even if a person stops going into more debt, they still have interest building up on the money they owe and they face all sorts of roadblocks on the way to recovery.

The very institutions that have pushed so many people to get addicted to debt are now suffering from a major withdrawal (pardon the banking pun) and seem on the verge of collapse… wait a minute – collapse? How is this possible? It starts with how good people are treated. We have not been treated fairly and now those who have been engaging in dishonest practices are reaping the bitter fruit. We have become a nation of debtors, instead of a nation of wealth.

Perhaps our financial market, as it currently stands, should not be saved. Perhaps we must soon create an entirely new and honest way of working with our money. Whatever we choose, we cannot keep doing what we have been doing.

I feel like I’ve been ending every blog entry with an apology for being so negative. I just don’t want to leave my readers with a sense of anger or hopelessness. I think that there is much to hope about. There are plenty of good people in this world and in our wonderful nation, the United States. I am confident we will make it through this sad time. I just want to make sure this never happens again.


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate's newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. The photo of the parrot biting a credit card is from www.flickr.com/photos/djkbird214/2695122732 and it is the copyright of dj-squared.

By Cynthia Naumes

New York was fantastic! I’ve been kicking the idea around to go to New York after I declined to join my boyfriend in Boston for one of his conferences. Each time I heard commercials about “saying goodbye” to the coliseum I felt a strong sense of sadness.

The last time I was in New York the Yankees were away and it has been on my “bucket list” to get there to see a game. It was now or never so at 1 o’clock on Saturday I booked a flight to New York, went online and bought a game ticket, then proceeded to get a hotel the miles from the stadium. By 5:30 I was on a plane arriving at 8 o’clock the next morning. It was a blast. I hooked up with two police officers, a luxury home builder and his wife from Scottsdale, a purse sergeant – born and raised in the Bronx – and his girlfriend a travel agent and a couple other people.

The two officers and I hung out, then met back up with the group (amazingly, because there were so many people) in line and the builder had four extra free tickets... up from the third base FOUR ROWS UP!!!! Oh my gosh, it was amazing.

No stadium chair. But great memories!


Editor’s Note:
Cynthia Naumes is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Realty Group, a member of Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate in Medford, Ore. She specializes in marketing luxury properties and rural ranches and farms in Southern Oregon. What an exciting trip! New York City is quite a special location because of its rich American history. If you would like to come and see this vibrant city with a group of fellow luxury brokers, Luxury Real Estate is offering a Post-Conference Networking Trip to New York City immediately after the 13th Annual Fall Conference in Philadelphia. Be sure to check it out! It’s sad to see the end of an era as Yankee Stadium will soon be demolished and replaced. What a great idea to put together a bucket list and do the things we are afraid of doing because we think there’s no time or they’re too difficult. I try to live my life so that I am prepared to die at any moment because I know that I have treated others with kindness and honesty and I am on the right path leading to constant improvement. I do as much good as possible so that I won’t have regrets about failing to do the most important things in life.

By Robert Lockard

As promised in my last luxury real estate blog entry, here is my discussion of some meaty topics I’ve wanted to talk about for a little while. The past few weeks have been pretty thrilling, wouldn’t you say? Wall Street dropped an incredible 504 points on Monday and 449 points on Wednesday. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, organizations designed to create stability, have failed. Other financial institutions, once seemingly healthy and sound, are facing bankruptcy and other troubles. Think that’s bad enough? Russia’s stock market is doing considerably worse.

Okay, that’s the bad news. Now let’s take a step back and switch gears a little. I am an optimist. I believe that good wins in the end. I think that right now many bad companies and practices are facing the fact that they have built upon a sandy foundation and they are in danger of falling. All of the companies that are failing are doing so because of their own greed and recklessness. Home loans were turned into investment packages and many other bad ideas were allowed to come about because of greed.

If these companies had built upon solid foundations and principles that were put into place to safeguard the country after the Great Depression, we would probably be all right. It comes back to greed and pride. There is safety in old wisdom.

I cannot say a hundredth part of what I desire to say right now because this might not be the most appropriate forum to share the most treasured things in my heart. However, I can say that we need not fear what people can do or what problems may arise if we can see how temporary they are. We should be patient, long-suffering, forgiving and kind, especially when times are tough. Anyone who knows me knows that I definitely try to practice what I preach, so I hope you won’t think that I’m giving this advice lightly.

Let these organizations tremble because of their fear of falling. We will not fall if we are firmly planted on truth and honesty.


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with Luxury Real Estate. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate's newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. Stribling & Associates is a member of the Board of Regents, an exclusive group of brokers that leads the Luxury Real Estate network. The photo of the Grand Canyon is from www.flickr.com/photos/raindog/2838872767 and it is the copyright of raindog.

By Robert Lockard

I recently finished writing an interesting article for the winter 2009 issue of LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine. The article is on “green” homes, and it was a challenge to write, mainly because I have a number of concerns about the current global-warming scare. I was able to find a lot of good in “green” homes, especially their energy savings and positive health effects on residents. I shied away from discussing their environmental effects, since I am unconvinced that they will have any real ones, and saying that they will might give people a false sense of security.

To be sure, I am all for conservation and avoiding the waste or misuse of our resources. But something is very wrong with the current debate, or lack thereof, on global warming. I bring this up, not only because of my magazine article, but also because I read a very informative article entitled “Hot air over global warming” by Jerome Delvin in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer this morning. I highly recommend checking it out.

As I noted in the Editor’s Note of a July 31, 2008 post to the Luxury Real Estate Blog by Jean-Yves Piton entitled “Green luxury real estate,” many climatologists and other scientists are speaking out about the fallacy of manmade global warming. You can find a great deal of accurate information from top scientists who spoke at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change. It is clear that the Earth’s atmosphere is warming, but there is actually little evidence to suggest that human activity is the main cause.

The data simply does not support the idea that the Earth’s temperature has increased at a steady pace along with the increase in carbon emissions during the past century or so. In fact, in the 1970s global cooling was touted as a major problem facing the world, not global warming. The fact that there was cooling going on during a period of steadily increasing carbon emissions seems to point to the fact that the relationship between manmade greenhouse gases and the temperature of the atmosphere is much more complex than we’re being told.

I believe that regular people can make a difference in the world, often by raising strong families and focusing on the most important things in life. However, it seems to me like this good idea (one person being able to have a positive effect on the world) has been twisted and used inappropriately when it comes to global warming in order to take advantage of well-intentioned people.

I often feel barraged with messages saying that I need to be more responsible and consume less in order to lessen my “carbon footprint” on the environment. I am wary of the rationale behind this argument for a number of reasons. There is little evidence that paying money to plant trees or somehow offset our emissions has a significant effect on the environment. In fact, an interesting study in Reportonbusiness.com found that our return on investment from putting money into the fight against global warming is so low that it’s really not even worth it. The fact is that, despite good intentions, one person, or even 6 billion people, can’t make much of a difference when it comes to global warming.

Returning to the “green” article I wrote, I tried to focus on “green” homes from the perspective of why a person would choose to purchase one. After all, they are more expensive to build, so there must be a promise of future rewards rather than a vague promise of being better for the environment. “Green” homes appear to be very sound investments because they cost less to maintain, contain fewer toxic materials and thus promote the financial and physical health of their inhabitants. I believe that “green” homes can be very good. But I do not think that they are good simply because they have some sort of positive effect on the environment that is, in reality, overrated and insignificant.

I have much more to say on this topic, but I’m afraid I just don’t have time to cover everything. I apologize if I have offended you. I am very passionate when I see injustice, and I wish to put an end to it. I think we need much more information before making changes that might have little or no effect on the problem we think we’re solving.


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with Luxury Real Estate. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. If you disagree with me, I encourage you to look closely at the data before posting comments. I enjoy healthy discussions in search of truth, but I do not approve of name calling or unkindness. I just posted a blog entry by Simon Turner on Google Maps and “green” luxury homes. I don’t mean any disrespect to him by posting this blog entry. As I mentioned above, I think that there is a lot of good in “green” homes, but I just don’t think that they will make any difference on the environment. Update: This blog entry has been updated to remove two paragraphs.

By Robert Lockard

A while ago I stepped back from writing about luxury real estate to discuss a terribly destructive force that threatens to destroy families and make people miserable: debt. I would like to discuss something that I find to be just as dangerous as addiction to debt – the illogically high cost of earning a college degree.

I read a potentially explosive story on CNN yesterday about a bubble in the cost of higher education that makes the real-estate bubble or the tech crash in 2000 look tame in comparison.

I’d like to start by talking about my experience in college. When I attended college not too long ago, tuition and book costs were already getting out of hand, although they were manageable. I attended a community college in Washington state for my first two years to obtain my Associate’s degree. I had hoped to transfer to the University of Washington to complete my Bachelor of Arts in Communications, but the cost was prohibitive and, even though I graduated with honors and on the Dean’s list, I still had to wait a long time to enter that college.

Instead, I decided to accept a scholarship at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and that turned out to be a very smart decision. In addition to the positive environment that beautiful campus offered, the cost of attending there was relatively low compared to my other options and I was able to pay for my entire education without going into hardly any debt. I am one of nine children, and my parents wisely told me that I would have to find a way to pay for my education by myself. Through a great deal of hard work and tight budgeting, I made it through without having to burden my family members.

During my time in college, I kept my mind focused on why I was there. I wasn’t there to waste time or take frivolous classes; I was there to finish my degree as quickly and as meaningfully as possible so that I could put my skills to use. I am grateful for the opportunities my college degree has opened for me. However, education costs are rising so fast that there might not be much reason for people to attend college in the future.

I would probably be sympathetic to colleges if the reason for the rise in education costs was because they were improving their education techniques or doing other things that would warrant such cost increases. But the truth is that this is not the case. Many colleges are increasing tuition costs for no other reason than because they want more students to apply. It seems to defy logic, but it’s true. Colleges appear to be playing a game that they will eventually lose. When they raise prices, people assume that they must have done so because they are more prestigious or offer better learning opportunities and so the colleges usually receive an increase in applications. This pattern cannot last forever.


Education is extremely important. It allows people to rise from humble circumstances and it also helps them make informed decisions about where they want to go in life. By making education worthless, colleges are doing a great disservice to their students. By worthless, I mean that the cost far exceeds the rewards. Greater cost does not always mean greater return on investment.

Increases in healthcare, energy and real-estate costs don’t even come close to touching the rise in education costs, as you can see in the graph in the CNN article. Knowledge is power, and if the cost of education becomes so high that that the benefits of earning it become small in comparison then we will be in big trouble. I am not suggesting that college degrees be easier to obtain or that unqualified people should receive an education without working hard. I am suggesting that colleges are in danger. They spend much of their increasing amount of money on frivolous amenities that do not improve their educational services or make their students’ diplomas any more valuable. Posh restaurants, nicer dorms and other foolish perks are unimportant for students who are simply hoping to receive the education they need to progress in life.

At some point people are going to realize that an education is not worth living under such an extreme amount of debt to obtain. When that day comes and colleges must cut their tuitions drastically, many cherished institutions will most certainly be unable to cope with this dramatic shift and they will come crashing down. Destroyed by their own pride and haughtiness. They will discover that they have spent their money on things that have no value and they are unable to offer students what they promised: an honest education.

I dislike focusing on something so negative as this, but I think it deserves special attention. Thank you very much for your comments. Feel free to let me know what you think of the state of higher education.


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. I apologize again for sounding so negative. I am a very hopeful person and I trust that things will turn out right in the end. The photo of the bleeding wallet is from www.flickr.com/photos/adobemac/161319144 and it is the copyright of adobemac. The photo of the door is from www.flickr.com/photos/ben-zvan-photography/468487548 and it is the copyright of Ben Zvan.

By Jim Walberg
From his blog: East Bay Real Estate Community Supports “Stand Down”!

2008 “Stand Down” serves 600 homeless veterans at the Alameda County Fairgrounds August 7th - 10th!

Another example as to how your real-estate community and its service providers continue to give back to the needs of the Bay Area was demonstrated on Friday, Aug. 8 at 5:30 a.m. at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Members of the REALTORS® Marketing Association served breakfast to a “village” of war veterans.

Every two years the Diablo Valley Vietnam Veterans Association arranges for an entire “tent city” to be set up in the East Bay so homeless veterans can be served. “Stand Down” is a term used during war to describe the practice of removing combat troops from the field and take care of their basic needs in a safe place. That is exactly what has been created for 600 homeless veterans this week. The RMA contracts Ruggie’s Restaurant in San Ramon to supply ALL the food they serve.

REALTOR® Mike Weber, a member of the Diablo Valley Vietnam Veterans, is the person who continues to invite the real-estate community to be a participant in supporting this important project. They always say YES! Some of the services available for these lost, but not forgotten, veterans are:

- Medical facilities to serve their health needs – including dental, plus a follow-up care program.

- A “field court” with county judges to fast-track clearing up legal issues that may be preventing these veterans from securing employment.

- Job-placement services that also assists them in having DMV re-issued driver’s licenses.

- Assisting with identifying residential opportunities.

- A complete barber shop, new clothing, shoes and other basic clothing needs.

Members of the Diablo Valley Vietnam Veterans were inspired to create the first East Bay Stand Down in 1999 in order to provide a respite from the “streets.” In the midst of all the services provided, their commitment is to treat each of these veterans with respect and dignity. Most of us are unaware, and maybe don’t want to know, that there are about 154,000 homeless veterans on the streets of our cities on any given night. Just in our Bay Area there are over 7,000 homeless veterans! An even sadder statistic is that a BIG number of these veterans have little or no contact with Veteran Administration for either medial or financial aid. Stand Down directly addresses the issue that cannot be ignored any longer - aiding and assisting veterans in need to improve their lives, no matter how difficult it may be to do so.

The first Stand Down was held in San Diego in 1988. It has now been integrated into over 200 cities around the country with over 200,000 veterans and their families being served. A key objective is to break the cycle of the homeless epidemic within the veteran community. These are the men and women who have served our country, and we need to make sure they are not forgotten.

A quote that is appropriate for their mission is, “A community is often judged by how well it takes care of its own.” Serving the needs of those who have served to protect and create Freedom in the world is a worth activity for all of us to consider. Please contact Stand Down or Jim Walberg if you want to personally get involved, or to make financial contributions. Also, contact me any time to find out about other service opportunities for Bay Area community projects. Until next time… your East Bay real estate detective remains on duty.


Editor’s Note:
Jim Walberg is the co-Broker/Owner of The Bay Area Team, the most-successful team at Keller Williams Realty-Danville. He is also a member of the global LuxuryRealEstate.com network. Jim is an exceptional blogger, as you can see by visiting his blogs, East Bay Real Estate and Caribbean Islands Realty, and reading his great blog entries like the one above. He is the master of fractionals and other luxury homes in the Bay Area and the Caribbean, and he always has a lot of great opportunities to share. Philanthropy is awesome. We should all follow the Golden Rule as we go about our many activities in this life. Great people aren’t those who leave behind the most wealth when they die, but those who bless others’ lives and seek to lift their brothers and sisters on their shoulders. Luxury properties are what we sell, but people are who we serve.

By Robert Lockard

Nick Antonicello, Director of Sales for Unique Homes, pointed out an interesting story to me last week in the Los Angeles Times Blog. You might have already heard about it, but I just want to put in my two cents about the whole affair.

Peter Viles, Senior Producer for Real Estate at LATimes.com, wrote in his blog entry that Donald Trump, possibly the best-known real-estate developer in the world, is seeking to buy Ed McMahon’s mansion to save him from foreclosure.

In an even more bizarre turn of events, Mr. Trump now might be having some competition for buying Mr. McMahon’s luxury home. That’s according to a new blog post today by Ann Brenoff, author of the Los Angeles Times’ weekly “Hot Property” feature.

As Mr. Spock would say, “Fascinating.”

To be honest, I’m not sure what to make of this story. I mean, Mr. McMahon certainly seems like a good man who simply let his finances get out of control until he went from delivering oversized million-dollar checks to being unable to pay for his multimillion-dollar luxury property. His story just seems remarkable and bitterly ironic.

Since he went public with his mortgage troubles, it appears that Mr. McMahon will now be able to make it through this difficult experience fairly well. Competing offers on a house that’s about to be short sold is pretty impressive, I think.

I guess, in the end, my point is: Is this justice? I mean, not everyone can be helped like this. Is Ed McMahon’s celebrity status the main reason why he is receiving this attention and assistance? I’m uncertain of the answer to these questions. I hate to see anyone suffer, but is some suffering just while other suffering should be alleviated, and how do we judge that?

I believe that life is generally good, although it is difficult and filled with perils. Mr. McMahon seems to have had a very good life, gaining much more success and fame than most people will ever know. I feel bad that he is facing failure near the end of his life, but perhaps that is a lesson he needed to learn. I am sure we all must face failure and seek to succeed afterwards. Hopefully we will learn to be better people in the process.


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I create all of Luxury Real Estate’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. I was really tempted to call this blog entry “Wake up with the King” Luckily, I refrained. You can share your blog entries on the Luxury Real Estate Blog by emailing them to me. By the way, ordinarily I would link to the two blog entries above via their TrackBack links, but they don’t appear to be working, so I just used their regular links. The photo of Mr. Spock is from www.flickr.com/photos/cultureculte/2306916969 and it is the copyright of culture.culte.