Luxury Real Estate

By Robert Lockard

It seems like an oxymoron, but I believe there is a right way to make mistakes. In fact, I think that I’d like to see more people making mistakes because that means that they’re moving beyond their comfort zones and trying new things. It’s scary to put yourself at risk. It hurts to be criticized. It’s not a whole lot of fun to expose your weaknesses. But each of these frightening things can help us grow more than trying to always look polished and perfect.

There’s no need to hang your head in shame if you misspell a client’s name or get lost as you drive to an open house. I have found that embarrassment usually prevents me from trying to fix problems and encourages me to hide from them. So why be embarrassed about mistakes?

The secret to making a mistake the right way is to simply make a mistake, in my humble opinion. Fear seems to be on my mind a lot lately, since that’s been the topic of several of my blog entries. I suppose it’s because I want to see what is actually behind the fear and find what is at the heart of our problems.

I glory in my weakness and mistakes because I want to be better. I apologize if I oversimplify complex problems or forget about important issues. Hopefully, I can continue to make mistakes better and better as I pursue the heart of matters that seem too big to fully understand.


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert. I hope that you find my musings insightful or helpful in some way. I also hope that I can break out of my comfort zone a bit more and take measured risks toward growth. I tend to be a bit childlike in my approach to life, as you might be able to tell from this blog entry. I count that as one of my strengths.

By Robert Lockard

I am not a particularly pessimistic person. I believe that good eventually triumphs. I put my trust in “old-fashioned” values, such as honesty, saving for a rainy day, avoiding harmful substances and risks, and being kind to all people. Some or all of these things might be out of style right now, but I think that they will always be important. I’m not even sure if this introduction is relevant to what I want to talk about, but I just started writing what is on my mind and this is what came out. I hope you don’t mind.

I recently read a CNN article, entitled “Home prices in steepest quarterly drop.” According to this aptly written article, the national median home price dropped 5.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007. This wasn’t an isolated decline either. Median prices in all four quarters of the United States went down. However, the article also mentioned that 73 of the 151 U.S. real-estate markets actually had price increases. That’s almost half. Also, the median condo price was basically unchanged from last year.

Perhaps it is my belief that good will win in the end, but I just don’t see much reason to fear a drop in home prices – even if it is a record drop, according to credible data from the National Association of REALTORS®. There is no need to fear if we are prepared. No matter what problem we face, I’m sure that we can make it through, as long as we’re willing to learn from mistakes and be flexible.

I have tried not to focus on interpreting the NAR’s data in this blog entry. The cup can be half-full or half-empty, but it won’t change the fact that we can choose how we react to the data. I choose not to fear.


Editor’s Note:
Robert Lockard is the Public Relations & Media Specialist with LuxuryRealEstate.com. I am Robert, so I’ll talk about myself in the first-person now. I create all of LuxuryRealEstate.com’s newsletters, write the editorials in LuxuryRealEstate.com Magazine and much more. I hope you don’t mind getting a peek into my way of thinking. I just want to share what I think is important to talk about.

By Robert Lockard

Open houses are excellent opportunities to bring potential buyers into a home and let them gain insights that are difficult to convey through written descriptions or even virtual tours. However, there is a potential risk for luxury real estate agents and others to be aware of, according to a recent article in The Chronicle Herald – stealing. Apparently, two women managed to steal $73,000 worth of jewelry and other valuables during several open houses in New York and New Jersey. Thankfully, they were caught and hopefully the belongings were returned to their rightful owners.

I think that most people are honest and kind, so I am sorry to report that we must be less than trusting in some situations. Several brokers give advice in the article to safeguard valuables, such as locking up jewelry, hiding prescriptions, and putting other important items in hard-to-reach or unusual areas of the house. Marking certain rooms as off-limits can be a good idea, as well. It’s good to be careful, even if you really want to make a sale. Carol Burnett, the vice president of Alain Pinel Realtors advised an agent showing a house to bring an assistant if it is simply too difficult to keep track of everybody at an open house.

This is a rather simplistic idea, and I apologize if it’s a little too simple for your taste. I just think this is an important topic to address, even if we all know the phrase, "It’s better to be safe than sorry."


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.