BDF Realty’s Blog

“I will get the lowest price per square foot for my new office lease.” (Charlotte Business Owner) “I will not drop my initial offer for price per square foot for the new lease. It’s not worth it and I really don’t like this guy anyway.” (Charlotte Commercial Landlord) “I will maximize this commission.” (Charlotte Commercial Real Estate Agent)

If you were offered both of these jobs, which one would you take? Job #1: $80K annually Job #2: $30K annually Duh, the $80K one. Now let’s look at the job descriptions:

Ken Lewis is the man. You might have read and heard things in the news during the past year saying he is not the man, but they were all wrong. He’s got an unbelievable instinct for investing creatively. And he’s got the guts to execute. If you live in Charlotte, you must heart Big Ken; it’s required. He built the entire town, kept the headquarters here as he grew Bank of America (BOA),...

“Can’t Believe You Still Have a Job” Award of 2009: Obama’s “Cash for Clunkers” sales forecasting team. As they projected a total 7-week program amount of $1B, they ran out of money before the first week was out and had to go begging Congress for $2B more. If “prognosticatin’” is your game, and you’re off by that much, you probably need to find a new job- you just ain’t that good at it.

“If you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.” (Matt Damon in Rounders) Back in 2006 when life was good and real estate sales were plentiful, I got a call from a friend of mine from New York City.

“Financial Crisis Stalled too many customers CEO no more” (Haiku twitter message posted by just fired CEO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz, 2/4/10)

“I can’t do lease options. They are way too risky!” (Concerned Charlotte Realtor) “That’s why it’s a short cut. If it was easy, it would just be the way.” (Paulo Costanzo in Road Trip)

Super Bowl time is here which means there will be rampant speculation about which team is better. Most people from Indianapolis don’t think there is anyway Peyton Manning will let them lose, while New Orleans fans think that destiny is on their side. Of course, no one knows exactly who is right, but that doesn’t stop them from arguing about it non-stop for two weeks.

The biggest symptom of our current economic problems is that people don’t have the money to pay their bills. Think about it. Why is the FHA in trouble? It’s because the home owners they lent to couldn’t pay. Why did the banks need to get bailed out? It’s because the clients they lent to couldn’t pay. Why are many businesses going under? It’s because their customers are businesses that...

Example: OK, Mark just asked you out. Do you say “yes” and go out with him this week? He’s average looking and needs to trim his nose hair, but he seems sort of funny. If you say “yes”, you’ve got a date (and a free meal) on Friday night. If you say “no”, you might be sitting at home alone (again) this weekend watching TV and listening to your friend, Molly, complain about her awful life...