I am not in my office much any more, so when I came in this morning things looked different. Over my desk is framed picture my wife had made for me with the Robert Frost poem "The Road Less Taken" over the photo. I had not read it in while. It still reminds me of when I was young and one of my best friends dads, Dr. George Bowles told me "when you realize it is not a race, it is a journey you will be alright". When I realized life was indeed a journey I kept a copy of this poem in my wallet. Great Stuff.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

So get this... I was talking to a guy today who is shopping for a new house and selling his current home. His house is very nice, huge kitchen with these funky pretty backsplash tiles, nice updates, etc. I was so thrilled to hear him say that he does not intend to GIVE his house away. "I understand the market isn't great" he said, "and I'm not going to get top dollar but I don't think I should have to lose money on the deal." I loved this guy. The conversation turned to what he is looking for in his new house. "I'm qualified for $190k he said, so I want you to shop in the $250s for me." (PAUSE) (I didn't know what to say.) He continued, "Well it is a Buyer's Market you know."

(SIGH) I can't even go on with this story. Let's change the subject to something good.

So I went with my Hubby to see HAIRSPRAY at the Whiting a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing! Couldn't stop smiling. (The week before that we took our kids to see SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL!) I have seen CHICAGO in New York on Broadway and RENT at the Orpheum in San Francisco. I have to tell you that the Whiting offers an equally enjoyable and rewarding theatre experience. If only we could get some investors to put in some unique restaurants, coffee shops, etc., to round out the evening!

And NOW! Now we've got Lakisha Jones. FINALLY some nationwide positive press for Flint. If you're not an American Idol watcher, PLEASE start watching and vote for Lakisha. She is so lovely and will give you chills when she sings. I am so proud to be represented by her.

To top it all off houses are selling! Although Buyers may still be a bit confused regarding the meaning of the term "Buyer's Market", Sellers seem to be catching on. We're seeing painting and updates and upgrades and music and scene setting. The key to selling is standing out in a crowd, not reducing your price so low that it actually costs you money to sell. Home buying is supposed to be an investment. "Money in the bank". So many Buyers are using the term BUYERS MARKET to demand lower prices, but here's another good term, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. In all these low balling offers, not only are we driving Sellers to lose money and even into foreclosure, but we're driving down the market for our resale. We're creating negative juju. Let's stop using "foreclosure OLD FLINT mentality" and instead let us be inspired by Lakisha and HAIRSPRAY and the Whiting, and smile and THINK UP and PAY IT FORWARD. (more GREAT terms!) Pay the fair market price for the good house. Bring up the market. Sell in a few years for profit. These are all good things.

To summarize... Buy tickets to the Whiting, Watch Idol and vote for Lakisha, and Do Unto Others, in all matters, Real Estate and otherwise.

I have received soooo many emails asking for more info on the Sonrise thing, then this:

Comment from: Linda Smith [Visitor] · Edit
You must feel so badly for yourself that you have to find ways to tear other people down, and that's probably why you focus much of your time writing about SonRise. Who really care anymore? Let's move on with life.
02/22/07 @ 13:29

Linda, Thanks for visiting. I appreciate your concern for me, but things are flat out platinum; can't really seem to get my feet warm but spring is coming. Quite frankly I am sick of Sonrise too ( I was two years ago when the end was clear), and Anna Nicole, and Britneys shaved head, you get the idea. But people will not quit asking me what we know, because no one else is talking about it and we can't figure out why.

Read the rest of the posts and you will see we are really a very happy group! We go out of our way to applaud the efforts of good people.

and this

Comment from: Fred McPherson [Visitor] · Edit
Scott, First of all, where do you get your information about SonRise? You seem to think you know all of the facts, but in reality, from what I have heard around town, you don't even know have of the story. You must just like to spread gossip and get people worked up. Is business that slow for you? You must write all of this crap about SonRise because you're happy they did go under, so then maybe your business could have a chance.
02/22/07 @ 13:37

Who is Scott? Anyway....

Business is great! Up 60% from last year Fred, thank you for asking. I truly believe I do know HAVE the story, and I have said many times I only pass on what people tell me and I can confirm from at least one other source. True I have speculated as to how this happened, and from many people including Sonrise people I was pretty dead on, (I have a gift for seeing through B.S).

Let me share with you some of the emails I have received about the biggest unreported Fraud we have seen....

Comment from: KATIE [Visitor] · Edit
ANYTHING NEW ON SONRISE? I HAVE ENJOYED YOUR COMMENTS ON SONRISE. YOU HAVE PROVIDED MORE INFO THAN ANYONE ELSE.

or

Comment from: Contractor [Visitor] · Edit
I am a contractor involved in this. Please contact me.

A man who wanted someone to know what happened.

I have literally 50+ emails from people directly affected by this all with a very sad story to tell.

I have had buyers on the phone crying because they will not get there deposit back and can't afford to loose it. Were you at a closing last week with a Sonrise victim that had to sell there home to avoid foreclosure and didn't have money for the moving van to get south to his new job? I was.

We have offered many times to tell the other side of the story and no one from that side will tell it.

Fred, let me put it to you this way, people got hurt. And from what I can see for no good reason. When these people are made whole I will pay for the billboard (yes actually pay for it) on S. Saginaw in Grand Blanc telling the whole town.

In the mean time, I keep my word, I take care of my clients, I take care of people period. I want to leave this place better than I found it.

Hiding trash doesn't make it smell less. And by the looks of our refers from google (90% of the searches that lead to this blog are Sonrise) a lot of people feel the same way.

My favorite, you think Fred and Linda might have some interest in this, they commented 12 minutes apart! I hope they fill us all in on the rest of the story.

Late last year I cruising threw DTW between flights. I was feeling great on my way to check a new town for a consulting gig. Everybody likes to be comfortable while flying so I had on the Adidas Superstar 2 G Lite clam toes, North Face Apex jacket, messenger bag with my lap top and latest copy of Fast Company & slamming a Star Bucks. Then it hits...in the magazine rack is a copy of New York Magazine with the cover of 12 other 38-42 year old men in very similar gear with the headline "Why Won't This Generation Grow Up?!" HAH!

Now you see why I mentioned the details, because the magazine did....I am a demographic or worse a cliche'. (Me and everyone else that strives to be different in the same exact gear!).
UGH the reality of grey hair and inability to eat four Oreos for breakfast every morning was tough enough to take but now this! I still feel 27, most of the time, so it amazes me when 20 somethings give me "sir". Oh Well my life is great, no mid-life crises needed, I had mine at 19 and it was great.

I received this great email yesterday and wanted to share because it brought back my airport experience...

Wednesday, February 21, 2007
My So-Called Last Year In The 18-34 Demo
By Cory Treffiletti

This year is big. This is my very last year in the hallowed demographic of 18-34. Being an 18- to 34-year-old male in America has been good for me, but I guess it's time to move on and make room for someone else.
I came upon this realization over the weekend while I was partaking in some MTV, and I realized that it's very, very possible I'm no longer the target audience for their shows! I don't find the "Road Rules Challenge" (or whatever it's called) to be very interesting, nor am I totally engrossed in finding the "Next White Rapper" (The guy from 3rd Bass was good back in the day, but I don't need to hear from him anymore). No; I am no longer the core of the desirable audience for today's impulse-minded commercialism, which got me to thinking and reminiscing slightly about what happened to Gen-X.

It's sort of humorous to know that Gen Xers are now aging into their middle 30s and early 40s. The Wikipedia refers to Gen-X as people born between 1963 and 1978, though they also refer to people born from 1961-1981. Either way, I fall squarely in the middle of those ranges, so it's safe for me to consider myself Gen X and to write about my experience.

Gen X used to be hip. We were the generation without a goal. We were sometimes referred to as "slackers" -- but the entire dot-com bubble of the 90s was a direct result of our desire and ambition to build really cool stuff! We were the generation of piercing and tattoos becoming popular, basically because we had nothing better to do. We were supposed to have a lack of optimism and enthusiasm for the future - however, we were the ones who embraced the Internet and have transformed the world into the future that it is today. We embraced grunge, and of course we created (either directly or indirectly) Nirvana and Pearl Jam, which by itself should be the mark of a highly motivated and deeply creative generation.

Well, it's now 2007 and the generation who rages together ages together. We are now older, in managerial positions -- but still creating companies aimed at driving forward the growth and adoption of technology and knowledge. Of course, we also embrace terms like "viral marketing" and "social networking," all of which are slightly ambiguous terms used to explain the daily occurrences of life in an online environment where things are out of our control, and yet we still want to take credit for them. We try to harness the power of the consumer and use it for the "greater good,"which basically means we pawned off the creative responsibility for 50% of what we do and called it "user-generated content." We even convinced Time magazine to give "You" the award for Person of the Year in 2006, primarily because we couldn't figure out if there was anyone who stood out and did something more important than the rest of us. No; our enthusiasm for the future is actually quite strong, because we keep finding ways to make our jobs fun and create new opportunities for us to sell ourselves to the world at large.

We find old things and tweak them so they are new again. We routinely shake things up with new technology and try to make ourselves obsolete. It's the model of "planned obsolescence" created by Henry Ford and replicated through the auto industry. This theory requires that you create a new version of your product every year, so that the old version is no longer new and you need to buy the new one, even if you don't really need it! It works for clothes, for cars, for computers and for all sorts of technology. Are you really happy with your DVD collection? Wouldn't you be happier with BluRay?

As I age into the next demo, I join the rest of Generation X as it matures and comes into power in the world. Gen X will run for office and get into the White House someday. Gen X is probably already in the Senate, and I know Gen X is all over Silicon Valley.

It's funny to think that in 10 to 15 years, it's possible that 40-50% of the people on the floor of the House of Representatives might secretly have a tribal tattoo on their arms or the small of their backs. These people created the world we live in today, they created the Internet, or at least they created the need for the widespread consumption and commercialization of the Internet, so why can't they be running the rest of the world, too?

Of course, now my mind drifts off into space and I recollect the famous words of one Lloyd Dobler, from the movie "Say Anything": "A career? I've thought about this quite a bit, sir, and I would have to say, considering what's waiting out there for me, I don't want to sell anything, buy anything or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed or buy anything sold or processed or repair anything sold, bought or processed as a career..." and so on and so on.

Nice to see someone else is going so through the same thing, because my generation is a group of individuals, the GAP made it that way!

I don't know where this came from, if anyone does please let me know so I can give more credit.

According to RealtyTrac, a real estate tracking company there were 11,554 new foreclosures in Michigan in January of 2007. That is one for every 366 households. This is the second highest rate in the county following Nevada.

I have received a lot of emails requesting a Sonrise Update. I will do what I can to find out the latest, in the mean time I will let you know what I do know.

First off it seems everyone is ok with no news is good news. The last big news was a Judge in Geneseee County said any homes that are done could be closed but no money could be disbursed until the subcontractor liens were addressed. This presented a big problem because the title companies involved could not issue what is called a first lien letter to the new mortgage company at close because of the liens. So it pretty much left everything in limbo.

Secondly it appears most of or all of the billboards are gone. I would love to know how that worked out at the billboard company. There was a tremendous amount of exposure for a company that didn't pay for a long time. Did the sales person collect the commission every month and get charged back by the company for the $100,000+ that never got paid?

The $1,475,000 new build one of the owners was building is almost completed and still on the market (the biggest question in this whole thing...how is this home getting finished when contractors have not been paid for homes that have closed). The price has been reduced $100,000. If this home sells for within $250,000 of asking price it will be the 3rd most expensive home ever sold in Grand Blanc school district.

There have been a lot of other great stories, closings that were suppose to happen and didn't, I love the one were Sonrise had to bring over $100,000 to closing to actually sell a home (you guessed it that didn't happen). I have heard from a lot of the buyers, most have moved on and bought other properties. I have heard from a lot of subs, some are ok others are leaving town penniless to find work in other states. I have heard from people involved with them on a business level that after getting hugely taken advantage of still think the owners of Sonrise are nice guys, I guess I really don't know what to say about that, I never met them.

The size, scale and flat out lack of accountability of this whole this amazing. I will post any other facts that I come accross.

A truly sad story.

Okay, none of my associates was really surprised when I told them that just about every house I showed in the city of Flint over the last two weeks had broken windows and had been robbed of every bit of copper piping in the basement. I could not believe it, though. I'm still a bit green, I guess. I was a little embarrassed, even, in front of my clients. Even more awkard, though, was making it to the upstairs and finally finding the source of the stink we had been trying to identify. "I think those are lizard turds" Mr. Buyer said, having spotted the potato sized droppings spread about. Mrs. Buyer told him he was crazy, "that's dog doo doo! What's wrong with you?" They were laughing, thank goodness, but this Reba was too mortified to say anything but, "EW". I knew Mr. and Mrs. Buyer had a good sense of humor, though, when I met them for the first time a week prior to the aforementioned poop and pipes incident. We were walking around a property on a snowy Sunday and my left foot found the edge of the snow covered driveway and twisted as I stumbled off the edge. That particular ankle was not long ago shattered and reconstructed so it gave away quite easily, taking me down on all fours then bouncing me back on my bottom. Mr. Buyer sprang very quickly to my aid while Mrs. Buyer doubled over in laughter. She could barely breathe as she brushed the snow and dirt off my coat! I loved these people right away! These are the type of things that make my job so fun. But what irritates me is how I GOT to this situation.

My new customers and I were wandering around the slippery property trying to figure out how to get into the house because the lockbox had been STOLEN! Are you kidding me? I EXPECT to be challenged by the needs of my Buyers, eccentric Sellers, scheduling conflicts, winterized, no electricity dark, scary houses, even Mother Nature. But my own peers? Is it so tough out there that we have to sabotage each other?! Apparently so because it happened to me FOUR times in a seven day period. (stolen lockboxes or stolen keys) Come on Guys, isn't there enough adventure without making things tough on each other and wasting people's time? Look what we have to go through!!! :-) It makes me wonder through what torment are other Agents suffering! :-)

Hey Realtors, we know you read our blog! Stop lurking and share with us some funny stories. Do you wear flea collars around your ankles to protect yourself when entering some houses? Has your Seller's German Shepherd ever latched onto your arm and proceeded to chomp up and down it, once his master left the room? Have you ever fallen into a pool to save your Pregnant Customer from falling in? Been "accidentally" subjected to nekked pictures of your Sellers? Been startled awake by Shoppers at an open house you were conducting? (Neither have I!!!! But I have heard tales!) Been carried up and down the stairs by your Clients, when your ankle was broken and you were crutches bound, because your dear Buyers valued your opinion of the basement and upstairs? (yeah, that one's me).

In celebration of Superbowl Sunday, specifically the commercials, show Reba some love and share your favorite Real Estate stories. What the heck... Buyers and Sellers, give us funny stories about your Realtor. That'd be fun to hear! I'll be back with some more of my own and my fellow STREETERS. OOOOH! But right now I gotta watch some SuperBowl ads!

Here are the statistics for January 2007 vs. January 2006.

Genesee County Homes Sold in January of 2007; 232 for an average sale Price of 107,596. If the 73 bank owned homes sold are removed there were 159 homes sold for an average price of $129,969.

In January of 2006 there were a total of 283 homes sold in Genesee County at an average sales price of $117,761. Removing the 87 bank owned foreclosures there were 196 sales averaging $146,388.

The 51 unit decrease in homes sold, was spread out among all communities. The number of Clio homes sold were down 7 but the average price of those homes was up $40,000. Grand Blanc Homes sold were a plus two but the sales price was down $12,000 on average.

Looks like we are heading for another year of sales that have not rhyme or reason!