“I know that I feel like “Heaven in ‘11”…
…we’re going to recover and begin to really see an upturn in the middle of 2010…
…But you may have to spend a little time to search to find that.
And I suggest that you do it and that you be cautious of turning on the news or reading the newspaper every day and…
…allowing yourself to only see the negative in what is going on.”
Sales Pitch
I want to give you a little bit of good news and give you a sales pitch, if you will, to actually get out there and start looking for the good news. That will make more sense, I hope, after I get through this.
On February 8th—just a week and a half ago or so or about nine days ago—the Houston Business Journal released the article that Texas Adds 50,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of ‘09.
“Texas leads among the ten largest states with the lowest unemployment rate as it added 50,000 new jobs last quarter, according to a new study by SigmaBleyzer. The positive quarterly job numbers come despite the state losing 24,000 jobs in the construction, trade, transportation and hospitality sectors in December.”
And if you want to read the rest of this article—it’s a very good article—you can find it at houston.bizjournals.com. Just type in “Texas adds 50,000 jobs in the fourth quarter.”
Depression
Let me tell you a story about what happened in the Great Depression. What happened was a group of senators, a group of private investors, and a group of private business owners noticed that part of the problem was that the American people had lost faith in America.
This was again during the Depression. And part of the problem was that the newspapers, the churches, and the government were doing nothing but talking about what was wrong with America. Therefore the families were hearing nothing but negativity. They went home and talked about what they had heard, which was again nothing but negativity.
So what happens when you do that is it really festers. It really grows. You begin to believe that there’s nothing going on but bad stuff. I want to suggest that right now you’ve got a similar thing going, because our media is driven by advertisement and ratings—which I’m not saying that’s a wholly terrible thing.
News
You know, somehow you’ve got to pay for that news, but it can cause a problem. One of my favorite examples is if you watch the news tonight—there’s 5.7 million people in the greater Houston area. One or two of them are going to commit really bad crimes—out of 5.7 million people.
And 5.7 million—the rest of the people—are going to get up and they’re going to love their family. They’re going to love their city; they’re going to love their community; they’re going to go do their jobs; they’re going to bring home food for the family; they’re going to love their kids; they’re going to educate their kids, and they’re going to do the right thing.
They don’t make it to the news, do they? They just don’t. It’s easier to sell advertising with a plane crashing into a building, or someone being shot, or something being robbed, burned down—you name it, that’s what gets in the news.
Heaven in ’11
And then what happens is you just hear that everything is bad and over time you begin to think that everything is bad. You begin to believe it. There are other sources—many of them you have to pay for—such as magazines, which of course, I get it — they’re driven by advertising as well. But there are other places that you can get news. And you better start looking for the, if you will, the silver lining in the clouds because America will turn around.
I can’t predict. I know that I feel like “Heaven in ‘11,” which the National Apartment Association and a lot of other credible places are saying is going to occur—that we’re going to recover and begin to really see an upturn in the middle of 2010, and then we’ll be in “Heaven in ‘11.” And then 2012, ‘13, ‘14 and ‘15 are going to just be really great years.
But you may have to spend a little time to search to find that. And I suggest that you do it and that you be cautious of turning on the news or reading the newspaper every day and hearing—allowing yourself to only see the negative in what is going on.
Good News
So the next little thing I want to talk about—first big sales pitch is start looking for the good news, you will find it. Second thing I want to talk about is the glass half full, glass half empty.
If you’re the glass-half-empty mentality, then what you see is low real estate prices. You see the interest rate’s low because nobody’s buying homes, so they’ve got the interest rates low to try to stimulate buying. You see financing at zero down because nobody has any money. And people see all those things as negative.
But then you have the people—and I suggest I’m one of the people, that I’m one of the people who sees the glass half full and I will find the opportunity in any catastrophe. I see it as low prices—that’s the time to buy. Low interest rates—I don’t care why they’re low, they’re low. I’m going to take advantage of those.
And zero-down financing including rehab money? I’m going to get some of that. I’m going to take advantage of that and build some wealth for myself and my family with that.
Positivity
So in a nutshell, before we go to the break, get out there and start looking for the good news. It is out there. And then second, start figuring out how to get yourself to look at the same situation but see the positive out of it as well.
You know there’s the book “The Millionaire Next Door” that discovered 70 percent of the millionaires in the United States own businesses and real estate. You’ve got to put some thought in your head that if the vast, vast majority of people who are doing this become millionaires, there’s a reason for you to get involved.
And sometimes this can be scary. Does it take massive amounts of time? Is this something that is just going to consume my life? I’m telling you it doesn’t.
