jeff davis

I agree that housing usually leads us in and leads us out. But I do not think that housing is a leading indicator: For that I look to the stock market. The stock market is like a giant wind vane. It always shows us where the wind is coming from and where it is headed. The problem, of course, is that the stock market, like the wind, changes direction frequently. And so how do we read the wind? The short answer is that sometimes you can and sometimes you can't. A great marksman knows how to watch the wind and use the wind. She knows to wait until the wind has committed itself. When the wind is steady it's safe to shoot, but shoot while it flutters and you will surely miss your target. There are times of change and we are in them. There is little sense of direction available: The economy of the whole world seems to flutter like a flag in an unpredictable wind. And thus, the stock market is our flag. Still fluttering with uncertainty, up one moment, and down the next. Of course there are a wagon full of indicators that move the stock market. There is GDP, unemployment, inflation, natural and manmade disaster, and so on, and so on, and so on. But there are just as many factors that effect the wind. And with so many of them happening at the same time all around the world -- it is simpler to just watch the wind and not worry so much why it has changed direction, again. And so the stock market, like the wind, tells me the culmination of events & indicators. For now, this culmination is unclear, and that makes me feel unsettled. One headline runs into another... from optimistic to pessimistic, like a roller coaster ride... and the stock market (seems to me) always, just a little ahead of the curve. But, nonetheless, still without commitment -directionless: Nothing a master marksman would shoot at without leaving a wide margin for error. And so that is where I stand, as firmly as I can on unsteady ground. And when I look around that is mostly what I see: Lack of commitment and lack of direction. Not as a result of a lack of diligence, but in spite of diligence and perhaps as a result of diligence. And hanging in the balance is nothing less than the life we know. The life we have learned to live with and to expect. But I do not believe this to be a time for expectations: And as the mystery of the stock market unravels itself I mostly expect the unexpected. jeff davis, GRI, SFR, Ecobroker Allen Tate Company Broker/Realtor(R) 704-808-0496 www.HomeSearchByJeff.com

The world is changing. The result is that there is confusion and even a little chaos. There is fear and fear adds to both. And yet with so many lives affected, there are also some for who the change has not been life changing. I agree that it will be years before we come out the other side. But, I question what the other side will look like. Will the trend of bigger and better pick up where it left off, or will less somehow become more. It is my opinion that our egos have outpaced the growth of our spirits and this crisis is the result. And that to resolve the crisis we'll need an ego check and to learn how to see value in a new light. The recent trend has been one of work more and work harder in order to have bigger and to have better. The end result has been a lesson that more work and more things leaves us unfulfilled and wanting something else. I believe that "something else" is the less that is more. If that is the case we may need to downsize and simplify in order to try things a different way. And so I believe that it's time for housing to take a new tack. The architect and builder of tomorrow need to contribute by giving us both beauty and comfort in less space and for less cost. In that way we can reserve some of resources for more spiritual endeavors and perhaps learn that our egos never deserved all that attention in the first place. jeff davis, GRI, SFR, Ecobroker Allen Tate Company Broker/Realtor(R) 704-808-0496 www.HomeSearchByJeff.com