Thanks, the bike was from a backpacking trip in China- rode that to the Great Wall.

[...] Youtube: Is It For You? Posted by: amanda | Category: REI Internet Marketing, Real Estate Investing, Reos [...]

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Brett Thanks for opening this subject, Larry thanks for publishing it.The US system of marketing real estate is clearly broken or at least obsolete compared to Australia. There is no excuse for a million dollar properties to be so poorly marketed in the US. I have worked with 2 brokers who ask sellers to pay for photography and get reimbursed at closing. These sellers don’t seem to mind at all when they cut me a check while other brokers are complaining that they cannot afford photography and they are loosing listings to those who can. I have shot a few videos with sellers present and they are thrilled with the process and the product. I am sure they would participate in the cost when they know the upside to great marketing. Breaking the old ways of thinking in real estate circles may be harder than we think. Established brokers have made allot of money using the current system and when one pioneer broker goes out and shakes things up by providing (pro) video and other cutting edge marketing they risk becoming a black sheep who listings do not get shown by other jealous brokers. I know it sounds unbelievable but apparently it happens. Going straight to the seller may be the best solution. They control the money and can demand products and services if they know they exist. I am starting an ad campaign targeted at sellers. I am sure it will anger some brokers when their clients call and ask about having a video done of their home but we all need to take some risks if we are going to change the way real estate is marketed.

The deficit is money owed by the government to several different places. Examples are, U.S. citizens, U.S. companies, Japan, China, other goverment agencies that didn't use precious budgets… Interest is paid on this balance every year. As the national debt grows so too does the interest paid. Because the government also makes the money, they could in theory simply print more money and give it to their creditors. If they did that, the U.S dollar would become weaker compared to other countries money. Cutting a pie into more slices without making the pie any bigger will mean each slice of pie is smaller. Same principle applies to monetary policy.

As the government makes more money, inflation kicks in. A dollar in 1940 could buy a lot more than it does today. People that invest in things like banks and the stock market expect to beat inflation and even get more. For instance inflation runs about 3 percent per year on average. So on any investment you need to get more than 3 percent return or you will loose purchasing power.

To pull it all together. Government gets to a point that interst owed on national debt is higher than GDP. This means that we can not make more in a year than we owe. (Not likely to happen but proves a point) The only way the government can pay its debt is by doubling the amount of money in circulation. This would cause every dollar to loose 50 % purchasing power. The only way you could convince me to save my money rather than spend it would be by offering more than 50 % rate of return. If a bank is offering lets say 55 % interest rates then they too have to make more return on their investment. The people they loan the money to (home owners through morgages) would have to pay more than 55 % on there home loan. People would stop borrowing money at such a high rate, demand for houses would fall. The supply of houses would stay about the same. Decrease demand holding supply the same would lower the price of homes. Thus create a market crash