"I believe there will always be people like this guy who believe that he can profit from the next sucker who come down the road. He will moan and complain about the price he paid, how much he has to “feed” his property, lousy tenants, etc. He will rail against the slow market and wring his hands over how much he is loosing. Should the property sell, if he sells for a loss he will cry about his loss to whoever will listen. If he sells it for more than he paid for, he will boast about what a shrewd business man he is, never bothering to look at the net loss he took during the time that he owned it, the short-term capital gains tax he had to pay, etc.

In my mind, there will always be un-educated, greedy people in this world who will be looking for an easy buck, relying on their own wit rather than consulting someone or doing market research. We would all like to buy low, sell high, get positive cash flow, but sometimes that just ain’t the way it is and sometimes we have to ride it out. In the mean time, we remain patient and treat tenants with the dignity they deserve, the market and potential buyer with the same dignity.

In other words, Linda, the first type of property owner is one that you would avoid working with and would probably choose a broker with fewer ethics than you possess. The latter one is the type of person who is attracted to your honest business ethic. We are all human and sometimes we want to give in to the quick buck. The thing I like about you is that you bring a person back to earth to think sanely about the situation. You guide your clients to the best purchasing decision, you offer excellent advice on property management, and when the time to sell comes, you help a person with timing, pricing, finding the right buyer.

You may not have the slickest office/car/website. You probably don’t show up at all the “right” mixers. But you and Bob offer your clients good, old-fashioned, business expertise. The whole while, you have fun working and playing. Go D-Backs! Go Cards!

OK, nuff said. Get back to work."

-- Dan