Some of the Many Are Consumers

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I went to a high school run by the Jesuits. Think “Dead Poets Society” with Roman collars. The teachers were a little bit Pope John Paul II, a whole lot of Vince Lombardi, and, as is necessary to the development of young men, a healthy amount of Thomas Jefferson. The Jesuits are often admired for their ability to develop the “whole man”: intellectual, athletic, social, and most importantly, moral.

We were encouraged to be irreverent in the reverence of our school. The very irreverent actions we engaged in were seen by the Jesuits as an exhibition of curiosity. Pranks performed, under the guise of “school spirit”, were not only tolerated but encouraged. When it was suggested that one of our rival’s star basketball players was being bribed to attend a certain college, we waved checks in the stands when he attempted his free throws. Brother John, the Prefect of Discipline, may have handed down the ceremonial J.U.G. that day but the practice of pranks was generally tolerated.

Rarely did our pranks elevate to the status of unconscious insult. I say “rarely” because it did happen, about once a year. When it happened, it was usually the product of a good intention with garnered support from the crowd. In short, we took it just a bit too far without the forethought of the consequences of our actions.

The consequence was much harsher than a JUG; it was a speech attacking our moral fiber by none other than the President of the school. That sage old priest, a modicum of morality, started off the admonishment with a request to “walk a mile in the victims’ moccassins” and ended with the horrendous revelation that we, in our ignorance, injured some (or many) of those without the benefits we had.

Ouch! That admonishment always resulted in a bevy of boys, walking around with humble and contrite hearts, wondering if we would ever amount to the “whole man” St. Ignatius Loyola envisioned.

I’m going to digress from the high school story but I’ll bring it back later. Last night, I attended my daughter’s Christmas pageant. It was, of course, remarkable. Prior to the pageant, parents jostle for position in the audience, as early as an hour before the curtain rises. Position equals photo opps. Mindless small talk is the agenda for the pre-pageant hour. Two past clients discussed one of my opinion pieces, about HR 3915, on “my blog”.

I asked “Mortgage Rates Report?”.

“No” were the responses, “the one with the dog”.

“GASP” I thought…”Bloodhound? Bloodhound is an industry blog!” I smiled wanly and thanked them for their support. I filed the discovery in the “be careful what you post” file in my brain, changed the subject, and anticipated my daughter’s pageant.

This afternoon, I clicked over to Bloodhound to see Greg’s homily, citing the Book of Matthew. “Awshit”, I thought. “I just met two of the ninety and nine, last night”. What Greg said was true; the Unchained project is teaching us that many read but don’t comment. Apparently, some of the many don’t engage in real estate brokerage or loan origination; they hire us to do that for them.

Blogging is starting to achieve what we all convinced ourselves it would do; it’s attracting customers. I sat with Laurie Manny, in her Long Beach office, last month and watched two agents, from competing firms, seek her out to introduce themselves to her. I heard a telemarketer call her (from WeSellStuffToRealtors.com) and eschew his normal sales pitch for a chance to talk to “Long Beach Laurie“. The two of us were frightened with her newfound fame.

A video with a powerful message was posted about members of the flock who are struggling with the quickly changing market- we call those people consumers. While it’s genius said the same thing Russell Shaw has been saying, its delivery reduced our opinion of the consumer’s intellect to that of the average first-grader’s. It was, to use my high school example, locker room humor that was innocently enough heard by the ladies at the Mother’s Club tea, next door. We all, unintentionally offended in our adolescent support for what, we thought, was a cute way to hammer an important message home.

…and the resident Jesuit called us on the carpet for it.

The reactions to his homily were more visceral than the venal sin itself. They ranged from an accusation of arrogance to a rationalization of the irrational, with a chorus of maybes. The arrogance, however, comes from within as we carelessly ignore the struggles of half of the ninety and nine (assuming half the consumers are sellers). We can rationalize this behavior with all the maybes we can muster but the consumers will simply…choose someone else.

I’m no less guilty than the producer of the video; I was among the pack(#5), cheering on the producer for his creativity.

Sometimes, what seems like a well-intentioned message can be a public relations nightmare. Our future employers ARE watching us. This blogging thing is starting to work.

Mea Culpa.