Dom's Thoughts For January

REMEMBER THE DONKEY

At times when we find ourselves in difficult situations, we sometimes wish that we could fall asleep and when we wake up, the problem would be over. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do that with the current state of the housing market. Most of us are getting weary of the length of the housing recession. The Federal government is telling us that the general economy has been in a recession since December 2007. We all know that the real estate market has been in a recession since December 2006. It has been a long and painful experience for anyone involved in real estate the last two years. How much more bad news can we endure and how much longer can we last? The answer lies in the following  parable.

One day a farmer's donkey fell into an abandoned well. The donkey lay quietly at the bottom of the well for many hours until the farmer noticed him missing. When the farmer found the donkey in the well he tried to figure out a way to pull him up without any success. The donkey began to cry out to the farmer but no matter how hard the farmer tried to save his donkey he just could not do it. The farmer decided to give up. To save the donkey any more pain, the farmer decided to bury the donkey in the well. He took his shovel and started throwing dirt down the well. When the donkey realized what the farmer was trying to do, he cried out even louder. After a while the donkey went silent.

The curious farmer took a look down the well and was amazed at what he saw. When the soil from the shovel dropped on the donkey's back, it moved its body so that the soil would land on the ground. Each time the dirt landed on the donkey's back he would shake it off so that it would land on the ground and the donkey would step up and move higher in the well. The donkey's despair had totally vanished. It was full of hope for living. The farmer realizing what was happening quickened his shoveling and the donkey reached the top of the well and walked away from that well.

The donkey faced many obstacles beyond his control; the farmer's decision to bury him alive, the dirt hitting him on his back and the depth of the well. However the biggest obstacle the donkey faced was his despair and hopelessness which was within his control. When despair turns to optimism and hopelessness to hope, victory is at hand. When you have the courage and tenacity to face the problem, the problem can be overcome.

We are that donkey. We are surrounded by obstacles beyond our control such as the huge inventory of unsold homes, lenders who do not want to lend and the depth of the housing recession. We can get buried by the obstacles facing us or we can let them fall off our backs, step up and learn by them. It is a matter of mindset and attitude. We have no choice but to accept what we cannot control and change what we can control. With hope and the right attitude each obstacle becomes a stepping stone. We can climb out of the deepest hole as long as we have the courage and tenacity to step up.

What are your stepping stones out of this hole?

I will give you my suggestions in the next issue.

So how much more bad news can we endure and for how long?

Bring on all the bad news. We will confront it and step up for as long as it takes to climb out of this hole.

Always, always have hope.

Remember the donkey.

Dominic J. Mancini
133 Fuller Road
Hinsdale, Illinois 60521
(630) 325-2580 fax (630) 325-5169