Con­fir­ma­tion has come to me that the econ­o­my, real estate, and things in our coun­try just real­ly suck.  I had din­ner with anoth­er friend last night who lost her house this year due to state of the econ­o­my and the way her mort­gage was struc­tured.  Side note; it seems I have friends scat­tered in cities all over the coun­try.  I nev­er real­ized…  That said, we sat at din­ner and told our sto­ries because it has been years since have seen each oth­er or spo­ken.  She is doing okay finan­cial­ly, smart, has a good bead on things, her job is “semi-secure,” but things spi­raled out of con­trol and she had to give it up… This seems to be becom­ing “nor­mal” in my conversation(s).

I had din­ner with anoth­er friend the pre­vi­ous night, and he sells real estate.  Rather he is try­ing to sell real estate.  He has been in the busi­ness for years.  200,000+ dol­lar prop­er­ties going for 35,000 — 50,000 dol­lars. Huh????  The peo­ple buy­ing them, are not home own­ers, they are investors buy­ing rental prop­er­ties… The ROI on these homes is rough­ly five years for the per­son rent­ing it to his ten­ant.  The upside is that those that lose their homes can rent and have a roof over their heads as long as there is mon­ey com­ing in.

My point, how­ev­er, is that “bad” seems to be the norm thee days, and that recov­er­ing a life that has been is on the minds of those who are strug­gling.  I guess it is a “what is nor­mal” ques­tion.  I sup­pose any sit­u­a­tion can become or feel nor­mal.

I also think that I am a lit­tle more thank­ful today.  A lit­tle more thank­ful for my job and life at the moment.  I have strug­gled before, and try to remem­ber that.  It slips my mind from time to time, how­ev­er.  That is my nor­mal­cy.  Speak­ing with my friends this week, how­ev­er has been a strong reminder that noth­ing lasts for­ev­er.  I hope they will do well, recov­er, and live pros­per­ous lives, or at the very least, the lives they want to live.

I had din­ner with anoth­er friend the pre­vi­ous night, and he sells real estate.  Rather he is try­ing to sell real estate.  He has been in the busi­ness for years.  200,000+ dol­lar prop­er­ties going for 35,000 — 50,000 dol­lars. Huh????  The peo­ple buy­ing them, are not home own­ers, they are investors buy­ing rental prop­er­ties… The ROI on these homes is rough­ly five years for the per­son rent­ing it to his ten­ant.  The upside is that those that lose their homes can rent and have a roof over their heads as long as there is mon­ey com­ing in.

Sigh.  All we can do is stay pos­i­tive, be more self aware, and try to do the best for our­selves… I won­der how many oth­er sto­ries I am going to hear from friends due to the eco­nom­ic down­turn… My num­ber is grow­ing more rapid­ly than I had expect­ed…