If you pay attention, just keep your eyes and ears and intuition open, there are bits of information that foretell the future.
In 1982, when I was a wet-behind-the-ears stock broker, interest rates were 17%. Nothing much was happening at work, so I took off for Hawaii for a few days. It was October. I remember getting that 4 am phone call from my manager saying “get your a.. back here, now! That was the day rates started to fall. No one expected it – no one saw it coming.
Fast forward to today and look at some of the news articles that are buried on second and third pages of newspapers; just small footnotes.
A Few Cases in point:
In the news these past few days, Thomas Properties Group has recently signed a $6 million dollar 10-year deal for bigger offices – this time in the City National Plaza in downtown Los Angeles.
KB, one of the country’s largest home builders is still losing money, but they are also reporting more orders for homes.
One of the most impactful stories was reported last Thursday as New York City knocked London off the top spot as the city attracting the most commercial property investment in the world – the first time in this position since 2007. Congrats New York!
All these things mean something. They may seem like only small points of light, but they just might be indicators of underlying strength. As it has in the past, the recovery might just creep up on us while we’re looking the other way.
I’m not ignoring that there is still plenty to be unhappy about. People are not going to wake up to money falling out of trees and thousands of homes for sale at reasonable prices (not short sales, please), and job openings by the thousands, but I think it’s time to stop whining and focus on whatever each of us can do to keep our lives moving forward on a positive note. Maybe even reach out and give someone else a hand.
My final word – Stop your belly-achin’. I know the economy stinks, but this is the U.S. man! You can’t keep us down forever.
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