S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

In the past 45 days, the S.E.C. Education Foundation has supported Peter West and Corey Bishop in moderating a marketing session for the Kansas CCIM Chapter in Wichita; and Wes Dingler and Brandon Sanders in moderating a marketing session in Indianapolis for the Indiana Real Estate Exchangers (IREX) group.

Lately I have been re-reading Profitable Real Estate Exchanging and Counseling by our founder, Richard R. Reno. On page 122, he writes: ‘Don’t Worry About Cash’

Thank you to S.E.C. instructors Ted Blank, Wes Dingler, Brandon Sanders, John Brennan, and Gary Vandenberg for donating their services to S.E.C. for the Portland Symposium.

In the next few months, we will be delivering several quality education courses around the country…

Like it or not, America is now starting to live with the effects of the Affordable Care Act. It is truly the solemn duty of each citizen in our country to elect leaders who will establish wise rules by which to run our nation. However, learning what the rules are so that we can strategize how to “play the game” of living in our great nation probably affects us more on a day-to-day basis.

On our emblem, you see the letters S.E.C., the Society of Exchange Counselors. If you examine it more closely, however, you will also see the double meaning of S.E.C. – Service, Experience, Counsel. Membership in the Society is by invitation only. We are constantly looking for the very best people within the field of creative equity marketing. Each person who attends an S.E.C. Marketing Session has received a special invitation. Each attendee is given the opportunity to present at least one property before the group.

So why is this a good time to buy commercial real estate? Well, would you rather buy at the top of the market or at the bottom? Most places around the country are reporting that rents and sale prices have remained about the same for the last year. This follows large drops in rents and sale prices from 2009-2012. Most economists agree it is unlikely that prices will drop significantly more in the near future.

These are the reasons the Society has succeeded for over 50 years as the premiere real estate exchange organization in the country. Benefit #1: The Society of Exchange Counselors has a distinctive culture. The definition of culture is, “the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends on the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.”

Some of you may have grown up singing a little song, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” That song makes me think of the Society. We are going through a tempestuous economic and political storm. For investors, these are scary times. Out on the ocean of the world economy, the night is dark, the waves are big, and there is real danger all around. The Society is like a beacon with a strong light that can show the way to a safe haven, shelter from the storm. We Counselors are ships upon the water ready to bring passengers in to safety.

Just two letters, but “If” is one of the biggest words in the English language. “If” allows one to presuppose a situation in the future, try it on for size, so to speak, and see how it feels. Combined with the words, “would you even consider it?” the word “If” can let you “try on” a future situation. You are only being asked “if you would even consider” committing to a future action. It is very easy to answer yes to such a question, since you are not committing to anything except to “consider” doing something in the future.