Anyone who has taken Economics 101 knows that markets are cyclical and housing is no exception. If there should have been surprise, it would have been that it took so long.

Over the past four decades that I have been in the real estate business, the up and down cycles normally go in five to seven year stretches. The sustained uptrend that we just completed lasted over 11 years and was markedly strong on the east and west coast where annual inflation rates consistently outpaced the general economy and in many examples reached double digits year after year. Salaries didn't keep up; cost of living didn't keep up; about the only thing that did keep up was the cost of gasoline.

So where do we go from here? Well it's simple…we roll up our sleeves and recognize that the American Dream is still alive and well. What has changed (actually what has gone back to normal) is the fact that people can no longer rely on their home as a piggy bank and assume that its value will continue to rise at the previous pace.

What is real is that people still have babies and need more room; still get promoted and want to move into a more prestigious neighborhood; still get transferred and have homes to sell and new ones to buy. What is real is that people die; people get divorced; people get sick and have to move into more accommodating facilities. All of these times in people's lives are when true real estate professionals show their stuff. We get creative; we get passionate; and we get GOING!

This is a "back to the basics" time in real estate. It's time to dust off the skills that weren't as critical when the market was strong; when anyone with a license could negotiate a deal. Today, it takes a keen knowledge of market value, a superior marketing strategy using all the new technologies to serve buyers and sellers, and superior negotiating and closing skills to make sure that in the end the clients walk away satisfied. Sign up today for specific tips and techniques to help your associates find clients in today's competitive market and close more business while building a personal reputation for honesty, integrity, and customer satisfaction.