“If I say that a mosquito can pull a plow, don’t ask how, hitch him up!”

May all of us be this inspired and this remarkable. In spite of incredible odds against us in 2009, I hope that you wake up in the morning inspired to make a difference and to be positive. If you don’t, then watch this video every night before you go to bed for the next few weeks, OK?

THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR.

Much love to all Mothers, and especially to my wife, the lovely Laura!

Yesterday, I repeated exactly what I heard from Shaun Rawls on Wednesday morning during a presentation dedicated to disseminating Chartmaster Chuck’s Q109 charts.

That 74% number will be more vivid soon, when I have copies of the charts – I also wrote down these notes, and they conflict with the 74% number:

79% of all listings were priced wrong

72.8% of OLP if you reduced just once

96.2% of OLP if you priced correctly

Regardless of percentage point accuracy, the numbers are lame and it’s ultimately our faults, Listing Agents.

Most have overpriced listings that languish for months.

There are few who have been at close to 100% of their game, and many who have consistently failed to win at least some of the time. Many who are no longer with us.

I feel that The Rootdown Group was solid for 2008, but along came January through March 2009, and our listings have faced price reductions, multiple relists, and in a few cases, turning tail.

We only had one withdrawal as a result of  series of disagreements with the Seller. We were right, it turns out, about attractive pricing, but between Greg’s style and my style, these condo sellers near Piedmont Park chose to hire someone else, and fire us.

We have one pending short sale that is looking good – condo with this view for $100,000.

We hit 50% between January and March 2009, but we did sign 5 Binding Agreements in April.

What will turn it around?

1. Short sales, in the hands of those who understand what Loss Mitigation truly means, are becoming a more efficient means of sale than before. Auctions are on the rise. Alternatives to conventional thinking are needed.

2. Carmax style pricing is the new marketing. Cold hard worldviews need simple, clean, and easy purchase information in real estate. That also brings up my other complaint – the new marketing is the old marketing  – please install ERECT signs, or else get out of the professional ranks.

3. For most resales,  playing against the weak market armed with cold hard facts, and refusing to give in to feelings of hope. Halting all “testing the waters” activity for the time being…

3 out of 4 fail, pretty much, in Atlanta single family residential real estate lately. 3 out of 4 that have tested the waters and found them to be boggy and laden with casualties.

I don’t even want to talk about condos, lofts and townhomes. Pain, blues, and agony. Just ask Donald Trump over in upper Midtown.

“He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.”

So, turn tail and run if needed, like the little guy in the painting above – but, whoever is left, lets get these numbers up this Spring!

I am now thinking of the Jefferson Starship’s “Ride The Tiger” and although some of you would prefer the fantastic 80′s inspiration of “We Built This City,” I refuse to post that song on this website.

Here’s “Ride The Tiger.” Now, go sell something…

Q109 sales results are in Atlanta and I have a solid recommendation for your next cocktail conversation starter…

but first, watch THE Barbara Corcoran make fun of midgets on the Today show last week.

Here’s the fundamental real estate statistic for metropolitan Atlanta, through March:

“…Right original list price – 31 days and at 96.2% OLP. Wrong OLP, but still sold – 234 days and 78% OLP.

BUT…74% of all listed properties and all previously listed properties that listed again between January and March, failed to sell at all…”

Here’s mud in your eye!

I’m a voracious reader, particularly of business and marketing books. I also have an affinity for military, geopolitical and trend books – I like authors who look ahead, who think boldly and who sometimes make grand statements. I like authors who inspire the “challenger” in me.

Right now, my favorite author is my lovely wife, Laura Davis-Taylor, who self-published a very successful, niche marketing book called Lighting Up The Aisle in 2007.

That little book paid some of the bills last year, so how can it not be my favorite?

Laura operates a “challenger brand.” Adam Morgan may not have coined the term, but he has captured the marketing zeitgeist of challengers, studied challengers and absorbed a ton of knowhow with the successes and failures of challengers over the past 2 decades.

Laura inspires many, many people, and she is the challenger in every game that she plays – she’s on the bleeding edge of strategic digital out of home marketing, and I wake up every day immensely honored to be her husband.

Adam’s book, “Eating The Big Fish,” in addition to the books of Seth Godin and Gary Keller, has been one of the primary textbooks that has guided me since I founded The Rootdown Group on April 1, 2004 – almost 5 years ago.

Adam’s book, published in 1999, is a book that I read about 3 times in 2003. I wanted out of corporate America. I’ve read Gary’s The Millionaire Real Estate Agent 8 times since 2003.

So what’s my point?

Well, we are celebrating the anniversary of my agency practice on April Fools Day. We’ve helped over 160 clients buy or sell Atlanta area real estate since we listed our first two properties on April 1, 2004. We’ve built a talented team of 3 and Dana and Greg are both remarkably talented and hard-working and their strengths compliment mine.

When we started, and even today, our “ambitions outstripped our resources.” Some of Intown Atlanta’s finest real estate agents have gone away since we started – broken business models litter the Intown Atlanta real estate agency landscape.

On the playing field of 2009, we’ve seen that this blogsite, and our complimentary community-building on Trulia (since December 2007, and since March 2008, the #1 Trulia Voice in Atlanta), Facebook (since May 2008) and Twitter ( since February 2009) is what keeps us in business.

Gary Keller breaks it down to “mets” and “haven’t mets.” We do our best to honor our mets and we’ve been blessed with a solid referral stream.

We’ve found a tremendous resource in the “web 2.0″ tools that have become part of our daily life since 2007, and our web 2.0 efforts are our PRIMARY “haven’t met” lead generator, by a long, long measurement.

Today, this blogsite obtained the honor of making it to the 3d round of the Nationwide Blog Brawl – out of 1000′s of real estate blogs, and out of 32 initial competitors in the 2009 Blog Brawl, we are in the “Elite 8!”

Please vote for us; we are THE challenger out of the Elite 8 – the other 7 are well-known, established, delightful, superbly crafted and masterfully led real estate blogs.

Somehow, we are the #2 seed right now, and lo and behold we are competing with the internationally recognized and broadly lauded, miamism.com. We are certainly the challenger here!

The votes close at 8:59 am on Friday, March 27.

I’ll wake up tomorrow and remember that the reason why this website exists is to help my clients – we want to help people buy Intown Atlanta real estate, and we want to help our listing clients sell Intown Atlanta real estate. The dynamics of both of those tasks require a leaner, smarter and more resolved business model in 2009, much more than the requirements that I met or exceeded back in April 2004.

The most vital thing Adam Morgan taught me in 2003, and what he continues to teach me today as I approach the most unique and the most widely reviewed marketing challenge of my 21 year sales career, the Blog Brawl, is this:

My business is threatened by the superior competitive positions of larger, better placed competitors. That’s my daily mindset, and that’s what motivates me to get better, to be better and to act better.

Since April 1, 2004, so far, so good. Thanks for your votes!

Here’s a well-known challenger on video from 1974…may we all be this good.

It’s round 2 of the Virginia Association of Realtors 3d annual Nationwide Blog Brawl, and intowninsider.com is among 32 Nationwide competitors.

Click here to vote before 8:59 am on Friday March 21 in two of the zones of this 4 zone, single elimination contest. Intowninsider.com is seeded 2d in Zone 3 and we are facing the formidable 7th seed foe of Brian Block, a Virginia Realtor. Please vote – I would love it if 100 or more of you voted!

Yes, you must vote for all of the contests in two zones, that is just 8 contests.

To vote for Zones 1 and 4, and to see the whole rundown of the current contest, click here.

The loser leaves town.

All this talk about being nationwide makes me wanna hear some of that little old band from Texas…

PLEASE VOTE – WE LOVE YOU!