Huiting's Blog

Today, I went shopping in my favorite grocery stores. I am so surprised that many items are either out of stock or they do not carry any more. This happens to not only one store but a few of them. Here in RI, we have shaws, superandshop and a heavy discount grocery chain, pricerite.

What are missinng? They run out of Fuji apples, some asian pears, turnips, etc.

I hope this is due to the holiday only, rather than due to the economy.

Today, I was reading Jon's post "do not do harm".

One thing he mentioned that most realtors use their own email system which does not have the spam filter features like those big guys like Gmail, Yahoo or hotmail.

Well, I am pretty this has been discussed many times, but I would like to raise this topic again. For those realtors who got their own domain and use email like email@domain.com, you can actually use the free service offered by gmail. It is called Google apps.

Google apps link

It is essential gmail but with your own domain. I have been using the free edition for a few domains and it works for me very well.

It also supports POP and IMAP just like gmail.

It is pretty easy to setup if you have your own domain.

For those who will come to Providence or new comers to Providence, I would like to share a real story with you.

Wed evening (Nov 26, 2008), my wife was getting home from work via bus. Around 7 pm, she was waiting for the bus in Kennedy plaza. Suddenly, my wife needed to check an email. So she took out of her computer and connected to the internet via some free wifi signals around.

One gentleman in his 20ish came over and asked my wife a few strange question:Is this a good computer? What does that folder icon mean?

My wife felt it's weird and quickly put her computer away and smiled at that gentleman saying she needs to catch the bus now.

With that smile, the guy left.

One lady next to my wife told her that he was apparently trying to rob her. The lady said she was robbed of an iPhone last month.

Today, I talked to my friend about this. He is a former detective and is licensed to carry a gun all the time. He told me even he would never get out anything valuable in that bus station. That area is especially dangerous around afternoon time. 4 well known Providence gangsters are heavily patrolling that area around that time.

I am so thankful nothing happened to my wife and I would like to share this story here. This is the first time that this kind of thing ever happened to my family. Before this, I always thought crime is a remote thing. We are now in a recession. Many people might resort to ways to borrow stuff from people. Please use due cautious all the time. If you have any security concern in Providence, please contact me or the Providence Police.

 

For those of you who do not know this little town, I would like to share with you some trivia about this small town.

 

1, Pawtucket is the birth place of American Industrial Revolution!

Sam Slater built the first successful commercial mill in American in 1793.

 

2, Providence, which is adjacent to Pawtucket, used to be the world capital of jewelries. And Pawtucket is just part of that Jewelry capital. Jewelry used to one of the major industries in Pawtucket.

 

3, One of the world's biggest manufacturer of toys and games, Hasboro, is headquartered in Pawtucket.

 

4, Sam Slater's partner, Moses Brown,  who help founded the first mill in America, founded the Brown University, which is one of the 8 Ivy Colleges in this country.

 

Well, I know people's memories are limited to 3 items. But I think the the 4th item is really important. I hope enjoy knowing it.

 

I do not know if it is similar in other states, but here in Rhode Island, there are many areas called Project neighborhood. These communities usually are considered tough communities with rundown properties. Almost everybody in town knows about those area.

To encourage people to live these communities, cities usually subsides people to live there.

I wonder if your state/city has the same neighborhood.

Well, it is thanksgiving day. I usually do not write comments, especially good comments for websites as I am a really picky person as far as websites are concerned and I have higher standards. But I really would like to send my sincere thanks to ActiveRain folks, despite so many technical problems. ActiveRain is far away from being a perfect social network website but it is by far the best.

There are many other similar websites, like msn, myspace, facebook, etc. But all of them are full of some young kids who write something that I am not interested at all. ActiveRain is different. This site is full of ADULTS professionals. Everybody writes like an adult and comments like an adult. Moreover, There are many inspirational, motivational and knowledgeable posts.

There are many other reasons. But the above reason alone makes AR the best!

I consider myself a very unlucky person but finally getting lucky.

My salary is only .1 billion US$. Recently, due to those idiots not paying my usurious loan, my salary is in great danger and my vacation in California is in great danger. So I have to go out and beg some money.

I drove my Jet to Boston where a group of economists are working really hard there. I said, "can I borrow money from you guys?"

They told me, "get out , you Son of a banker, you do not deserve anything. Why do you sell your Jet and donate money to Church for atonement".

Well, I drove my Jet to a granite building where a guy named P. He gladly told me that:"

you are too big to die. Your Jet is too big for the junkyard. I will gladly give you some money".

I must say, Mr.P is a great man. Now my salary is secured and my vacation is secured. I want to offer my big thanksgiving to the government of USA. Only we kill all these economists, this country would be a much place for me to do business.

 

Some people might already know that I moved to the city. Here in Rhode Island, anywhere more than 10 miles is too far away. My office is 15 miles away. So i decided to find an office near where I live (within half a mile).

Friday, one attorney advertises that he got two spaces available. So I met his controller around 6 Last Friday. The controller said, he is looking for offers. I said, I didnot reveal I am a realtor as well. Just said I am a business broker and consultant. I said, it is not common to rent in an auction style.

Anyway, I briefly mentioned that in this area, people have been offering $10 dollars per square foot. By the way, in Providence, common prices are betwen 14 and 28.

The controller said, ohn, Ok, I will let him(attorney) know. $10 times 133 square feet will give about $1300/per month. I smiled.

Monday afternoon, I and a friend went to meet the attorney. After some chit chat, the attorney finally said:"well, you said $10, that means about $1300/ per month."

I was almost petrified.

This attorney just celebrated his 80th birthday. He is a real estate attorney. He surely should know how commercial real estate prices are. He thought I am just new to the city and could not figure out what is normal market price.

After I left this attorney's office, my friend told me that: "next time, please do not talk and let me talk. I think he notices that you are new to the city and got an accent. He just wants to screw you."

By the way, I have three clients that are huge NASDAQ companies. I have worked with fortune 500 Executives for over 3 years. I do not think my Asian Face is the reason that some people think I am easy to be screwed.

Anyway,I am glad that I am a realtor and did fall through the trap.

Realtors, you can now use my real story to tell people why they need a realtor.

Regina introduces the GotVmail system. I did some research and have to admit that I love it.

For those who do not know it, it is a PBX system powered by VOIP technology. It is pretty powerful as you do not have to pay those greedy landline commercial PBX price while you do not actually use it that much.

The nice thing about it is NAR members can get $50 credit when you sign it up. Please click the following link in order to get the credit.

 

If you already signed up, I am not sure if you can get the credit back. maybe call those guys.

By the way, this company is located at Newton,MA.

 

Update: I just noticed that Regina also mentioned the $50 credit thing for NAR members.

Everybody now knows the economy is in recession now. The direct cause is subprime and it then trickles down to the whole economy. But how about the root cause?

In my mind, the root cause is unfairness in the economic system which cannot keep the smart people busy on the right things. In stead, those smart people begin to speculate. That is when the risk begins.

I see many people show strong sympathy for the current president. While I do think he is a good person but I do not think he is the right CEO for this country.

When he took over this country. he faces a surplus of 230 Billion left by Mr.Clinton. Now after 8 years, the government turns into a deficit of over 500 billion.

Not too much construction going on. Not too much scientific breakthroughs. Where did money go? The only possible answer is corruption. I do not have too much evidence to support at this moment but that is the bes answer.

Corruption will certainly create social unfairness. With those unfairness, many people's creativity are hindered. What do they do?

They speculate!

They created the biggest financial bubble--MBS: (subprime) mortgage backed securities.

They created the biggest real estate bubble.

They created the biggest OIL bubble ever.

I was talking to a guy who work for Goldenman Sachs. He told me even more financial products that make no sense to me but difficult to people who do not understand economics and finance. This guy is very smart. I think he can easily invent some thing for this great country.

I hope this new president will figure out a way of fairness and keep those smart people real busy. Without this, this country will still be hopeless.

Well, right after this election, I joked about my dream team for Obama. Now, it seems Obama actually read my post and picks Hilary as sec of state. Not close to my expectation but as least it is Mr.Cliton's wife.

I wish this is out of economic consideration rather than a political move. I hate the phrase "politically right".

Now, I wish Gore will play some good rule in the new government.

By the way, now that Bush is going to step down soon, I think more environmentalists will voice hard. Environmentally friendly products are going to be the next hot economic engine. I do not mess with stocks but for folks who plan to buy, now is the time.

 

Wed, I paid for about 1.95/gallon and I thought that is the bottom. Jay just posted that his getting $1.65.

 

I remember last year, many so called analysts and economists claim that it is purely demand and supply. Well, the oil underneath is still the same. People still drive to work every day. Demand decreases a little bit but not that much.

Well, I am an economist, but I do not do research on OIL at all. But from my feeling, this gas prices are definitely by driven by Demand and Supply at all. It is totally speculation.

Plus, worlds oil supply is not controlled by a few countries. Worlds' direct demand--a few super buyers, are controlled by a few big guys (BP, Mobile, etc). So the market is not competitive at all.

I see no reasons why the government should not intervene those bloody speculators.

Below are a few true jokes by some visitors who speak broken English.

 

***************

A group of visitors are heading to the statue of freedom. Suddenly, they got lost. One guy who is the best among them who speak English goes up and asks a police officer:

"do you know where is that free woman?"

The police officer was never asked this question and after a while, he said:"I do not know...But if you do know, pleaselet me know."

***************

A guy had a fight with an American.

The American said: F*ck.

The guy said: double F*ck.

***************

A man is new to this country got lost and asks his friend to get him. His friend said "spell me the name of the road where you are" (apparently in his own language).

"well, I donot know the name of the road........Oh, wait a second, I know it now it is in red and white. Here it is.....S......T......O.......P"

***************

Spammers are targetting ActiveRain! I recently got quite a few spams. Very irritating. Below is one that I just received. I wonder how we can help prevent those spams. Those are not emails. I got them through the ActiveRain email system.

----quote begin-------------

Message details:
From: Hon. Dr. Morris Okoh
Email: dr.morrisokoh1@gmail.com
Subject: INVESTMENT

I am Honorable Dr.Morris Okoh.I am one of the members who conducted the 2007 election with some of my party members,after the election we discovered that the sum of $ 60 Million Dollars.was remaining and we decided to move it out side the country for safe keeping through the help of a Security Firm in Valencia Spain package in a consignment as Family Treasure.

We hereby write you seeking your opinion for an investment in your country in respect of this.we will appreciate if you can be able to handle this project perfectly with us, by making sure that the money will be received in your Country for an investment.Also for more easy communication kindly send your private telephone/ fax numbers also your full name/address for confidential purposes.

Thanks,
I wait for your responce
Yours sincerely
Dr.Morris Okoh

Well, I am not thinking of running for president soon. Just a thought. Nothing serious yet. My thought comes from the interview I just posted today:

One thing Jim Cramer accidentally predicted right--the real estate market.

I try to keep myself away from politics. I have been trying to be politician from young until couple years ago. Then I changed my mind to business.

That said, I am so disappointed about the national association. Local associations also needs lots of improvement.

Anybody can shed some experience or opinions on being "politically" active in NAR or local associations? I wonder two things:

1, time commitment.

2, if NAR or local associations means a lot to realtors. It seems to me most realtors that I know do not really care about those associations. That means if I devote my time and energy into it, my effort might be received.

One realtor from RI was recently installed as VP of NAR. I heard from some friends that his participation in NAR actually negatively affected his business. Maybe still hurting him now.

Most people know Jim Cramer, the host and producer of "Mad Money" at CNBC.

I am not sure if there are many Jim Fans here. But I know many people love him. I here would like to offer a basic analysis why people should not listen what he says.

By the way, personally, I think he is a good guy and a very smart TV personality but I do not believe he is a meaningful economist at all. I do not see any good logic in his analysis. Well, I know it is hard to explain any economic analysis in one TV show. Plus, he needs to cut in some commercials; he needs time to through some books; he needs some time to shout; he needs to point fingers.

Anyway, the very basic economic analysis is just supply and demand. Even grand parents know that.

The economic law says when demand increases, price increase and vice vesa, given supply is fixed.

Many people notice that everytime he picks a stock, the price of this stock will go slightly up the second day.

That is very easy to explain. When he picks up a stock,he is convincing people to buy. Given the popularity of his show, even a small amount of people got convinced and buy the second day, the demand will increase. Apparently, the company cannot issue any stock over night, which means supply is pretty fixed.

Guess what, price will increase due to a slight increase of demand. Simple as that.

 

That said, please read the criticism part of the wikipedia article to have a better understanding why he does not understand economics at all. You can also the Criticisim part of the wikipedia partile on Jim Cramer.

I am seriously looking into solutions to convert cellphone into a landline. There are multiple reasons, the no.1 reason is sigal strength. Using that system, I can put my cellphone in a place where the signal is the strongest and I then can use my home phone to dial out through my cellphone.

 

The second reason is it is about 12 miles for me to drive to my office. I recently plan to rent an office near home (like a mile or two). However, I donot plan to install another land line that I got no use for it. I hate to waste money.

Here is system that I am looking at:

Dock-N-Talk

The system basically converts a cellphone into a landline.

I wonder if any Rainer is using it. There are mixed reviews online but I would prefer to know from some rainers here that I can interact with.

Well, point is never my reason to blog. I write to share knowledges. If point is my sole reason to be on ActiveRain, I would have hired somebody to pour POINTS posts here.

Anyway, it is nice to be on ActiveRain. So nice to reach the 50K points. A few proud comments here:

1, All my points are real points. That means there are no points posts---posts written only to get points. I think it is a waste of everybody's time and precious hard drive space of ActiveRain servers.

2, I do not comment for points only. I am very picky and I do not comments for points. I only pick what I like to read and then comment. I do have lots of one sentence comments though.

3, I write because I feel the need to share with people.

The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.

4, It is the quality of the posts that matters not the points.

Anyway, after 3 months of bloggin in AR, I think I like AR community. Pretty mature members. Lots of smart folks. 

I am not a big fan of Jim Cramer. I will write a separate post about him soon based upon my economic reasoning.

Now, most of us know what the real estate market is. It is nice to reflect on what people said in the past. Here is one piece of clip of an interview in the Today show. The realtor there is Charles McMillan, president elect of NAR 2009.

Well, Most of Jim Cramers' comments about the economy are basically junk with no practical reference sense. But this one, folks, he accidentally predicted it right.

 

By the way, please do not comment about Charles McMillan here. I think he must already feel bad about his comments there.

I think every creative realtor should watch this interview of Michelle Obama by Jay Leno.

I am not sure if it is true or not. You know those politicians. But I wish it is true. For those impatient Realtors, please go to directly to around 2'30".

Michelle mentioned that his husband will put TV ads on TV. His 10 year daughter's response is:

"you will be on all the TV? are you going to interrupting my TV?"

Obama's response was he did not buy any time on Disney and Nick.

While it is funny, I think this little girl does raise an interesting question for all of us who want to do commercials: Be creative in marketing.

Not so long ago, I wrote a post titled:

Blog your listing, not advertise your listing.

My point is to convince realtors, bloggers to write something creative about your listing. Not simply advertise something. Few peoples are interested in a simple ad.

In this world, nobody likes to read/listing/watch an ad. EVEN a 10 year old. It is called "Interruption" or "Mess up". However, many kids like a Dora bag. If you advertise in a proper and creative way that nobody even notices it is an ad, you win. Not only you win, you take all. Remember: winners take all.

Anyway, here is the clip at youtube.

Jay interviews Michelle Obama