I'm drawn to post regularly about politics

I am recasting this blog as my personal blog, now that all my real estate postings are at www.GoldenREblog.com.  If you're not interested in what I have to say politically, you may want to unsubscribe!

The reason I feel the need to write about politics (and journalism) is that I don't feel that the Democrats and the media are doing a good job of providing perspective on what is happening, both within and about the Trump administration as well as other matters.

To give just one example, remember when Ford said they were going to stop making cars (except the Mustang) in America and concentrate on trucks and SUVs?  The media parroted that narrative, which might more accurately have been that "Ford is moving its car production to Mexico and elsewhere, except for the Mustang."  After all, I can't imagine that they won't manufacture such best sellers as the Taurus, Focus and Fiesta somewhere. The official narrative was probably designed to avoid criticism from Trump about moving manufacturing out of the country, and the media bought into it. The Democrats didn't pick up on it at all!

Regarding the Russia story, I have some background I can bring to bear, having studied Russian during the Cold War (in prep school), and having traveled to the Soviet Union four times - once in 1978 as a tourist with fellow MIT alumni, twice in the late 1980s as a "citizen diplomat" with the Center for Soviet-American Dialogue, and one more time as a businessman negotiating a joint venture with a Soviet ministry.  I have a perspective on the KGB's methodologies that many journalists lack.  I will be writing about disinformation then and now and even about sex as an espionage tool, similar to what was used against Trump during the Miss Universe event in Moscow.

So stay tuned.  I may be posting rather often, commenting on what's in the news -- and there's a lot in the news every day!

What Makes for Success in Real Estate? Here’s What Golden Real Estate Does

Last week I mentioned how Golden Real Estate was honored for coming in third among metro brokerages of our size in the number of transactions completed in 2016.

In this week’s column, I’d like to share my personal strategy for success in real estate, which has evolved into a company-wide strategy serving all agents — and benefiting clients.

Decades ago I adopted what I thought was a quote by Confucius. My sister had it posted on her refrigerator. Thanks to Google, I discovered that it wasn’t a quote by Confucius, but it could have been. “Concentrate on giving, and the getting will take care of itself.”  That philosophy underlies this column and its success in attracting clients for me and our agents. The time most real estate agents spend prospecting, I spend coming up with topics on which I can educate myself and then share that knowledge with my readers.

 

That’s how journalism works. A reporter is given an assignment, learns all he can about it, and then reduces it to a concise article that summarizes what he learned. That’s what I do every week — learn more than I already know about a given topic, then share what I have learned.

 

I never run out of topics to write about which educate the public — and thereby myself — regarding some aspect of real estate. Sometimes, I’m able to clarify or contradict statistics or statements which I see in the press or on TV.  For example, is the market cooling down or heating up? Are we in another bubble? As a Realtor, I have access to raw data that allows me to address such topics in a way that general assignment reporters can’t.

 

Giving back is important. Golden Real Estate is a member of two chambers of commerce (Golden & the West Chamber) and one business association. Rita and I are active members the Rotary Club of Golden, and I’m also a member of the Golden Lions Club. Serving in this way is satisfying in itself, and demonstrates our values.  [We are also big supporters of Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver (through Jeffco Interfaith Partners, now called West Metro Interfaith Partners) and Family Promise of Greater Denver.  Two of our agents are big-time volunteers with Golden's Christian Action Guild.  Myself, I'm a long-time member of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society, Golden Solar Tour (now called the Metro Denver Green Home Tour), and the Denver Electric Vehicle Council.]

 

Another business principle that underlies my practice of real estate is authenticity. Misrepresenting one’s level of success, for example, is not only a violation of the Realtor Code of Ethics, it is not good salesmanship. I consider myself a lifelong learner and don’t “know it all.”

 

That principle expresses itself in me by being a news and public affairs sponge. I love listening to music as much as the next person, but my car radio is always tuned to the only all-news radio network we have — NPR.   I often hear local real estate stories, since it’s a popular topic these days, but being well informed on other national and world affairs is also important to me.

 

On the other hand, I have little patience for talk radio, whether conservative or liberal. I’ll listen to analysis and hard news, but I consider opinions a waste of my attention.

 

In terms of the day-to-day practice of real estate, I know I can’t do it all, so I surround myself with a support team. That team includes, among others, a transaction coordinator, a stager, a photographer, a drone pilot, several lenders, inspectors, and a handyman (who works only for our clients). That said, I don’t over-delegate. I like to get my hands dirty. I’ll put signs in the ground and do my own narrated video tours of each listing, including for my broker associates. Our office manager, Kim Taylor, helps with every aspect of listing and selling homes, but I’m happy to show listings, hold open houses, enter listings on the MLS, create websites for each listing, etc. I don’t just have a team, I’m part of the team.

Another factor in my personal success is surely my full-time accessibility. My cell phone (303-525-1851) is never turned off. I was in Puerta Vallarta all last week, which may come as a surprise to those clients and future clients who reached me on my cell phone and made appointments to meet with me this week. (I also submitted last week’s column from Mexico and will be submitting next week's column from a ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.)

 

Experience has taught me that “to make money, you need to spend money,” and I never forget that. One example of an expenditure that paid off was our moving truck. I bought our first one at a convention in 2004 and it has been so useful to clients and has built so much goodwill for us among non-profits and community organizations, that I bought a second one last year. In 2008 I also invested in a storage shed for the moving boxes and packing materials that we provide free to clients.

 

Another “investment” was the purchase of a 10’x20’ chain link enclosure for collecting polystyrene (“Styrofoam”) for recycling. We take at least one truckload per month to a reprocessing facility in Denver, keeping over 200 cubic yards of that material out of landfills every year. Our investment in 20kW of solar panels not only powers our electric cars and our office, it allows us to provide free EV charging to the general public. Both these expenditures send a statement about our values that resonates with our clients and prospective clients.

 

Back to real estate, we have been early adopters in sometimes expensive ways to improve the quality and exposure of our listings. Years before they were adopted by other brokerages, we invested in drones to take aerial photos and videos of our listings. We also were early adopters of HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology for still photographs of our listings. This produces magazine quality photographs in which every element of a picture, including the view out each window, is perfectly exposed.

 

By now, you may be thinking I’m a workaholic, but Rita and I do enjoy a personal life, going to the theatre, traveling often, and watching many entertainment programs at home. But when my phone rings (except in a theatre!), I answer it.  I feel my clients deserve that.

 

Some listing agents put under “broker remarks” (which their sellers don't see) that “Seller requests no Sunday deadlines.” What they’re really saying is that they don’t work on Sunday.  That's not us!

Published April 20, 2017, in the Denver Post's YourHub section and in four Jefferson County weekly newspapers.

What Are the Rules of Professional Journalism?

With all the discussion of “fake news," allow me to share what I was taught as an intern at The Washington Post and what I have practiced over the years as a newspaper publisher, editor and columnist.

There are three distinct editorial elements in a legitimate newspaper, and the lines between them are clearly delineated. When these rules are followed, as they are at the Denver Post and all major dailies, that publication deserves our respect and trust.  While most newspapers and over-the-air TV stations honor these rules, the same can not be said about certain radio programs, internet news sources and cable television networks. Their blurring or violation of these rules allows people to accuse “the media” of being dishonest or biased, which only makes things worse.

The use of social media to spread false stories, aka “fake news,” and the willingness of people to believe what they read — especially when it fits their own opinions — has made the situation worse. But the real damage is done when we fail to distinguish between such non-journalism and the product of hard-working, ethical journalists.  Here are those three elements:

• News articles can have bylines which may contain the term “staff writer,” “reporter,” or “correspondent.” The rules for news articles is that all opinion or statements of fact must be attributed to someone and not the opinion or statement of the reporter.
• Editorials are the opinion of the newspaper, usually agreed to by an “editorial board” in the case of big-city dailies. They do not have a byline and are labeled as editorial opinion.
• Columns are bylined and are the personal opinion of the writer and not the newspaper. The byline is distinctive, usually with a picture of the writer, so they are not mistaken as a news article.

When advertisements, like this one, are editorial in nature, the typeface is not the same as on the news pages, and the word “advertisement” appears at the top. That was not my choice. The Denver Post requires it.  The term for such ads is “advertorial.” 

[That's the end of what was published on Feb. 2 in the YourHub section of the Denver Post and in four Jefferson County weekly newspapers.  What follows are some additional thoughts by me on this subject. Your comments and questions are welcome.]

 

There's a lot of talk about "fake news."  So how can you identify fake news? It probably violates the rule for news articles mentioned above, which is that all claims or statements of fact must be attributed.  The question you as a reader need to ask is, "Says who?"  Let's say you read that Hilary Clinton had an illegal email server.  Says who?  What's missing in that statement is a phrase like "according to the Justice Department" or, better, a particular person in a particular role at the Justice Department.

As a reporter, you learn to be skeptical about everything you're told.  That's why professional news organizations won't print a story unless it is verified by two sources, even if those sources must remain anonymous, in which case you see phrases like "according to a source in the Justice Department." It's the job of the reporter's editor to know who that source is, even if the source must remain anonymous, so that the reporter is not just making up the source.  Occasionally, but only rarely, you see where that rule breaks down in a professional news organization, and they suffer for that lapse.  An example of that was the Rolling Stone article about campus rapes.  The editor had allowed an article to be published without demanding of the writer to share his sources. 

Sometimes a reporter is his own witness to something, but the article never uses the first person.  Instead of saying "I personally saw this happen," you'll see the phrase, "This reporter saw...."  but reporters are to use that as a last resort. It's always best to quote someone else.

I remember well my two weeks of training by the city editor of the Washington Post before I was allowed to write my first article.  One particular piece of training that sticks in my mind concerned obituaries.  The Post would publish an obituary on anyone when it was phoned in by a relative.  But after the reporter has taken down all the details, he was required to get the name of the funeral home which was handling the body of the deceased.  He does not accept the phone number of that funeral home from the caller.  Instead, he looks up the number of that funeral home in the phone book (nowadays on the Internet) and calls to verify that they have the body.  The purpose is to avoid printing a fake obituary.  It's a simple but essential step, because it is libelous to print that someone died when they didn't, and the newspaper could be sued.  

We all need to be vigilant and careful readers. The more outrageous a claim, the more you should be asking yourself, "Says who?"  If the article doesn't attribute that claim to a named and believable source, it is quite possibly a hoax.  

Every now and then someone will include me on a large mass-forwarding of some scandalous email.  It if sounds too good -- or too bad -- to be true, I always Google it, and more times that not, I quickly debunk the story.  If the recipients of that mass email were not blind copied, I will then "Reply All" and explain that it was a hoax. If the recipients were blind copied I at least reply to the sender with what I found out and ask him or her to send a correction.  I hope you will do the same.

A classic example of such emails was in 2009 when the claim started circulating that Obamacare was going to apply the Medicare tax (about 6%) to the sale of homes.  The emails said that if you sold a house for $200,000, you'd be charged, say, $12,000 sales tax on the transaction.  It was a complete distortion, and the perpetrators of this lie knew it, but it kept being circulated for what seemed like years, over and over again.  People believed it.  Was it ever retracted?  Of course not. (The tax was charged only on the profit, not the sales price, of investment properties, and even then only if the profit exceeded $200,000, as I recall.  Columns by me about this with the full facts can be found from 2009-2011 at www.JimSmithColumns.com, where all my columns are archived.)

I'd be happy to hear your input and answer reader questions about professional journalism -- not that I'm an expert or a journalism teacher, but because I do know something about the topic and it's worth discussing further.