I've had so much to blog about lately but I've kept my keyboard quiet. I was going to do a piece on the market , short sales and foreclosures, and I still will. It just needs to cool for a bit.  Orenco Station real estate, Bethany houses, West Union properties--enough, already.

At least blogging for this site, anyway. I did send a blog-essay to Inman News, my favorite source of real estate news for insiders, and have been really stunned by the response.

Among other things, the article is about the end of percentage commission real estate as a casualty of the current economic.  Do not read "discount" into this, necessarily. I'm talking about fee-based service (read the article at www.inman.com/opinion/guest-perspective/2008/11/26/commission-pay-fade-away).  What surprised me, though, was the number of agents across the country who took the time to write in and agree.  I am grateful for their thoughts, independence and dedication to consumers' interests.

I have both a lot and very little to say about all the financial bailouts and the government money raining down, but others are saying it all better than I.  Some things I don't get, such as companies laying off a few thousand people. What were they all doing before they got laid off? With manufacturing companies, I get it, but not banks and places like that.  I don't understand it, so I'll just shut up.

Government bailouts--I see this waterfall of money with both fear and loathing.  I don't get a lot of it.  But what strikes me is the way government bureaucrats and political figures are pitching in and working hard to turn our country's ship around.  I really believe that.  I'm glad that there are these really, really smart people in charge of it.

Grateful, in fact.

Happy Thanksgiving!