Who's Your Heros?

In the previous 2 posts I presented my view on what a hero is and what a hero does.

I now ask you to give some thought as to who are your Heroes. It could be Mickey the taxi driver who lives next door. Many of you will say it’s your Mom. Others will say it’s your Pastor. The beauty of Heroes is while the concept and definition is very public, identifying and appreciating heroes is personal. We are all entitled to have our own heroes.

While I cannot tell you who your Heroes should be, I can tell you who my heroes are and why.

Hero #1 – Warren Buffet – I admire this man for the humble way that he lives his life, his view on wealth and his desire to share his wealth with needy people around the globe. While I could go on for pages about Warren Buffet I will summarize just a few points. Warren believes that his children are entitled to a nice life and has provided for them to have a nice life. Warren doesn’t believe the being born from the “Golden Womb” is automatic entitlement to his vast fortune. He has chosen to donate a substantial portion of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the benefit of mankind. Warren is smart enough to accumulate a vast fortune and has chosen to give much of it away. Warren focuses on the good that the wealth can provide versus the fame and recognition he could receive by establishing a Warren Buffet Foundation. Warren Buffet is one of my Heroes and I don’t even own any of his stock.

Hero #2 – Bill Gates – At one point of my life, I was not a fan of Bill Gates. I viewed him as an Attila, hell bent on extracting as much money from my wallet as possible. I am proud to say that “I am a PC”. While my first computer was an Apple, every computer I bought in the last 25 years has run on Microsoft Windows. What’s changed? First there are many evil people around the world that want to disrupt our lives with computer viruses, scams and other attack. Microsoft, under the guidance of Bill Gates, has taken a front line position in helping defend against these evil doers and works in our collective interest every day. In addition, Bill Gates recognizes that he has been blessed and has setup the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. It is a little know fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation currently buys 90% of all the Polio Vaccine produced in the world and provides it to needy people around the world; FREE. I have an aunt who had polio when she was a baby. Every time I see her walking with her walker or riding in a wheel chair, I am reminded on just how devastating Polio is. Bill Gates very quietly works at eradicating this horrible disease; Bill Gates is one of my Heroes.

Hero #3 – Salvatore – You may be wondering who is Salvatore, he was my father-in-law. My own father died when I was 15 after being very sick for 5 years. I and my 2 brothers were raised by my mother who did a phenomenal job of raising 3 responsible men who are all married to their first, and only, wife for more than 25 years each. So what did Salvatore do? He taught me by example on how to be a man; to love my wife and family. He taught me to respect and help my extended family. He taught me when to be tough and when to be compassionate. He taught me to always be thankful to God for the blessings I have been given. He taught me about business and what’s important. The most impressive fact about Salvatore was that he taught me all this without the benefit of completing high school. Salvatore immigrated to the USA when he 35 years old, worked hard as a cabinet maker, invested in real estate and was able to retire at the age of 55. Salvatore is my biggest Hero.

It is now time to wrap up this discussion on Heroes and get back to the business of real estate. The Holidays is a time for Family. I encourage each of you to give some thought: on how you are blessed, how you can make a positive impact on the world, who has helped you become the person you are and who are your heroes. I encourage you to appreciate and cherish them.

Wayne O'Day

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What are the Responsabilities of a HERO? (part 2 of 3)

This is the 2nd of 3 posts on this topic.  The 1st post was on 12/21/2009

Atila the Hun and his horde terrorized the ancient world by thundered down the Mongolian Platues burning and pillaging every village that was unfortunate to find isself in their path.

Today Attila is still alive, well, and amoung us. He has traded his his horse for a Jaguar and his animal skinned trappings for a Brooks Brothers Suit; however his intent has not changed. He still plunder all in his path. Instead of swords and daggars, he now uses legal mumbo jumbo, very small print, glitzy advertis and FREE offers which turn into parisitic monsters that comsume the economic life blood of counteless families.

There are many Attilas among us, some are not so obvious. If you like eating chicken it is highly probable you’ve eaten chickens fed an arsenic laden food additive to improve the looks of the raw chicken in the butcher case. What is even more astonishing is that the addative was approved by the US Food and Drug Agency as safe. I ask you, when is an entreemly toxic poison ever safe in our food chain. Never in my book and not any more in Tyson Brand Chicken, who does not need this horrible adative to make a profit selling chickens to me and the american public. So why do the other chicken producers do this? I believe the motivations is the same as Attila’s; for unfair profit. Now this post is not about food, but if you are as concerned and passionate about healthy foods for your family, you may want to read more and buy only Tyson Brand Chicken. Go To http://pubs.acs.org/email/cen/html/040907093531.html

Atila is alive and well in the Mortgage Business. The economic mantra eminating from Washington D.C. is to help the homeowner stay in their home after the most serious real estate meltdown since the 1030’s. Last week the Treasury Dept released its report card as to how banks were doing meeting this national goal. Bank of America, the nations 2nd largest bank has sucessfully helped less than 100 of their clients modify their mortgages so they can stay in their home. The goal of this program was to modify 9 million for homeowners. Are there only 100 of Bank of A’s clients that qualify or is it just easier for the Atillas at Bank of A to push these homeowners to their economic death via foreclosure just as Atilla did centuries before.

Last week I was working on a Short Sales where Bank of America is the lender. I was uploading documents and hit “Save and Submit” instead of “Save and Submit Later”. Once I did this, My screen was locked and I could not upload any more documents. It appeared to be a matter of a simple call the Bank of A phone number appearing on the Home Page www.shortsale.BankofAmerica.com Two hours later and talking to 2 different departments, their supervisors as well as a 3rd party software company (Equator.com – which they use to aggregate loan data). I was unable to get the screen unlocked. Their recommendation “Fax it in”. Why not use Pony Express the results would probably be the same.

I deal with Short Sales and foreclosures on a daily basis. If I couldn’t get Bank of America to unlock the screen to allow me to finish uploading the info they requested, there is no way the average america will be sucessful in the current Bank of America Short Sale Process.

I am not suggesting that Bank of America become a public charity, I suggest they just use good business practices. It is a know fact that Short Sales are less expensive than foreclosing on a property and economically better for both the bank and the homeowner. The smaller banks I deal with go to great lenghts to work with the homeonwer to avoid forclosure by doing a short sale. Why wouldn’t Bank of A?

I don’t pretend to understand why Bank of America would take the more costly approach of forclosure which nagatively affects their bottom line as well as the neighborhoods we live in. A home purchased via a short sale with people, kids, dogs, cats and flowers is much more attactive and vibrant to our neighborhoods than vacant boarded up home falling into disrepair..

Heroes come in a variety of ages, ethnecity, socioeconomic classes and both sexes.

What do all Heroes Share? They share a deep conviction that their courage, tireless work and sacrifice will have a positive outcome for mankind or God’s floura and fauna.

A parent is a hero when they are committed to being a great spouse, parent and employee.  A business leader is a hero when they use to power of their position to make a profit for their shareholders, a living for themselves and the world a better place. Being a hero is much like baking a cake. You need all the ingredients to make a cake. In addition to the power, you need a commitment; look at the man in th mirror and do the right thing.

A celebrity or sports figure is a hero when they combine their physical gift with moral excellence to serve mankind; anything less is shamelss self indulgence.

The title of Hero is one that an individual earns. True Heroes are much more pationate about the causes that they believe in and fight for, then being recognized as heroes. They have no problem looking into the mirror and telling that guy or gal looking back, “You’re doing a great job. Keep it up”.

on my next post of the 3 part series – Who’s your Hero


Wayne O'Day

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