WOW! It's been a long time since I blogged on my site.  So sorry to my avid readers!  Life is busy, there is real estate, more real estate and oh yeah, don't forget about life in general... kids, kid's baseball games, activities, maybe supper once in awhile.  You get the drift... life just gets hectic sometimes.

Good things have been happening and greater things are right around the corner.  Right now, if I could give you my perspective on things and answer my most asked question, "What's going on in the market?"  I would say that we are going through another change.  (Duh!)

  In all seriousness, consumers are becoming more aware of the cost associated with the higher crude prices, how that affects not only their gas bill but items related to it such as groceries. 

My question to you ~ Are we finally going to become more cost conscience and not be so heavily indebted?  If you haven't realized it by now, the reason for a lot of our foreclosures and other problems were not just the lending institutions overlending or setting people up on A.R.M. (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) but HELLO, we were the ones borrowing the money, right?

Michigan's economic struggles always seem to be in the forefront of the media and on people's minds.  And rightly so, all business sectors have struggled and many people have had to make moves that would be right for their family.  Interestingly enough, as others have moved out of state, Johnny's Lunch has decided to Move Into Michigan.  Can you believe it?

Johnny's Lunch sees Michigan and Grand Rapids in particular as an opportunity.  Johnny's Lunch is a Ohio franchise with quick-serve hotdogs and burgers with "extremely low" prices (Beeke).  Johnny's Lunch is a 72 year old company with national expansion plans with Livonia, Michigan being their first stop.  Closer to home in Downtown Grand Rapids in the Monroe Center is our first Johnny's Lunch.  Three more franchises are planned to open up in other areas of Grand Rapids as well.

Why did Johnny's Lunch decide to come to Michigan when others have been leaving?  Here's what the president George Goulson had to say, "We knew all that stuff going in.  We also knew in Michigan there's a lot of opportunity to get in on the ground floor." (Beeke).

HMMMM! 

In a shortened condensed version, or more aptly put, my version of viral marketing is what every business owner yearns for.  Its where you do a great job for someone and they tell 10 people who tell 10 people, who tell 10 people.  O.K. maybe not 10 people each time, but you get the jist.  Your reputation for business explodes because of this great reputation you have built by good ole' word of mouth advertising.

So, that's viral marketing. ...

The weather used to be the common conversation.  Nowadays, our conversations focus around the high gas prices at the pump.  You'll listen to the talk radio as they discuss the oil prices per barrel and then how it affects us, the consumer.  The other day, I heard talk on the radio about how bike sales were now on the rise.  Maybe, with the higher gas prices we' ll have a now physically fit America?  OR we could do a lot of complaining about the prices, start walking more, buy better high efficiency cars or suck it up and deal with whatever gas prices may come our way.  It's a choice!

When you build a new home, you also have a choice.  You can choose to build with wood OR you may want to consider another method.  Let's face it ~ with the high heating and cooling costs and overall increased costs in many areas, we may have to start thinking about the future and how we can control some of these issues and actually save money.  Now that is a remarkable thought!!!