Why I am glad to be done real estate

It has been 3 months now that I've been done with real estate, and, well, not employed in general. Yes I'm getting a little antsy, and yes I feel that I'm not contributing to the financial health of our relationship, so one of these days...

Anyway, I'm so glad to be be done real estate for so many reasons here are a few:
- No More Group Pages. They were the bain of my existence
- Not being attached to a cell phone of pager
- Not having to deal with useless inquiries from dreamers that don't speak English
- Working my ass for for a client, then they decide not to buy/sell
- All the crap I put up with from other agents
- Not feeling guilty for not selling more houses

The housing market here is pretty sad. Here are some easy stats:
August 2004 - 486 homes sold, average price: $170925
August 2005 - 563 homes sold, average price: $161,000
August 2006 - 479 homes sold, average price: $167,275
August 2007 - 478 homes sold, average price: $166,839

The numbers are kind of all over, but I really think that things here are going to get slightly worse before they recover at all. Because...
- Our economy now is pretty strong, and our interest rates have gone up significantly since 2004, so less people can afford the higher rates, and more people are closer to losing their homes
- Our area is really dependent on the automotive industry, and it has been a rocky road lately
- Our dollar is very strong, and is worth the same as the US dollar, which means in a border city like Windsor/Essex County that tourism and cross border shopping (especially at Christmas) will have a noticeable decline, (plus us deal seekers that venture stateside....). That results in support industries such as hotels, restaurants, shops, the Casino Windsor, (especially now with the upcoming opening of Detroit's MGM...) having to lay off employees or cut hours.... which means that second family income may be gone, which means even fewer people will be able to move up in housing, or even afford to pay their bills... (wait until the new City of Windsor water charges start...)

So that, my friends, is why I am damned happy to be out of real estate.

Thank you and goodnight.