The Quarterlife Crisis

In my business, which is the delivery of real estate services and information, we are constantly challenged by our ever evolving society and its changing needs. In order to survivie in this industry, we must be keenly aware of these changing needs and address them accordingly.
Recently, the bright, young minds of Abby Wilner and David Singleton described our next generation of leaders and consumers (aged 21 to 32) in a report titled, The Quarterlife Crisis: The Net Gen Transition to Adulthood. Now, whether you are in the business of selling services or products to this group or you are a parent with children in or around this age, you should find this information interesting.
The quarterlife crisis experienced by many in this group is described as a state of panic and uncertainty that often accompanies the transition to adulthood. This panic has been brought on primarily by the increasing costs of education and housing which delay financial independence, and that delay, coupled with a later average marriage age, essentially prolongs the transition period into adulthood. They are, therefore, largely dependent on their parents for financial assistance and housing during this entrance into the "real world". It was also interesting to note that the Net Geners might be Internet savvy, but they are at a loss when it comes to communicating in corporate settings; they find rich virtual communities on sites such as MySpace or Facebook, but often lack neighbours or colleagues to lean on in times of crisis.
As someone who is at the leading edge of the Babyboomers, I fully understand the concept of the "mid-life crisis". Interestingly, the "quarterlife crisis" describes a phenomenon that is in some ways the opposite of the midlife crisis. At the midlife, life has become stagnant and people want change and excitement; at the quarterlife, young adults experience constant change and want to settle down.
From a real estate perspective, we must, therefore create affordable, community-oriented housing and find ways that the QLC's can discover them through intuitive Web Search that have attributes that appeal to them. ( if you want the full report, email me: allreal@bmts.com)

What goes up......

Recently, I received by tax bill in the mail. In our province (Ontario), the amount of residential taxes charged by the municipality is predicated by the mil rate which is a multiple of the fair market value of your home. Being in real estate for approximately 30 years and the owner of an office with 25 knowledgeable professionals, I do know, or at least have access to, a lot of information about the value of homes and properties in our area. As a result, I thought there was a significant difference from what MPAC thought my property was worth and what I thought I could get for it in today's market. Armed with compelling evidence, I challenged their assessment and ended up in a discussion with one of their senior people. Basically, I was told that their appraisal model had a 5.6% increase built into it based on national and provincial figures established about 2 years ago and I had nothing to worry about if my increase was below that average (it was not). I pointed out that unless they never opened a newspaper, television or computer, real estate values have decreased...globally. I was told, essentially, that their model was not built for decreasing values!
Perhaps this thinking and this model have been the root cause of our current economic malaise. The sub-prime mess south of the border, Wall street, GM, Ford and Chrysler have all built their models on the premise that what goes up will continue to go up. Maybe we have to pay more to find CEO's that understand that what goes up.....must come down!