I found this development fascinating. (Hydrogen-fueled car embarks on key road test;
Honda FCX will be 1st in private hands) I know the technology has been out there for hydrogen powered cars for awhile, but they have so far been restricted to the realm of race car driving R&D scientists, science fiction novelists, and current California movie star Governator's. (He took the Hummer, but turned down the hangover).

Anyway, once a global multi-national company like Honda starts giving a product to consumers to use in the real world, you know they are standing firmly behind and moving forward with their product, the Honda FCX. Honda has long believed in putting their R&D dollars where their public relations mouth is, so look for the technology to only become more available in the coming future, especially with oil futures breaking through the $60 psychological barrier last week.

I like the idea of my first kid's car being a hydrogen powered one.

Then I wouldn't have to buy any more bottled water.

If you walked into a store and paid for an item, would you leave it behind? Me either. Therefore, there should be no reason this kind of information is paid for by tax payers, provided to our elected representatives to inform them, but not, until now, diseminated and made more easily accessible to the public.

You paid for it. Don't walk out the door without it. Go ahead, be an informed citizen.

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American taxpayers spend nearly $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research Service, a "think tank" that provides reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events. Yet, these reports are not made available to the public in a way that they can be easily obtained. A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology through the cooperation of several organizations and collectors of CRS Reports, Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports already in the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports.

As you sit back to enjoy burgers and beers (or whatever your version of a 4th of July picnic is) in celebration of the birth of our great nation, I leave you today with only one question to ponder:

If there's a small but growing problem in the national economy and more and more people become aware of it, does this help it get fixed sooner, or does it only more rapidly become a bigger and more out of control problem because of that same media exposure and the public's growing fear and mob mentality reactions?

I don't know if you're aware of this yet, but there is a place called Google on the web. You can find all kinds of information there. Occasionally, a graduate student or professor might try and find...ah, who am I kidding? Everyone with an internet connection has heard of Google and used it before. Yes, the same company stock that recently closed at a mind splitting and wallet draining price of over $294 a share. Insane, and how late 90's of them.

Anyway, not too recently, they released Google Maps as a competitor to the already dominant MapQuest. This in itself was not such a novel idea. Competition is what business thrives on and is good for the consumer. What makes Google's maps different is the ability of high minded hackers to infiltrate the system. There are entire books on Google hacking. Google is well aware of this and has said little on the matter. At any rate, what these bright and up and coming individuals have figured out how to do is this:

Take Google Maps information, cross reference it with other databases, such as Craigslist, area crime statistics, or locations of local sex offenders, and overlay the two for a composite map that shows you who and what is where. "Wow, yippie," you say sarcastically, "Sounds horrendously exciting and captivating for those with nothing better to do at work than pretend to work while surfing the web."

Well then take a hard look at this website. What this particular site does is take the housing sale posts from Craigslist and overlays Google Maps to help people not only easily locate the specific home they are looking at in the Craigslist ad, but also allows the viewer of the site to see the pictures, email addresses, and phone numbers to contact the seller of said home. In the past, all this information has been the sacred booty of the real estate agent, only to be doled out to buyers who have signed a binding contract to pay for their services.

Yet now you have it all at your fingertips. This acts as a complete end around of the agents protecting and providing information, much the same way Travelocity challenged travel agents, that serves the consumer 100%. At last, a Triumph of the Will for FSBO's. Fantastic! Home sellers and buyers can finally cut out the middle man real estate agent and his bulky commission!! Woo hoo!!

...But wait a just a minute there homeowning revelers. Don't start the party quite yet.

Do I, as a REALTOR® think this will lead to the death of real estate as we know it? Hardly. Will some real estate agents suffer the same fate as travel agents. Yes, most certainly they will, but not in the same numbers as travel agents, whose skill set is equal in personality, but trumped by the knowledge required of a successful real estate agent.

The regulations in residential real estate are getting more complex every year and the liability alone should scare off most owner/sellers. In 2003 in San Diego county 13% of homes were sold For Sale By Owner. In 2004, when more people had reason to do so as prices and commissions rose, only 9% did. This trend is not because it got cheaper or easier to sell a home through an agent. I foresee the report next year noting the same downward movement. What homeowner wants the liability of missing or forgetting a single form and risk getting sued 4 years down the line? I have a CPA do my taxes for a reason.

REALTORS® will always be around in some capacity or another because this is, in the end, a people based business that involves emotion, finances, and major life change. Yes, there are correlations between real estate and travel agents, but there are unique differences that protect us...for now. As long as we continue to change and roll with both buyer and seller demands, this type of synergistic information will only benefit all parties involved in a real estate transaction. The home buyer will gain the freedom of information they need to find a home they wish to buy in an area they want to live, and will simply require our expertise in executing their desires to completion through a maze of legal pitfalls and hurdles.

Let me put it this way. I know how to fish. That's something I'm capable of. I've caught large fish in Mexico and had no idea what to do with them once they stopped flopping on the deck, other than to try not to step on them. When we returned to the hotel dock, the boat captain offered to take our catch to the kitchen to have it prepared so we could eat it for dinner. Was this something I was interested in AND willing to pay for? You bet!

So go out buyers! Find that perfect house online. Then come to me and I'll make sure it gets prepared in a way that you will enjoy for much longer than a single meal. If your "meal" doesn't taste good, you can blame the "chef". If you cook it up and kill it though, you have no one to blame but yourself. As the saying goes, "A man who acts in his own defense has a fool for a client." You're just too close to the transaction to keep an objective viewpoint. That's what we're here for - to keep you grounded and informed throughout the deal.

This growing shift in the way buyers handle the transaction more from the beginning, as with all change, should help narrow down the field of REALTORS® to those like myself. Agents who are more experienced and well versed in the details of the trade ultimately benefit the consumer through attrition of the less capable agents who do not take the time and effort to educate themselves.

As for sellers who want to bypass paying a commission to an agent, I wish you the best of luck selling your home. If you are thinking of selling your own home, I encourage you to do so and give you this advice: Hire a fantastic real estate lawyer. At three to four hundred an hour, this however may cost you more than an agent in the end. I'll also be more than happy to help you buy a new home after you've sold yours on your own. The challenges a dual agent representing both the seller and buyer faces in trying to ideally serve both your needs, and that of his seller, isn't something I'd bet my best interests on when it comes to the purchase of my home...

In the immortal words of Alfred E. Neuman: What, me worry?