Chico area items of interest?

I've been sleeping at the switch I guess, but news is almost non-existent. Unless you pay attention to the media type of news. Moody's chief honcho is providing statistics to demonstrate that the real estate sky is precariously perched and is likely to fall. The financial boys in Chicago have fashioned some futures contracts based on the expectation of real estate values falling. That fact is worth noting because these guys are betting with real money, not just an ivory tower measure of data and a guess as to the meaning of same. Worth noting, but probably not all that scary since these same folks are constantly devising things to bet on. Keep in mind also that futures contracts require two players, one thinks up, the other thinks down, or at least that's the way it usually works. In the midst of this non-news and speculation about where things are going, and the size of the hand-basket required to get it there, how about these real facts. Interest rates are low. Gas prices are low. Employment is high. Home prices have stabilized, although California generally is still seeing a very modest appreciation, the speculative factor has been removed. Is this a good time to buy a house? You bet it is. Huge inventory to pick from and sales moving along just fine for those homes appropriately priced. Good time to sell a house? Sure is, unless you're unrealistic about the value of your home.
One of the personality features of sales people generally, and real estate sales people being no exception, is that they themselves are pretty easily sold things. Glossy printed things, bright objects with emblems on them, sales courses with the magic answer to millions without effort, and the magnetic attraction of affiliating with a shiny new fast growing franchise. The new franchise will have all the benefits the old franchise had, before the luster wore off, plus a whole bunch of new stuff. A dear friend, also an associate in our office, was a manager in the early days of franchising for some offices of one of the very biggest. His perception then, and continuing to today was that the business of franchises was selling franchises. It had nothing to do with selling real estate. It's so bad today that multiple offices operating under the same franchise banner appear in the same market area, each independently owned, competing with each other but each sending a significant part of their income to the franchise owner. Pretty slick sales job.
The reason for mentioning franchises at all is there is a certain amount of "excitement" in the Chico market at the imminent arrival of Keller-Williams in town, presumably the second fastest growing franchise in the real estate industry. Why salespeople would be "excited" about signing on to donate some of their income to a franchise is beyond my belief, but then spending a large amount of money for some sales training system guaranteed to make you successful is beyond my belief also. Gullible is as gullible does. If you can sell real estate why not just sell real estate? We do. We're an independent office with standards at least the equal of any other office, and since we don't pay homage, or cash, for the privilege of conducting our business, we offer very low fees and substantial savings to our clients. Other independents can do the same thing. We hope they come to town. Watching agents playing musical chairs in pursuit of some magic answer to success in real estate will be amusing, and will allow us an opportunity for further market penetration while they are distracted.
Thanks for reading.