Neither "Negative Nancys" or "Positive Polyannas" are of much value to someone who wants to make rational, informed business decisions. Everyone in this market needs to be aware of the tough realities of this industry - unless they're already financially stable and don't need the money - but those people are ruining it for the rest of us by letting companies get away with fees for our services that equate to less than minimum wage. (BTW, I interpreted your statement about "experience" the same was as the others.)
Many individuals and companies at every stage in the process of buying a home or refinancing one have been going out of business - and this is a trend that has been going on for at least four years. I don't see any signs of that trend changing to an up cycle any time soon. Does that mean we throw up our arms in despair? Of course not. But it does mean that if you want to succeed in this business - or even survive - that you'd better have a good plan to deal with the reality out there. And you can't do that unless you know what it is. So the people who advise some to just do this or that and "you'll be fine" aren't really helping anyone. Au contraire... (sp?)
Encouragement is all well and good, but it isn't enough. A smart business person needs to have some facts, too. And sometimes the facts include information that we'd rather not hear. But that doesn't change the reality.
If someone who wasn't a runner just decided to run a marathon in the heat that's currently engulfing much of the center of the country, and another runner who didn't know them or anything about them advised them to just drink a lot of water, try to stay in the shade, and "you'll do fine", how do you think they'd end up?
[Check out Restaurant Impossible on the Food Channel sometime to get a good idea of how costly good intentions can sometimes be for people. I'm sure that for every restaurant rescued there are hundreds, if not thousands more that aren't.]
Everyone's circumstances are different and what works for someone in one area might lead to total failure somewhere else. Plus we have no idea what the consequences of bad advice could be for some one else. So the "just hang in there" kind of post could be harmful rather than helpful.
[BTW, I should probably add that these comments are an accumulation of thoughts that have built up over time from posts from a variety of "Positive Polyannas", so they're not intended just as a response to the poster above.]
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