Back to the Future

Sabbatical Countdown... "It's called an 'internal rate of return.' And it's an innovative new technique that we use to better serve our clients. It's the wave of the future."

The year is 1969. I'm sitting in a classroom at U.C. Berkeley listening to a guest speaker from Grubb & Ellis. The class is "Real Estate Investing 201." It is my first introduction to real estate.

Wow, that was thirty-seven years ago. I was twenty-six. Yet that lecture remains vividly etched in my mind. So I've always tried to anticipate the future and embrace new trends.

And for the past ten years, the PikeNet Dispatch has focused on business trends, marketing strategies and technology tools that might impact your success.

But this week will be the last for the Dispatch. It's time for a personal change! Next year I will take a "sabbatical" (details in the final Dispatch on Thursday). The PikeNet web site will remain, providing access to all 984 previous issues.

There is one constant in the real estate business and that is the fundamental importance of personal relationships. This has been the great joy for me, both as a broker and commentator.

I met many of you at my conferences in San Francisco, New York and Chicago from 1998 to 2002. Others I met at speaking engagements across the country. Others I've never known outside of spirited e-mail comments.

Yet I feel a connection to all of you and hope that you have enjoyed the "conversation" between us. I know that I have!
(To be continued Thursday.)

-- Peter Pike