US Housing bubble

Every one knows that now US is facing the crucial crisis called housing bubble. Even I was one who bought a farmhouse at the outskirts as an investment. The value of the farmhouse now is decreased by more than 20% from when I bought it. There are many people who lost their money in the bubble and nobody knows when this is going to be end. Lax

Economists have been predicting the burst of the bubble for the past five years. Every year they have been wrong. 2005 was supposed to be the year when things really started to slow down. Those in the building supply business are sitting around smiling as they count the profits. I went through the causes for a bubble in the housing market.

• Mania for home ownership
• Belief that housing is a good investment
• Promotion in the media
• Speculative fever
• Crash of the dot-com bubble
• Historically low interest rates
• Risky mortgage products and lax lending standards

I am waiting for the bubble burst to settle down to the normal to do anything with my farmhouse. Much is being said about the economic recession these days. Many are hoping that there would be no recession in the near future and it would be the worst case if that happens.

Pets Are Allowed In Most Places Than You Think

Are you a lover of dog or cat or any other pet and searching for an apartment to live in? You may be depressed to find such an apartment search Minneapolis apartments are such a fine place to find pet friendly apartments, if you are looking for an apartment in Minneapolis. Apartment ads online and in the newspaper make it very clear that they don’t allow our hairy friends right in the beginning of the ads, but often times, these ads might not be absolutely true. Some apartments allow cats, but not dogs, so to avoid explaining this double standard to those seeking to live there; they simply say that they don’t accept pets at all. My colleagues’ building, for instance, has “No Pets” printed right on the front door, but once you ask, you realize that they happily accept cats, but not dogs. This is an advantage you get from seeking out a place to live in person because you can ask these questions face to face. Other buildings may work the other way around. The building managers and owners may have had problems with cats shredding furniture but they haven’t had problems with dogs, so they may accept one but not the other. The key here is to always ask, and ask specifically about your pet. They may allow fish or birds, but not cats or dogs.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park was located in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Colorado. Rocky Mountain National Park features royal mountain views, a diversity of wildlife, diverse climates and environments from woody forests to mountain tundra and easy access to back-country trails and campsites. The park is located north-west of Boulder, Colorado in the Colorado Rockies, and includes the Continental Divide and the headwaters of the Colorado River in its land area. The park has five visitor centers. The park headquarters, Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, is a National Historic Landmark, designed by the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West. The park has three roads, U.S. Highway 34 and 36, and Colorado State Highway 7. State Highway 7 enters the park for less than a mile, where it provides access to the Lily Lake Visitor Center. Highway 36 enters the park on the east side, where it terminates after a few miles at Highway 34. Highway 34, known as Trail Ridge Road through the park, runs from the town of Estes Park, Colorado on the east to Grand Lake, Colorado on the south west. The road reaches 12,183 feet (3,713 m) in elevation, and it is closed in the winter due to snow.

The park is surrounded by Roosevelt National Forest on the north and east, Routt National Forest on the northwest, and Arapaho National Forest on the southwest. Rocky Mountain National Park covers approximately 265,770 acres (1,076 km²) of land in Colorado's northern Front Range. The park is split by the Continental Divide, which gives the eastern and western portions of the park a different character. The east side of the park tends to be drier, with a lot glaciated peaks and cirques. The west side of the park is wetter and lusher, with deep forests dominating. The park contains 359 miles (578 km) of trails, 150 lakes, and 450 miles (720 km) of streams. The park contains over 60 named peaks higher than 12,000 feet (3,700 m), and over one fourth of the park resides above tree line. The highest point of the park is Longs Peak, which rises to 14,259 feet (4,346 m; surveys before 2002 show 14,255 feet (4,345 m) above sea level. Longs Peak is the only fourteen thousand foot peak in the park. Several small glaciers and permanent snowfields are found in the high mountain cirques, including Andrews Glacier, Sprague Glacier, Tyndall Glacier, Taylor Glacier, Rowe Glacier, Mills Glacier, and Moomaw Glacier.

Behaviors Of Customer Orientation Attitude

Customer orientation is the set of beliefs in sales that says that customer needs and satisfaction are the priority of an organization. It focuses on dynamic interactions between the organization and customers as well as competitors in the market and its internal stakeholders. It involves a continuous improvement in business processes. It is "the business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view." Customer orientation and sales orientation are two extremes in dealing with customers. A salesperson can never adopt both attitudes in serving a customer. I experienced personally when I have been purchase my kitchen set that consists of stove, cabinets, Farmhouse sink and other amenities.

Customer orientation places an emphasis on listening to customers and dialogue. Customer-oriented salespeople tend to exhibit behaviors that enhance long-term customer satisfaction, possibly at the expense of immediate sales. On the other hand, sales orientation encourages opportunistic means if these are necessary to make the sale. Sales-oriented salespeople tend to focus on immediate sales regardless of customer benefit, possibly at the expense of long-term satisfaction.

There are seven key behaviors that strongly indicate a customer orientation attitude:

• Thinking and talking about clients a lot
• Continually assessing your customers’ perceptions
• Resolving priority issues in favor of the customer
• Giving in, compromising, adding value for the customer
• Making amends to customers for poor treatment
• Employing a "whatever it takes" policy to satisfy special needs
• Redesigning processes, re-deploying resources and when they get in the way of service quality