The Anxiety Dream

In the dream, the whale's mouth, ringed with dagger-sharp teeth, is closing; and, I must pass my clients through before it seals shut. In one version of the nightmare, I look along the roof of the creatures' mouth, and just above the palatoglossal arch, appear faintly enscribed dollar figures: $800,000....$900,000, and fading to black near the uvula $1,000,000.00.

Maybe the market will go through a downward pricing readjustment, I'll write more about that soon. Regardless, I think a number of eras have come to a close: cheap petrol and cheap money (i.e., low interest rates, ergo, cheap housing). Cheap housing is gone in Los Angeles. The early '90's Southern California real estate crash reached nadir in 1996. That's ten years ago.

Am I happy about making these big commissions? What big commissions? You think I'm cruise controlling through a series of dual-agency deals in Rolling Hills Estates? Hah, most of the time I'm bear-wrestling some free-for-all in City Terrace, cutting up 2% with my broker. And that's alright, provided I can get another buyer past the teeth.

If I blink my eyes, the sign reads NO BUYERS, strangled by an unrelenting evergreen.