PROPAGANDA (BRAINWASHING)

 

PROPAGANDA (BRAINWASHING)

A Book Review by Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, a book by Edward L. Bernays

THIS IS A CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING!  This book by Edward L. Bernays was written in 1928, repeat 1928.  Why is this so critical to understand?  So glad you asked.  

As I read this book my very first thought was that it could have been titled “Brainwashing” by Edward L. Bernays.  The following is a definition of the word Propaganda from the Internet: 

noun

1. A congregation of cardinals, established in 1622, charged with the management of missions.
2. The college of the Propaganda, instituted by Urban VIII. (1623-1644) to educate priests for missions in all parts of the world.
3. Hence, any organization or plan for spreading a particular doctrine or a system of principles.

I have highlighted the last portion of #3 for what it DOES NOT SAY.  “A particular doctrine or a system of principles” can be a good thing or a bad thing.  It would be something that is true or something that is false and therein lies the danger of using the word “propaganda.” 

The second thought I had as I read this book was that I had to check out again WHEN it was written because it could just as easily have been written in 2025.  There was so many topics touched upon like the arts, education, universities, the news media (and yes there were problems back in 1928 much similar to the media issues we experience in 2025), sales/selling, business principles (in some cases a lack there of) and especially POLITICS, and like business where there is a definitely lack of principles and understanding of the job of a politician.

THE BIG TAKE AWAY FOR ME in reading this book is that I identified myself on a great many of the pages.  I could easily see where I arrived at some of my opinions, beliefs and principles and how they were actually unconsciously taught to me through the use of “propaganda.”  If you want examples, I grew up hearing and seeing that smoking cigarettes was a good thing, that they tasted great and that real men smoked but women did not (1950s).  I grew up believing the having Floride in my drinking water and toothpaste was a good and healthy thing to have; it isn’t, check for yourself because people still believe that BS today in 2025.  In the 1950s we were taught that the USA was good, Russia was bad and that China was starving and a third world country where everyone lived in poverty and that I was supposed to eat everything on my plate because there were children starving in China.  I hope you get my point.  We all, you and I, have been taught a great many things, some true but a lot more not true.  Unfortunately, as we have been taught these things there were no contradictory sources to teach us otherwise like we have in 2025.  One of the biggest examples, not discussed in the book because of when it was written, happened in the Gulf of Tonkin.  This turned out to be one of the biggest instances of propaganda every perpetrated on the American people and the world.  We were told and we all believed that the North Vietnamese attacked TWO U. S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.  As a result, America used the incident to become fully involved in the War in Vietnam!  It turned out to be a version of propaganda instituted by the government of the United States and it was all false – it never happened but we believed it because it came from the government – it was FAKE propaganda/news at its worst.  As a result, over 50,000 American lives were lost and thousands more wounded, both mentally and physically and probably million(s) of North and South Vietnamese lost their lives or wounded and it was all based on a lie – on propaganda!  That is a case were Propaganda is bad; really bad!

This book explains in detail how corporations think and act to make us do something we otherwise would not do without the insertion of propaganda suggesting it is a good thing for us to do.  Instead, we join in the group-thinking that doing what they suggest will make us part of the larger group or keeping us up with the times or the “Joneses next door.”  We have been manipulated to buy a Chevy or a Ford or visa versa.  Owning a red car was better than the standard black car.  Owning a fur coat or later not owning a fur coat; both were created either by the fashion industry or the saving the animals crusade. 

Something else became very obvious as I read the book.  There was a passage on almost every page that could be extracted as a single memorable quote from Bernays!  You can’t say that about most book but you can about this one!

The problem not addressed in the book is what should we do about the obvious propaganda made worse in 2025 by social media where more and more people are being exposed.

THIS IS A MUST-READ BOOK FOR EVERYONE!

Who should read it?  Everyone, but especially anyone in sales, business, arts and politics

Would I read it again?  Probably not, I got the message, loud and clear!

Would I give it as a gift?  Absolutely

HERE’S THE BEST PART.  If you have a Kindle Reader or App (everyone should, it’s free), the Kindle version of the book is only $12.43 PLUS you can also purchase additional books like a study guide of this particular book.

Raising The Bar!

 

Raising The Bar!

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, April 1, 2010 Revised June 2025

 What does “raising the bar” really mean?  Pulled this definition off the Internet: 

You have a bar (FIGURATIVELY!).   It represents a STANDARD, something to get over (at this point you may well imagine the high jump or pole vault contest in track and field).   Once achieved this standard remains unchanged over a period of time.  Then someone “raises the bar” tries again and succeeds.  All of a sudden more is expected to meet the “new” standard.  This little bit extra could be absolutely anything.  That’s the beauty of the concept.   Use your imagination.  Before anyone could go to university!  Now they had raised the bar; you needed to be intelligent!  In 2025 that no longer seems to be the case.  Look at all of the ongoing riots where students, as we have been TOLD by the media, are engaged in “mostly peaceful protests (riots).  There is no obvious sign of intelligence on display at any of these riots!  

I  originally wrote this Nugget in April of 2010.  I should have known.  I read the book The Naked Communist in the mid-1990s and that is where I learned about the 45 goals The Communist Party USA (yes it is a party within American and yes, it is still alive and active.).  Goal number 17 stands out amongst all of the goals.  It reads, “Get control of schools.  Use them as transmission belts for Socialism and Communist propaganda.  Soften the curriculum.  Get control of teachers associations (unions).  Put the Party Line in textbooks!”  This one goal, established in the late 1950s IS the key to what we are now seeing throughout America.  Instead of “raising the bar”, a topic discussed in the original Nugget, I have sadly learned that lowering the bar is also a possibility that I would have heretofore thought unimaginable before 2025.  The Communist Party USA seems to have accomplished their primary goal of brainwashing students beginning at the earliest of grades and then advance as they are promoted from one grade to another.  Then, just as planned, these students go on to college and they become the teachers and professors of the next generations of students thus promoting and enhancing the Socialist/Communist agendas and most of us just sat back and watched it happen. 

Back to the original Nugget, I truly believe it remains true and optimistic as it should be! 

Using the high jump as an example, it was not that long ago that anyone who could jump over 6 feet was considered a record holder at that height.  Over time, techniques and equipment improved, people in general became larger, faster and more agile and now high jumpers jump well over 7 feet. One high jumpmer, Dick Fosbury in 1968 invented a totally new way to perform the High Jump.  It became known as The Fosbury Flop, proving that there is always a way to “improve the mouse trap.”  The Fosbury Flop became the accepted form ever since.  The same is true for pole vaulters.  Each year athletes “raise the bar” ever so slightly and jump higher and higher.  Yours truly was a pole vaulter in high school in the early 1960s.  The pole I used was about 3” in diameter and about 10’ long and as ridged as possible.  If you could vault 10’, you were considered an elite pole vaulter.  Then came the fiberglass pole that whipped around like a fishing pole.  As you planted this new pole, it would bend to the point of almost breaking and then like a sling shot, shoot the vaulter up over the bar that now exceeds 17’ or higher.  Things change.  Goals and objectives change.  Techniques change.  Sadly, most people remain stagnant in the past and refuse to even consider a different way of doing things.  

"If you continue to do the same things

the same way you always did them,

you'll continue to get the same results"

…Henry Ford, some contribute it to Alfred Einstein 

It has been my sporting experience that there are self-imposed barriers.  For example, I can remember when people thought no one would ever run a 4-minute mile, jump over 6 feet high or pole value over 15 feet.  All these records have fallen.  Did you notice?  “4” minute mile?  “6” feet?  “15” feet?  People tend to establish barriers at almost predictable measurements.  In golf people talk about “breaking 100” meaning they shoot 99 or less; or breaking 90, or 80.  You never hear someone say they are going to break 85 for example. 

Now think about the Law of Attraction.  You tend to bring into your life that which you think of most.  Therefore. if everyone (figuratively) says you cannot run a mile in less than 4 minutes that is what most people thought about.  A very small number of people were not restricted by such thinking and tried anyway.  Along comes Roger Banister and he ran the first sub 4-minute mile.  Once he did it, it only took a couple of weeks before the next person and then the next person and then the next person ran sub 4-minute miles.  What is the next barrier?  Actually, it became the 3 minute, 50 second mile. Who will be the next runner to raise the bar and just how fast will he or she be able to run? 

In golf, if you typically shoot between 95 and 100, why would you set a goal to break 90?  Why not set a goal to break 95, then 94, and then 93 and before you know it you are breaking 90.  Then what?  88?  85?  

Before you can “raise the bar” what must you know?  You must know where the bar is set FOR YOU (either by yourself or someone else) right now.  What is the “acceptable” standard, whether it is in sports, business or life in general?  What do you accept as your standard?  How did you come to accept that particular standard?  Who set it; did you or did someone set it for you?  Why did you come to accept whatever it is you currently accept?  Can you do better? 

Now there’s a question for the ages; can you do better?  Well, can you?  Is there anything you currently do that cannot be done better?  If that is so, what is keeping you from doing better?  Let’s count the reasons: 

1. You don’t really believe you can do any better.
2. Someone, maybe the voice inside your head, has convinced you can’t do any better.
3. You believe that if you do better someone, maybe even you, might expect you to do better every time; not just this time.
4. Maybe you relate doing better to being compensated for what you do or, “I’m not getting paid to do this.”
5. You believe that the more I do the more I will be given to do therefore why do more or better?
6. Unconsciously you don’t know there is a “better” to actually do; what you are doing is acceptable (to whom?).
7. One of my personal favorites is “Close enough for government work!”  Therefore, there is no incentive to do better.
8. What’s in it for me if I do better?
9. No one is really looking, why go the extra mile?
10. Another one of my personal favorites as this applied to me in high school back in……  If I do better, I will be considered a geek and people like those on the football and basketball teams will not want to include me in their activities.  Sound familiar?  Hope not; it was for me. 

Can you come up with more?  I know I sound like a broken record when it comes to the 80/20 rule but it applies to raising the bar as it applies to everything in life.  If statistics could be maintained, it would be my guess that 80% of people would accept the standards that 80% of the people currently experience.  While the 80% are doing whatever they are doing, what are the remaining 20% doing?  I can say with certainty, they are doing what the 80% are doing plus a “little bit more” than what the 80% are doing. 

Why would anyone ever want to be in the 80% group who are obviously satisfied with the status quo?  What is to be gained by being like everyone else? It may take a while to answer that so I’ll wait… 

A picture can be worth a thousand words OR MORE!  Look at the following picture; what do YOU see?

WHAT DO YOU SEE?  It is not what you might first think.  The obvious answer is that they can’t envision putting the round wheels onto the cart making it roll easier and you would be correct.  The not-so-obvious answer is that the four characters ARE SATISFIED with their progress and then fail to think “outside the box” to enhance their efforts.  This one graphic is a tremendous metaphor for people who refuse to consider that there may be a better way and that someone other than themselves may be the one or ones that know what that better way is.  People who have an open mind are typically people who read, who take courses, who teach courses and are always looking to build “a better mouse trap”  which of these two definitions of people are you? 

See if you can equate to my logic.  When I became an instructor in the U. S. Coast Guard I was tasked with teaching people how to complete their paperwork, imagine that for those who know me.  We would actually grade people on how accurate they completed a form(s) or process an event.  Students would get an A, B, C, D and F just like millions of students for hundreds of years.  The first thing I did was change the grading system.  Instead of having a student prepare a form and get a grade of 70% or a C, I would mark the areas of the form(s) the student failed to properly prepare or calculate and then return it to the student not with the correct answers but simply the areas that were incorrect.  It was up to the student, with an open book, to properly complete the form and return it for review.  First consider my logic.  Once these students are “in the field” working, they are not expected to work totally from memory.  They will have resources they can use like manuals and instructions.  Therefore it is equally as vital that they be assessed on how well they can follow the instructions that those resources provide.  I would first mark up the form(s) and if incorrect, return them to the student to try again.  It was the same with every form and every procedure.  The student would be graded not on each form but rather how many times it took him or her to get it correct. 

I can remember it as if it were yesterday when the Training Officer called me into his office to ask me what on earth I was doing.  He called me crazy.  I told him that a passing grade for the school was 70% and he agreed; it was 70%.  Then I said, “Sir, if I were teaching students to be dental technicians, would you want someone who passed with a 70% grade working in your mouth or would you want someone who did it right the first time working in your mouth?”  Before he could answer I then asked, “Sir, let’s look at it another way.  If I were teaching payroll and accounting, would you want someone calculating your pay check who passed the school with a 70% or would you prefer someone who knew how to do it right the first time?” 

The silence was deafening!  He agreed.  The only problem we then faced was how many times would we permit a student to keep trying to get it right before we came to the conclusion that he or she was just not cut out for what was being taught.  After all, not everyone has the motivation and intelligence to be a brain surgeon, plumber or pay clerk.  I can tell you that the quality of the graduating students improved when they understood that the standard, or where the “bar was set” was what they were expected to achieve when performing their work.  Anything less is unacceptable; anything more, commendable! 

Whenever you are performing work, providing a service, or providing a product for someone else, where do you set your bar?  Do you set it where the 80% reside or do you set it where the 20% flourish?  I’m just asking.  You tell me.  If you think that the work you do is satisfactory or “good enough for _______”, is it really?  If the shoe were on the other foot and you were the customer and someone else was performing at the level they considered as satisfactory, would it be satisfactory for you?  

Is it possible to set the bar too high?  Is it possible to run a 4-minute mile? Absolutely!  Is it possible to run a 3-minute mile?  Not yet!  

Here is another way to think about it.  I took my one and only hot air balloon ride with a pilot and one other person, a lot older than I was.  It was magnificent but the actual ride is for another story.  It was getting dark and the wind had taken us north over forests instead of south over clear pastures.  With the sun setting we were definitely in trouble and you could sense that in the change of attitude and presence of the balloon pilot. 

“There”, he shouted as he pointed to a very small clearing surrounded by a fence and with one large oak tree in the center.  He let the air out of the balloon as much as he safely could and we descended so fast I think it was a little more than we safely should have.  We landed very hard and the basket turned on its side and dragged us for quite a distance but we managed to get on the ground, we did not hit the tree or the fence.  We had made it slightly bruised but alive.  

But wait, we landed in a coral not a pasture and there was a very large and very angry bull in the coral.  We were in BIG trouble.  Like the joke you hear about one hiker shifting to his running shoes not to out run the bear but to out run his fellow hiker, I felt I was faced with that choice.  Neither the pilot nor the passenger was as young as I was and neither one able to out run the bull.  With only seconds to spare, I decided that I could attract the bull’s attention and get him to chase me while the other two could get to safety on the other side of the fence.  I had one chance and that was to beat the bull to the oak tree.  Screaming as I ran to get the bull’s attention plus the fact that I was scared to death. I began a bee-line to the tree with the bull on my tail, literally.  It was really getting dark but I could see a low hanging branch about 10 feet high and if I could only reach that branch. I could escape the bull. 

Running as fast as I could and to this day I remember the heat of bull breath on my neck, that’s an exaggeration but I swear I could feel it.  As I came closer to the tree I jumped with all my power to grab hold of that life-saving branch. 

Since I am telling you this story, you can safely assume that the bull did not kill me.  As I said, I ran faster than I had ever run and I jumped higher than I had ever jumped – I missed the branch; after all it was over 10 feet in the air.  But much to my surprise, I caught it coming down. 

Most of that story is true and the part about catching the branch on the way down is not but it serves my purpose in this Nugget.  It is perfectly permissible to shoot for the moon and it is perfectly permissible not to make it because who knows what star you might latch onto on the way up or down.  The standard or the bar should be perfection.  Anything less is like the student passing with 70%.  

I have one question for everyone who reads this Nugget.  Would you want a dentist working in your mouth who obtained his or her dental degree with a grade of 70%?  I’ll wait for your answer… 

When you have a position where people rely on you and your failure could cost them money or as was in the case of the Coast Guard even their life, it is incumbent on you not to score a 70% but to score a 100%; every time!  Remember, if the shoe were on the other foot. you would expect nor would you accept anything less than 100%, am I not right on this?  

Never accept ordinary or the minimum because ordinary and/or the minimum will never make you great; it will only put you in the 80%.  More importantly, you cannot expect others to give you 100% if you do not expect the same from yourself when working for another person’s best interests. 

ORDINARY WILL NOT MAKE YOU GREAT!

ALWAYS SET YOUR BAR HIGHER THAN WHAT OTHERS EXPECT!

Telling It Like It Is

 

TELLING IT LIKE IT IS:

LIKE IT OR NOT!

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, May 12, 2025

The 1950s were my formative years. When I started school, I barely remembered that the United States was engaged in a "conflict" known as the Korean War. It was called a "conflict" as if that somehow changed what was really happening. A conflict? Really? We didn't have news coverage like we do today; we barely had television. The Korean Conflict wasn't even discussed. Most of what we learned in the early '50s was taught at home (the difference between right and wrong) and in schools (reading, writing, and arithmetic). As for the radio, I don’t recall listening to anything but sports coverage — mostly the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns.

I CAN tell you what we were taught about Russia:

UNITED STATES – GOOD! RUSSIA – BAD!

I don’t remember any teacher, at least through junior high, ever telling us that Russia lost more people during WWII than any other country, including the U.S. It was rarely acknowledged that Russia was even our ally during the war. Ask people today if Russia was an ally or enemy during WWII and see what answers you get in 2025. You may be surprised. I won't be.

In the 1950s, China was barely mentioned. No one to my knowledge ever said USA – Good; China – BAD! Where do you think the phrase "There are starving children in China, eat what’s on your plate!" came from? We thought China was a backward nation in poverty. We never really talked about it. The only time we kids mentioned China was when we wondered how long it would take to dig a hole through Ohio to reach the other side of the world. At the time, I would have struggled to find Korea or Iran on a map.

I was born in 1945. That makes me an 80-year-old man in 2025. Fast forward to 1970 — that’s important because it's the basis for the rest of this Nugget. I hope it's a lesson worth thinking about, one that helps you evaluate where you stand on politics and how the issues of today are being resolved — or not.

In 1970, I had never been to sea. Setting sail aboard the 210-foot USCGC ALERT (WMEC-630) made me nervous. Did the crew know I was a first-timer? Would I get seasick? Would I be able to perform my duties beyond my specialty? Questions swarmed in my head like bees.

As usual, my worries were for nothing. None of the bad things I imagined came to pass, aside from actually going to sea. We spent two weeks at sea, then two weeks in Cape May on Condition Bravo, meaning we had to be ready to get underway within two hours of notification. No one had cell phones. Calls were made via landlines. You could miss deployment just by going to the grocery store.

If we weren’t at sea or on Bravo, we were on Charlie Status — when major maintenance was performed.

This Nugget begins on a dark, stormy day at sea. Electrical storms crackled as we were called to get underway: commercial fishermen were in peril. There was a calling hierarchy: the Commanding Officer first, the newest Seaman Apprentice last. As the Ship’s Yeoman and a First-Class Petty Officer, I was about a quarter down the list. Why is this important? Because if you were called last, you had much less than two hours to report — and you still better be there!

Rescuing people in distress was a primary mission. That day we got underway in typically bad weather. Navigating out of the Cape May Jetties into the Atlantic was challenging, as small vessels were heading into harbor while our much larger cutter was heading out. Once past the Jetties, we pushed through as fast as the weather allowed — up to 17 knots. Aircraft could drop life rafts and supplies, but it still took time to reach the scene.

HERE’S THE POINT!

No one asked the race, religion, nationality, or political party of the merchant seamen in distress. No one cared whether they paid taxes, were citizens, or which party they voted for. There were lives in peril, and it was OUR JOB to save them. No questions asked.

The only questions that mattered:

• Where are you?
• How many people are on board?
• Is anyone injured?
• Can everyone get off the vessel into our small boats?
• What provisions do you have or need?
• What first aid is required?
• Have families been notified?

That was the mindset. It didn’t matter who the people were — only that they were PEOPLE.

In 2025, I am sickened by politics. The 1970 experience aboard the ALERT is the opposite of today’s dysfunction. Politicians take oaths to serve all citizens. Many haven’t even recorded their oaths, as required by law. How is that acceptable?

They’ve forgotten — or ignored — their oath.

They were elected to represent EVERYONE in their district — not just donors or party loyalists. But that’s exactly what most of them do. There is no bipartisanship. On important issues, votes are along strict party lines.

It would be like the USCGC ALERT saying, "We only rescue U.S. citizens."

If this continues, our country will swing wildly every election cycle, becoming increasingly dysfunctional. Citizens can’t plan their lives around political whims.

In the past, people could discuss differences and find solutions. That’s no longer happening. Today, one party proposes something and the other fights it, no matter the merits. Crossing party lines is rare. That’s corruption. That’s not what I voted for.

Gary Keller, co-founder of Keller Williams Realty, wrote The One Thing. His principle: prioritize your biggest challenge, then tackle it so other problems start to resolve. Why doesn’t government think this way? If they do, it’s not visible to people like me — and I pay attention. I doubt most Americans care, and that, to me, is America’s biggest problem.

People double down on bad positions rather than admit they were wrong. Look at men playing in women’s sports or the refusal to deport criminal illegal aliens. These aren’t Republican or Democrat issues. They affect the entire country. No one should be dying on that political hill.

I wish my senators and representatives asked for my opinion before voting. In my lifetime, none ever have. They make assumptions based solely on party affiliation.

I am NOT a political party. I am an individual.

And when you ASSUME, you make an ASS out of U and ME.

The 80/20 Rule says 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. I believe that in 2025, 80% of Americans want secure borders and want criminal illegal aliens deported. Yet party leadership (especially Democrat) has taken the losing side of that 80/20 split.

WHY? I know the answer. Do you?

Supporting losing causes is like being adrift at sea without the ALERT coming to rescue you. There is no lifeline for those who support harmful policies. They will flounder until they're voted out by the 80% who eventually wake up.

This applies to all parties: Republican, Democrat, Independent, Socialist, Conservative, Progressive.

As for me, I don’t want anyone in office who can’t discuss opposing viewpoints. But in today’s politics, it’s all about winning — not solving problems.

It has NEVER been about winning. It has always been, and continues to be:

DO THE RIGHT THING,

ESPECIALLY WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING!

Sadly, it just doesn’t happen that way anymore.

Asset or Liability; Which Are You?

 

ARE YOU AN
ASSET OR A LIABILITY?
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, May 7, 2025

I have wanted to write this Nugget for a very long time.  Recent observations of my personal environment have clearly shown that such a Nugget is both necessary and very financially important to any homeowner in any location.  The problem becomes how to disseminate the information to as many people as possible.  By the time I complete this Nugget, I feel confident that I will have learned how to create the Nugget, save it to a file that has a URL address attached, other than my Blog address, thus enabling anyone to simply share the URL address (or my Blog Address) for others to gain access, assuming you the reader, find the information valuable enough to share.  I am confident that if you own a home or if you are considering buying one, you WILL find it valuable enough to share.

Background.  I am a retired real estate Broker, Broker/Owner, Office Manager, Real Estate Trainer, Broker Sales Associate and Sales Associate with more than 33 years in the real estate business.  Does that mean I have all the answers?  Absolutely not, no one really does because like any industry or business, the basics of real estate continually change.  Having said that, I think it is important for the reader to understand that I listed and sold primarily residential real estate.  I did some commercial real estate but that was not my normal field of expertise.  

The MOST IMPORTANT aspect of real estate is that real estate is a financial asset or a financial liability.  There is very little room in the middle, it is typically one or the other.  Since you are reading this, it would be safe to assume that you have either purchased a home to reside in, purchased a home to lease out or you are about to purchase a home for one of those two reasons.  By comparison, people deposit money into a bank accounts, buy stocks, or precious metals or look for viable investments to hopefully realize that their investments/purchases continue to grow in value over time.  In other words, they want their money to make money!  PERIOD!  I can’t imagine anyone buying real estate for any other reason.  Even a person(s) who buys a home for pure delight in living in the home, eventually will either sell the property or the property will be included within the person’s estate and willed to the next of kin.  Either way, the goal would or should be for the property/investment to increase in value either for the owner(s) or their next of kin’s benefit. 

Now for the ONE VERY BIG QUESTION that ONLY YOU can answer.  Are YOU PERSONALLY an ASSET or are YOU PERSONALLY a LIABILITY?  An asset presumes value; a liability presumes an expense or a cost!  Asked another way, do you and your property add value to the community or do you and your property detract from the value of the community?  There is no in between!  You are either one or the other!  The sooner you realize this, the quicker it will become obvious to you that once you buy a home, for whatever reason, you want it to increase in value, not decrease. 

Here’s the rub, so to speak.  Unless you live on a very large parcel of land, a homeowner’s home value is almost exclusively valued at what the neighbor’s homes have sold for or their perceived “worth” within a defined area.  By worth, I am not saying what someone is “asking” for the home when they put it on the market; that number is almost meaningless.  The worth of a piece of real estate is only worth what (1) a buyer feels its value to be, (2) a real estate appraiser can appraise it at or higher than the agreed to sales price and (3) a bank or mortgage company is willing to loan money using the home as collateral for the bank/mortgage company.  Home inspections done by professional home inspectors can also affect the value of a home should the home require significant improvements.  A homeowner can sell a property in need of repair but the price should reflect those needs and how those repairs are going to be made or not made. 

With all that said, let’s delve into the value of a single home and how the neighbors can significantly affect that value either in a positive way or a negative way.  The best way to approach this is through the eyes of a real estate agent who is about to meet with the owners to list the property for sale. 

As a Listing Agent, someone hired to place a home on the market for sale, I followed a routine BEFORE I ever met with the homeowners.  First, I did a lot of homework at the office.  I already knew where the home was located and I could easily find what professionals refer to as “comps”, meaning comparable homes and also comparable homes that have SOLD!  The SOLD value is the only value that has tangible meaning in real estate sales.  The asking price is more of price someone is “hoping” to receive as compared to the price they “actually” receive.  As Dr. John Maxwell oftentimes says, “Hope is NOT an effective strategy!” 

With my research in hand, the next step is where “the rubber meets the road”, so to speak.  By that I mean a homeowner is considering hiring me to sell their home.  Not all real estate agents are the same and it is important to understand this if you are a homeowner or hope to become a homeowner.  Therefore, with research in hand, I would drive to the property and that is where I take the stage, seriously, making a presentation to the homeowner is exactly like a tryout or audition for a theatrical play, a position in a band or a job interview.  You are about to be interviewed for a job.  

I typically parked in front of the home, ON THE STREET.  I try to picture another real estate agent bringing their buyers to see my listing (home) for the very first time.  Where would that agent and potential buyer park.  THAT IS WHERE I PARK.  I want to experience the exact same “feelings” that a potential buyer would have on their FIRST VISIT to my listing.  That is so critical for a homeowner to understand.  Once I get out of my car, I am pretty sure that the homeowners are beginning to watch what I do; wouldn’t you?  When you go on a job interview, you are oftentimes being watched by people like the office receptionist and he or she is taking notes on how you handle yourself.  Being a real estate agent is no different.  The sellers are taking mental notes on everything I do.  I did everything for a reason and that is critical to understand. 

I take out a note pad.  I look at the home as a buyer would look at it for the first time.  I take notes on anything that draws my attention.  That would be the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY and oftentimes I do mean UGLY.  The next step is critical for the homeowner to understand and eventually I will tell them exactly what I had done and why.  I look at the properties to the left of the home.  Then to the properties to the right of the home.  Then to the properties across the street.  This obviously would not apply if I were about to list a home in the country. so you learn to adapt to each home you are about to list but the procedure’s goals are the same. 

I understand that a home is unique to the homeowner and most homeowners feel no other home is quite like theirs; they may be right but more often than not, they are wrong.  There are a lot of homes very similar to theirs and a good appraiser will find all of them to justify a value that the appraiser puts on the home being sold.  As I look up and down the street, what am I looking for?  RED FLAGS!  What is a red flag you ask?  A neighbor who obviously fails to cut their grass, prune their trees and bushes, leaves garbage cans and children’s toys out in the yard.  Cars that appear to be abandoned or in need of severe attention.  Travel trailers or boats parked in the driveway(s).  Recently I witnessed a very large fishing boat parked on a street that had parts of the boat trailer that extended into the next lane on a two-lane residential neighborhood.  Why are all of these things important?  Put yourself in the car of your real estate agent and as you approach the home to be shown to you.  If you are like most buyers, you begin to notice any or all of the things I just described.  What is your initial reaction?  Will you have a favorable reaction (asset) or a negative one (liability)?  If your reaction is negative, you may decide to just skip the showing and move on to look at different homes in different locations.  This is precisely how your neighbors’ homes can adversely affect the salability of YOUR home and you are NOT going to like it.  Until YOU decide to put YOUR home on the market, you may or may not have even considered such things and by the time you do, it may already be too late to take corrective actions.  

In addition to looking left and right and across the street, I take even more notes as I approach the front door.  What is my initial impression of the main entrance to the home?  Is it clean and welcoming or does the door and the surrounding area need painting or cleanup?  It makes a huge difference.  YOU GET ONLY ONE CHANCE TO MAKE A FAVORABLE FIRST IMPRESSION.  It is my job to teach the homeowner the importance of knowing how a buyer thinks and how a buyer buys.  Failure to understand this and failure on the part of the homeowners to make necessary changes, may result in (1) the home not selling or not selling as fast as the homeowners need it to sell and even more importantly (2) the For Sale value will be lowered, meaning the net return to the homeowners will be less than desired.  Once a homeowner begins to lower an asking price for their home, other real estate agents take note and what the price lowering signals to them is that the homeowner is either getting desperate OR the homeowners have tome to their senses and have decided to price the home where the price should have been in the first place.  Either way, lowering a price sends a signal that the homeowners are willing to “deal.” 

I had one KILLER QUESTION I would ask every homeowner that I interviewed.  “Do you want me to tell you the truth or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear?”  I meant every word of that and for good reason.  Every time I asked the question; homeowners seemed shocked at the question and ask why I would ask such a thing.  They always said they wanted me to tell them the truth; of course that is what they should say.  I then explained to them that the truth is oftentimes very uncomfortable.  I also explained that if we ever reached an impasse on the sale of the property, it quite often will be that failure to understanding the truth is why the property has not sold.  I would explain that should that time ever arise, I will tell them as much and we can agree that maybe I am not the person they need to sell their home.  I tell them that I would prefer to part as friends than to remain in their employment as enemies.  In almost every occasion, they understood and agreed.  As blunt as that may sound to some people, it was extremely important to me.    

Once I passed this hurdle, I would ask the homeowners to act like a real estate agent and show me their home.  I would take notes, a lot of notes.  I used the notes to develop advertisements that would draw attention to the wonderful benefits and features of the home; hopefully features that typically do not exist in other homes that would be their competition.  I wanted to discover what the “points of difference” this home had over all of it competing homes.  I would then ask two more very intriguing questions.  As we walked through each room, I would ask, “What do you like best about this room?”  Then I would ask, “What do you like least about this room?”  Why would I ask these questions?  Because they will tell me what the selling points of the home are and they would also tell me what might be holding buyers back from purchasing the home.  If the homeowner doesn’t’ like something in the home, chances are the buyers won’t either. 

Then comes the real question that can destroy the value of a home.  “Mr. & Mrs. Seller, I must ask this question.  Given that the neighbor’s home(s), (give its location), seems like the owners have no desire to take care of their yard (remove the abandoned car or relocate the boat or travel trailer), if YOU were looking at homes to buy in this area, how would you feel about that particular home (or homes) when you look at YOUR home?  Would you want to buy in this area?  If the homeowners are honest, they would probably say no.  That is exactly how your neighbors’ homes can and do affect the sales value of YOUR home. 

EVERY HOME HAS A PRICE AT WHICH IT WILL SELL!!!  EVERY ONE!  It might be falling down on all sides and the roof may be peeling away but it still has a price that it will sell for.  However, the more items that I can find or should find that require attention or fixing, the lower the sales price will be unless they are fixed.  It all starts with the front yard and the front door.  From there the next most important rooms, believe it or not, are the kitchen and the bathrooms.  Cleanliness is critical.  Not only of YOUR home but also your neighbors’ homes. Little things can quickly add up to big intrusive things.  The more a buyer feels that they will have to fix once they move in, the less likely they are to even make an offer UNLESS the price reflects the actual condition of the home. 

Here is the reason I wanted to write this Nugget.  A new buyer cannot cut the neighbor’s grass.  A new buyer cannot remove an abandoned car or pick up the toys in neighboring yards.  As neighborhoods become older, they tend to change.  Needed repairs seem to be more needed than ever before.  Aging homeowners may or may not be physically capable of cleaning up and maintaining a home as they once did.  Some homes may convert to rental homes.  In this regard there is one very critical question that needs no answer:  When was the last time YOU changed the oil or even washed a car that you RENTED?  It is highly doubtful that you ever did.  Unfortunately, and I cast no dispersions on people who rent homes, tenants typically are very lax in the exterior maintenance of the homes they rent/lease.  If you are like me (and I hope not for your sake), have you ever looked at the exterior of a home and wondered to yourself what the interior must look like based how the outside looks?  I know I have! 

If I had a magic wand, I would begin teaching students in middle school or junior high school all things relating to purchasing and owning a home and/or automobile.  I seriously doubt that much has changed in this regard from the time I attended grades 1-12.  We were never taught anything about buying a home, buying a car, renting a home, interviewing for a job, creating credit, the importance of having goals, etc.  If I had that magic wand, I would change the training given youngsters – IMMEDIATELY!  If you do not know what it takes to buy a home or a car or take care of your own health, you will be living by RESPONDING to emergencies instead of PREPARING for emergencies that strike us all. 

Why should this Nugget be distributed far and wide?  Because homeownership for most people will be the single largest investment of their lives.  They should want to protect that investment and they most assuredly want it to increase in value.  It will not increase in value on its own; it takes knowledge, training, forethought and a plan.  It takes goals.  It takes the KNOWLEDGE of how to set realistic goals and then how to work at achieving them! 

It is not easy nor will it ever be easy to address the poor conditions that you might expose when you begin looking at your neighbors’ homes that need obvious maintenance.  How do you address these issues.  Other than direct confrontation, there is no easy way.  People have come to hate Homeowners Associations because they can be brutal.  They can also protect the value of YOUR home, like them or not.  If you live in an area where there is no Homeowners Association, the ONLY way you may have will be by confronting them and asking or even begging for their help.  Explain that every distraction that a buyer sees in the neighborhood can cause a buyer to reject your home when it is seen for the first time without even going inside.  Explain to them that not only will they be adding value to YOUR home, they will be adding value to THEIR home as well.  If they are tenants, your only hope would be contact the actual owners and share your concerns.  

If you are considering buying property to lease/rent, my advice would be that in addition to the rental/lease agreements, you give serious thought to preparing a document that the tenants agree to.  It should address what maintenance tenants are expected to do and if they choose not to do things like routinely cutting the grass, the rental amount will be increased to cover the cost of having the yard maintained.  Make it their choice but if you agree to allow them or expect them to perform, you must be willing to become the enforcer when they do not comply. 

If you are like me, you can travel your city or town and you can easily see properties, both residential and commercial that will ADVERSELY AFFECT VALUE!  It is my opinion that this is a correctable condition.  How?  As stated above, it begins in the school and in the home where children first learn “right and wrong.”  It also depends a great deal on the local government.  Is your government a proactive government or a reactive government.  In a proactive government, the elected members will create a plan to educate homeowners (and commercial property owners) the necessity of properly maintaining properties AT ALL TIMES, NOT ON JUST SPECIAL OCCASIONS.  How do they accomplish this?  They should have a means by which they contact their constituents.  If they do, they could use this media to address the importance of properly maintaining properties.  The same elected officials can also create town/city ordnances to cover properties that owners neglect.  I am fully aware that this is a very sensitive topic for discussion but it is a discussion that really needs to be addressed.  I can look around my own neighborhood at this very moment and see four or five homes where the grass is routinely NOT cut.  Trash is left street side long before the scheduled trash collection days and then the cans are left out long after the collection days.  Sewers in front of some homes are RARELY IF EVER cleared by the people who live in the homes at these locations causing streets to flood.  Commercial trucks are parked street side causing difficulties in traffic on that section of the street in a neighborhood where there are lot of children and where school buses frequent the area. 

You would not believe the “things” a probable home purchaser can find by just paying attention.  Two examples stand out.  First, I was in the Coast Guard for 20 years and that means a lot of transfers and relocations.  A good friend of mine and his wife, BEFORE they looked at any homes to buy, would drive to the local high school in the area they intended to look at.  They would park across the street before school would start and then sit and observe the students as they came to school.  They told me that you can learn a lot about a community by the way students dress and act on the way to and from school.  He was right.  The second example is my own home.  I have a 4-bedroom home, meaning the next owner will probably have children as we have.  The home sits on a 3-way stop intersection.  The street on the side of my home is like a cut through that people take to avoid going a different direction but there is this nasty 3-way stop at the intersection.  I once did a very unprofessional study and counted the number of cars that just blew through the stop signs without giving it a second thought.  If a family were to be viewing my home to consider purchasing it and assuming they had children, the way up to as many as 60% of the drivers just ignored the stop signs could be a deep concern for the parents and may adversely affect the “quick sale” of our home.  Can you begin to appreciate that sometimes it is NOT the home itself that keeps people from buying, it can be the little things 360 degrees around the home! 

There ought to be a class that is taught beginning in the second or third grade called Common Sense and Civility 101.  It has become so obvious to me that Common Sense has become a lost art in 2025.  Believe it or not, George Washington, yes that George, President George Washington, put on paper his 101 Rules of Civility.  They are both fun and educational to read.  You can access them by going to:  http://www.foundationsmag.com/civility.html  If you do, you may see yourself in some of his rules (not a good thing) that are now over 250 years old.  If George were alive today, I am sure he would be adding a lot more to the list, especially on the use of electronic devices, driving cars, obeying traffic laws, but more importantly, just learning and using Common Sense to become an ASSET to YOUR community instead of a LIABILITY!