After"?wallowing in this business for a couple of decades, owning and managing real estate companies"?and seeing just about every quirk, twist and turn imaginable, I continue to ask myself, "why do do what we do?"

For example, why did we, during this past decade of real estate boom, squander huge amounts of capital erecting more and more buildings, when we didn't need to"?? Why have we continued to perpetuate the myth that the consumer is somehow impressed by and eager to find our bricks-and-mortar expressions, when they aren't?

Why do we do what we do, when we don't have to"?? Why, for crying out loud, do we continue to pour vast amounts of limited and precious capital into our"?over-worked and over-populated"?vertical markets when we could be expanding horizontally into multiple markets all around us at a fraction of the cost?

Why have we done what we done, when we didn't need to?

Why have we, as owners, continued to allow our business models to be defined"?as just one dimention business operations, rather than by multi-market strategies"?? Why have we, as owners, allowed ourselves to be trapped in old cash-gobbling environments where we cater to the needs of independent contractors at the expense of an effective ROI and an ultimate exit strategy for ourselves and our families?

Why have most real estate companies defined themselves in terms of an effective market"?area, market service area or some other out-dated notion that limits the capital extraction they could have if they were focusing on multi-market penetration, recruiting and office-less development, backed by the best technology available"?? In a nutshell, why do we allow this industry to"?place us on"?its financial roller-coaster that races from market"?up trends"?to market down trends, causing us to operate our companies from a position of weakness, a.k.a"?"feast or famine?"

What causes all of this"?? Is it ego, industry tradition (maybe) lack of alternatives (I don't buy that one), out-dated business models (uh, that gets my attention)"?that served us well 20 years ago"?? You tell me.

I just don't understand why we do what we do, especially when we don't have to"?do what we do!