As we are wrapping up 2010, a review of the year finds me shaking my head.

Let me show you what was before my eyes this year...

• I see the successful short sales and the families that managed to stay intact through the war with the bank. They are damaged, but survived;
• I see the failed short sales due to impossible banks, impossible liens and impossible conditions, and the people who face the consequences with grit and determination;
• I see the investors: the veterans who are cleaning their wounds, preparing for the next round of battle, and the newbies, dealing with missing financial limbs, vowing never to return to the field;
• I see the jobless families forced into bankruptcy as they seek protection from the barrage of collectors and lenders who don't listen and don't care;
• I see the splitting families and abandoned children, parents making decisions based on self, fear, and finances, not love or loyalty or hope;
• I see the homes, once tenderly and pridefully maintained, now overgrown, with empty rooms, peeling paint, broken windows and stained carpeting;
• I see the new owners, excited about the deal they just obtained, with a hint of worry behind their eyes, as they wonder if they did the right thing buying a house now, under these circumstances, with this economy...and what happened to the people who lived there before them...could they be next?

The real estate vision for 2011? I don't have a crystal ball.

I do know I will be here providing hope for those going through it, and it will get better eventually.