What does Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Foreclosure investing have to do with each other?  I’ll tell you.

Hi, I’m Mike Kane Founder of ForeclosuresDaily.com and I had the opportunity to train and shoot hoops with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins a week ago when he and his teammates were in Tampa a day before a game with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

For those of you that don’t know who Sidney Crosby is, he is recognized by many as the best hockey player in the world.  He scored the game-winning goal in overtime for Canada vs the U.S. in the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Oh, and by the way, he and the Pittsburgh Penguins also won the Stanley Cup last season.

And he’s only 22 years old, not bad.  They call him Sid the “Kid”.

Bottom line:  there is no other athlete in the world right now hotter then Sidney Crosby.  The guys on fire!  And he’s a nice guy too.

Do you think there’s some life and business lessons to be learned here from a guy like Sidney Crosby who’s accomplished so much at such an early age?  ABSOLUTELY!

After spending some time with him and watching him interact with the rest of his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates, I realized a few things:

1)  These guys are extremely competitive and driven.

2)  These guys are extremely passionate.

3)  These guys are all team players.

I will now discuss all three points.

1)  From playing basketball to volleyball to racketball to lifting weights, the Pittsburgh Penguins were all extremely competitive guys.  I guess you don’t make it to the National Hockey League as a professional hockey player without being competitive.

2)  Watching how Sidney Crosby and the other Pittsburgh Penguins interacted with each other and people you could see their passion.  They were all very passionate about sports and life in general it seemed.

3)  These guys were all team players.  Even though Sidney Crosby is the star of the team he acted like “just one of the guys” and didn’t place himself on a pedestal.  He worked out with the team like every other member of the team did.  After spending time with them, you could see how they were able to win the Stanley Cup because of their unity and togetherness.  It was really a sight to see.

I think the lessons learned from Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins is something that one can apply to life and/or their business because drive, passion and teamwork are all important in life.

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Housing construction is up to its highest level in 8 months.

Building permits rose 2.7% in August.

Builder confidence is slowly heading higher…

Mortgage rates are falling slightly

BUT

Retailers are reported as being “cautious” about holiday hiring and retail sales don’t seem to be rising at the rate you would expect for a recovery.

The consumer, which accounts for 70% of our countries GDP, is still hoarding their money and spending cautiously.

Some econonomists predict that we could see a “double-dip” recession from and into 2011.

Where we go from here, no one knows.  I think it will be a slow crawl back up to the top…

Hang in there!  Subscribe to my newsletter via email to get notified about all the latest posts and real estate investing and wealth-building information, tips and strategies.

This data is consistent with the other positive housing market indicators that show home sales growth.

The National Association of Realtors reported that pending sales of existing housing inventory rose 3.2% from June to July, which marks the 6th straight monthly increase in pending home sales. That is the longest streak of gains since NAR started keeping track in 2001.

Lets hope the good news in housing continues…

Here are some of the highlights:

- Home prices are increasing. According to the Case-Shiller home price index, home prices in the quarter ended June 30th rose in 18 of the 20 cities that are part of the index.

- Consumer confidence is on the mend. A new survey from the Conference Board suggests that consumers’ views of the economy and expectations for the future improved in August.

- Sales of new homes is increasing. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that sales of new homes rose 9.6% in July.

- Weekly mortgage applications are rising. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that on August 21st, demand for applications increased 7.5% from the previous week.

All of this bodes well for the real estate market and the overall U.S. economy as a whole. Most economists are predicting that this quarter (ending Sept. 30th) we will have positive GDP growth and officially be out of the recession.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready… are you?