Around here it's knowing secrets. It's introducing your clients to houses before they go on the market, or having a list of buyers to offer to a seller.

I haven't seen it like this for three years. We've seen bidding wars in rentals this year.

After that, commissions get negotiated down, sadly.

It used to be gyms. Now it's screening rooms.

It's usually not about the money. There are times in the economic cycle when people like to say they paid a lot of money for a house and then there are times when getting a good deal is a trend.

And when at last you find someone to whom you feel you can pour out your soul, you stop in shock at the words you utter— they are so rusty, so ugly, so meaningless and feeble from being kept in the small cramped dark inside you so long.