The owner of a real estate agency from New York can tell us what the financial crisis mean. His company was flourishing at the beginning of 2008, having 22 employees and 6-7 transactions a day. By the end of 2009, the business was down 75 %. I managed to keep my best employees, but I had to fire 15 persons. We can barely make 5-6 transactions a month, and the commissions are also lowered. Moreover, the expenses with marketing grew, considering the harsh conditions of the market and the increased competition for any real estate that is brought on sale. We are the lucky ones, as New York is...