Here we are again, winding down the year and prepping all of our grandiose plans of mice and men for the new year. 2009 is all but in the record books. My guess is that many of you would like to tell 2009 “good riddance and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Yup, 2009 was an ugly year for many. The magic question becomes “What is 2010 going to bring?”
The short answer: I don’t know. No one does. Miss Cleo (the late-night fortune telling informercial-ateur of yesteryear) is the only person I know with a functioning crystal ball, and she’s doing time in federal prison for fraud. Didn’t see that one coming, eh Cleo?
I’ve spent a few days rifling through the countless analyst reports out there speculating the markets movements in 2010. I’ll save you a lot of time and distill it down for you: lots of conflicting opinions.
So where does that leave you and me? We can continue to have our prosperity dictated by some corporate fat-cats on Wall Street or we can hunker down and do what is required of us by our families and our country. We can get to work with a vengeance.
Recession or not, improvement or further deterioration of the economy, housing market recovery or not, government bailouts or not, Erin and I are prepping for a great year in 2010. Regardless of the circumstance, there is no situation that this world can deal you that you cannot outwork. And outwork we shall.
So, what does your work ethic look like right now? How is your attitude toward facing the unique challenges of the new year? How likely are you to downsize your dreams or throw in the towel on pursuing your goals when alleged “experts” say that gloom and doom are here to stay? I hope, for your sake, that you are prepared for what’s to come. We are staring at a year full of greater adversity than we have faced in some time and greater opportunity than we can even imagine.
When that ball drops in Times Square and we all raise a glass of champagne, take inventory of all the wonderful things in your life. Entering the new year with an attitude of gratitude will provide the best springboard toward reaching your goals.
Not my normal economic shtick, I know. But I think it’s appropriate given the occasion.
Lastly, I want to personally thank each and every one of you for reading. Whether I talk to you on a daily basis or we haven’t spoken for a while, I appreciate so much your love and support. Your referrals and business are what afforded me the chance to now work side by side with my beautiful bride, and I can’t thank you all enough for that opportunity.
Happy New Year, everyone, and here’s to a terrific 2010!!!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Rates are rockin', Big Ben is ready for round two and Geithner...well, God bless him, at least he's trying
Holy heck on a waffle cone, people. Let me try to itemize the plethora of madness that has taken place since my last newsletter installment:
1) Tiger Woods crashed into a tree and then essentially admitted to marital “transgressions”. Jerry! Jerry! Maybe just stick to the fairway next time, chief.
2) Global warming has been deemed an official hoax, which is awesome because now I can do my turn-a-can-of-hairspray-into-a-flamethrower trick at parties guilt-free.
3) Taking a page from Bush’s playbook, Obama has committed 30,000 more American troops to the cause of cleaning Al-Qaeda and the Taliban from Afghanistan. Hoo-rah. Let’s go bust some heads.
4) I took down two full Thanksgiving meals, gained 5 pounds and have since guilted myself into starting the P90X workout program. The words “Bring It” no longer make me happy.
And, despite the novels I could write on any of those topics, I’m going to discuss the economy. Yup. I’m just that committed to industry-specific topics. If only they all were so laser-focused.
First off, mortgage rates hit a 38-year low last week, dipping below 4.75% on the average 30-year fixed. Despite the Treasury ending their program to buy securities and keep rates down, they’ve stayed down all by themselves. Continued weakness in job creation and overall global uncertainty seem to be the primary causes.
As many of you know, the 1st-time homebuyer tax credit was extended for any contract signed before April 30th and Closed before June 30th. It was also expanded to include existing homeowners who want to move on up to a bigger place. Yaaaaaay for governmental help!
Ben Bernanke is enjoying another public flogging at the hands of Congress today as he tries to earn a second term as the Chairman of our Federal Reserve. Now, I’m a believer in Big Ben and his monetary decisions to date, so I hope he gets it. My guess is that they will keep him in his position purely because he’s the only one who can make some sense of our country’s tangled financial problems since he was there from essentially the beginning. Best of luck to you, Ben.
Geithner came out on Monday and, in the style of Yosemite Sam, called all the banks a bunch of low-down rassa-frassa dirty no-good rootin’-tootin’ money lovers who aren’t helping enough troubled homeowners achieve permanent loan modifications. While the spirit of what was said was well placed, there was very little as far as concrete threats or clear objectives in the speech aside from the somewhat arbitrary number of 375,000 loan mods by year’s end. So, fingers crossed that something actually gets accomplished, but Swami-Greg doubts it.
Do me a huge favor right now and think about anyone you know who could benefit from my services. Your referrals of friends, associates and family are the lifeblood of my business. If you know someone who is house-hunting or even thinking about it, please pass their info over to me. Even if you know someone who just talks a lot about the economy (as many tend to do these days) and you think they’d get value out of my newsletters, pass their info along. I do my best to keep these newsletters as “sales free” as possible, but I do want you to remember that your help and referrals are my greatest strength. Thanks for all you’ve done for me thus far, and thanks in advance for the referrals in the future!
1) Tiger Woods crashed into a tree and then essentially admitted to marital “transgressions”. Jerry! Jerry! Maybe just stick to the fairway next time, chief.
2) Global warming has been deemed an official hoax, which is awesome because now I can do my turn-a-can-of-hairspray-into-a-flamethrower trick at parties guilt-free.
3) Taking a page from Bush’s playbook, Obama has committed 30,000 more American troops to the cause of cleaning Al-Qaeda and the Taliban from Afghanistan. Hoo-rah. Let’s go bust some heads.
4) I took down two full Thanksgiving meals, gained 5 pounds and have since guilted myself into starting the P90X workout program. The words “Bring It” no longer make me happy.
And, despite the novels I could write on any of those topics, I’m going to discuss the economy. Yup. I’m just that committed to industry-specific topics. If only they all were so laser-focused.
First off, mortgage rates hit a 38-year low last week, dipping below 4.75% on the average 30-year fixed. Despite the Treasury ending their program to buy securities and keep rates down, they’ve stayed down all by themselves. Continued weakness in job creation and overall global uncertainty seem to be the primary causes.
As many of you know, the 1st-time homebuyer tax credit was extended for any contract signed before April 30th and Closed before June 30th. It was also expanded to include existing homeowners who want to move on up to a bigger place. Yaaaaaay for governmental help!
Ben Bernanke is enjoying another public flogging at the hands of Congress today as he tries to earn a second term as the Chairman of our Federal Reserve. Now, I’m a believer in Big Ben and his monetary decisions to date, so I hope he gets it. My guess is that they will keep him in his position purely because he’s the only one who can make some sense of our country’s tangled financial problems since he was there from essentially the beginning. Best of luck to you, Ben.
Geithner came out on Monday and, in the style of Yosemite Sam, called all the banks a bunch of low-down rassa-frassa dirty no-good rootin’-tootin’ money lovers who aren’t helping enough troubled homeowners achieve permanent loan modifications. While the spirit of what was said was well placed, there was very little as far as concrete threats or clear objectives in the speech aside from the somewhat arbitrary number of 375,000 loan mods by year’s end. So, fingers crossed that something actually gets accomplished, but Swami-Greg doubts it.
Do me a huge favor right now and think about anyone you know who could benefit from my services. Your referrals of friends, associates and family are the lifeblood of my business. If you know someone who is house-hunting or even thinking about it, please pass their info over to me. Even if you know someone who just talks a lot about the economy (as many tend to do these days) and you think they’d get value out of my newsletters, pass their info along. I do my best to keep these newsletters as “sales free” as possible, but I do want you to remember that your help and referrals are my greatest strength. Thanks for all you’ve done for me thus far, and thanks in advance for the referrals in the future!
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