December 2017 Letter From My Heart

Good Morning to December,

As we enter the closing month of another year, we continue in awe with our market’s resilience, stability, and possibilities. Life is amazing.

Business confidence is up, as are our home values. Stocks are at record highs, along with low inflation and steady mortgage rates. This translates into consumers having a renewed outlook on a better tomorrow. Are there challenges? Yes. But whether domestic or worldwide – we as nation of peoples, have always proven the ability to work through difficulties and challenging circumstances.

Helpful Stats

Here are some stats leading into our Good, Bad, N Ugly:

  • With markets improving, the percentage of cash-buyers remains flat.

  • Average term of ownership – for people selling – has doubled in length

  • Affordable index, in CA, remains range bound since 2014.

  • As we consider tax changes, a few facts: Top 10 % of earners pay 71 % of income tax revenues – highest of any developed country.

  • World poverty levels have dropped from 94% in 1890, to 35% in 1990, and 9.6% in 2015. Nigeria and India have the highest rates of 40%.

The Good:

Two noteworthy items: 1) Great strides in advancements toward curing cancer. 2) Bringing back offshore manufacturing by what is called “on-shoring”. This is not your old production lines, but instead, highly paid, robotic operators and workers.

The Bad:

What may prove good for the Bay Area, may have counter implications for others. For example, advancements in automation – great jobs and great tech – may bring substantial job loss to workers across the Nation, whose skills are not easily transferrable. Consider the new robotics for oil drilling rigs. It is called “Iron Roughneck” and will reduce human labor from 20 people to 5. These highly skilled workers earn $100k per year.

The Ugly:

The divisiveness in politics, as promulgated through various bureaucratic ways of unelected sources – unaccountable to us. Yet government continues to fund them. The Ugly is the lack of in-depth coverage as to what goes on in Washington D.C. Is there a call for even greater reductions in regulations and a further unwinding of bureaucratic red tape, strangling innovation? Let’s hope so, for our sake.

In Closing:

An interesting consideration about personal privacy or lack of it. How is it being lost so easily? Consider the following:

  • Facebook and Google exist to collect and sell data

  • Enter to “win” contests or receive free gifts

  • If you are not paying for a service, you are the service

  • Free address syncing services

  • Free applications with GPS functions

It is not safe to make assumptions about your privacy.

My business is in helping financing the real estate market. This makes me very dependent on not only your calls, but also the market’s strength and stability, and business / consumer confidence and optimism. I spend much time trying to scope the market, check for fluctuations, and evaluate possibilities and options. I see this as very necessary to what I do, if I am to best serve you

Thank you for your calls and emails. We look forward to every call.

Have a fabulous week as we remain gratefully yours.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*