Happy Friday, friends! We’ve had a busy front half of the week with two homes closing, which allowed a little time to breath in the middle of the week before a weekend packed with showings.
These last few weeks I’ve been going to a ‘Wigglers’ class with Maven which is basically an hour of semi-organized activities in an obstacle-filled, toddler-friendly room.
It has been so much fun to watch her experiment with all of the different surfaces: trampolines, wobbly walk, climbing wall, among others. She moves with so much confidence and has amazing balance for someone with a head and baby belly as big as she has.
And of course her favorite part is when she gets a stamp on her hand at the end, which she shows us repeatedly all day until it gets washed off in the bath 🙁
Nearly every day, Compass’s Leonard Steinberg puts together a handful of real estate news bits that are always so interesting I have to share some of my favorites of the week. To receive these every day from Leonard, please click here and include your full name and email address to get on his mailing list.
* The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%, last seen in December 2018 and better than the 4.1% estimates. Non-farm payrolls rose by 199,000 in December, far fewer than the 422,000 estimate. However, November’s numbers were revised up….by 20% ,showcasing how inaccurate these numbers can be. Wages increased more than expected, rising 4.7% year over year, fueled by early accelerated retirements, rising self-employment, higher savings delaying a return to work and of course COVID. The full effects of Omicron do not register in these numbers. 18.8 million jobs have been recovered since April 2020. (CNBC)
* Investors accounted for 18.2% of home purchases across the US in the 3rd quarter. The figure was a jump from a 16.1% share in the second quarter and 11.2% share in 2020’s 3rd quarter. (BLOOMBERG)
* State and local receipts were 16% above the pre pandemic trend in the third quarter of 2021. 13 states enacted laws in 2021 to reduce individual or corporate income taxes, the highest number to pass tax cuts in a single year in more than two decades. (BARRONS)
* YES it is true: when you send a CØMPASS Client Tour, your client doesn’t have to log in to see your toursheet anymore. This was updated at the end of 2021!
* If you are piecing together videos with footage you have created, why not get them PROFESSIONALLY edited? ROLLA is the perfect remote resource for this….fast and cost-effective too! rolla.com
* 40% of the TOP US Cities with the most sunshine are located in Arizona…..30% in California, 20% in Nevada and 10% in Texas. 13% of the TOP 100 were in Texas. Nome, Arkansas gets half the amount of annual average sunshine compared to Las Vegas.
* Over half a million Americans were unhoused in 2020. Despite the rising budget, overall homelessness in the U.S. has improved by only 10% compared with 2007. In 2019 New York City spent $3 billion on its approximately 80,000 person homeless population….that’s about $37,500 per person per year. Homelessness costs society lots and it appears money alone is not fixing the problem. Providing shelter without employment and sobriety is not working. (CNBC)
* Expect inflation to persist as it is now clearly revealed that COVID is the #1 driver of inflation: When people focus more on buying goods than services and supply chains are strained by excess demand, prices rise. Real Estate can be an incredible hedge against inflation.
* Sunny O’Callaghan – a Compass Cares Champion in the Hamptons – is working on a campaign to sell Compass swag to benefit Paddlers for Humanity. This organization is dedicated to bettering the lives of children with a focus on mental health. storefront
* Brea Stover of COMPASS Ardmore PA reminds us of the national news that on Wednesday, January 5th, a duplex in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood caught fire and killed 12 people, 8 of whom were children, one of the deadliest residential fires in the city’s history. Fairmount, a well-loved and tight-knit neighborhood, is close to Philadelphia’s world class museums and attractions. Several of the children who died attended the local K-8 elementary school and the community is truly grieving over this unimaginable loss. There are several ways to support the families and victims of this terrible tragedy. This link is provided by the school and has verified ways to donate. Here is a direct Go Fund Me Page that has also been verified by family members.
* About 60% of spending by a US consumer typically goes to goods and the rest to services, but that has risen to 65%, according to Bernstein. As a result, US imports were up almost 20% in September and October 2021 over the same months in 2019. We are still in the STUFF vs. SERVICES economy and its one of the primary drivers of inflation. (FT)
* Wall Street’s biggest banks this month are set to report record profits for 2021 thanks to bumper investment banking fees and lower-than-expected losses on loans during the pandemic, with analysts cautioning it may take years to repeat such stellar earnings. US bank stocks rose 35% in 2021. Expect a BUMPER BONUS SEASON!
* You can make a ‘digital ‘step and repeat background’ instantly and easily with one or multiple logos and upload them to the background on Zoom. It’s free! It appears crystal clear as your background on a Zoom meeting. When it’s a digital background the pros are: Free, change it easily with the same logo and different themes (CØMPASS concierge or Special Holiday), no shadows, and if the lighting is off it doesn’t matter. Moreover, always keeping the brand identity intact and front and center. If someone has a difficult time creating multiple logos in one image and having it sized correctly they can use Canva. Also, the brand guide for CØMPASS, all team, and individual agents have excellent Vectorized PDF files.
* Over half a million Americans were unhoused in 2020. Despite the rising budget, overall homelessness in the U.S. has improved by only 10% compared with 2007. In 2019 New York City spent $3 billion on its approximately 80,000 person homeless population….that’s about $37,500 per person per year. Homelessness costs society lots and it appears money alone is not fixing the problem. Providing shelter without employment and sobriety is not working. (CNBC)
* You might think that Melanoma skin cancers would be most prevalent in super-sunny spots in the south, but the state with the highest Melanoma per capita rate is UTAH, more than double that of Texas. Vermont is around double that of neighboring New York or Connecticut. Arizona is double that of neighboring New Mexico. (CDC)