General

  QUOTE OF THE WEEK “What’s the use of happiness? It can’t buy you money.”—Henny Youngman, English-born American comedian and musician   NATIONAL MARKET UPDATE Ending the year on a positive note, residential construction spending in December came in 1.5% ahead of the month before. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of $939.5 billion was 6% […]

  QUOTE OF THE WEEK “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done”—Bruce Lee, Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher   NATIONAL MARKET UPDATE New Home Sales rose in December for the second month in a row, a 6.7% year-over-year gain, to their highest level since […]

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “What’s another word for Thesaurus?”—Steven Wright, American comedian   NATIONAL MARKET UPDATE Existing Home Sales finished the year up 2.2% in December and up 9.3% for the year—the fastest annual increase since 2021. It was the third straight month of yearly gains, with inventory higher than the same time a year […]

4 STEPS TO CREATING A PERSONAL BRAND Creating a personal brand is key for businesses who personally deliver a valued product or service. A brand encompasses the emotions clients and customers feel when they hear a brand name. Those emotions define the brand in all the experiences someone has with it. Here are four steps […]

BUSINESS TIPS       9 TIPS TO BETTER NEGOTIATING   See it as a natural thing. Some people think of negotiating as a negative thing, akin to arguing. Actually, negotiating is a natural thing we all do. When a child wants an ice cream, or a teenager wants the car keys, a negotiation often […]

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “The secret to longevity is ice cream.”—Paul Marcus, American centenarian   NATIONAL MARKET UPDATE Housing Starts rocketed up almost 16% in December, with both single-families and multi-families seeing gains. Building Permits slipped a smidge, but housing completions for the calendar year ran at the fastest pace since 2006. National Association of […]

8 OPTIONS INSTEAD OF NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS       For most of us, New Year’s resolutions don’t work out too well. We resolve to change our behavior for the better—this year, I’ll spend less time hanging out on social media. Or we resolve to achieve some big goal—this year, I’ll get to the gym […]

  QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Let’s have some new cliches.”—Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born American film producer   NATIONAL MARKET UPDATE Mortgage applications slowed the first week of the year, but homebuyers stay interested. A weekly report from an online real estate database found that weekly home tour activity rose over December and year-over-year. Realtor.com reports the […]

    QUOTE OF THE WEEK “And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”—Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet and novelist     NATIONAL MARKET UPDATE   The Pending Home Sales measure of signed contracts on existing homes headed up in November for the fourth month in a row, nearly 7% […]

THE DIRECT MAIL PATH TO CLIENT RETENTION Client retention is key to success. Existing clients are a viable source of repeat business—and that business comes in at a much lower marketing cost since you don’t have to spend money to find those customers and tell them what you do. Even if past clients aren’t ready […]