Who could have predicted we would have historically low interest rates for years. Or would have predicted the world would shut down over COVID and economies destroyed? Who could have predicted the Los Angeles Rams would win a Super Bowl? Well, it sure wasn’t me…..
I started in real estate in 2004, strategically positioned to endure one of the worst times to be a real estate agent in my lifetime. I remember thinking in 2010, while waiting for my food bank groceries, “Who could have predicted…”
So now I am sitting at my desk, taking a short break from searching frantically for homes that apparently don’t exist, thinking about the good old days when our largest worry was how to find buyers for our listings and it occurs to me that this cycle is perfectly normal… Yep, I said it. This unprecedented time of “who could have predicted” is totally part of a normal cycle. I am sure people in 1933 and 1945 were saying “who could have predicted” a great depression or a world war.
We recently did a podcast with one of my mentors, Shawn Dunnigan of Dunnigan Financial Group here in Fort Collins and something he said really struck me. As a seasoned financial planner I was expecting him to talk about the market in the usual way the media does. “Take cover!! The sky is not only falling but chucks of it will crush you!!!”
But no, he professionally, calmly told a story about when my daughter moved from elementary school to Jr. High. It was a big change, there was lots of stress and drama, but it was a perfectly normal part of the educational cycle. Soon she would move to High School then to College. Again, stressful change but perfectly normal. That is how the market expands and contracts. In a healthy, perfectly normal way that is overall good for the economy.
It is so easy for us to get caught up in the drama of the moment, because we are afraid of the change. We don’t like looking at our retirement account that is now smaller that last month, or our grocery bill that is a lot bigger, or our dream home that is $100,000 more that last year. The change is here, more is coming, and that is ok.
I guess I will stop looking back at what things looked like, and ahead trying to predict the unpredictable. I mean honestly, “what the hell do we know”? I will focus on here and now. Where I can help and encourage. After all, as Ann Richards so elegantly said; “The here and now is all we have, and if we play it right it’s all we’ll every need”
Now back to that elusive home search….
So maybe predicting the next step in the cycle is not near as important as enduring the step we are in. After all, people need help now. In this step, I am very well positioned to give that help. Heck, there are all kinds of ways I can be giving, helping, educating and encouraging people today. And there are a lot of people needing exactly that. Maybe I can change that “what the hell do we know” into “let me help you understand the here and now”.
Focused on being up to date in the NoCo culture and in touch with local businesses, Nathan has a podcast called “The More NoCo” and a YouTube series called “In Your Backyard”. Being in real estate for over 20 years, Nathan Weinland is one of the most experienced and well educated realtors in Northern Colorado.
I hope that you will check out my other blogs; Lance Sample with Sample CPAs. Or Celia Bowman with Bowman Architecture’s Kitchen Remodel.
As leader of The Weinland Team, Nathan is constantly working with the best in the industry to “perfect the art of service” in real estate.
If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Northern Colorado, Nathan and his team would love to introduce you to our NoCo culture; full of craft beer loving, dog focused, outdoor centric people that is Northern Colorado. Give the Weinland Team a call today!