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I focus quite a bit of my research on how to help all businesses and organizations accurately anticipate the digital disruptions heading their way.

In recent writings, I have also discussed the importance of leaders finding the best ways to retain employees via incentives, involvement in innovation, and recognition of their fullest potential and future at the company.

I also connect with the other side of that coin, discussing the best ways in which leaders in a position to help employees recognize their own greatness do so in an Anticipatory fashion. This is accomplished time and again not only by creating a culture of searching for and leveraging Hard Trends with my Hard Trend Methodology, but by fostering that united Futureview® of positive disruption and creative critical thinking.

But what if I were to say that even though these efforts have proven to be successful over the course of my career, there is yet another characteristic of professional growth that is being overlooked in today’s rapidly accelerating digital age?

And Anticipatory Leaders, please be sure to take the following blog post into account as well. This directly relates to how you can retain your valued employees apart from offering them pay increases and other incentives.

The Stigma of “Slowing Down”

The Hard Trend of accelerating digital connectivity sparked a professional and personal culture that most have unknowingly adapted to.

Dating as far back as the personal computer and our access to the Internet in the ’90s, the speed at which we have access to information retrieval has transformed human behavior. Our conversation starters went from “Do you think” to “Did you know” in many cases, which perhaps made for more interesting dialogue at family dinners and other gatherings.

Years later, the smartphone entered our lives, and suddenly we became a culture of fact-checkers and digital socialites, sharing every drink we take and every move we make on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and any other derivative that suits us. We are a digital society, and a future certainty you can bank on is that we are not going backward, but only forward.

Having access to information is good in many ways. However, we now have a cultural stigma around slowing down, unplugging, and recharging. Indeed, doing so gives the impression that you are “falling behind” or even unable to keep up with the world today, leaving you outdated and irrelevant.

As more ways to connect to the “information superhighway” emerge and our connectivity gets better via 5G and eventually 6G and beyond, I believe this stigma will get worse if left unchecked. Children do not experience road trips with their family anymore while being plugged into their iPads, and couples I see out to dinner spend an unfortunate amount of time checking their social feeds while out on a date night.

To each their own; however, what we are starting to notice is the amount of time we are in fact “plugged in” to our personal devices and the connectivity provided to us, for fear that we are somehow being left out of the loop by setting those devices aside, is actually permeating to our professional lives in more ways than most realize.

Digital Exhaustion is Real

The fact of the matter is that regardless of where you work or what professional walk of life you find yourself in, you use digital technology in so many ways at your job or as a business leader. But in addition to that, focus for a moment on just how many digital devices are in your personal life as well.

I do not personally need to know your number to estimate that what you see in your mind is a lot of screen time! I am not kidding when I say that digital exhaustion is real!

While I am aware that humans adapt to the ever-changing environment around us — an instinct that has evolved over the years — we quickly grow tired from being so connected all the time. In turn, this does affect how we perform at work, since much of our work is now completely integrated with the digital world.

Everyone Must Find Their Balance

I am by no means saying to throw away all your digital devices and go live “off the grid,” so to speak. But I am encouraging all business leaders, middle managers, and entry-level employees to find a balance between the digital devices you use and the life we once knew without them.

How can this principle be incorporated into a business or organization, especially when so much of your job is digital? As a business leader or a manager who has a team of individuals, consider planning simple lunch breaks together every now and again, get to know your employees, and then in turn orchestrate team building opportunities at convenient times for your employees.

There currently is and will be an uptick in hands-on, activity-based businesses, such as indoor axe throwing or go-kart tracks, which correlates to the concept of cycles that I discuss. The more digital our world gets, the more we will crave something different. Capitalize on that as an employer or a leader to help your team avoid digital exhaustion and ultimately, burnout.

For those who are employees, efforts to take a break from digital devices in your personal life are where you can help yourself reset. Recently, service provider US Cellular has introduced “US Mode,” where you can actually disable most features on your mobile device for a certain period of time or allow it to continue to play music while alerts are silenced. But remember: This is up to you to enable. You have to make the choice to find personal balance.

It is great to find mastery in your career, or to know how to utilize all the great digital technology available in our professional and personal lives. But I want you to remember: Simply put, too much of something is never a good thing. We need water to live, but too much can cause harm.

Finding personal balance will ultimately improve your professional success, as you will have reset and found a way to remember that life and your career can move forward only so long as you are happy, healthy, and at peace.

Posted On Tuesday, 05 December 2023 00:00 Written by
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Just a couple of weeks left to get deals in and get them closed before the end of the year! Those coming in to start the process may be few, but they are serious! Buyers coming in today will also have a short window of opportunity as other potential buyers choose to sit on the sidelines in December and “wait until after the holidays” before getting back into the search! Those who make this choice could be costing themselves dearly! Here are a few things to think about:

  1. With people putting off the search, there is less competition in the market for those available homes.
  2. Seller’s that will show their homes in December are likely serious about selling and more likely to negotiate key points of the deal if you can close quickly!
  3. With new buyers entering the current market and those who will re-enter the market in January, individual buyers will face more competition for each house, and sellers will notice!
  4. What is the cost of waiting as home prices continue to climb?

The message must be clear! NOW is a great time to get out and buy a house! While others are sharing stories about how now is not a great time to buy, or that “nobody” wants to put a deal together during the holidays, or that it’s too late to get a deal done by the end of the year; YOU have a chance to share the message of “I can” and “I can help YOU get it done! 

How many people can you help get it done before the end of the year? One team I work with set a goal the week before Thanksgiving (maybe I pushed them into it) of combing their pre-approvals of those who had been less active in their search and share with them the opportunity to get a deal done by the end of the year. We set a target of adding 10 new deals to close in December. As of today, they have 9 deals in the pipeline so far, with 15 days to go! Things that can be accomplished when you understand that YOUR MESSAGE MATTERS!

Questions or comments: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Posted On Monday, 04 December 2023 00:00 Written by

The median monthly mortgage payment has declined more than $150 from its peak to its lowest level in three months. Another piece of good news for buyers: New listings are seeing their biggest year-over-year increase since summer 2021.

Housing payments have declined for the fifth week in a row, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The typical U.S. homebuyer’s monthly mortgage payment was $2,575 during the four weeks ending November 26, down $164 from a peak of $2,739 last month but up 13% year over year.

Monthly payments are falling from their peak because mortgage rates are falling from their peak. The weekly average 30-year mortgage rate is 7.29%, down from a high of 7.79% in October, and the daily average is 7.13% as of November 29, its lowest level since the start of September. Rates have declined enough to offset rising home prices; the median sale price is up 4%. Prices are up because inventory is low; the total number of homes for sale is down 7% year over year. But there is hope for buyers wanting more homes to choose from: New listings are up 6%, the biggest year-over-year uptick in over two years. Buyers are taking note of slightly improved conditions: Mortgage-purchase applications are up 5% week over week.

"Mortgage rates are dropping due to easing inflation and investors betting the Fed will cut interest rates sooner than expected," said Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao. "Declining rates, along with a sizable year-over-year increase in new listings, are leading to more favorable conditions for some buyers. My advice for serious homebuyers is to compare housing costs to recent highs instead of long-ago lows. Housing costs are at their lowest level in three months, and it's unlikely they will drop significantly anytime soon. That makes it a relatively good time to lock in a rate."

Leading indicators

Indicators of homebuying demand and activity

 

Value (if applicable)

Recent change

Year-over-year change

Source

Daily average 30-year fixed mortgage rate

7.13% (Nov. 29)

Down from 7.3% a week earlier; near lowest level since start if September

Up from 6.62%

Mortgage News Daily

Weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage rate

7.29% (week ending Nov. 22)

Down from two-decade high of 7.79% a month earlier; fourth straight week of declines

Up from 6.61%

Freddie Mac

Mortgage-purchase applications (seasonally adjusted)

 

Up 5% from a week earlier (as of week ending Nov. 24)

Down 19%

Mortgage Bankers Association

Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index (seasonally adjusted)

 

Down 2% from a month earlier (as of the week ending Nov. 26)

Down 5%

Redfin Homebuyer Demand Index, a measure of requests for tours and other homebuying services from Redfin agents

Google searches for “home for sale”

 

Down 13% from a month earlier (as of Nov. 25)

Flat

Google Trends

Touring activity

 

Down 38% from the start of the year (as of Nov. 23)

At this time last year, it was down 40% from the start of 2022

ShowingTime, a home touring technology company

Key housing-market data

U.S. highlights: Four weeks ending November 26, 2023

Redfin’s national metrics include data from 400+ U.S. metro areas, and is based on homes listed and/or sold during the period. Weekly housing-market data goes back through 2015. Subject to revision.

 

Four weeks ending
November 26, 2023

Year-over-year change

Notes

Median sale price

$364,730

4.2%

Prices are up partly because elevated mortgage rates were hampering prices during this time last year

Median asking price

$371,225

6%

 

Median monthly mortgage payment

$2,575 at a 7.29% mortgage rate

13%

Down $164 from all-time high set a month earlier. Lowest level in 3 months.

Pending sales

61,217

-6.9%

 

New listings

64,576

5.8%

Biggest uptick in over two years. The increase is partly because new listings were falling at this time last year.

Active listings

856,016

-7%

Smallest decline since June

Months of supply

4.2 months

+0.1 pt.

4 to 5 months of supply is considered balanced, with a lower number indicating seller’s market conditions

Share of homes off market in two weeks

33.7%

Up from 30%

 

Median days on market

35

-2 days

 

Share of homes sold above list price

27.3%

Up from 26%

 

Share of homes with a price drop

5.7%

+0.3 pts.

 

Average sale-to-list price ratio

98.8%

+0.4 pts.

Lowest level since April

Metro-level highlights: Four weeks ending November 19, 2023

Redfin’s metro-level data includes the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Select metros may be excluded from time to time to ensure data accuracy.

 

Metros with biggest year-over-year increases

Metros with biggest year-over-year decreases

Notes

Median sale price

Anaheim, CA (19.3%)

San Diego, CA (13%)

Cincinnati, OH (12.3%)

Miami (10.5%)

Providence, RI (9.9%)

Austin, TX (-9.2%)

San Antonio, TX (-1.7%)

Portland, OR (-1.3%)

Detroit (-0.8%)

Houston (-0.5%)

Nashville, TN (-0.2%)

Denver (-0.1%)

Declined in 7 metros

Pending sales

San Jose, CA (15.3%)

Columbus, OH (3.7%)

Detroit (1.3%)

Cincinnati, OH (-21.9%)

New York (-18.7%)

New Brunswick, NJ (-15.4%)

Providence, RI (-15.3%)

Portland, OR (-14.1%)

Increased in 3 metros

New listings

Orlando, FL (22.5%)

San Jose, CA (21.5%)

Phoenix (16.9%)

West Palm Beach, FL (16.7%)

Houston (13.4%)

Atlanta (-14.9%)

San Francisco (-11.7%)

Seattle (-11%)

Providence, RI (-8.4%)

Portland, OR (-6.8%)

Declined in 14 metros

To view the full report, including charts, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-monthly-payments-mortgage-rates-down

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