This week’s been a busy jam of webinars, coaching, video production and more. So here’s a little bit of everything to inspire, inform and put a smile on your face. Enjoy!
Good News Friday for November 14, 2024
Here are my five favorite headlines of the week, from all across the globe:
Notre Dame’s bells rang out for the first time in four years, signaling the upcoming December completion of the cathedral’s restoration from a 2020 fire
A unique molecule in lizart saliva may make it easier to detect rare pancreatic tumors, say scientists in the October Journal of Nuclear Medicine
NASA’s Voyager 1 deep space probe, launched in 1977, successfully received a signal from Earth to restart its heaters and reboot its critical scientific instruments, once again sending data back from over 15 billion miles away
In Seoul, over a dozen luxury hotels celebrated a 10-year anniversary of donating more than 120,000 pieces of furniture to low-income families, homeless facilities, and other charitable programs in the city
The country of Jordan was recognized by the World Health Organization as the first country in the world to have fully eradicated leprosy from its population
For my real estate peeps
Here are some cool stats from the latest NAR Annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. We’re releasing a video each week on the full report (see top of this post). For a special invitation to a full webinar on the new report, give this post a ❤️ and we’ll add you to the list.
The typical home buyer reached a median age of 38 years old, the highest ever in 43 years of the report; Repeat buyers reached an all-time high of 61 years of age, also.
More than 88% of all buyers used a real estate professional last year, a rate that has remained steady for the past five years.
Less than 27% of buyers had children under the age of 18 at home last year, an all-time low in the report, as first-time buyers also dropped to 24% of all buyers.
The average age of sellers was squarely Baby Boomer generation at 63, the highest in 40 years.
The typical seller spent more than 10 years in their home before moving again, double the rate of twenty years ago when it jumped after the Financial Crisis.
Less than 6% of sellers last year sold their home on their own, as FSBOs also hit an all-time low in the survey.
Some Inspiring Thoughts to Wrap the Week
If you’re having trouble restoring your balance after the election, consider these wise words my mother used to say:
Two things in life will take you far and they’re virtually free: Soap and manners. You can always be clean and you can always be polite. I’ve never been disappointed at how well both always work.
I took this photo in Greece a couple of years ago. Whenever I get a little anxious about starting my next project or trying something new, this image comes to mind:
Have you ever noticed how calm, certain, and sure-footed little birds seem to be, as they approach the very edge, then leap into the unknown without anything but their wings and wind to take them where they want to go?
A personal note for the week…
Many of you know that I started this newsletter as part of my recovery from health challenges last year. Writing to you each week was critical to my restoration of health and confidence. Your kind comments and support continue to keep me going.
This week I had the best checkup results since. “Completely normal,” said four separate doctors. “Get out of here; we only treat sick people,” said one of them. I’d like to thank the incredible team at Cedars-Sinai for their incredible care; not only are things looking up, but when I looked up I was able to receive two additional moments that day:
First was this great perspective on the “space” where healing takes place, literally the “bridge” connecting the award-winning Advanced Health Sciences Pavillion (not pictured, where my care takes place) to the original steadfastness and leading-lines to the future of healthcare. I never fail to feel secure in that space.
The other moment was at street level, on my way to celebrate with lunch at a little Italian cafe nearby. As a fan of the man on the street, this moment was a clear message to “get back out there” after you have a setback. As I was editing the photograph at lunch, the waiter looked over my shoulder. “Is that Roy?” he asked. “I don’t know,” I said. “Is he the owner?” “He’s the valet, but he does act like he owns the place. He’s going to love that picture,” laughed the waiter.
“I’ll send it to him for Christmas,” I said, thinking to myself: Of course his name is Roy — where else would you find the fellow who is clearly the king of the place?
Some good news, a little learning, and a few pieces of inspiration to get you back into royal form for whatever you’re accomplishing next. Happy weekend!
Good News Friday + Quick Video on How Home Sellers Found their Agent (2 Mins)