Respond with Love
Our family has been watching a lot more TV as we practice social distancing and it occurred to me how many story lines are about overcoming adversity and fighting injustice. It stood out because the movie drama isn’t that different from today’s news.
My wife gives me a hard time, out of affection, when she catches me wiping away a tear or two when I see acts of courage and love, even if the story involves a little girl and a magical abominable snowman. Or like the classic battle between Jean Valjean and Javert, where only love could resolve the injustice they both experienced from opposite sides of a more real issue.
In many cases, the real battles we face can take years, decades, or even centuries to resolve, but in the midst of the struggle we find acts of love from good people even if their adversary doesn’t seem to deserve it. Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, and many others past and present fought with love and we remember them in a way that makes us want to be better people when faced with a wrong.
I would be a hypocrite to say that it is easy to act out of love when faced with wrongdoing. Compassion is certainly harder than anger, and it may not be the only response in defense of human life and dignity, but let’s not hurt the innocent because of our anger. Fighting for justice is a righteous endeavor and we should stand together (or march or kneel) for what is right for everyone, without prejudice and with a good measure of love, not hate.
The power of love is a strong catalyst for change because it sinks deep in to our hearts and makes us all want to be better. As Martin Luther King stated, “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”
Virtual Home Shows
Captivate Sales Coaching introduces a new Virtual Home Show training for real estate agents. Learn how to show homes to buyers virtually using technology like 3d tours, VR goggles, drone, video conferencing, and screen capture recording. Learn how to avoid common pitfalls like shaky videos and bad sound.
We created this class in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and quickly realized that these virtual tours were a welcoming service to buyers and sellers even without the pandemic. How often do you work with buyers out of the area? How big of a pain is it for sellers to clean the house and leave every time someone wants to look at their home? Virtual home shows are quickly becoming the new normal out of convenience, not just necessity. This Captivate class will teach you what tech to use and how to use it for a virtual tour that is so impressive, buyers are putting offers on homes without setting foot inside.
Join us for a live class or watch this recorded video.
Housing Demand is up 18% and Mortgage Rates Hit Another Record Low
Amidst the turmoil our nation is facing with Covid-19 and recent protests over the disheartening death of George Floyd, housing demand continues to rise as mortgage rates fall to another record low. Before jumping into the numbers, please be safe. Our hearts go out to anyone who is struggling for any reason.
The Mortgage Bankers Association released an update this week showing mortgage applications up 5% over last week and stunned us with an overall increase of 18% in mortgage purchase loans over May of last year. Considering a drop of nearly 35% in home purchases from the beginning of the year as Covid-19 slammed the housing market, not only have we overcome the loss, we have surpassed May’s housing numbers from last year higher than anyone could have expected. Housing prices are staying strong and Forbearance requests are down considerably.
Low mortgage interest rates continue to support this demand. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of up to $510,400 decreased to 3.37% from 3.42%.
Refinance loans are still strong and giving homeowners the ability to lower their monthly payments and/or tap into equity. Refinance loans are 137% higher than a year ago.
Will the housing market continue on this upward trend as if nothing happened? Only time will tell. Right now hope is high and so is the housing market.
