Housing Starts were up a solid 7.6% compared to a year ago despite being off a bit during holiday-shortened December. The past year, single-family starts are up a very strong 15.8%, single-family permits up an impressive 32.9%.

A report from Realtor.com shows that, compared to last year, the number of homes for sale in December was 4.9% higher, new listings were 9.1% higher, yet the median listing price stayed fairly stable, up just 1.2%.

Sales of existing homes dipped 1.0% in December, but the National Association of Realtors is optimistic: “The latest month’s sales look to be the bottom before inevitably turning higher in the new year.”

“Success is relative. It is what we make of the mess we have made of things.”  ~ T.S. Eliot

To say success is relative is patently obvious, but so much emphasis is placed on material success in today’s world that financial success seems to have become our measuring stick.

Maybe it is because financial success is so much easier to see, more tangible, and more readily accessible and easier to understand. There’s no argument about the college dropout who started a computer business from his garage and ended up as one of the biggest companies on the planet.

But the success stories that intrigue me the most are the ones that few get to read about…

The story of a single Mom living in rural America who escaped a life with an alcoholic husband… a life with no opportunity for financial success, family stability, or emotional comfort for her and the kids, only to become a hugely successful, highly respected business woman in her field, owning her own home, and investments the country club elite would envy.

The span of time was 14 years, from abject poverty to financial security… through hard work, the blessings of others, education, and commitment to success.  This story may never be in a book or to told by seminar speakers, but the admiration and respect this woman deserves is immeasurable.

Or the young man who grew up in small town America who became the first college educated person in his family, who left the security of the high tech corporate world to start his own business… Step by step and year by year he grew his small venture into a profitable software consulting business, in demand by those in his field.

You would not know the name of his company if it was written here, but his customers do, and his competition does and his kids certainly do, because that business is putting them through college as well.

Or the story of the young Vietnamese family who came to the U.S. in hopes of creating a better life for their kids and grandkids.  Leaving your home country for the unknown is unimaginably difficult.  The utter lack of opportunity of any kind at any time made them realize that future generations would have the same lack of opportunity.

The family now runs a small business, lives in a small home and the grandkids speak English like every other child at their school.  Success on a grand scale? Maybe not, but from grass covered huts to a 3 bedroom home in suburban America in 8 years, and the opportunity for their kids and grandkids to live a life beyond grass huts is a pretty good success story in itself.

The stories of Michael Dell, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffet are inspirational, but the stories that bring a smile to my face, that create complete and total admiration for seemingly average people are those you heard.

Each of those mentioned above are true success stories and there are many more like them…. Look around and you may recognize a few… when you do, pass on your respect, because they deserve it!

Cindy Glynn
Coldwell Banker American Home
479-586-6262
agentcindyg@gmail.com