Newsletter • January 20, 2024

Monday Morning Coffee: Your News and Story Source

by Cindy Glynn

The Mortgage Bankers Association reports demand for purchase loans was up 6% compared to the week before in the Real Estate world. Requests to refinance rocketed up 53% for the week and are now 17% ahead of a year ago.

Realtor.com revealed that active listings moved up in December by nearly 5% year-over-year. They said the pickup could be attributed to the continuing climb in new listings, which are now up more than 9% annually.

A national online real estate database found the median mortgage payment in December was nearly $400 lower than its October peak. Buyer demand came in 10% ahead of November, at the highest level since August. Who says December is not a good real estate month.

“Keep your head up in failure. And your head down in success.” ~ Jerry Seinfeld

1. Fail small. Fail fast.

Brad Szollose, who wrote “Liquid Leadership,” says Millennials were raised on video games, in which the only way to succeed was to fail again and again.

That’s why Millennials work so much faster than Boomers – they fail fast.

Boomers need to be “perfect” – which can take forever, if you let it.

2. Set tiny goals. Really little ones.

Your brain may ridicule you, but you will actually re-wire your brain for success.

A successful author told a young writer, “Write 20 minutes a day.”

When the young writer protested that 20 minutes wouldn’t do anything, the famous author replied, “You’d be amazed at how much I can write in 20 minutes a day.”

Before the show about nothing, Jerry Seinfeld was a young comedian on the stand-up circuit. His first time on stage didn’t go so well. On seeing the audience he froze and was booed and jeered off stage.

His choices: pack it in and accept comedy isn’t his thing or return to the same stage the following night and have the audience in hysterics.

He opted for the latter and went on to become one of the most successful comedians of all time.

One reason for his success is that he is known to write more jokes than anyone else. How?

Each January he gets a calendar and hangs it on the wall. He writes jokes every day.

When he’s done, he marks that day with a big red “X”.

The idea is not to write jokes. The idea is to collect an unbroken string of red “X’s”.

This technique is astonishingly effective. It is a great way to help yourself through that path from failure to success by having small successes every single day!

Seinfeld says “I want those red “X’s”, so I do what I need to do to get them!” ~ by Ann Convery

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

Newsletter • January 12, 2024

Monday Morning Coffee 1.15.24

by Cindy Glynn

Spending on residential construction in November grew a solid 1.1% above October, and 3.7% ahead of last year. Best of all, the emphasis was on single-family homes, where spending is up 5.5% the past year.

10,000 people a day are turning 65, fueling a “silver tsunami” in the housing market. The AARP estimates that among people over 50 (74% of homeowners), 51% of them have downsized their homes.

In 2023, new homes accounted for about 30% of total housing inventory and sales—more than twice the normal annual level. Industry experts feel new home sales are near their peak as a share of the total housing market.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” (William Butler Yeats)

Born in Liberty City, Miami on the floor of an abandoned building, Les Brown has known struggle and hardship his entire life.

Academically, Les was a struggling student from the get-go. He was labelled “educable mentally handicapped” by the academic intelligentsia of his day and placed back from 6th grade to 5th grade.

To make matters worse, he had a twin brother who was exceptionally bright and gifted, and as such Les became commonly referred to by his peers as the “DT” – the “dumb twin.”

One day a teacher asked him to come up and solve a problem on the chalkboard, but Les refused and said that he couldn’t. “Of course you can,” the teacher responded encouragingly. “Young man, come up here and solve this problem for me.”

“But I can’t,” insisted Les. “I’m educable mentally handicapped.” The rest of the class erupted in laughter. At that point, the teacher stepped out from behind his desk and looked Les straight in the eye. “Don’t ever say that again,” he told him firmly. “Someone else’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.”

Les never forgot those words, and spent the rest of his life overcoming incredible odds and pursuing his goals with passion and fervour.

Time and time again, thanks to that one teacher’s powerful revelation, Les has lived the phrase he’s famous for all over the world: You have greatness within you.

Today Les Brown is one of the world’s foremost motivational speakers and thought leaders on self-improvement and goal-setting.

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

Newsletter • January 6, 2024

Monday Morning Coffee 1.8.24

by Cindy Glynn

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) November index of signed contracts on existing homes was the same as October, but the NAR noted “a surge in interest, as evidenced by a higher number of lockbox openings.”

Sellers are still getting good prices, as the October National Home Price Index posted its ninth straight monthly gain, and now sits a tick higher than its peak in 2022.

Freddie Mac’s chief economist notes, “Heading into the new year, the economy remains on firm ground with solid growth, a tight labor market, decelerating inflation, and rebound in the housing market.”

“Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ~ Mark Twain

Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first human heart transplant operation on December 3, 1967, in an operation assisted by his brother, Marius Barnard; the operation lasted nine hours and used a team of thirty people.

The patient, Louis Washkansky, was a 54-year-old grocer, suffering from diabetes and incurable heart disease.

Barnard later wrote, “For a dying man it is not a difficult decision because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water, convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side.”

The donor heart came from a young woman, Denise Darvall, who had been killed in a December 2, 1967, road accident while crossing a street in Cape Town. After securing permission from Darvall’s father to use her heart, Barnard performed the transplant.

Washkansky survived the operation and lived for eighteen (18) days. However, he succumbed to pneumonia induced by the immunosuppressive drugs he was taking.

Though the first patient with the heart of another human being survived for only a little more than two weeks, Barnard had passed a milestone in a new field of life-extending surgery.

Twenty years later, Dr. Marius Barnard recounted, “Chris stood there for a few moments, watching, then stood back and said, ‘It works.'”

Christiaan Neethling Barnard became an international superstar overnight and was celebrated around the world for his daring accomplishment. He was quite photogenic, and enjoyed the media attention following the operation.

After his first successful heart transplant Barnard became known as the “film star surgeon”.

He was hated by many peers who were jealous of his instant success. He was accused by some colleagues in the profession of “stealing” the idea and the opportunity to perform the first heart transplant.

Often considered a spoiled and arrogant personality by his peers, patients regarded him as kind and considerate. He was loved by his patients throughout the world, hundreds of whom were treated free of charge.

Barnard continued to perform heart transplants. A transplant operation was conducted on 2 January 1968, and the patient, Philip Blaiberg, survived for 19 months.

Dorothy Fisher was given a new heart in 1969 and became the first black recipient. She lived for 12 years 6 months after the transplant.

Dirk van Zyl, who received a new heart in 1971, was the longest-lived recipient, surviving over 23 years.

When many surgeons — disillusioned by poor results — gave up cardiac transplantation, Barnard persisted until the advent of cyclosporin, which helped revive the operation throughout the world.

Today, over 4,000 patients a year receive heart transplants.

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

Newsletter • December 29, 2023

Monday Morning Coffee 01.01.24

by Cindy Glynn

After five months of declines, sales of existing homes reversed course in November. Prices rose only modestly, the median price now up just 4% versus a year ago.

Builders saw a very active November, as housing starts surged nearly 15% for the month, with single-family starts up more than 42% from a year ago. Single-family Building Permits increased, as they’ve done every month this year.

At odds with the positive news, New Home Sales dipped in November, but sales are still up from a year ago. Good news for buyers, the median sales price of new homes is down by 12.5% from the peak late last year.

“You’ll never get bored when you try something new. There’s really no limit to what you can do.” ~ Dr. Seuss

You can do the same old thing as you do every year, but wait… here are some thoughts about the kind of New Year resolutions others made that could give you some ideas of your own…

My New Year’s resolution is to not eat an Oreo every time I walk into the kitchen.

I hope my neighbor’s New Year Resolution is to throw out the pumpkin on his front porch.

My resolution is to fix that plate thing in the microwave so that it finally rotates.

Finally, after 9 years my resolution is to tell my wife that her mac and cheese could actually be cheesier.

I told my teens that my New Year’s resolution was to give them more hugs. My son looked me dead in the eye and said, “But not in public, right?” So my mission now is to give them Public Hugs.

Don’t post your New Year’s resolutions to social media. Two months from now, when you’re elbow deep in a bag of Cheetos, you don’t need anyone asking you how marathon training is going.

New Year’s resolution: try to worry less, fill that time with, oh no, what am I supposed to fill that time with? This is already going terribly!

My husband and I play a risky game where we get to make one New Year’s resolution for each other every year.

8-year-old: Time for a New Year’s revolution. Me: You mean “resolution… Clearly she did not.”

Easy, my New Year’s resolution is everything I said my New Year’s resolution was last year and the year before that I still haven’t done.

New Year’s Resolution: stop putting lol after every text I send.. lol

Just told 10-year-old he needs to shower tonight and he said, “Ok. Showering is one of my New Year’s Resolutions.”

My New Year resolution is to quit watching shows I don’t like because I can’t reach the remote.

My New Year’s resolution last year was to lose 10 pounds and I’m ending the year with only 17 more to go!

Spend less than $1,825 on coffee at Starbucks this year.

Visit the grocery more often than restaurants.

My parents had resolutions like donating more time and money to charities. I’ve decided to make my own coffee once a week.

Have a fabulous 2024!

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

Newsletter • December 11, 2023

Winter Buying and Selling Guides 2024

by Cindy Glynn

Hello!

As the holiday season approaches, I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for your continued support and trust in my real estate services. It has been a pleasure working with you, and I look forward to continuing our partnership in the coming year. If you haven’t been a client of mine over the last year, I am also grateful for you as a friend. Whether I have worked with you in the past, you are family, or we have been blessed to be friends, I am thankful for you!

In the spirit of the season, I are delighted to share some exciting news with you. Attached to this blog post (See below), you will find our much-anticipated 2024 Winter Edition Buyers and Sellers Guides. Packed with valuable insights, market trends, and expert advice, these guides are designed to empower you whether you’re considering buying or selling a property.

Buyers Guide Highlights:

- Current Market Trends: A comprehensive overview of the latest trends shaping the real estate landscape.

- Financing Tips: Guidance on navigating the financing process to make informed decisions.

- Agent Benefits: Guide to explaining the role of a real estate agent in managing the home buying process

Sellers Guide Highlights:

- Home Staging Tips: Strategies to showcase your property in its best light and attract potential buyers.

- Pricing Your Home: Expert advice on setting the right price for a successful and profitable sale.

- Current Market Trends: A comprehensive overview of the latest trends shaping the real estate landscape

These guides will be invaluable resources as you navigate the real estate journey. If you have any questions or if there’s anything specific you’d like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I am here to support you every step of the way.

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season filled with warmth, laughter, and cherished moments. May the coming year be filled with new opportunities and successful endeavors.

Thank you for choosing me as your real estate partner and for being a friend. I look forward to serving you in 2024 and beyond.

Warm regards,

Cindy Glynn, Agent

Coldwell Banker American Home

(785) 207-5464

AgentCindyG.com

AgentCindyG@gmail.com

Lawrence – Topeka – Manhattan

BuyingaHomeWinter2024

SellingYourHouseWinter2024

Newsletter • December 11, 2023

Monday Morning Coffee – 12.11.23

by Cindy Glynn

October sales of new homes were up 17.7% from a year ago. But they did take a breather from their September gain, off 5.6% for the month. Buyers should be happy to see the median price down 17.6% from a year ago.

The Index of contract signings on existing homes slipped in October. But the National Association of Realtors (NAR) noted, “Home sales are rising in places where more inventory is available.”

The NAR added, “newly built home sales are up 4.5% year-to-date due to homebuilders’ ability to create more inventory.” They’re doing just that. Residential construction spending posted a nice gain in October.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” ~ Philippians 4:12-13

Tragedy struck the home of America’s most popular poet. On July 9, 1861, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wife, Fanny, was near an open window sealing locks of her daughter’s hair in a packet, using hot sealing wax. It was never known whether a spark from a match or the sealing wax was the cause, but suddenly her dress caught fire and engulfed her with flames.

Her husband, sleeping in the next room, was awakened by her screams. He desperately tried to put out the fire and save his wife.He was severely burned on his face and hands.

She, tragically burned, slipped into a coma the next day and died. His grievous burns would not even allow him to attend her funeral. He seemed to lock the anguish within his soul.

Because he continued to work at his craft, only his family knew of his personal suffering. They could see it in his eyes and observe his long periods of silence. His white beard, so identified with him, was one of the results of the tragedy – the burn scars on his face made shaving almost impossible.

Although a legend in his own time, he still needed the peace that God gives to His children. On Christmas Day, three years following the horrible accident – at age 57 – he sat down to try to capture, if possible, the joys of the season. He began:

“I heard the bells on Christmas day.
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

As he came to the third stanza he was stopped by the thought of the condition of his beloved country. The Civil War was in full swing. The Battle of Gettysburg was not long past. Days looked dark, and he probably asked himself the question, “How can I write about ‘peace on earth, good will to men’ in this war-torn country, where brother fights against brother and father against son?”

But he kept writing – and what did he write?

“And in despair I bowed my head:
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said,
‘For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men!”

It seems as if he could have been writing for our kind of a day. Then as all of us should do, he turned his thoughts to the One who solves all problems – the One who can give true and perfect peace, and continued writing:

“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

And so we have the marvelous Christmas carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” A musician named John Baptiste Calkin wrote the musical setting that has helped make the carol a favorite.

Just as that Christmas in 1864 was made better for Longfellow, may we experience a Christmas that will be the greatest ever.

May we actually find the peace that Longfellow wrote about in the carol – true peace with God, for this is one of His greatest gifts to us.

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

Newsletter • December 4, 2023

Monday Morning Coffee 12.4.23

by Cindy Glynn

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), multiple offers “are still occurring, especially on starter and mid-priced homes.” Yet sales of existing homes fell 4.1% in October due to “the persistent lack of housing inventory.”

But inventory is rising, and sales should too. An online real estate database reports active listings rose last month, while signed contracts hit the highest level in a year, so sales should gain when those contracts close.

Meanwhile, sellers remain in a good position. The NAR notes, “home sellers have done well…. A typical homeowner has accumulated more than $100,000 in housing wealth over the past three years.”

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

On a crisp, clear morning just over 100 years ago, thousands of British, Belgian and French soldiers put down their rifles, stepped out of their trenches and spent Christmas mingling with their German enemies along the Western front.

In the hundred years since, the event has been seen as a kind of miracle, a rare moment of peace just a few months into a war that would eventually claim over 15 million lives.

When Pope Benedict XV took office that September and called for a Christmas truce, the idea was officially rejected.

Yet it seems the sheer misery of daily life in the cold, wet, dull trenches was enough to motivate troops to initiate the truce on their own.

About 100,000 people — are believed to have participated in the legendary truce.

Most accounts suggest the truce began with carol singing from the trenches on Christmas Eve, “a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere”, as Graham Williams of the Fifth London Rifle Brigade described it:

“First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”

The next morning, in some places, German soldiers emerged from their trenches, calling out “Merry Christmas” in English. Allied soldiers came out warily to greet them.

In others, Germans held up signs reading “You no shoot, we no shoot.” Over the course of the day, troops exchanged gifts of cigarettes, food, buttons and hats.

The Christmas truce also allowed both sides to finally bury their dead comrades, whose bodies had lain for weeks on “no man’s land,” the ground between opposing trenches.

The phenomenon took different forms across the Western front. One account mentions a British soldier having his hair cut by his pre-war German barber; another talks of a pig-roast. Several mention impromptu kick-abouts with makeshift soccer balls.

And of course, it was only ever a truce, not peace. Hostilities returned, in some places later that day and in others not until after New Year’s Day.

“I remember the silence, the eerie sound of silence,” one veteran from the Fifth Battalion, Alfred Anderson, later recalled. “It was a short peace in a terrible war.” As the Great War resumed, it wreaked such destruction and devastation that soldiers became hardened to the brutality of the war.

While there were occasional moments of peace throughout the rest of World War I, they never again came on the scale of the Christmas truce in 1914.

One British soldier, Murdoch M. Wood, speaking in 1930, recalled “I then came to the conclusion that I have held very firmly ever since, that if we had been left to ourselves there would never have been another shot fired.”

Still, a century later, the truce has been remembered as a testament to the power of hope and humanity in a truly dark hour of history.

It has been immortalized and fictionalized in children’s books like Michael Foreman’s War Game, and in films such as Joyeux Noel and Oh, What a Lovely War!

To mark the centenary in 2014, Prince William unveiled a memorial: a metal frame representing a soccer ball, with two hands clasped inside it. Inspired by the events of the truce, the German and British troops played a friendly soccer match.

And though the Christmas Truce may not have been the only one of its kind in the midst conflict, the fact that it remains so widely commemorated speaks to the fact that at its heart it symbolizes a very human desire for peace, no matter how fleeting.

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

Newsletter • November 27, 2023

Monday Morning Coffee 11.27.23

by Cindy Glynn

October saw housing starts increase 1.9% over September, as builders answer growing demand. Looking to the future, they also took out 1.1% more Building Permits than the month before.

Purchase mortgage applications rose for the second week in a row according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, which noted, “both purchase and refinance applications increased to the highest weekly pace in five weeks.”

Realtor.com reports that last week both new listings and active inventory were up from a year ago. Demand remains strong, as homes spent two fewer days on the market compared to last year.

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

My grandma taught me everything about Christmas. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: “There is no Santa Claus,” jeered my sister. “Even dummies know that!”

My grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me.

“No Santa Claus!” she snorted. “Ridiculous! Don’t believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let’s go.”

“Go? Go where, Grandma?” I asked. I hadn’t even finished my second cinnamon bun.

“Where” turned out to be Kerby’s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days.

“Take this money,” she said, “and buy something for someone who needs it. I’ll wait for you in the car.” Then she turned and walked out of Kerby’s.

I was only eight years old. I’d often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobbie Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock’s grade-two class. Bobbie Decker didn’t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough; but all we kids knew that Bobbie Decker didn’t have a cough, and he didn’t have a coat.

I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobbie Decker a coat. I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. I didn’t see a price tag, but ten dollars ought to buy anything. I put the coat and my ten-dollar bill on the counter and pushed them toward the lady behind it.

She looked at the coat, the money, and me. “Is this a Christmas present for someone?” she asked kindly. “Yes,” I replied shyly. “It’s … for Bobbie. He’s in my class, and he doesn’t have a coat.” The nice lady smiled at me. I didn’t get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons, and write, “To Bobbie, From Santa Claus” on it … Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy.

Then she drove me over to Bobbie Decker’s house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa’s helpers. Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie’s house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.

Suddenly, Grandma gave me a nudge. “All right, Santa Claus,” she whispered, “get going.”

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell twice and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobbie. He looked down, looked around, picked up his present, took it inside and closed the door.

Forty years haven’t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie Decker’s bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: Ridiculous!

Santa was alive and well … AND WE WERE ON HIS TEAM!

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

Newsletter • November 19, 2023

Monday Morning Coffee 11.20.23

by Cindy Glynn

Inventory growth in November is rare, but Altos Research reports 62,000 new listings last week, up 0.7% from the prior week, with 9,000 under contract. Although 39.2% of listings have had a price cut, prices are still above last year.

Data Provide CoreLogic found single-family home prices rose in September for the third month in a row and are up 4.5% year-over-year, the largest annual gain since February. But they forecast yearly growth will slow to 2.6% by next September.

The Mortgage Bankers Association recorded purchase mortgage applications up 3% last week, reversing three weeks of declines. Even applications for refinances were up 2% from the week before.

Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have. ~
Margaret Mead

The Message That Saved His Life

A World War II veteran remembers a life-saving decision he made on Thanksgiving Day in 1944.

In the winter of 1944 during World War II, I was in France, a platoon sergeant in the Yankee Division under General Patton. About mid-December I received a letter from my mother back in the States.

“Can you remember,” she asked, “where you were on Thanksgiving Day?”

Could I remember? How could I forget the odd thing that happened that day. At dawn I was sent to check out a crossroads where an enemy strongpoint was suspected. Normally I would have had my men fan out so that they could move with the cover of the trees. But just before we started out that Thanksgiving morning, I stopped. I stood stark still, arguing with myself about what I should do.

Then, going strictly against the book, I walked my men right down the middle of a road in an exposed column. No one fired at us; there was no evidence of the enemy. We found the crossroads unoccupied and turned to walk back.

There, on the backside of the trees where only the German soldiers would have seen, were signs cautioning minen. The woods were mined. We could have been blown to bits!

Mother’s letter continued. She told me how she awakened after midnight on Thanksgiving Eve when it would have been daylight in France:

“I had a strong feeling that you were in great danger,” she wrote. “When I opened my Bible, a phrase in Second Chronicles [20:17] gleamed on the page: ‘Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you…’”

Stand ye still. Stark still.

AUTHOR

Mac St. Johns

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

Newsletter • November 13, 2023

Monday Morning Coffee 11.13.23

by Cindy Glynn

Home builders keep…well, building. In September, residential builders spent at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.6% ahead of August.

Home prices rose again in August, according to both the Case-Shiller home price index and the FHFA index of homes financed with conforming mortgages. The Case-Shiller National Composite stands at an all-time high.

Demand for new homes continues. A national online real estate database reports more than 30% of the homes for sale in the third quarter were new builds—the highest share for any third quarter on record.

Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall. It’s the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events. Joy comes in sips, not gulps. ~ Sharon Draper

Our family will be home for Thanksgiving this year–a departure from normal since we’ve spent more than 25 Thanksgivings on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. We’ll miss our island time, but being together is what’s important.

I’ve always wanted my children to be thankful, and now that the grand-babies have joined us, it’s even more important to keep that focus.

Like many families, one of our family traditions has been to go around the table at the end of the meal and share what we’re thankful for that year.

It’s always a precious time. We’ve had great excitement when our sons proposed to their sweethearts and tears as we thanked God for answered prayers for the gift of a new grandbaby or for renewed health after scary hospital stays.

We’ve had sweet moments of just thanking God for who He is and for His faithfulness and love. And there have been times we’ve laughed until we’ve wiped tears from our cheeks.

Like the Thanksgiving Day a few years ago when our little granddaughter, Ava, was about 21-months-old. All of the adults had already shared about God’s blessings to them when I said to Ava, “Baby, do you have anything you’re thankful for today?”

She was so little that we didn’t really expect her to say anything, but she nodded her head vigorously, her little pigtails bouncing.

She softly said, “I’m thankful for Mommy and Daddy…” it was so precious and so unexpected that we all got tears in our eyes. And then she continued, “…and catsup…and coffee, too.”

Oh, my! From the mouths of babes.

Sweet friends, sometimes we become so focused on the big events of our lives that we forget about the little moments that really aren’t so little when you stop to think about them.

Times of making memories, sitting around the table with those we love, laughing and sharing about our blessings. Moments of listening to stories of times past from older family members and watching little ones playing on the floor.

So this year in the midst of Thanksgiving Day with all its busyness and mayhem, take a few minutes to look at each person and think about what they mean to you. Focus on those ordinary moments together that we should never take for granted.

And don’t forget to snap some photos. Not just posed photos, but pictures of you in the kitchen with your grandmother while you mash the potatoes together, of your dad slicing the turkey or your husband playing with the children.

These are the moments you’ll want to revisit someday.

God has been so good to us. How could we help but give thanks to Him for all His blessings. And for catsup and coffee, too! ~ Michelle Cox

Cindy Glynn
Coldwell Banker American Home
479-586-6262
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