Thank you to all of you that made it this last week to the Ninja mom’s meeting.  I must say that I really needed this one.  I have been feeling a bit tired and stressed lately and being with you always helps me recharge, refocus and put things back into perspective.

We covered all sorts of great topics:

What to do now that the tax credit has ended:
~ With the end of the $8,000 first time Buyer tax credit and the $6,500 move up Buyer tax credit we talked about keeping our listings competetive by having the Seller offer a credit to the Buyer of either $8,000 or $6,500 so the Buyer doesn’t feel like they lost out on anything and it helps the Seller’s house stand out.

1/3 of the closed sales in our market place are either short sale or bank owned:
~ In King county, the area that most of us work, short sales and foreclosures made up 1/3 of all closed transaction in the last month and that percentage is expected to continue, if not rise.  We talked about the fact that working with Seller’s who are involved in short sales takes special skills and can involve quite a bit of time and energy and that for many of us it just doesn’t fit our business model.  We talked, though, about setting yourself apart as an agent who specializes in helping Buyer’s interested in purchasing either short sales or bank owned homes.  It allows you to service that segment of the market with out having to spend endless hours negotiating with banks.

How do you deal with stress and overwhelm:
~ This has been a big one for me this last month.  I truly appreicate all of the business that I have going on right now, but there have definitely been times when I just feel like I can’t get it all done.  When this happens I can feel the thoughts spinning faster and faster in my head to the point that I can not focus on a clear path of action. I have found that if I can just be aware of how I am feeling in the moment so that I can stop and take some deep breaths then I can start to find ways to get things accomplished and solutions that I could not see when Iwas focused on how stressed I was.  Feeling stressed and overwhelmed is a choice, when I choose to feel differently I find that I can see different and usually better solutions.

Taking a break from your phone:
~ This may seem like the  most basic and elementary of things, but for me it is a big one.  I am connected to my phone at all times, often checking it obsessively every few minutes.  I started to realize that being so connected to the phone was adding to my stress level quite a bit because I was always being inundated with new information before I had time to process the current info.  So I started putting the phone down.  When I go for a walk, rather than taking the phone with me, I leave it at home.  Again, being away from your phone may not sound like a huge deal, but it has really made a difference for me.  I am so much more relaxed on my walk.  I listen to the birds sing, soak up the sunshine and love walking along the shores of Lake Washington.  Even just that hour of uninterupted time really helps me to feel rejuvenated.

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