What Elephant?
During periods of historical level hardships, it can be difficult to focus on the more routine things in our professional lives like closing real estate transactions! Yet it may be all the more necessary to try and concentrate on the basics when we can. It seems that many of us are coping daily with social concerns and hard truths. In fact, so much information and rhetoric is being presented that some people now have developed an impaired ability to process it in any meaningful way. Information overload, if you will.
In times of such perceived chaos, it is perhaps even more important to focus on how you handle stress, work toward improvements of any size or shape, and look for positivity in any form. Believe it or not, the Land Title Insurance and Settlement industry is currently booming…so that’s a great positive!
Despite the relative success of our industry during these times, no modern society has arguably ever faced such a cocktail of circumstances like those that are currently unfolding around us, hence the general sense of uncertainty permeating everyday life for many. Properly managing this added stress can produce headway toward the eventual return to some semblance of normalcy or a new, better normal, whatever that looks like for you.
In an article by The American Psychological Association, The Great Unknown: 10 Tips for Dealing With the Stress of Uncertainty, they provide a list of useful tips to keep in mind during these times. Their advice to “Be kind to yourself”, “Reflect on past successes”, and “Limit exposure to news”. These suggestions can go a long way towards promoting a healthy state of mind. Other tips they provide like “Control what you can” and “Engage in self-care” help to channel pent up stress energy into far more positive directions which can even further reduce the sensation of stress and uncertainty.
To put this into practice, at Anderson|Biro, we often share with our clients the virtues of establishing and curating their online presence in an effort toward attracting and interacting with potential talent. To lead by example and engage in some self-care of our own, we took our fairly well-functioning former website and refreshed it a bit. Our updated siteis a fresh, easy to use, center for all things A|B and title insurance recruiting. After all, the first thing savvy new clients or candidates often do when learning of a person or company is a quick Google search to check websites and social media to get a surface level read. Therefore, making sure you and your company present a professional, cohesive, front can help make a great first impression. By channeling any recent down time into such positive pursuits as updating our online persona, we feel that we were able to make lemonade when life handed the world a few lemons.
With their own glass of lemonade in hand, Americans have begun poking their heads out of their front doors to explore, masked when required. We have started visiting long lost family and friends and are even sitting down at restaurants again. Many have even faced down uncertainty to take to the streets for things they believe. As an abnormal and sometimes controversial spring gives way to an unpredictable summer, hope shines eternal. We took some time to filter through some of the more dreadful predictions to find some positive forecasts within the Land Title Insurance Industry. As our reader is aware, the settlement industry is one that often sees increased business on both ends of market trends whether it’s a refinance or default boom. This is especially true with what some are calling a delayed spring buying season. An article by Mansion Global, owned by Dow Jones, foresees that “The U.S. housing market is seeing early signs of recovery…with both supply and demand strengthening, and prices stabilizing in most metros…”
Ruben Gonzalez, Chief Economist at Keller Williams was recently quoted by Dima Williams in a Forbes article, saying “From a consumer perspective, it’s good. For the subsets of the population who are able to maintain their income right now and are feeling confident about their future economic perspectives, [low interest rates] are creating an opportunity to get into the market.”
The ultra-low interest rates also help maintain price stability in the housing market, averting the kind of free fall that occurred during the Great Recession, says Gonzalez.”
Sure, these pleasant takes might be dutifully searched and sourced silver linings within a sky filled with distant storm clouds, but the point is that they are out there. Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst and working towards betterment nevertheless is generally one of the best ways to maintain a healthy stress level during uncertain times.
It should be said that we at Anderson|Biro fully respect the weight and importance of the matters currently being dealt with both in this country and around the world. Thus, we attempted to address the “elephant in the room” in our own way. The truth is, social and economic issues have collided at a time when America and world are working toward finding common ground. Individuals are being faced with hard questions about their personal well-being, and the same of others. No one needs our in-depth explanation or thoughts added to the noise and as such for this blog we have attempted to lightly touch on the subject matter and focus on what we can control. We hope you find the aforementioned tips on dealing with the stress associated with uncertainty helpful and we would love it if you took some time to visit our new, revamped, website. Other than that, sometimes it is best to just listen, and we will continue to do so.