In a recent survey of existing homeowners, 47% of those questioned said they have no intention of selling due to fears of not being able to find another home to buy within their budget.

Doctor's, financial advisors, accountants, dentists, mortgage lenders, automotive mechanics and countless other professions incorporate an annual review into their practices. It makes good sense. These are all very important aspects of our lives, and a manual check-up to make sure everything is in order makes good personal and financial sense.

This is why this 47% statistic is one that stood out to me – how do these existing homeowners know with a degree of certainty that they can't in fact find the home of their dreams within their budget? What type of homework and self-assessment have they done to know that this is the case? From my experience, more than likely their beliefs for what they can and cannot do from a real estate perspective are based solely off assumption – an assumption they may have developed through a conversation with a friend or a brief news clip they saw on television, that nonetheless they've taken on to be fact. When our clients and communities are making real estate decisions based on unfounded assumptions we have a problem, but one that we are perfectly suited to help solve.

Every year my team and I conduct annual reviews with our past clients. We call and check-in to see how our clients are enjoying their new homes, and conduct brief interviews to gauge where they are with their mortgage relative to their personal and financial goals, and we also provide a free assessment to let them know where they stand. Depending on how recently we closed with a particular client, they may very well be exactly where they should be in pursuit of these goals – but for many others, we've found they were unaware of the full-picture of their circumstance and appreciate the guidance to help get them back on track.

Many of our top real estate agent partners have found that applying this same strategy into their sales process is proving to be of tremendous help for enhancing the client experience, and growing their business. Some of the feedback we've received is that many of these agents set calendar reminders each year following the date of a client's closing. On that date, the agent will call and check-in to see how they're doing and how they're enjoying their new home, and then conduct a brief interview to see where their current real estate position fits in with their personal and financial goals. For those clients that are exactly where they need to be, it's a wonderful opportunity to reconnect and demonstrate how much you value your clients and to see if you can be of service to anyone else they know. For those who may be unaware of opportunities to bring their real estate position back in line with their personal and financial goals, your ability to show them what will get them there makes you once again the perfect agent for the job! A particularly successful strategy for doing this is to back in to their goals. Many times our clients can be overwhelmed at the end goal and are unable to see what it truly takes to get there. But with your professional expertise and understanding, you can gently guide them through realistic cash and monthly payment options to provide them with a truer picture. I urge you to ask your client, "are you living in your dream home?" If not, "where would your dream home be and in what community? Let's see if we can make that work!"

I can't tell you how much I appreciate getting calls for my annual check-ups because I know that in doing so I am staying on top of my personal and financial affairs. If I put off seeing a doctor, I am only putting my own health at risk. If I neglect taking my car in have my tires aligned and the oil checked, I run the risk of blowing the. It is necessary to have these annual check-ups, especially for the largest investment many of our clients may ever make.

Thank you all for joining me, I appreciate you. So please reach out to me and let me know how I can be of service to you and your clients at 561-864-2458.

I appreciate you joining me today, hopefully you can find a way to apply your shot into today, until tomorrow, have a better day today than yesterday.

The views of this blog, "Your Morning Shot" podcast, and on this site in general are solely those of the authors, Matt Weaver (NMLS-175651) and Zack Lewis, and do not express the views or opinions of Finance of America Mortgage.