There is still snow on the ground here in the Twin Cities, but the spring real estate market is already starting to heat up. From what we have been seeing here it seems like a lot of people have grown tired of waiting to buy or sell and are starting to look at making a move. The high interest rates were really giving a lot of people pause, but interest rates have been cooling off, and in fact they’ve actually dropped 5 weeks in a row! This is really exciting news for buyers. Now depending on where you are located inventory may still be low like it is here in the Minneapolis area, and if that’s the case, if we end up seeing lower interest rates, low inventory, and increased buyer demand we have a recipe for another crazy spring like we’ve seen the last couple years. We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know about what’s going on in the market right now so you can be ready for the spring market. Let's dive in!

While it may feel like 2023 just started, the spring real estate market is already upon us. Things are already heating up, and with the possibility of interest rates dropping off just a little bit, and some parts of the country still having low inventory the market could get a little crazy. We hope you used the holiday season to shower love on your clients and work on networking, but if you took the end of the year off, fear not, you can still kick it into gear now and try to catch the coming wave. This is the time to make sure you’ve got everything dialed in with your website, you’ve got some kind of social media presence and you are providing valuable content, and of course make sure you have an email going out regularly. You’re also going to have to get back to the basics, and get out networking and making genuine connections to find leads and build connections with other agents as well as buyers and sellers. If your pipeline is not looking how you want it to the first week in February we’ve got all the tips to help you execute and get things where you want them to be in 2023. Let’s dive in!

We are back this week with another episode talking about goals and intentions, but this week we are taking a little different approach. We have Katrina Widener with us to talk about setting goals and intentions that are actually in alignment with your life, with what you truly want out of your business, and how to go about assessing what you truly want to aim for. Setting your goals and intentions for the year can be such a pressure filled task whether it be for you in your personal life or for your business, and then once the goals have been set trying to meet them can add a whole new set of pressures. Katrina is so great at breaking down how to go about finding the things that are working the best for you naturally and setting your goals around that, and finding ways for you to maximize ROI while also finding ease in your day to day so that you can get the most out of your work, and feel good while doing it. Katrina is full of wisdom, and this show is so great even if you already have your goals and intentions set for the year. You may even want to revisit them through this lens and make adjustments! Let’s dive in!  

Check out Katrina on IG @katrina.widener, on her Badass Business Squad Podcast, and on her website. We included a link to her Personal Development Workbook and her Year End Audit Podcast below. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/badass-business-squad-podcast/id1547844802

Workbook: https://www.katrinawidener.com/new-products/personal-development-workbook

Year End Audit Podcast: https://www.katrinawidener.com/badass-business-squad-podcast/the-first-step-to-successful-goal-setting

With the blazing hot real estate market we’ve experienced over the last few years a lot of us are fortunate to be sitting on a nice amount of equity in our homes. Rather than just let that equity sit there doing nothing, why not put it to work for you? A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a great way to make use of the equity you have built up in your home. There are creative ways to put that to use, like buying a cabin, buying a rental property, using it to purchase a flip, or even buying a property to use as an Airbnb. You can also just use it to do updates on your home which will just increase the value of your house if or when you choose to sell down the road. 

Even if you have never considered doing any of this, getting that line of credit when you don’t need it can be a great advantage to you if you happen to want that money for something in a hurry. Tom Ferry always said it’s nice to have access to money when the world goes on sale. If you don’t end up using it it’s not hurting anything just sitting there. Now saying all of this we are definitely not encouraging anyone to go out and use that home equity like an ATM. A lot of people fell victim to this back when the market crashed, and we certainly don’t want that for anyone. What we are talking about is using that home equity to help you build wealth for yourself and your family. If a home equity line of credit is something you’ve been curious about we’ve got all the info for you right here. Let’s dive in!

The new year always brings about resolutions, goals and intentions, and we are here for all of it! We did just do a goal and intention setting episode after all! But with all that can also bring the pressure to do do do! It can also lead to shame if we slip up, have a setback, or don’t achieve our goals exactly as we set out to when the year started.That drive to accomplish all our goals and tackle everything can also lead to toxic productivity. Now I’m sure we’ve all heard of toxic positivity, but there is also something called toxic productivity. Maybe you’ve heard of that also! Well last year we did an episode about this time, Episode 45: Productivity Hacks That Create Freedom. Sounds great right? We all want to be more productive. Well, sometimes with all the best intentions we push ourselves to constantly be checking things off, over scheduling, and always working on something, and this week we are here to say it doesn’t have to be this way! You can have all your goals, all your scheduling, and crush those to do lists and still leave yourself some space to just be, and see what the universe hands you. So this week's episode we go back and touch on last year's episode to share some of the ways you can be more efficient and then use that extra time you save just to be. Let’s dive in! 

For all the info on productivity hacks that we shared last year be sure to go back and check out Episode 43 if you missed it or give yourself a refresher!

Alright it’s 2023 and we are back! Happy New Year to you all, and as much as we feel like a broken record saying this, 2022 went by so fast! If we are being completely honest, 2022 didn’t go exactly as envisioned for us in some ways, but we finished out the year with a lot of positive momentum, and we are so dang excited for all that this year has in store. In a lot of ways nothing has changed for us about how we go about setting our goals and intentions from last year, but this episode we reflect on how we handled adversity last year, what didn’t work, and how we are taking lessons learned and using them in 2023. So whether you set resolutions, goals, or intentions, or however you approach the new year this one should give you some ideas and inspiration on how to be your best self heading into 2023. Let’s dive in!

It’s hard to believe it has been another whole year of doing the podcast. We can’t thank all of you enough for all your support. We have had so much fun building and growing this community and we couldn’t do it without all of you. We had so many great shows and guests this year, but we put together a list of our personal favorites from 2022 and we are closing out the year by sharing our highlights. Thank you all again, and we can’t wait for all that 2023 has in store. Happy New Year!

Episode 54: Navigating Small Business Pivots, Motherhood Through Adoption And Home Renovation with Melissa Oholent

Episode 80: Mortgage Interest Rates and Predictions For The Housing Market 2023 with Elly Cummings

Episode 77: How To Use Facebook For Business

Episode 72: 10 Easy Ways To Repurpose Content

Episode 68: Staying In Touch With Customers

Episode 62: Building A Real Estate Brand

Episode 63: Building A Real Estate Brand Part 2

Episode 58: Women In The World of NFTs

Episode 47: What Is Human Design And How It Can Change Your Life with Katrina Weidener 

Episode 78: Navigating The Housing Market During Inflation

Alright friends, this is one of our favorite things we do on this show all year, and once again we asked you, the community, to call in and share your favorite Christmas and holiday memories with us. This episode was so much fun! We had a lot of laughs sharing our memories, and we received some great messages as well! We hope you enjoy this episode while you are finishing up your shopping, and getting ready to enjoy Christmas this year! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Let’s dive in!

Are you feeling stuck or unsupported on your current real estate team? Maybe leads are drying up, your business has stagnated or you just aren’t feeling in alignment with the team. This can feel so isolating and we totally get it. This week we’ve got our top 10 signs why it’s time to switch real estate teams. The end of the year is a great time to give this some serious thought if you’ve been feeling like maybe it’s time to make a change, you can get a fresh start and start off the year with some positive momentum. If you’re seeing signs it’s time to move on, it might be time to consider making a switch. Let’s dive in!

Creating a brand, we talk about it here all the time, and if you’ve been listening to the show for a little while you know our belief that you need a brand to be successful in your business whether you’re in real estate or not. Well today’s guest, Amy Barton Cotney, has built a brand that is so truly, authentically her it’s almost like she’s not even trying. Amy is a Realtor in Auburn, Alabama. She has built a following on TikTok of over 1 million people, and if you haven’t checked out her page yet we definitely think it’s worth a look. She and her husband, Curt Cotney (who undoubtedly looks like Jack Black) are hysterical and so much fun to watch. Whether she’s sliding across countertops or what she likes to call them, bars, working on dance moves with a glass of wine in hand, sporting her Bad Ass Realtor t-shirt (no joke, she even has her own merchandise line!) or dressing in every color of the rainbow and being dubbed Rainbow Brite by her husband. Amy’s social media presence doesn’t stop there, she’s on all the channels, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and according to her she’s just having so much fun it’s not even work. Amy shares how she deals with haters and difficult people on social media, what it looks like to have an authentic social media presence and how she is taking @sweethomeauburnal social handle and making it something like we’ve never seen before. Realtor or not, this episode will have you laughing your butt off and feeling inspired to be so authentically you. Let’s dive in!

You can find Amy on Instagram @sweethomeauburnal and on TikTok @amybartoncotney