The Morning Shot

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.

In this Shot we share the full 15 minute audio recording of our November 14th Facts and Figures: State of the Market call.

Enjoy!

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.

It's time for a change, that's right, a change.

I have had too many conversations with my realtor partners telling me how frustrating it is to consistently have contracts cancelled on their condo listings, or condo buy side business, because the lender didn't approve the association.

Empathizing with the frustration, I've decided to implement a change within my team's review process to mitigate deal fallout and support my realtor partners in growing their condominium business efficiently and successfully.

So what does this look like? Think about it, when doing a listing presentation, have the conversation with the seller up-front, in that not only are they selling the interior space of a condominium, but they're also selling the association as well. The majority of purchase transactions use mortgage financing, and all lenders need to approve the association in order to fund the loan, but the current standard operating procedure doesn't begin the condo review process until mid-way through the transaction. This is where the famous struggles of listing condominiums come into play.

This is why I have decided to implement a new process to overcome this frustration – which starts by completing the condo association review up front.

Going forward with all my realtor partner's listings, agents have the ability to reach out and have us complete a full review of their listed property. Once completed, we can provide the agent and their client the factual details in order to know what type of buyers can make an offer and purchase this condominium. No guess work, just the facts. Using this information, the agent can market the property specifically to the buyers we know can close and fund successfully. We can all agree that homebuyers that put down less money down sometimes provides for a greater sales price. Think about it, in our experience, 20-25% of the time associations pass what's called a full review, and roughly 75-80% of the time will fail –with that said, don't you deserve to know upfront if they're lender will actually fund on that offer? On the flip side, agents who choose to accept cash buyers because of previous frustrations from financed offers, might be leaving a sizeable amount of money on the table! And perhaps that condominium and it's association can actually pass a full review. We are taking the guesswork out and providing you with the answers you need to identify the offers you can accept upfront.

What about the pains of working with homebuyers seeking condominiums? With the current standard, these buyers have to fork over thousands of dollars for inspections, appraisals and questionnaires before the lender reviews the association to confirm if they can even fund and lend on the property. Why does this have to wait until after these dollars have been wasted? They don't, at least not anymore.

For our partner's that specialize in supporting buyers, we will help you negotiate into the contract to have the condo review completed before the appraisal and inspection are completed – saving everyone involved in the transaction time and money! We want our partners to be armed up front with everything they need to know before entering into the transaction – the way we believe it should be.

I pride myself on going against the grain. There is no need for condo financing to take such an emotional and financial toll on all parties involved – call me directly, I would love to speak to you further about this subject at 561-864-2458.  

As a reminder, we will be having our next Facts and Figures: State of the Market Call next Tuesday the 14th at 11:45am. This is a fantastic opportunity for those agents seeking to become the authority on real estate in their respective communities. 1x a month, the 2nd Tuesday of each month, for 15 minutes is all it takes to help make you the go to agent in your community. If you have not already RSVP, please do so by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling me at 561-864-2458. I look forward to having you join us.

Thank you all for joining me, I appreciate you. So please reach out to me and let us discuss how we can be of service and how we can expand your condominium business 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.

I love it here in Florida, that's why I've made it my home – and we're not the only ones, which is why the reputation of Floridian lifestyle has spread to every corner of the country – and it has been for years. Once again this year Florida reigns #1 as the most popular destination states for homebuyers according to LendingTree, outpacing South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.

LendingTree analyzed purchase mortgage loan requests from October 2016 to October of 2017 to determine the percentage of requests from buyers looking to move out of state. So where do these prospective buyers so eager to move to Florida come from? Interestingly enough they predominantly hail from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Alabama, Georgia, and Michigan.

Most buyers seeking to experience southern hospitality said they were attracted to the lower cost of living, strong jobs market, economic growth, and relatively affordable home prices – the September median home price in the South was $215,500 making it the second lowest median sales price for all regions. Additionally, South metros consistently make the list of the best places for first-time buyers and buyers looking for affordable housing.

This brings us back to a very interesting concept that we discussed at our Heavy Hitters event just a few short weeks ago – the need for developing an additional stream of business through realtor relationships. On the subject, Mark Rucco shared with us how he was leveraging relationships with out of state realtors to refer clients looking to move to Florida – from one of these streams alone, Mark was consistently generating almost $100k in revenue annually.

With this newfound information, is there an opportunity for us to explore this unique strategy for ourselves? We know that the majority of prospective homebuyers moving to Florida come from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Alabama, Georgia and Michigan – how can we start leveraging these relationships from those states to grow our business and close more transactions?

Some of our partners have shared with us the success they've had with consistent mailers and cold-calling – but the one thing that corresponds to each partners success was the consistency of whatever strategy they chose to follow.

At this very moment there are families out of state sitting around the dinner table seriously considering the move to Florida – do they know to contact you to achieve their homeownership goals? Think about that.

As a reminder, we will be having our next Facts and Figures: State of the Market Call next Tuesday the 14th at 11:45am. This is a fantastic opportunity for those agents seeking to become the authority on real estate in their respective communities. 1x a month, the 2nd Tuesday of each month, for 15 minutes is all it takes to help make you the go to agent in your community. If you have not already RSVP, please do so by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling me at 561-864-2458. I look forward to having you join us.

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.

The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 1988, that as of 2016, has become an international bestseller translated into some 70 languages. A fictional story of a young Shepard's journey for realizing his "Personal Legend", the boy meets a range of characters, obstacles and experiences that reshape his understanding of life, and the pursuit of living out his dreams. I want to talk about three of the most important lessons I got from reading this book:

1. A Dream is Worth Chasing Because The Chase is What Makes Life Worth Living:

There's a fantastic quote from the book that reads, "It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting." When I speak to top producers in any industry, I've found a wonderful correlation in their state of mind – they wake up and drive because what they desire most they believe is possible for them to attain. Let me repeat that, these top producers wake up driven to succeed because what they desire, they believe possible for themselves to attain.

A life without a dream is no life at all. We must embrace our creativity, allow ourselves to dream and understand that, as the author writes, "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." If we become what we think about, surely we can become what we dream about.

1. Filter Out the Noise:

One of my favorite quotes in the book reads, "If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own."

There is a lot of noise blaring all around us all the time - opinions on how we dress, what we do, how we should run our business or our lives. Social media has provided people a microphone with the volume turned way up to express how they think things ought to be. Today, everyone is a political expert, CEO, social activist, and top film critic ready and overly willing to give you their opinion on every aspect of your life.

They say opinions are the cheapest commodity on earth because everyone has one. When I started Your Morning Shot, scores of people were ready and willing to share with me their opinions on my decision to explore outside-of-the-box ways for adding more value to my realtor partners and growing my business. If I listened to the negative opinion of those who had never tried themselves I probably wouldn't have tried either. Instead, I filtered out the noise to selectively consider only the opinions of those who understood and lived out similar passions and pursuits themselves for determining the best course of action for me to take.

1. My World is a Representation of Myself

"That's what Alchemist's do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too." It is not a coincidence that my business grows and shrinks in direction proportion to how I am taking care of myself. When I am continually striving to be a better friend, husband, athlete or employer every part of my life grows in tandem. Our world is and will always be nothing more than a reflection of ourselves. Negative people see the world poorly and seem to always have difficulty; those who take care of themselves and always look for the light in the world seem to always have things going their way.

The easiest way to make our world better is to make ourselves better.

As a reminder, we will be having our next Facts and Figures: State of the Market Call next Tuesday the 14th at 11:45am. This is a fantastic opportunity for those agents seeking to become the authority on real estate in their respective communities. 1x a month, the 2nd Tuesday of each month, for 15 minutes is all it takes to help make you the go to agent in your community. If you have not already RSVP, please do so by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling me at 561-864-2458. I look forward to having you join us.

Thank you all for listening. We are committed to supporting you. So send us a friend request on Facebook or LinkedIn, and follow us @mattweaverspeaks.   

 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.

Every market has cycles. For some industries, the cycles are more predictable than others – but one things for sure, no one part of any market cycle lasts forever.

In real estate, most business cycles overlap with trends in the mortgage business – the one I want to talk about today is that of appraisals.

The way I see it, there are three phases of the appraisal cycle:

1. Ascending Markets – This is the type of market we are in today nationally. In this type of market, buyers are willing to pay a higher sale price than what appraisers can support in some cases.
2. Stagnate Markets – This is the perfect alignment where appraised value and market value, what the buyer is willing to pay, marry.
3. Descending Markets – This is a market where current sales may begin to slow, thus the appraiser can support a higher value than what the buyer pay be willing to pay.  

We're all aware the inventory crisis facing our country as a whole – nationwide there is not enough homes available for sale to support the demand of buyers – so in this case we would say we're operating in an ascending market. While this is great for sellers and the listing side of the industry, it can sometimes pose appraisal challenges for mortgage financing.  Buyers are willing to pay more however the comps cannot support the price, thus resulting in further negotiations, greater down payments or cancelled contracts.  How many of you can relate? Frustrating maybe an understatement.

While the media has given much attention to the ascending market view of the industry, some of our realtor partners have shared with us that this may not hold true in certain pockets of our markets locally.  With this in mind I would like to share a strategy we have seen prove to be successful in this type of market – seller concessions.

Remember, in a descending market an appraiser can substantiate a higher value for a property than the market may be willing to pay. In these cases rather than lower the sales price, we can keep the price higher but instead give the buyer credits to cover their closing costs and prepaid items.  Both seller and buyer net the same, but now we are moving inventory by saving the buyer thousands of dollars in out of pocket expenses. Both parties are accomplishing their intended goals.

Great agents thrive regardless of market cycle's through experiencing the changing cycles firsthand and by noting the successes and failures of those who've come before them. If you are an agent that has any tips or tricks for how you've thrived in markets such as the one we're in today, please give me a call directly at 561-864-2458, I'd love to hear from you.  

As a reminder, we will be having our next Facts and Figures: State of the Market Call next Tuesday the 14th at 11:45am. This is a fantastic opportunity for those agents seeking to become the authority on real estate in their respective communities. 1x a month, the 2nd Tuesday of each month, for 15 minutes is all it takes to help make you the go to agent in your community. If you have not already RSVP, please do so by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling me at 561-864-2458. I look forward to having you join us.

Thank you all for listening. We are committed to supporting you. So send us a friend request on Facebook or LinkedIn, and follow us @mattweaverspeaks.   

 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.

Have you ever been in a situation where your expectations didn't quite match reality? Maybe what you thought it would take to accomplish a goal wasn't anything like you had envisioned – and now here you stand looking around saying "what else have I misjudged as being impossible that isn't?"

Well friends, there are millions of Americans walking around right now who have yet to have that "Aha!" experience that they so very much wish they could – and as resources to our community on all matters real estate, it is our responsibility to help.

I'd encourage everyone to try out a little exercise today. When you go out for this morning's coffee run, ask 10 people at random what they think they need to own a $300k home. How much money do they assume they'll need for down payment? How high of a credit score do they think is required?

I think I have some idea for the responses you'd get, because we've tried this little exercise ourselves; essentially the assumptions that the average person makes for what is required to live out the American dream is light-years away from reality. I vividly remember the first time I took part in this exercise and how the responses blew my mind – most of those asked, especially those still renting, believe the bare minimum for becoming a homeowner requires $60,000 and a 780+ credit score for that $300k home.

Now imagine what the reaction of these same individuals polled were when I told them that actually in most cases, they could stop paying someone else's mortgage and become homeowners themselves with as little as $10,500 down, 580 credit score and mortgage payments of less than $2,500/month for that same home that would otherwise rent much higher. Shock is a common reaction, uncomfortably laughing as well, but unfortunately many times anger at the fact that no one has shared this information with them.

The ability for nearly every American to own their own piece of soil is possible. As real estate agents, it is not necessarily your responsibility to know exactly whether a client fits into the box of a qualified homebuyer – but it is your responsibility to help educate them on the fact that their assumptions may be hurting their true ability to accomplish their homeownership goals.

So let's help our friends, family, colleagues and neighbors move past the assumptions of what they think isn't possible and into the world of what really is. The next time a prospective client says "I probably don't even qualify" help remind them that assumptions and the truth dine at totally separate tables, and get them pre-approved to find out their true potential for achieving their dreams of homeownership. Have them call me directly at 561-864-2458, let's see what's really possible.

Ok friends it is that time….who is going to win the raffle from our Heavy Hitters series event to win either two lower level tickets to a Miami Heat game or a day at the Boca Resort and Beach Club. I've got all the surveys handed in to us from the event here in front of me and here we go….

If you're looking to read the names of the winners you are out.of.luck :) Please listen to Matt announce the winners in today's shot!

Congratulations to those that won, please give me a call directly at 561-864-2458 within the next 24 hours to claim your prize!  

Thank you all for listening. We are committed to supporting you. So send us a friend request on Facebook or LinkedIn, and follow us @mattweaverspeaks.   

 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.

CNBC's Diana Olick recently published a piece entitled "Home equity loans set to soar along with home prices", where she sought to investigate how these types of loan products, otherwise referred to as HELOC's, can come into play in today's market. As part of her research, Diana reached out me to discuss my views on their potential popularity and application for prospective homebuyers. If you'd like to read the article in full and my contribution to her research, you can follow the link embedded in this blog. (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/24/home-equity-loans-set-to-soar-along-with-home-prices.html)

In today's market of rising home values, HELOC's pose a very interesting opportunity for a sizeable portion of the homebuyer market. For some buyers looking to purchase in the $500k+ price range, we've found that in a growing number of cases, these homebuyers have the ability to qualify based on strong credit scores and income ratios, but may lack the necessary down payment requirements to qualify for a traditional jumbo loan. In these scenarios, a HELOC could make for an excellent opportunity to help that homebuyer get into their dream home.

HELOC's are set up as a second mortgage will account for the difference in dollar amount for bringing the first mortgage into conventional loan limit range, a range within our county of $424,100, and with payments set up as a variable rate interest only program.

The one thing we need to point out, and which we shared with Diana in her article as well, is that in today's rising rate market these types of products are best suited for homebuyers with the financial strength to be able to pay off these loans in a reasonable amount of time. HELOC products are not ideal on a long-term basis, but can certainly be beneficial for the homeowners short-term interests. Keeping in mind that HELOC's are variable rate loan products whose interest rates are based off the U.S. Prime rate – a rate that has risen three-fourths of a percent in the last year and expected to continue this trend for the foreseeable future.

To sum it up, HELOC's are a great way for homebuyers with strong credit profiles and qualifying income ratios to get into their dream home without the standard down payment. However, to understand whether or if a HELOC would be beneficial to your client, speaking with a trusted mortgage advisor, such as myself, would be the best direction to go.

If you are currently the listing agent on homes in the $500k plus range, or a buying agent working with a client shopping in that price point, we would be happy to help advise on the best course of action. As our real estate partner we are here to support you – and we mean that wholeheartedly – so even if this means assessing an offer on one of your listings for which we will not be involved in the transaction, we are more than happy to do so. Please reach out to me at 561-864-2458 during the hours of 8am-9pm 7 days a week.

Now, for those of you who joined us for our first ever Heavy Hitters series of events last week, we just want to remind you that the raffle drawing for your choice of either two lower level Miami Heat tickets or a day at the Boca Resort's Beach Club will be this Wednesday during our next episode. If you submitted your survey to us, we will be selecting a winner and announcing it during the show. If you hear your named called, please call me directly at 561-864-2458 to claim your gift within 24 hours of the announcement.

Thank you all for listening. We are committed to supporting you. So send us a friend request on Facebook or LinkedIn, and follow us @mattweaverspeaks.   

 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.

I'd like to think my team and I have helped to put on a lot of great events over the last 12 months – luncheons, credit workshops, and others. But I have to say – our Behind the Curtain Heavy Hitters Series with Mark Rucco yesterday was one of the most outstanding events I have been to in years! I had such an amazing time up on stage talking shop with, not only one of the highest producing real estate agents in the country, but a long time partner and friend. Mark, thank you so much for joining us, the feedback we've received by way of surveys, phone calls and emails has been overwhelming with gratitude and appreciation for the knowledge and experience you so freely shared with the crowd to help grow their business.

For those who unfortunately couldn't join us due to conflicts, or because of the fact that we were sold out, rest assured that these types of events will continue every quarter for the foreseeable future. Our audience yesterday, you guys ready for this? Our audience yesterday comprised of over 200 real estate agents primarily from the Palm Beach County Area, representing over 80 different offices and accounting for almost $2 billion in transactions over the last 12 months.

What more can you ask for? Comfy seating in a beautiful environment, meticulously timed interviews with industry leaders to garner valuable insight from, the opportunity to sit amongst your pears and network with local agents to build out your business to business pipeline. We even had free raffle giveaways for 2 Heat Tickets under the Bucket or a relaxing day at the Boca Resort. Saying it out loud I can't help but sit in awe of what an incredible opportunity it is to be in a position to support the local real estate community by hosting these type of events.

As I am sure many of you have been anxiously awaiting, and in fact many of you have already been emailing and calling asking for it – Mark Rucco shared his special sauce yesterday – what he likes to call his 5 Cores for Long-Term Success in Real Estate – and he was nice enough to let me steal the recipe from him on stage yesterday and share it with our audience. One of these core areas alone generates an additional $50-$100k in revenue annually for, so needless to say it is understandable why everyone wants a free copy for themselves. As I am in the business of providing as much valuable to our partners and listeners as possible, we have typed up a digital copy of Mark's secret sauce, and you can get your free copy today by calling me directly at 561-964-2458, or emailing my content writer Zack Lewis at [email protected].    

Last but not least, for our friends that did turn in their surveys at the event and are looking to hear your name called for the raffle to claim your choice of 2 Miami Heat tickets Boca Resort beach club day, we will be selecting a winner next week on our show here, so be sure to stay tuned. Remember the best is yet to come!

Thank you all for listening. We are committed to supporting you. So send us a friend request on Facebook or LinkedIn, and follow us @mattweaverspeaks.   

 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.

The late congressman Frank Clark once said "If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get."

I think we're all guilty at one point or another of the "if this, than that" toxic way of thinking. "If only I made more money, than I would be happier." "If I lost 20 lbs, than I would be able to get the girl/guy." And on and on at infinitum…

I've been down this road more often than I care to admit, and the harsh reality I had to learn was that no matter how many of those statements came to pass it did not change the way I felt – in fact it only compounded how many more if than statements I would come up with. Life was never beautiful, the grass always had to be greener on the other side.

In business we all learn that being satisfied leads to complacency, and "complacency is the disease of the human spirit". The concept of being satisfied with what we have could be considered the worst possible thing to happen to us in pursuit of our goals. But being grateful isn't about being satisfied. The dictionary definition of grateful is "warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; to be thankful" while satisfied is to be "content". Many of us get these two confused, or for some obscure reason consider them synonymous. They're not.

Those that practice gratitude tend to be happier and bring greater success into their lives. I think the reason for this is because they see the positives in everything they do, and as a result bring a unique level of excitement and passion into every endeavor they pursue. On the other side of the coin, people who lack gratitude tend to see the negative in everything, nothing is good enough, and live in a constant state of comparison to everyone around them. When we practice gratitude we can better identify all the gifts the universe has blessed and equipped us with to help guide us in the direction of our goals. Everything is an opportunity, everything is beautiful, because everything has a purpose as the guiding light. I am grateful that the work I do allows me to afford a car so I can drive to work every day and help people achieve their American Dream. I'm grateful to have to pay the utility bill for my home because it means I have a roof over my head for myself and my family. Because I am grateful for these things, the energy I put out into the universe and to those around me provide for an exceptional investment with infinite compound interest to the joy in my life and to everyone else I come into contact with. Hell, out of the thousands of people I send daily "shot" to I am grateful if only a handful actually listen. A business deal may even stem from it because just one of you may connect with me through the airwaves and lead your lives in a similar manner that would make such a partnership fruitful. Unfortunately for someone who doesn't practice gratitude, putting in the effort for producing these daily "shots" only bearing a handful of listeners would seem miniscule, and demeaning to their professionalism. No opportunity whatsoever can possibly present itself to that person.

Our first ever Heavy Hitters speaker series is coming up and we are excited to have Mark Rucco of the Mark Rucco Group joining us. Mark was ranked as the #1 Agent for Palm Beach County by Most Closed Transactions in 2016 closing over 330 transactions, and ranked in Wall Street Journal's Top 200 Realtors Nationwide. I know Mark's story well, and can assure you that at some point in his career you will find common ground, and more importantly, stories from this shared experience that can help us overcome whatever difficulty currently preventing you from your best self.

This event will no sell out quickly and in fact, we're well over 75% of capacity within 24 hours, as Mark is certainly the type of professional we all wish to learn from. So please reach out and RSVP your seat today by calling 561-864-2458, or emailing Brett Vidro at [email protected]. Our Heavy Hitters interview with Mark Rucco will be held at the Cinemark Theater in Boca Raton on October 26th from 9:30am – 12:00pm. While this is only the first of many in this series, it is surely one you will not want to miss.

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.