How “The Miracle Morning” Has Enriched Our Lives



Starting my day at 4:30 a.m. is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Here’s why I do it.


Today I have a very special guest joining me. It’s my lovely, amazing, wife, Stephanie. We wanted to do a little something different today and talk about something that has really had a profound effect on our lives lately.

The root of our newfound rituals is “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod. The main idea of this book is that by getting up early, you can get more accomplished in the wee hours of the morning than most people can in their entire day.

Before reading the book, the concept of getting up before the sun was foreign to me. I had a routine of going to bed around 11 p.m. and waking up around 7 a.m. That changed after reading this book.

This book has had a profound impact on our lives.

Stephanie and I now get up around 4:30 a.m. each morning. When we wake, the earth is very quiet and we get started on going through the different steps for our “Miracle Morning.” The first step is focusing on our spirituality. We like to read the Bible together and then journal about our thoughts.

Next, we get to my favorite part: personal development time. We take 30 minutes to read, whether it be a book, a news article, or a blog. When we bring knowledge in from all these different places on top of the foundation we already have, that’s when our “Eureka!” moments happen.

The final two pieces of the “Miracle Morning” are meditation and physical exercise, which we do three to five times per week. Once we started doing those things consistently over time, it had a profound impact on our lives and our family. It has been especially great for Stephanie.

She homeschools our kids and runs a business out of our home, so she’s got little time to herself. By the end of the day, we are too tired to catch up on reading or exercise. That’s why getting up early and doing these things every day has been such a blessing. We’ve been able to add an extra two hours a day to just focus on ourselves so we can be better for each other, better for our family, and better for the people we work with.

We wouldn’t have been able to stay with this if it wasn’t for the fact that we are both pushing each other to succeed. We motivate each other to get better, and that’s been such a great gift. We want to give you this gift, too. That’s why we’ll be giving away five free copies of this book to the first five people who like our Facebook post about it.

If you have any other questions for us or you’re interested in buying or selling in 2017, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.
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How Does the Richmond Market Relate to the U.S. Market?



What's going on in the world of real estate? Today we'll take a look at the Richmond market and the nation as a whole to get a picture of how you could be affected.


What's going on in the real estate market both here and across the nation?

Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence index shows us that consumer confidence is as high now as it has been for the last nine years. This started last year, so we can't give all the credit to our new president. This started under President Obama and has spilled over into the new administration.

This means that consumers are also confident about buying and selling homes. I really want to stress that in terms of existing home sales, which continue to climb. We're in the strongest market I've personally seen since 2005. It's a little location-sensitive, but in most areas, homes are selling fast.

Pending home sales—a leading indicator of future performance—are also up year over year. Inventory is down though, and our market is starving for it with demand so high. Existing inventory is down 9.1% overall with starter home inventory down 12.1% and trade-up home inventory down 12.9%. In every category, inventory is down. This downward trend of inventory started last year and continues to sink.

“
Demand for homes is high; buyers
are starving for inventory.
”


Finally, we need to look at what's happening with interest rates. For years we said that they needed to increase, and it's finally happening. Luckily, the experts forecast that rates won't go crazy; by the end of 2018, they think they'll be up to just about 4.75% to 4.85% depending on how the economy performs.

If you're thinking about selling your house, now is an outstanding time. There's no competition for you, but I think it's coming this spring and summer.

It's also a great time to buy a home with interest rates still very low.

 If you have any questions, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to help you!
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