What Are You Thankful For?

Housing prices are down. Depending on whether you’re trying to enter the market or get out of it, that could be good news or bad news. There were more home sales in California in September than in any other month for 2 years. The home inventory on the market went from 16 months to 6.5 months. The shrinking inventory is probably also due to the new, more difficult, rules for foreclosure in California. The real boost for the housing market came yesterday when the Fed made a move that finally gave the jolt that was needed to the mortgage industry.

Rates dropped by the highest one day drop in at least 7 years. Some people are reporting it’s the biggest one day drop ever. Either way, house prices are down and now there is money available. Things are going to start moving again.

One more thing to be grateful for.

Tomorrow is the day that we traditionally give thanks in the US. I’ve never really liked that aspect of the holiday. I mean, I’m glad to get together with family and friends and make sure we’re giving thanks that day, but I like to think that most people give thanks more than just one day out of the year. Still, it’s a nice reminder.

This morning my husband and I took stock a little of where we are after a couple of brutal years of partners that didn’t work out, employees that really didn’t work out and investment values that plummeted. Our marriage has never been stronger. People comment all the time how much younger Richard looks. He’s very happy in his role that he had years ago in the tax firm - talking to business owners and investors who want to save money and are checking us out to see if it’s a good fit. Four years ago, I didn’t even have a son and now we’re happy to see him maturing, at ease in his new life with a family. Right now David is in Argentina where he has found yet one more thing that he’s really good at - sales. (He’s a very accomplished figure skater, dancer and DJ as well) He’s working with Jorge at LatAmConnect to open up the next new outsourcing technology model - Latin America. In the next few months, I’ll be debuting my new websites. You’ll be astounded, I promise, when you see what Jorge has accomplished. I’m not going to tell you how much I paid because you wouldn’t believe me anyway. (Let’s just say it’s less than 1/10 of what I paid for TaxLoopholes)

It’s been an interesting couple of years. Maybe we all needed a bit of a shake up to see what is really important. Or at least, today, sitting at my San Diego home, listening to the foghorn, I’m very grateful in the choices we’ve made together as a family and with our business.