Gratitude

Every year at Thanksgiving, my family goes around our table and each person speaks for a moment about why they are grateful. This year we had a modest crew of 25, and the diverse reasons for gratitude were, as always, far reaching. Four generations of our family expressed their appreciation for births, marriages, jobs: the common theme was the importance of family. For me, 2014 brought a new granddaughter, Naomi, born just a few weeks ago, and a new great nephew, Morgan, born just a few weeks before that. I feel so thankful to experience the sense of unfolding generations which seeing my children’s children gives to me.

As I have done in previous years, I also like to take advantage of this week to express my professional gratitude as well. Here is my business appreciation list for 2014:

• I am grateful that our economy continues, albeit haltingly, to recover. Employment figures are gradually improving and the mood of New Yorkers has lifted year over year, leading to more enthusiasm about home ownership.

• I am grateful that interest rates are still low. I profoundly appreciate how this fact alone brings the price of first home ownership within reach for countless buyers who would be priced out by even half a point of increase in those rates.

• I am grateful that the frantic sales pace we experienced early in the year has slowed down. Contrary to popular belief, brokers do not love a market in which every property goes into competitive bidding within a week. We prefer environments in which our clients and customers actually get to THINK about what they are doing.

• I am grateful to see how the long arm of neighborhood improvement reaches deeper into our boroughs. Just this week-end The New York Times posted an article about the revival of the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, while larger areas of Harlem and Washington Heights in Manhattan and Bed-Stuy and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens in Brooklyn, not to mention Long Island City and beyond in Queens, provide home buying opportunities for those priced out of more traditional central Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn locations.

• I am grateful that I have an extraordinary executive team in place at Warburg Realty. Dynamic new voices in marketing and sales direction, several cutting edge new tech alternatives, and a number of game-changing partnership opportunities have come our way this year. It is an exciting time for us.

Our market morphs and evolves every single day. No one day is ever like another. So finally I feel grateful for change, for the unexpected triumphs and challenges each day presents, and the way these challenges force me to grow. That’s the great gift my business gives me this year and every year.

And you?  What triumphs and challenges has 2014 brought your way?