Happy Holidays! In today’s fast-paced, tech driven world it is often hard to get our nose out of a screen and just plain be thankful for all that’s around us. I was thinking back to the early days of caller ID and why we would “op out” because we didn’t want people to know who was calling, now we won’t answer unless we know who is calling. When I was a kid, our parents worried about all the cheap stuff that was being sold that said, “Made in Japan” now we worry about “Made in China.” Will our kids worry when it says, “Made in Space?”
With our economy running on all cylinders and companies struggling to hire enough workers, it might be difficult to find time to both be thankful and to examine financial strategies and efficiencies. Yet now as we move through the late stages of the business cycle, it’s more important than ever to do so. Remember that if companies do not have access to enough labor than they must invest in capital (which in this case is productivity tools or technology).
In the meantime, interest rates continue to rise and put a damper on the stock market and the whole economy. The tight labor market has also caused wage growth but not enough to offset the rising rates. Rising household income contributed $11,000 to consumer house-buying power. Alas, the rise of rates from 3.99% to 4.6% over the last year reduced that house-buying power by nearly $30,000.
However, all these strong economic reports belie a potential shift of the pendulum. In the San Diego area, the rate of job growth has slowed. Employment in July rose 1.5% over the previous 12 months, however that is down from a 3.6% increase in July of 2015.
With a growing number of employees working from home and 96% of people shopping online, protecting your commercial property is more important today than ever before. Keeping commercial tenants is becoming increasingly difficult, as more and more move to an online profile. What can you do? Two things that seem particularly relevant during this Holiday season are:
- Create an experience: shopping online is purely transactional. There is no experience other than graphics and clicks. People will leave their homes for the purpose of a memorable experience that gives them value beyond the price of the transaction.
- Create community and belonging: provide a meaningful community experience and a sense of belonging. In the future, a building will garner a greater price if it has a brand around a shared local experience with deepening connections with neighbors all done with enabling technology (signs, tweets and texts, Instagram, etc.).
At this time of year, we would like to thank our community of clients, vendors, fellow brokers and associates. We know it takes a village to be successful in this market and we thank you for being in ours.
We know we are only here for a short time, but we don’t act like we know that. You will not have unlimited opportunities to do your work so do it now. There will come a time when you can no longer express your love, so express it now. There will come a time when all of your possessions are just stuff, and when all of your plans and excuses are just air. Your moment is now.
God bless and Happy Holidays…I hope you enjoy the story.
Isn’t it amazing how God works through technology in our lives! On a Saturday night just before Christmas, this pastor was working late, and decided to call his wife before he left for home.
It was about 10:00 pm, but his wife didn’t answer the phone. The pastor let the phone ring many times. He thought it was odd that she didn’t answer but decided to wrap up a few things and try again in a few minutes.
When he tried again, she answered right away! He asked her why she hadn’t answered before, and she said that t hadn’t run at their house. They brushed it off as a fluke and went on their merry ways.
The following Monday, the pastor received a call at the church office, which was the phone that he’d used that Saturday night. The man that he spoke with wanted to know why he’d called on Saturday night.
The pastor couldn’t figure out what the man was talking about. Then the man said, “It rang and rang, but I didn’t answer.” The pastor remembered the mishap and apologized for disturbing him, explaining that he’d intended to call his wife.
The man said, “That’s OK. Let me tell you my story. You see, I was planning to commit suicide on Saturday night, but before I did, I prayed, ‘God if you’re there, and you don’t want me to do this, give me a sign now.’ At that point my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID, and it said, ‘Almighty God.’ I was afraid to answer!”
The reason it showed on the man’s caller ID that the call came from “Almighty God” is because the church that the pastor attended is called Almighty God Tabernacle!!
May the Blessing of the Holidays be yours!
CDC Commercial Inc.
Don, Candy, Nick, Matt & Cheryl
