Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of February 5th. One month down, 11 to go. Hopefully you’re off to a fast start. I’m asked all the time, what is the state of the market going to be in the first quarter? And it appears that with interest rates slowly coming down and a lot of buyers in the market, those of you that are working on taking listings are going to have a really good time, because there should be multiple offers coming in again in the first quarter of this year.

But really, the truth is, what happens in Real Estate is cyclical. As we’ve talked in the past. You know, there’s good points, there’s bad points, there’s highs, there’s lows. But I’ve written down six words that I think can control the cycles. So it doesn’t matter whether the market’s going up or down. We all understand there’s a certain number of homes being sold in every market every month and every city, every county, every province, everywhere. And these six words can have a positive effect and in many cases, create a better momentum for you in moving forward.

So let’s write down the six words. The first word I wrote down is the word mindset. And mindset, as you know, is what’s going on in here at a given time or moment about a person, a situation, or in this case, the Real Estate market that we have now. I don’t think there’s any question. We all recognize that 2022 was one of the best years we’ve ever experienced, and 2023 was the counter opposite of that. But yet at the same time, you know, there were 3.7, 3.8 million homes sold in the US. And the mindset of a lot of strong agents, like some of you was that if there’s going to be business done, it’s going to be done with me. So the word mindset becomes critically important to the process.

The second word, as you know, is the word skills. We are in a skills-based business, meaning the quality of and strength of the skills determine what you say and what you do. As you’ve heard me say time and again, if I don’t know what to say, I can’t do what I’m supposed to do. And on this other side, if I know what to say, I can do what I’m supposed to do.

The third word is the word activities. You know, somebody asked me recently, what’s the difference between Real Estate in the 60s and Real Estate in the year 2020? And the biggest difference is the number of activities that have been created. And they’ve been created by a lot of good people on how to attract and do business in Real Estate today versus the past. You know, I’ll give you a very simple example. In 1970, when I first started in Real Estate, we had rotary phones. There was no such thing as an iPhone. There was no such thing as most of the devices that you and I use for speed and efficiency today. But if you wanted to prospect and you want to sit there and use a rotary phone for hours on end, you could. And the other option was really simply going out and knocking on doors around a listing or sale that you had. There was no Vulcan7 to provide us with great leads through by owners, expireds, and so forth. You know, the activities today are wide and varied, but what I want you to think about are the activities that you’re involved in getting you the leads that leads you to a transaction over the course of the next 30 days and the month of February, because the activities were involved in, if they’re production-based, are going to be very positive in terms of your response. And if they’re just activities for activities sake, it’s not going to help you one bit.

But the fourth word is the word action. At some point, we have to take action. You know, we have to pick up the phone. We have to call that lead. We have to call those people in our database. You know, we have to put ourselves in motion and taking action with the activities we have because of the skills we’ve developed and the mindset strength that we have. At the same time.

The fifth word is the word discipline. Real Estate is a discipline-oriented business. The people with the highest level of discipline always have the best chance, because the discipline is the routines that we have to follow to be more successful in the business we’re in today.

And the last word I wrote down to help us get started make this year a great year is the word consistency. You know, when the commission checks are as big as they are today because of the lack of inventory and the inflation that we’ve all experienced. You know, we can all see that the consistency. Is not as strong as it used to be because, well, I’ll give you an example. At our Production Retreat a couple of weeks ago, I asked one of the people in the audience, “What is your average commission check?” And the fellow smiled and said, “I think it was $28,500.” I said, “What was that ten years ago?” He said, “$10,000.” I said, “Are you $18,000 better at delivering service than you were ten years ago?” He said, “Mike, prices have gone up, inventory is low, inflation is in place. I’m making more money than I’ve ever dreamed of.” And for me to say to him, “Hats off, congratulations, I mean it.” But what makes this fellow so great is the consistency of the activities and the actions that he take..

So I’m going to suggest to you that you watch this particular Mike Ferry TV three or four times to remind yourself this week that this is a strong market we’re involved in today. It is not last year, it’s this year, 2024, and it’s going to be as great as you allow it to be with the mindset you have. I’m glad you’re involved. I’m glad you’re watching Mike Ferry TV. See you next week.