A Track Record for Housing Market Optimism in 2022

December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

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Our House

Are you as thankful as we are to be in 2022? Although January 1 is just another day in our lives, it does represent the start of the new year’s adventures and statistical measures. Since we’re feeling thankful, let us be thankful in all things… even crazy real estate markets. We’ve always stressed the importance of understanding the needs and wants of our clients, setting expectations, and then establishing a set of goals to help navigate through the multitude of available options. This preparation is done to help establish a healthy mindset before a series of what could otherwise be stressful decisions begin to occur on a fixed timeline.

With 2021 seeing an increase in price by 11% on average over 2020 single-family homes, this year’s expectations should be similarly set. More buyers will continue to enter the market and we should continue to see more homes hit the market too (a 3% increase from 2020 to 2021 in the number of homes sold). The seller’s market will continue to exist, but most analysts are expecting prices to be more inversely affected than last year due to increases in new construction and anticipated rising interest rates.

According to a global study by the University of Michigan, “People who were more grateful had lower blood pressure and heart rate, as well as greater feelings of appreciation toward others.” What can we infer from that study? One, those who are going to be buying or selling are more likely to make a sound decision peaceably if they see the reasons to be thankful during the process. Two, those choosing to be grateful are easier to be around during a home search and/or sale. No one likes to be uprooted from their schedules, but if we’re making the decision to go through the process, there’s no sense in being unthankful.

Too many times we have seen everything work out and clients not having to settle. If our experience shows this to be true, then optimism is easier to rely upon because it has a track record. According to Realtor.com, “2022 for-sale home supply will begin to recover from recent declines (+0.3%), but millennial demand will likely keep supply limited…” And even amid rising interest rates, they are still at historical lows. This means homes are going to be worth more, rates will keep it affordable, more homes are expected to sell this year than last, and the sun will come out and shine brilliantly again too. Our first tip of 2021 is to be thankful, in all things and at all times. So, let’s be grateful and start 2022 off on a good note!

-Tom and Julie Douglass

[email protected], [email protected]

205-999-2780, 205-999-4153

July 27, 2022December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

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Legal Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman

A new year is here. What did you put off last year that is still on your “to do” list? In a great New York Times article in March 2019, Erik Winkowski wrote that “procrastination is about emotions, not productivity.” It’s more fun to alphabetize your spices than to review your estate plan and beneficiaries or update your net worth. It’s not time you lack; it’s the emotional fortitude to take the proverbial “bull by the horns” to tackle a job that is often tied to mixed emotions.

That’s one of the big advantages of having an experienced estate planning attorney on your team of advisors. A good lawyer can make sure your estate plan does not have legal gaps created by new estate legislation. And a good estate planning attorney will proactively ask you questions about your estate that you might not even think about if the whole process makes you uncomfortable. A one-size-fits-all form downloaded from an online site certainly can’t help you there.

You should also update your net worth as part of a review of your estate plan so that you know what you have to bequeath, whether it is an antique train collection or a well-funded IRA. A current net worth helps you avoid forgetting an important asset. Updating your net worth in January will help when you get around to working on your 2022 taxes before April. Your accountant will thank you… and might charge you less.

One family I know often uses the phrase, “I haven’t gotten around to it.” Just make sure you get around to it when it comes to taking charge of your estate plan and net worth. You really don’t want to depend on Alabama’s estate laws for folks who die without a legally documented estate plan (intestate). To find an experienced estate planning attorney near you, check online with AVVO, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), and Martindale.

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD

Partner at Bradford & Holliman, LLC

www.bradfordholliman.com

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

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Money Matters

1. Parents Be on the Look Out. If you have been receiving the Advance Child Tax Credit Payments, please be aware that the current schedule of payments ended with the payment that was paid on December 15, 2021. In January 2022, the IRS will be mailing Letter 6419 to all families that received the Advance Child Tax Credit Payments. This is a very important letter that you will need to keep with your other 2022 tax-related documents.

2. Gather Documentation Now. As tax season approaches, it is best to go ahead and gather or request your 2021 annual childcare expense statements, pharmacy reports, charitable donation receipts, etc. Even though the federal standard deduction is high, it may be beneficial for you to gather these to claim on your state return.

3. Business Owner Reminder. Forms W-2, Forms 1099-NEC and any other 1099-type forms need to be provided to the recipient by January 31, 2022, and also mailed to the IRS by that date as well.

-Michael A. Hamner, CPA

Benefield & Hamner, CPA’s

206 Huntley Parkway, Pelham, 35124

(205) 621-4033

www.cpabh.com

December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

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Money Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Vision Financial Group, Inc.

You see it in prices at the grocery store and the gas station. You feel it in your monthly budget. So why don’t the financial markets seem too concerned about inflation?

Remember, financial markets are considered “discounting mechanisms,” meaning they are looking six to nine months into the future. And by June 2022, the financial markets expect that inflation will be lower than today.1

One lesser-known indicator that helps support this forecast is called the Baltic Dry Index. It measures the cost of transporting raw materials, such as coal and steel. The index has been trending lower for several weeks, which in the past has suggested that prices may be more manageable in the months ahead.2 No indicator is fool-proof. That’s why the Baltic Dry Index is just one of the many indicators that our professionals follow when watching inflation. They also keep a close eye on the Fed, which is responsible for controlling inflation.3

With the economy improving, the Federal Reserve has indicated it will be tapering bond purchases this month. That may help with inflation. The Fed also has prepared the markets for higher interest rates in 2022. That, too, may help.4 For now, it’s important to understand that inflation can influence interest rates, which often play a role in how a portfolio is constructed. We’re keenly focused on what’s next for inflation to determine if any portfolio changes are appropriate in the future.

-Vision Financial Group

4505 Pine Tree Circle, Birmingham, AL 35243

www.vision-financialgroup.com

205-970-4909

This material was prepared by MarketingPro, Inc., and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates.

Securities offered through Concourse Financial Group Securities, Inc. (CFGS), Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Concourse Financial Group Advisors, a DBA for CFGS, a Registered Investment Advisor. Vision Financial Group, Inc. is independent of Concourse Financial Group Securities, Inc.

Citations

Investopedia.com, 2021
CNBC.com, November 10, 2021
ClevelandFed.org, 2021
CNBC.com, November 3, 2021

December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

Senior Scene

At Brookdale University Park, residents can grow in their physical health through fun activities. The Physical Dimension of Brookdale’s Optimum Life model is just one of six dimensions of well-being so residents will never stop growing.

Brookdale resident playing corn hole — At Brookdale University Park, residents can enjoy a wide variety of physical activities including Sno-Ball, cornhole and even putt-putt golf!

Do physical connections matter? Studies show exercise and physical activity influence how well we age. And fitness even supports brain health. As we age, we’re less active. By age 75 one in three men and one in two women do not engage in physical activity. Turns out, movement is good medicine. Physical activity helps lower blood pressure, prevent loss of mobility, reduce risk of falling, and reduce anxiety and depression. Being physically active can ease arthritis pain by 40%. Physical activity can help support brain health, too. When muscles work, they release a protein that generates new cells and connections in a part of the brain that is critical to memory.

Just 20 minutes of exercise, like walking, can act as an anti-inflammatory. And 25 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, plus strength training twice a week (yes, yoga counts!), will meet the government’s fitness recommendations. Don’t let the word exercise scare you. Focus more on being physically active. Walking your dog, gardening and dancing are all great ways to stay active. To help you stick with your plan, pic things you like to do, and block out time on your calendar, just like any other meeting or appointment. Team up with an exercise buddy, a close friend or even your dog. People who exercise with a partner are more likely to stick with it! The good news- a little goes a long way.

Companioning the Bereaved: Caring Versus Curing

You are invited to attend this special event with Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD, CT, Director of Center for Loss & Transition. Healthcare workers face grief on the front lines both professionally and personally. This presentation will help you enhance your knowledge and skills related to supporting people experiencing grief and loss. Anchored in Dr. Alan Wolfelt’s “companioning” model of grief care, there will be a recognition of how grief and mourning are normal and necessary experiences that are fundamentally a journey of the heart and soul. A critical distinction between caring versus curing will be outlined. Participants will go away with a wealth of knowledge surrounding the transformative nature of grief.

Following this presentation the participant will be able to:

Define a broader framework for loss/grief.
Explain the distinction between “caring” versus “curing.”
Understand the 11 tenets of “companioning” versus “treating” the mourner
Define six universal needs of mourning.

This event is by reservation only. RSVP to receive the Zoom meeting ID by contacting Leanne Messer at [email protected], 205-613-0688.

An Invitation to Experience Brookdale

We are excited and proud to say that Brookdale University Park is open to new residents! Brookdale residents enjoy an engaging lifestyle with a selection of care options to meet changing needs. The community conveniently located off Lakeshore Drive offers a full continuum of care, including independent living, assisted living, Alzheimer’s and dementia care and skilled nursing and rehabilitation. Call 205-870-0786 to connect with one of our team members who would be delighted to help you plan your personal visit, www.brookdale.com.

-Leanne Messer, Brookdale University Park

Contact Leanne to participate in upcoming Brookdale educational offerings and to schedule a tour, [email protected], 205-613-0688

January 4, 2022December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

Special Feature

Allison Allen has many roles in life- the former Broadway dancer is a wife, mother, speaker, and Bible teacher that is passionate about sharing Jesus with women everywhere. Allen will be in Birmingham on February 10 to speak at Samford University Legacy League’s Scholarship Luncheon.

Allison Allen is the author of two books. Her latest release, Thirsty for More is available now. Learn more about Allen at www.allisonallen.net.

From a young age, Allen remembers having an active imagination. Always a fan of musicals, she went to Carnegie Mellon University to work towards a degree in acting. “The only way I can fully explain my Broadway journey is that God is a better door opener than I could ever be,” Allen says. She originally auditioned for a show that was not a good fit for her. However, during that audition, “one of the producers thought I would be right for the Original Broadway Revival of Grease,” she explains, adding, “Through another round of topsy-turvy vocal, dancing and acting call-backs, against the odds, I found myself cast in the show.” Allen performed on Broadway for almost two years and “performed the hand-jive approximately 650 times.” During her time on Broadway, Allen played many parts- including the roles of Marty, Patty and Miss Lynch.

During one of her performances on Broadway, one of the executives of Women of Faith was in the audience. “He knew that Women of Faith had a position for one-woman dramas within their conference schedule and asked me to audition,” Allen says. For two years, she performed dramas written by Nicole Johnson and in her final year, she wrote and performed the one-woman piece on her own. “I grew so much by being able to be around such master communicators,” she adds. Soon after her time with Women of Faith, Allen began speaking at conferences and events around the country. “I count it among the great joys of my life to run alongside women as they get a clearer view of who they actually are in Christ.”

On February 10, you can hear from Allen when she speaks at Samford Legacy League’s Scholarship Luncheon. “So many women are crippled by hopelessness and shame all while Jesus is inviting us to step into the Story He is writing,” Allen says. She will share about her time on stage and “how God, in His great mercy, moved me from having to act my way through life, to being able to embrace authentic bravery.” Allen will also explore how to lean into the theme verse for the luncheon,“Be doers of the Word,” (James 1:22). To learn more about the Scholarship Luncheon and make reservations, visit www.samford.edu/legacyleague.

-Melissa Armstrong

December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

Best Books

A couple of months ago I endorsed Another Gospel – A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity by Alisa Childers. Another Gospel is the fascinating story of Childers’ encounter with progressive theology, the dangers she perceived in the movement, and her subsequent return to a more conservative community of faith.

This month I am endorsing a book that comes from the opposite end of the theological spectrum between conservative Christianity and progressive theology. Rachel Held Evans, an Alabama native, was a shining star in the progressive cosmos until her untimely death in 2019. Raised within conservative evangelicalism, Evans became a powerful voice within a community of Christians for whom conservative Christianity no longer resonated. She was both loved and despised as a result. When she died, multitudes of Christians flooded social media with testimonies of how Rachel enhanced their faith. There were also Christians who believed that her death may have been an act of God designed to protect the church from apostasy.

When Rachel died in 2019, Jeff Chu took Evans’ unpublished essays and unfinished work in progress and developed Wholehearted Faith (HarperOne). It is a book for those who may be filled with doubts, for those who harbor unwelcome questions, for those who cannot honestly embrace doctrinal certitude. It is for those who are terrified as their faith deconstructs, for those who no longer feel at home in the church of their youth. It is for those whom Jesus loves when the church does not. But I am not endorsing Wholehearted Faith for Rachel’s intended readers. I’m endorsing Evans’ book because every conservative Christian should read it.

Every progressive Christian should read Another Gospel, and every conservative Christian should read Wholehearted Faith. Read the other side. While the writers present very different views on important matters of faith, their love for Jesus and their deep desire to honestly practice their faith are present on every page. The authors reflect two communities within the one body of Christ.

-Darrel Holcombe, Owner

Sanctuary Christian Books and Gifts

Colonial Promenade, Alabaster

www.sanctuarychristianbooksandgifts.com

205-663-2370

December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

Best Books

Have you ever wanted to read through the Bible, but you don’t know where to start? ReviveDAILY- Year 1 and 2 may be just the devotional to start your journey through the Bible and take you deeper in your walk with Jesus!

About four years ago, the Lord led my husband, Kyle and I and the ministry we are a part of, Time to Revive, on a two-year journey through the Bible, similar to Paul in Acts 19 when he decided to study and lecture with the disciples for two years in the Hall of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9-10). We called the two-year journey through the Bible, www.reviveSCHOOL.org, and students gathered to join us in Indiana and some online. Chapter by chapter, seven days a week for two years, we intentionally studied and asked the Lord to reveal who is Jesus as the Messiah in every book of the Bible. My husband and a handful of pastors and teachers taught a daily 29-minute recorded audio and video lesson, some team members wrote study questions and notes, Mindi Oaten painted the books of the Bible, and I wrote a daily devotional.

What an incredible journey with the Lord to spend this time in the Word daily and seek His heart through the Word. It reminds me of the verses in Psalm 1:2-3, “Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted besides streams of water, that bears fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” After those two years, we didn’t know how the Lord would use www.reviveSCHOOL.org. However, the Lord has now taken the study resources around the world to over 13,000 students in 56 countries. Students are added to this number daily as new students are hungry to go deeper in the Word and understand scripture!

I believe now is the time for believers to remain rooted and grounded in the Word, sitting with Jesus so that we can stand strong for the Lord. As you spend time in His Word, you become like a tree planted beside the water. When you become weary and you want to lose heart or the schemes of the enemy get you down or distracted, you have the strength needed to hear His voice, stand strong in the Lord and in the truth of His Word! I pray reviveDAILY- Year 1 and Year 2 will encourage you to remain steadfast through the Word of God!

-Laura Kim Martin

April 25, 2023December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

Miracle Moments

Brought to you by: Molly Maid of Birmingham, www.mollymaid.com/birmingham

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Back in the spring, I became Facebook friends with the amazing Dickie Longo. I don’t even know how he came across my feed, but I was immediately drawn into his stories about being an 84-year-old runner who had written a book about how running saves lives. We exchanged a few comments and found out that we both used to work in the textbook industry as competitors in Louisiana! He commented on one of my posts where I was sharing a little bit about my health journey and how my goal was to run a 5K. He said that he wanted to send me a pair of HOKA running shoes. I couldn’t believe it and was so excited!

However, the running shoes never showed up. I just thought he forgot and never thought about it again. Instead of training for a 5K this summer, I was in physical therapy. I had several physical, emotional, and financial stressors hit me all at once. These things along with other stressors sent my already injured nervous system into dorsal vagal shutdown. You see, I was finally getting better from a decade of chronic illness. Lyme disease and mold toxicity have severely damaged my nervous system and left me with very little resilience to any kind of stress.

So, for the past couple of months I’ve been barely able to function. To say that I have been frustrated, disappointed, and on the brink of despair is an understatement. I was struggling to find my optimism for the future. I didn’t even have the energy to try to control my thoughts. They kept drifting to very dark places that left me wondering if I was ever going to get better. The 5K is so far out of reach that I can’t even see it anymore. All of my hopes and dreams are on hold again. I haven’t struggled like this since I was completely bedbound by severe environmental illness five years ago.

On one of my dark days, guess what showed up in the mail? HOKA running shoes from Dickie Longo! I couldn’t believe it! What are the odds of these shoes showing up when I’m at one of my lowest points? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s a coincidence, I call that a Godwink! These shoes were a physical reminder that I have a loving Heavenly Father who loves me and sees what I’m going through. He used Dickie Longo to give me a much needed reminder at the exact perfect time. I find comfort in the promises of God found in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you…”

-Kim Robinson

Robison lives in McCalla, Ala. and seeks to use her challenging health journey to help others.

We need you to share your Miracle Moment! Email [email protected] Subject Line: Miracle Moments or call 205-408-7150.

December 28, 2021 by Laurie Stroud

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Here’s to your Health

Brought to you by Community Partner COMPACT, www.compact2020.com

Every day, the world on the internet changes. From Tiktok dances to devastating news about a social media icon, the world on the internet can seem overwhelming to parents but it is the reality kids live in today. Sitting down with your child and explaining to them how to separate themselves from this world by putting down their devices and engaging with someone face to face is important. This will take away a lot of stress in their lives. Today’s most successful social media apps work hard on improving and growing the amount of people they can bring to their platform while maximizing the amount of time a person spends on their platform. The more time a person spends, the more ads they can run and the more likely they make a profit off their product. In the end, it’s a matter of business.

How social media becomes stressful. Even if you know that images you are viewing on social media are manipulated, they can still make you feel insecure about how you look or what’s going on in your life. We are all aware that other people tend to share the highlights of their lives rather than the low points that everyone experiences. But this doesn’t lessen the feelings of envy and dissatisfaction when scrolling through a friend’s photo of a beach trip. A study at the University of Pennsylvania found that a high usage of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram increases rather than decreases feelings of loneliness.

Ways to limit social media use and improve mental health. A 2019 University of Pennsylvania study found that reducing social media use to 30 minutes a day resulted in a significant reduction in levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep problems and fear of missing out. However, you don’t need to cut back on your social media use that drastically to improve your mental health. The same study concluded that just being more mindful of your social media use has beneficial results on your mood and focus.

Four tips on reducing your social media use.

Use an app to track how much time you spend daily on social media
Turn off your phone at certain times during the day
Don’t bring your phone or tablet to bed
Disable social media notifications and try removing social media apps from your phone

For more information on social media use, visit us on Facebook @Compact2020 or call 205-605-1827. †

A Track Record for Housing Market Optimism in 2022

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