Start your week with intention.
This week I was in Virginia speaking at the Legacy of Her event, sharing my story with a room full of women who each had a story of their own. It was one of those days that fills your cup all the way to the top.
From there, I hopped over to New York to spend the weekend with my daughter. We saw Harry Styles on Friday night (yes, her mother knew the words), and then had a whole Saturday together before I flew home. It was one of those core-memory weekends.
The timing could not have been better. With everything the market threw at us this week, I needed that room. Those women reminded me how strong and resilient we all are, and how easy it is to forget that about ourselves.
Listening to them took me right back to 2004.
I was about seven months pregnant with our twins when Chris Altig called. My husband and I had struggled with infertility, so we were over the moon, and also trying to figure out what life with two babies was going to look like.
Chris told me our Kennewick branch manager had left for another company, and he wanted to know if I was interested in the job.
Kennewick was where I grew up and where both of our families lived, about three hours east of our home in Vancouver, Washington. I did not have a lot of extended family around growing up because my parents were both from Louisiana, and I loved the idea of our girls having their grandparents, aunts, and uncles down the road.
The professional side was not so simple.
I was a top producer doing great volume, and this was long before remote work. Every client meeting and every agent meeting happened face to face. My whole business was built on relationships in my own backyard, and moving meant leaving most of that behind.
After a lot of reflection and prayer, we said yes.
The girls were born October 20th. My husband left his teaching job to stay home with them, which made sense financially and was also a huge sacrifice on his part.
We packed up, moved to the Tri-Cities, and in January I walked into the branch for my first day.
The three remaining loan officers came in and resigned because they were following their old manager.
There I was, 31 years old, still postpartum, still unable to fit into my jeans, sitting alone in a branch with twelve offices and nobody in them.
I had to rebuild my own production and hire loan officers at the same time because that was the job they had hired me to do.
So, I got to work.
I tried every crazy idea I could think of to get myself back in front of people. I called past clients, reached out to friends and family, and even paid a service to book me two agent meetings a week. Most of those agents just wanted me to send them leads, so that one did not exactly pan out.
What finally worked was the unglamorous stuff: more calls, more meetings, more face-to-face conversations, until deals started to shake loose.
By the end of that year, I had hired three loan officers and made President’s Council, which took about $30 million in production. I still shake my head at that.
The empty branch turned out to be one of the greatest teachers of my career. More than two decades later, I still lean on what it taught me.
Make the decision, then stay flexible about the route.
Something changes when you go all in on the decision. You stop spending your energy asking whether you should be doing this and start putting that energy into making it work.
I was completely committed to the decision, but flexible about how I got there. For us, there was no Plan B on whether we would make the move work. But I changed the approach as many times as I needed to.
Your why has to be bigger than the empty office.
I did not want to get out of bed and drive to a branch with nobody in it. That is when your why does the heavy lifting. Mine was two little girls and a husband who had given up his career so I could do this.
There is no shortcut around the conversations.
I tried to buy my way into relationships, and it did not work. When the market gets choppy, the temptation is to look for the hack that will make everything easier. Most of the time, the way through is more of the unglamorous work we already know how to do.
Nobody does it alone, and nobody can do it for you.
There is no way I got through that year without my husband, my family, Chris, and a team of people cheering me on. And at the end of the day, I was still the only one who could make it happen. Both of those things are true at the same time, and both are equally important.
The women in Virginia reminded me that resilience rarely feels heroic when you are living it. Most of the time, it looks like getting out of bed, walking back into the empty office, and making the next call.
So if this week has you questioning yourself, go back to your why. Stay flexible about the route. Lean on your people.
Then make the next call.
Make it a great week! 💛🌟
MY LINKEDIN FEED
There is one thing AI will never be able to do for you, and I watched women prove it on a stage this week.
Richard Milligan
If you want to accelerate trust with your recruit, be willing to get vulnerable with them. Before your recruits can connect with your wins, they must connect with what almost broke you.
Logan Mohtashami
Monday's podcast will discuss why the spreads are more important now for this year and the next two years.
CHART OF THE WEEK
In February 2022 there were only about 346,500 homes for sale in the entire country. By August 2026 that number had climbed to more than 1.14 million, which is more than three times as many and 3.6% more than a year ago. NAR's August numbers show the same shift: existing-home sales ran at 3.98 million annualized, 1.62 million homes were on the market, supply sat at 4.9 months, and the median existing-home price was $429,100, up 1.6% from last year. Buyers have more choices than they've had in years, and prices are still rising, just more slowly.
What to tell a borrower or agent: For the first time in years, buyers have room to be picky. Get fully pre-approved before you start looking so you can negotiate on price, repairs, or seller credits instead of competing on speed.
Source: Realtor.com via FRED, not seasonally adjusted. Sales, supply, and price figures from the NAR August 2026 Existing-Home Sales Housing Snapshot.
PODCAST OF THE WEEK
Rob Dial talks about how what we believe about ourselves shapes our thoughts, our actions, and even our biology, and he walks through three ways to get past the limiting beliefs that keep us stuck.
AI THAT GOT MY ATTENTION
Meta launched Muse this month, a personal AI agent that can shop, send email, and handle payments for you, and Amazon has already locked it out. Amazon says Muse never asked permission, doesn't identify itself as an AI while it browses, and stores customers' login credentials, which creates security and privacy risks. Underneath all of that is a bigger fight over who owns the customer relationship once an AI agent is the one doing the shopping, and our industry is going to face that same question sooner than we think.
LINKS WORTH YOUR TIME
WHERE TO FIND ME
Oct 1 to 2: CMG NW Division California Top Producer and Managers Meeting, Healdsburg, CA
Oct 6 to 8: Momentum Builder, Dallas, TX
Oct 10: mPower, Chicago, IL
Oct 20: Spokane/North Idaho All Employee October Luncheon
If you want time on the books, grab a spot on my calendar here.
ON THE CALENDAR
Sept 29: Case-Shiller and FHFA home prices, Consumer Confidence, JOLTS job openings, and National Coffee Day
Sept 30: PCE inflation, GDP, ADP private payrolls, Chicago PMI
Sept 30 to Oct 1: New York MBA Annual Convention, Saratoga Springs
Oct 1: ISM Manufacturing, jobless claims, HousingWire Mortgage Banking Summit, Dallas
Oct 2: September jobs report
Oct 6 to 8: Momentum Builder Live 2026, Dallas
Oct 10: mPowering You, MBA's summit for women in real estate finance, Chicago
Oct 11 to 14: MBA Annual Convention and Expo, Chicago
Oct 14: September CPI inflation reading, and MBA Tech Exchange, Chicago
Oct 16: National Boss's Day
Oct 16 to 19: NAMB National 2026, Las Vegas
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"When we deny the story, it defines us. When we own the story, we can write a brave new ending." Brené Brown
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Natalie Overturf
Cell: 360-606-7947