I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and hopefully taking some vacation time. I have to admit that I haven’t had much free time this summer, but have had a few great weekends with family, friends and most importantly our grandchildren!

One thing that has been tough this summer has been the disappointing news that the U.S. economy is still struggling. The Fed last week said the recovery was “more modest” than they hoped.  In the housing industry, we did see a spike in home sales during the first half of the year largely because the federal tax credit worked as a stimulus.

The credit was all about instilling confidence in housing. But today without that incentive, buyers have retreated again which is not great news for the economy. Housing relates to about 21% of the US gross domestic product according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and each home sold brings about $60,000 into local economies according to a couple of studies.

Clearly we are not in robust economic time. But still the National Association of Realtors and Fannie Mae are projecting there will be more than 5 million homes sold in 2010, about the same number as last year. So despite the financial challenges there are still a lot of families on the move.

And today, probably more than ever, they need the advice, counsel, experience and knowledge their real estate agent provides. I was absolutely thrilled with the results of the Wall Street Journal/RealTrends Top 400, the leading survey of real estate agents, that shows how Coldwell Banker continues to dominate the real estate industry. Coldwell Banker had nearly two times as many agents included on the Top 400 than any other brand.

While being on top is a great place to be, I find it even more exciting that our agents continue to meet your needs during one of the toughest economic times in US history. If they didn’t provide outstanding service, there is no way our agents would be able to be as successful as this survey shows.

Congrats to all Coldwell Banker agents on the list!  We all salute you!