VBJ July 2020

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THE VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL 20 www.TheValleyBusinessJournal.com July 2020 What’s Next? REAL ESTATE by by Gene Steve Wunderlich Fillingim Remember the good old days when the only thing we had to worry about was a deadly pandemic? Seems like only yesterday. Oh wait… Yet with exceptions made for protesters and looters, our households are still on modified lockdown due to CV-19 that is continuing to wreak havoc with our economy, with our local business community and with our municipal budgets. As one columnist recently noted, ‘we’re participating willingly and, with some, quite enthusiastically, in burning down our economic house.’ But it could be that some areas of the economy are starting to rebound. Stock market and jobs data released recently point to a potential rally on Wall Street and suggest the economy could be on a quicker than expected path to recovery than initially estimated. We may see that V shaped recovery instead of the more prolonged swoosh after all, although we’re certainly not out of the woods yet. However, there are some brighter lights in housing and both our state and national Chief Economists, as well as other local prognosticators, point to housing as one economic element that will lead the charge out of the morass. While consumer confidence has plummeted to its lowest level since 1973, the record 10 year recovery and jobs streak has ended, and GDP has taken a shot across the bow, interest rates are again at record lows with the possibility of dropping further, and mortgage applications hit their low point the week of April 10 and have been climbing ever since. Locally we did see a further decline in sales of 9% month-over-month (760 / 695) and a 39% drop year-over-year (1131), Year-to-date we’re only off 9% (4,171 / 3,815) which puts us back to 2014 sales level. And while I will make the argument that given what we’re going through, that’s not that bad, I will also point to the fact that pending sales are up 28% heading into June (857 / 1,183). While that won’t put us on track to win any prizes, it’s certainly a good omen and precursor of a decent month. As the market loosens up, as consumer confidence returns, as the economy rebounds, buyers moved by low interest rates may come into the market in droves. Further, shifts in attitudes may drive more buyers to our inland communities signaling an end to the decade-long California myth perpetuated by Sacramento that ‘everybody wants to live in highly dense urban areas convenient to shopping and transportation hubs.’ Until, that is, a pandemic comes along and those high density areas prove to be the most deadly. And until the wave of Millenials discover the joys of family life with 2 kids and a pet and their own backyard. Reality trumps Agenda 21 driven ‘smart growth’ planning. More good news, median prices across the region rose 2% monthover-month ($405,667 / $414,150) and maintained a 6% lead year-over-year ($388,974). Year-to-date we’re also up by 6% (377,964 / $403,972) with our regional median price crossing the $400,000 barrier for the first time in over a decade. The pro’s suggest prices statewide may only appreciate 0% - 2% this year and rise just 1% - 3% next year. In one recent forecast CoreLogic opined we may actually see a drop in median price in 2021. Barring a broader market retraction (always possible), I’m just not seeing that. Then again, they get paid for their opinions so what do I know. I guess time will tell. Here’s why. You’d have to go back to July of 2013 to find a lower inventory, 1,193 units on the market providing just 1.9 months of backup. 1.3 in Lake Elsinore, 1.5 in Murrieta and Menifee, 1.6 in Temecula and Perris. And properties continue to fly off the market. While average days on market was up to 22.9 days in May from 16 days in April, it’s still just 12 days in Wildomar, 13 in Murrieta and 17 in Temecula. Let’s see – inventory down, interest rates dropping, demand rising, the economy improving – sounds like a recipe for market resurgence to me. But we also can’t take a single month and extrapolate too far down the road. There’s still time to drive this bus off the track and given some of the bills that Sacramento is trying to foist on us, could happen. In the meanwhile, stay safe, practice your distancing, and support your local businesses trying to reopen. Gene Wunderlich is Vice President, Government Affairs for Southwest Riverside County Association of Realtors. If you have questions on the market, please contact me at GAD@ srcar.org. “ While consumer confidence has plummeted to its lowest level since 1973, the record 10 year recovery and jobs streak has ended, and GDP has taken a shot across the bow, interest rates are again at record lows with the possibility of dropping further, and mortgage applications hit their low point the week of April 10 and have been climbing ever since.
July 2020 NIST – Achieving Alignment in Cybersecurity TECHNOLOGY by by James Steve Laszko Fillingim Technology has always been a dynamic market. Traditional focus has moved from a hardware/software to virtualization and the cloud but data has clearly been designated as the true prize and in the unpatrolled world of the Internet, it is up to you to secure it. You can have the fastest car in the lot but take it down a dirt road and you’re in trouble. The difficulty with protecting data thus far has been the lack of standardization of how to go about protecting it but the Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is providing the foundation that has been missing. Though the NIST is part of the Department of Commerce, companies are not mandated to follow any of their standards unless you work with the Federal Government and it is a contractual provision. The value of the CSF to non-government serving businesses is a common language around cybersecurity and future proofing your security posture for regulations to come. Both the California Consumer Privacy Act and the New York Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Regulation use NIST guidelines in their framework and many other states are rolling out new laws forcing business to have formal cybersecurity policies The topic of cybersecurity is often met with an “it’s not going to happen to me” attitude even though you’ve probably received breach notification emails from companies you’ve given your personal information to. In 2018 alone 5 billion sensitive records were compromised. Picture for a moment how your business would be affected THE VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL www.TheValleyBusinessJournal.com “ if you had to send your employees and customers an email that their personal information had been compromised. Will they trust you moving forward? What will you need to do to repair the relationship? What will the government fine you for the breach? The NIST framework can be applied to any size business. Getting your arms around the basics is the best way to start building your cybersecurity posture. The core of the framework is broken down into 5 functions: Identify – Think through all of your systems, people, assets, data and capabilities. Protection – Implement your safeguards and conduct ongoing maintenance. Detect – Processes and procedures for timely detection are crucial to mitigate loss. Respond – A cybersecurity response plan details out the how, who and what when there is no time to waste. Recover – Create a plan to be resilient and restore operations back to normal. Beyond the potential for loss of business and reputation damage a data security breach in itself can cost you a significant amount of money from data recovery to fines. By working through the NIST 5 functions to begin your framework, you’ll be able to clearly gauge your acceptable risk level and plan out where action is needed in your environment. While this can be done in house, depending on your particular talents, an outside specialist will be able to assess your infrastructure from a different perspective and is usually the best source for up to date information and process control. Whatever your path, it needs to get done. Mythos Technology is an IT consulting and management firm that provides Managed Technology Services including hosted cloud and compliance solutions. For more information, please visit www. mythostech.com or call (951) 813-2672. Picture for a moment how your business would be affected if you had to send your employees and customers an email that their personal information had been compromised. Will they trust you moving forward? What will you need to do to repair the relationship? What will the government fine you for the breach? SUCCESSFUL ON-LINE CONFERENCING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Before the meeting, conferences should be planned by the host. Their responsibility is to ensure that all the needed participants have been invited and provided connectivity information including phone numbers, meeting ids and passwords. Depending on the application used, a simple link may be provided for one click access. Provide each attendee appropriate rights at the meeting as well. Some participants only require talk and listen privileges where others will need to share information, promote a participant and mute attendees. Immediately before the meeting begins, the host and any presenters should arrive early to check connectivity and go over logistics. Documents must be available and ready for sharing. Wasting time trying locate a presentation risks losing attendees attention or their presence altogether. If appropriate, place a starting message in the chat box that asks each participant to type in their name and location. This is a good way to start engaging your audience. During open discussion there is some etiquette to follow. When one 21 contributes it can be a good idea to start by having them state their name. In a face-to-face meeting one sees who is talking but over the phone or on camera it may take time for listeners to identify that person. If presenting, build in pauses to allow the audience opportunity to ask questions and comment. In a smaller group, don’t monopolize the conversation in order to allow time for others to participate. Speak slower than normal. This is especially important in a global setting where mental language translation may be taking place. Mute when not talking as background noise serves to interrupt or distract in a meeting. If on a video call, observe what is behind you. It can be equally distracting. Follow these tips and you’ll be on your way to productive on-line meetings. Ted Saul is a business coach that assists with Business Planning. He holds a master certificate in project management and has earned his MBA from Regis University. Ted can be reached on LinkedIn or emailing TedSaulBiz@ gmail.com.
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VBJ July 2020

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