It’s just a suggestion, but the industry I’ve been part of for 35 years needs to take a good look in the mirror and wonder if we like who we see. Are we really going to be a business that makes lawsuits and half-truths our reputation? Or can we find another way?
We know how to handle challenges. It’s what we do for a living. Tough times can lead industries and people astray.
But we can always stage a comeback: for the better.
Let me tell you a story.
When you’re down and out
Real estate knows a thing or two about being down and out.
We go through cycles all the time, not to mention pandemics, lawsuits, and technology disruption. And yet, for the majority of my career, we’ve quickly gotten over our shock and returned to what I’d call the “natural gravity” of an industry that wakes up every day with good intentions in its heart.
For customers — and for each other.
Which makes it hard to believe that lately - perhaps since the pandemic(?) the industry seems angry all the time. Fighting. Breaking things. Breaking ourselves. I’m not a psychologist, but as a philosopher, I call it a “certain sense of life.” You know mine: The constant battle to find the inspiring side, and not let problems hurt, at least not too deep down.
So when I see the industry hurting — and mostly because it’s hurting itself more than external forces — I try to recall what we used to do when someone in the industry had a problem.
How we used to react to problems
Twenty-five years ago, I was part of a REALTOR® association in the northeast that woke up to find that one of its members had been diagnosed with a terrible illness. She had two children in school and ran a small brokerage with a few agents in her office. She had been a REALTOR® for more than twenty years, and she was always there for everyone, not just her office. You could always find her volunteering to teach classes to new agents, participating in Board committees, advocating for legal issues, and helping partners play a role in our industry.
That morning, she woke up with everything broken.
Like many REALTORS® back then, she didn’t have the kind of health insurance we take for granted these days; often, entrepreneurs went without coverage entirely. Nor did she have other sources of income apart from getting up every day and making calls, showing homes, listing houses, and helping consumers. She wasn’t wealthy enough to take months off to battle her illness or sit around waiting to recover. Even her agents, while there for her spiritually, wouldn’t be enough to survive financially. She was facing disaster.
And then, her real estate community found out. And jumped into action!
Some “competing brokers” stepped in to help with her agents offering guidance and supervision during times of absence. They opened their doors to their meetings, technology, and staff. They didn’t try once to recruit her agents away.
Dozens of agents offered to handle her showings, open houses, transaction tasks, and the to-dos it takes to be in sales. Nobody asked for a referral fee.
As for us vendors - my firm was an affiliate of the Board - decided to do our part, too. We helped organize a fundraiser and called in hundreds of favors. A free hall. Donated catering. Free police details to handle traffic. Dealers for a casino night. A free DJ. Gifts for raffles and an auction. Volunteers to run the event.
Nobody asked for a dime, and we all put in the hours on top of running our own businesses.
That evening, so many people showed up, the hall was overflowing, and cars waited a mile just to drive up and make a donation.... all with a smile on their faces.
We raised a ton of money - enough for that agent to take all the time off she needed without risking her home, her business, or her children’s education. We were covered by the press, and others came forward, offering home care, transportation, school tutoring, food and supplies, and home maintenance support. And much, much more.
A Tale of Two Industries
How our board of REALTORS® reacted remains one of the PROUDEST moments in my life. At that moment, I knew I was part of something MUCH bigger than the fight for listings, the competition to recruit agents, or the legal battles over taxes. I was part of a community that KNEW what it meant to do the right thing, stand up for what matters, and treat each other with decency and kindness.
An industry that practiced in PRIVATE what it practiced at WORK: When there’s a challenge, we work TOGETHER to make it better.
This year, I have had a chance to see both sides of the industry in action. The daily onslaught of misspoken social media and industry-media letters that hide more than they say. The lawsuits, arguments, and half-stories told from conference stages. It’s heartbreaking.
I’ve also seen the other side, too. The ones who aren’t trying to be “right” because they’re too busy trying to “do good” in communities all across America. Putting something more than market share alone at the forefront of their business.
The everyday acts of kindness, from agent to agent, without the need for a referral, fee, or recruiting pitch. The brokers from one part of the country who air-drop into another region hit by a hurricane or fire. People who make their social media posts an opportunity to post something nice, encouraging, fair, and kind.
That’s who we are. Those are my kind of people. Aren’t they yours, too?
It’s time for our industry to return to our positive sense of life: The one where the answer to problems is in all of our best interests, not just one side’s position, on any issue. Where we re-affirm who we still are and who we want to be, by showing how we treat people we disagree with; not just the ones who agree with us.
And not turn every day into lawsuits.
We’re the housing industry after all:
Let’s normalize building, not breaking.
We know how to sit on opposite sides of the negotiating table, without considering each other the enemy. Isn’t it time to stand side-by-side at the forefront of our industry’s future?
That’s who we are.
Hard on problems; soft on people.
That’s who we’re meant to be.
Advocates for consumers - and each other
That’s what makes what we do more than “market share.”
We make differences.Not just lawsuits.
Let’s normalize being that kind of real estate industry once again.
—M
