Originally Published in the Summer 2013 Edition of Washington Realtors REbound Magazine
I received my Real Estate License on my birthday in 2005. I was 26 years old and had already bought two houses. As I sat in the office of my first Broker filling out my paperwork, a 30 year veteran of the business, my eyes drifted to a framed sign on his office wall that said something like, “God, give me one more boom market, I swear I won’t fritter it away this time.”
“What’s a boom market?” I wondered, not realizing I was in the midst of the housing boom and about to learn the meaning of “Boom” and “Crash” in a big way. We all know what happened next. The greatest price drops in US history. REALTORS and their clients alike losing houses, going through bankruptcy, and struggling to get by as savings disappeared and debts mounted. By the time the bust was thoroughly underway I was divorced, renting, and struggling to close enough deals to get by.
The silver lining of the downturn was the connections and friendships I made with other REALTORS who were going through similar experiences. Agents who had no time to talk to me before were sharing benefit of their experience and giving me advice. It’s true that there are always those agents who tend to stand alone no matter what, preferring not to get close to those who they perceive to be their competition, but in my experience REALTORS pulled together.
I have observed so many more friendships forming between REALTORS after these years of struggling together to make deals happen, find new business, and support each other through hardships. I’ve seen REALTORS coming to the aid of agents who were not even in their own office- whether it’s giving money or cooking a meal to help with a fight against cancer or taking a struggling fellow REALTOR out to lunch.
Not every REALTOR’s experienced the changes in our market the same way. This issue is full of people who found opportunities and changed the way they did business during the downturn. Many of us run smarter, tighter businesses and lead more intentional lives. Today I look around my office and see agents busier than ever and I wonder: As our confidence returns, competition increases, and our wallets swell, can we continue to build on the spirit of camaraderie and collaboration that helped us survive these years?
