Realtors can be easy targets and quite frankly we don’t do ourselves any favors with some of our industry habits. I am the first to point out 20 year old agent photos on a business card, even thought they have changed brokerages 7 times or the really weird team names we see on signs around town. Its in fact a pretty cheesy workplace and I would say most Realtors realize this and we tend to have some fun with it. Most agents I come into contact with have pretty good senses of humor and if it weren’t for a select few we wouldn’t have anything much to make fun of.
But thats not why I am here today. Today I am writing to give a big shout out to all the Realtors that have stayed the course over the past year during the great Covid pandemic. The thousands of independent contractors that took on a pandemic and merged it with the busiest of times selling homes. The moms and dads that left each day from the safety of their own home bubble to work hard and provide for not only their families but a service to their friends and customers. It was a busy year and looking back it was an awesome year to remember for years.
A year ago i was showing homes to a couple and the wife was a nurse and of course at the time had no idea what affect Covid was going to have on us but all everyone could talk about was what they thought was going to happen. Shut downs, Quarantines, Nuclear War and of course bringing it all back to politics to divide us even more, but one of the groups was charging forward making the most of it without fail and that was the Realtors.
I am definitely not including myself in this group because I am not just home sales focused, so to say I was in the trenches would be an overstatement and taking credit where credit was far from due. I am talking about Realtors that sell homes every month and their livelihood is based on finding a buyer and seller to agree on terms and get a commission. It’s a job that became crazy over the last year and just as things were shutting down became an Essential Service provider. So even if they didn’t want to work during covid or felt uncomfortable they were going to have buyers and sellers calling them to help them and if they didn’t answer the call, they would be out of business. I think it was a hard dilemma for many as we heard all the scary stories, new waivers and amazing amounts of gloves and sanitizer to apply during showings it was choose between making a living or not and thats not an easy call.
Give it to the Realtors that stayed in the game for navigating dozens of poisonous homes, running errands, meeting at title companies and some going to the office every single day. We took strangers in our cars, we went to Lowe’s constantly to buy lockboxes and supplies, we met clients for lunch and coffee which at times was nearly impossible with everything closed. They were asked to attend closings, then asked to sit in the car and then back in the room again all while just trying to keep a deal alive for everyone involved.
While many groups were running home and figuring out how to use zoom and never be near a human again Realtors were fist bumping and meeting contractors in homes. While some workers were starting campaigns to be the first for vaccination Realtors put on a fresh mask and greeted families at Open Houses. While some employees are digging their heals into the ground to never go back to their cubicles Realtors are popping in and out of their office all day long. And really they are doing this happily as they are providing a service valued by their clients and friends. Its been awesome to watch our industry adapt just like many others like medical workers, while not as scary definitely a risk and like construction workers who stayed on the job site. Its actually been quite selfless as they took on new buyers and visited every home that popped on the market last minute to find buyers their best home. Or preparing listings that are clean and safe and still navigable when nobody really knew anything.
So to say I am impressed and honored to be associated with many of these troopers is an understatement and after a year of watching these professionals make the best of a situation and not ask for any favors is something everyone Realtors should be proud of.
People don’t always need thank you’s and acknowledgement but as I look around at my team and colleagues in the industry I am definitely going to be more grateful and hold them to higher regard then ever before. I think they just hope that the community appreciates their diligence and willingness to stay the course.
-Thanks