Reasons to say Yes to both… and reasons to say no.
What do you do for a living? Does anyone depend on you? I’m a residential real estate broker and a member of the National Association of Realtors. By rule, that should get me invited to a bunch of breakfast social meetings and a thirty-two cent lapel pin. In reality, it enriches my life in countless ways and offers me the opportunity to help families make major leaps towards lifelong plans and dreams. Often our industry is misunderstood, undervalued and dismissed.
I love what I do. I wake up each morning aware that I’m part of a very small group of professionals who currently hold the wheel and throttle to the world’s economy. Yes, I believe that the world’s economy at its basic core depends on men like me. It motivates me. Before you put this down, click to another page or track me down to declare my lunacy, let me explain.
At this point, the world economy is staring at the United States of America and hoping. Governments, businesses and investors across the globe are hoping that we’ll get our situation in order. Retirees are hoping that we’ll figure out our debt crisis and get spending in line. Many others don’t really care what it takes, they just want a better economic and general business outlook.
As the world watches, the United States is looking at a few historically reliable indicators to determine when and at what pace our economy will rebound, stabilize and consistently grow again. The most widely accepted of these indicators is the health of our national housing market. You can’t go four minutes without a media reference to new home starts, units sold, available inventory and housing affordability.
Well, news flash to the news media; residential real estate is local. Different neighborhoods, towns, cities and certainly regions and states have wildly different market conditions. Lumped into a collective “national” market, nearly all local economies are misrepresented. Some towns are outperforming national housing numbers in astronomically positive ways. Some would give away weekends just to approach the averages. The facts are relatively simple. While all markets are different, local markets are impacted heavily by the information communicated by, acted upon and documented from local real estate professionals like me.
With minimal effort and an elementary understanding of deductive reasoning, one can see that the world economy depends greatly on the American economy. The American economy is impacted significantly by the national housing market. The national housing market is really a collection of local housing markets. Local housing markets are heavily impacted by local real estate professionals.
So, could Realtors save the world’s economy?
Yes.
Yes, the world can depend on the top tier real estate professionals who dedicate themselves to maintaining local market expertise, studying trends and indicators of growth and challenges. The few who excel in delivering what the consumer needs and communicates truthfully what is required to protect the value of the family home can and should improve the confidence, momentum and ultimate survival of the local market and so on.
But then again, no.
No, the world can’t depend on just any man, woman or socialite who calls themselves a real estate agent. No, the selfish, clueless licensed masses will not have the foresight, commitment or staying power to save anything or anyone.
Real estate is changing again as it has many times. This time, it will never resemble what it once was. The real estate professional of the future must know his or her purpose to serve the client who makes up the local market which impacts the surrounding markets which make up the regional and statewide markets which of course culminate into the national housing market which is the beating heart of our country’s economy. And, the world is watching.
Todd Tramonte
The Todd Tramonte Home Selling Team
