We all know that natural disasters ravaged Houston, Puerto Rico, and Mexico City within weeks of one another. Photos and videos of the damage dominated social media and sent Americans including many of our NAHREP friends with ties to those regions into panic mode. The stories and images of human suffering are too painful to contemplate but some of the agony is mitigated by evidence that the worst of times always seems to bring out the best in certain people. While hatred and divisions seem to be running at an all time high, I get inspiration by reading about the dozens of amazing stories about the strength of the human spirit. These stories may not make page one, but are there if you look. Here are a few examples:
- Residents in Houston formed a human chain to rescue a pregnant woman who was trapped in her home and another human chain saved an elderly man who was trapped in his flooded car (see pic above)
- A reporter in the midst of the Mexico City quake writes that she is “in awe of the solidarity of Mexicans” as she witnesses people rushing toward collapsed buildings, residents grabbing shovels to remove rubble, social media turning into a place to watch for signal flares from those still trapped, and citizens being turned away as volunteers because there were already more than enough.
- Cruise ships provided haven and a mattress store converts to sleeping shelters
- Celebrities Pit Bull, Mark Cuban, Jennifer Lopez, J.J. Watt, Kristen Bell, Marc Anthony, and Ricky Martin send private jets, raise millions, roll up their sleeves and post passionate pleas
- NAHREP members from around the country start their own fundraisers, meet with government officials and post heartfelt messages to family and friends
Check out this story for more on these acts of human kindness and courage
The top real estate sales coaches, like Mike Ferry, flat out tell their students that representing buyers is for losers. Driving buyers around to open houses, dealing with fickle lenders, and filling out multiple offer forms is a lot of work. To make matters worse, after doing all that work, you still might not get paid if your buyers' offers aren't accepted.
By definition, unintended consequences are the results of an action different from what was expected or planned. They are often referenced in relation to changes in policies. I have heard the term used for years, primarily related to government policies. Still, I didn’t realize until recently that much has been written on the subject, and most experts believe that there are three categories of unintended consequences:
This week's big news in real estate was the settlement of the class action lawsuits directed against the National Association of Realtors (NAR)...Despite what you may have heard from the media, if the settlement is approved, this would be a modest victory for both realtors and homebuyers. The lawsuit's deeply misguided proponents, including Steve Brobeck from the Consumer Federation of America, have been calling for an outright ban on broker cooperation. In that regard, they didn't get what they wanted.