Last week I was in New York. I was in town for a meeting with CNBC, and Armando Tam was in town to meet with our local NAHREP chapters in the area. On Tuesday, we were having breakfast at the Soho Grand Hotel and were seated next to a young white couple who seemed annoyed. It turns out they had been waiting an excessive amount of time for their breakfast to arrive. Once it did arrive, they ate their food and defiantly told their server that they weren’t going to pay their bill and stormed out. The server calmly said “Ok” and proceeded to clear their table. I have to admit, I was a bit shocked because I had never seen anything like that before. The couple was so matter of fact with their declaration, and the server didn’t even blink. We’ve all been subject to bad service at restaurants before, but it never occurred to me that not paying the bill was an option. I know that not everything is about race, but Armando and I did discuss whether the restaurant’s reaction would have been different if the patrons were Black… or Hispanic for that matter. It made us think about the two Black men in Philly who were arrested in Starbucks for no reason and whether the public would have been as sympathetic if it turned out they had refused to pay their bill because of bad service. I can honestly say that I don’t know, but it’s something to think about.
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.
For years, large companies have been outsourcing to India and China, but the politics with China is unpredictable at best, and India has its limitations as well...However, Mexico and Latin America are just on the other side of our southern border, in the same time zone as the U.S., and with a talented and plentiful population of eager workers. There are also a number of companies that make the process of hiring a nearshore team practically turn-key.