“You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns.”
Col. Nathan R. Jessep, played by the immortal Jack Nicholson, provided this amazing line in the 1992 production of A Few Good Men
Well it appears that the men holding the guns on the mortgage industry fell asleep on the wall, and have allowed them to be breached. And now we are all left facing the truth. And that truth is simply:
It is all our fault.
There, I said it. In my first Agent Genius post I came out and called us all on the carpet.
Who is “us” I hear a few of you asking? Well, that would be …
- Mortgage Industry
- Real Estate Agents
- Appraisers
- Government
- Buyers
- American Public
- Economists
- Developers
- NAR, OAR, and every other REALTOR® organization
This really hit home with me on Monday as I sat at the Ohio Association of REALTORS®’ Legislative Conference in lovely downtown Columbus.
Speaker after speaker, from Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to financial leaders to agents, talked about how each is fixing the problem. All the while “back-peddling” to limit their connection to the current financial situation.
Only one, of the 15 talking heads, paraded before the group actually made a comment, “We should have done this four years ago to REALLY help our fellow Ohioans.”
What a novel concept, helping people. Isn’t that why most of us got into the real estate industry to begin with? The ability to help our friends – new and old – achieve the American Dream.
Maybe, I’m a dreamer or maybe it’s my market. But I get a true sense of satisfaction and enrichment in my life by getting to know the people that I’m doing – or attempting to do – a transaction with. Some have become friends, some have become wonderful connections, but all of them have become “extended family”.
And if I wouldn’t put my Mom in this house, why would I put your family in that house or loan agreement?
We need to stop passing the buck, swallow “the red pill” and take our lumps. Stop thinking about dollars and transactions. Think about the families and treat these clients as family.
Treating your clients like family, that’s some truth I can handle.
Photo by J and used via license of Stock.xchng.
