Seeing the real stars of real estate?

The little saying from Jack’s Winning Words Blog for today is, “When it’s dark enough, you can see the stars.” (Charles A. Beard). I had an initial reaction to that saying and then thought about it a bit more and came to a second conclusion.

The first reaction is the most obvious – to find something positive in any situation, like seeing a rainbow on a rainy day. The second was more real estate oriented and has to do with seeing who the real “stars” are in these dark days for Realtors. The gloom and doom that descended over the market a couple of years back has had the impact of clearing out lots and lots of would-be or pretend Realtors – those who jumped in thinking that it is an easy way to make a living or some extra bucks. Not so!

This real estate crisis has also brought down to earth many of the high-flying super teams and super agents, although the best of them have adapted and flourished through this mess. It has also created new “stars” of sorts – those agents and teams that jumped on the REO bandwagon and now represent most of the foreclosed homes in any area. Many of those likely will prove to be shooting starts, ready to burn out as son as the crisis is over.

Also created in this mess are what I would call black holes (to continue and already strained metaphor) – those sleazy real estate operators on the fringes who specialize in short sales and foreclosures, but not always to the best interests of the sellers involved. To be sure, these people always existed; it’s just that the current environment encouraged them to become more visible and bold.

But amidst all of the darkness there are also real stars in the business – agents who are out there day after day honestly trying to provide counsel and help for distressed homeowners and helping buyers find just the right new home out of an overwhelming inventory. These agents aren’t necessarily blazing across the sky; they just get out there every day working hard in trying times and keeping the Realtor torch lit in the darkness. It’s not easy to be a Realtor these days and certainly not easy to make a decent living doing it. The easy thing to do would be to go find a “real job” doing something else; however, the thousands of stars of real estate have found a way to persevere through the current hardships and carry on. I salute you – the stars that brighten the gloomy darkness.