I am a blessed man, and how well I know it! I found (fell into) a career in my very early 20’s that I have enjoyed immensely. For sure, it’s had its ups and downs. In fact when Karen and I were married, I had stepped out of real estate for a 9 month period and was never going to go back into commission sales again – EVER! Why? Because I couldn’t make a sale to save my soul. It was a period of sky-high mortgage rates, around 14%, which had come down from a record 18.45% in 1981.
The only way I got back into real estate was because a kind man named Glen Chileski hired me to manage ERA Truckee Tahoe Realty and put me on a salary, with commissions, and overrides. I owe that man a debt of huge magnitude. I got to work in a business that was different every day of the year, presenting numerous challenges, interacting with vastly different people, and it provided for my family.
But oh, the ebb and flow!
A wise King once said, “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun.”
King Solomon could have been talking about modern day stock or real estate markets – particularly now as it relates to the changing housing market and the
numerous career changes that are and will be unfolding in the months ahead.
“Realtor contraction will happen also. It always does when change happens in the industry. I witnessed many leave the business when MLS computerization entered the real estate marketplace in the 80’s taking the place of our beloved real estate books.”
Beginning in 2007, millions of folks lost their job in the Great Recession when we experienced the bursting of the housing bubble. In the years that followed, tens of thousands of foreclosures were happening each year. We Realtors were surviving on doing “short sales.” In all my history of working in this industry, that was the bleakest. Right and left, friends and neighbors were losing their homes. Thousands of Realtors threw in the career towel during that distressing market.
And what of the present? We’re beginning to see large scale layoffs in the mortgage industry as thousands of jobs are being eliminated as new purchase mortgages and refinances fall off the table due to the rising mortgage rates that now exceed 5%. (That last sentence -5%- blows my mind)
Realtor contraction will happen also. It always does when change happens in the industry. I witnessed many leave the business when MLS computerization entered the real estate marketplace in the 80’s taking the place of our beloved real estate books. Now, with low inventory, huge corporate investors buying up homes for rentals, sales are dropping. The reduction of first time and move-up buyers due to higher rates doesn’t help either
The next wave of change is now happening. There is nothing new under the sun! Not even our hot Scottsdale sun!
