The real estate business is also a service business

When many Americans talk about real estate, most often they discuss it in terms of money and business. It is after all one of America’s largest sectors, employing millions in various capacities from construction, hardware, construction materials, sales, marketing and various other functions. 

We all speak of real estate in terms of the real world assets that change ownership, or provide rental income for landlords and property owners. We speak of costs that people and companies incur when building, buying, renting or leasing these properties.

A house may be a structure built of wood, stone or concrete that protects us from the elements. It may have three, four or more bedrooms, several bathrooms, a living room, a dining room and other features. We may describe it in terms of location, of square meter size, of roof type or various other characteristics.

Inside that physical structure, however, are people who use that house to store their memories and give love (or hate) within their family. It may keep mementoes of successes, souvenirs that mark important events, treasured valuable items and things that may seem mundane and trivial to some but give meaning to others.

Clearly, these Los Angeles fires have literally “hit home” for many people and families. There are many people who might try to put on a brave face but are hurting inside. All their efforts over the past few decades are now reduced to ashes and rubble. They are not even sure if their insurance will cover the costs of rebuilding, let alone if they actually have coverage, which many do not have.

While a few of us might be able to purchase our homes with cash, the vast majority of us rely on mortgages which we pay over the years while we work. We insure it, because for many millions of Americans their houses are where most of their net worth is stored. They may not be that liquid, but their wealth is mostly in their homes because part of their soul and being is in that house when it becomes a home.

Sure, real estate is a huge business that generates money. But as the Los Angeles County wildfires and countless other disasters have demonstrated, when someone loses a home they lose a huge part of themselves. That home could be their anchor, their rock of mental stability. 

Now all they have in material terms has been reduced to rubble and ashes. To top it off, they might actually still have mortgage payments they still need to make. Ideally, their insurance should cover the closing of this mortgage, but unfortunately a lot of policies have been pulled.

This is why real estate can and should also be viewed as a service business. When we make making money secondary as a logical outcome of providing a good service to our clients, renters, buyers, construction tenants and others, we make those Americans who have lost their anchor, their homes, whole again. 

So when we see our fellow people in the real estate industry do unethical things like price gouging to take advantage of a sudden influx of demand versus lowered supply of rental units, that is just plain wrong.

It is time for us in the real estate industry to view this not just as a way to make money for ourselves and our families, but as our way of helping our fellow man.

I am sure many of you feel this way, and that I am simply articulating it. Let us strengthen this feeling and give those who have lost much in life the best service we can give. It not only makes us richer physically, but mentally and spiritually as well.