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 industries, employing millions in various capacities from construction, hardware, building materials, sales, marketing and various other functions.

We all talk about real estate in terms of real-world assets that change ownership, or provide rental income to landlords and property owners. We talk about the costs that people and companies incur when they build, buy, rent or lease these properties.

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

Within that physical structure, however, are people who use that house to store their memories and impart love (or hate) within their family. It can hold mementos of successes, souvenirs that mark important events, precious valuables, and things that may seem mundane and insignificant to some but give meaning to others.

It is clear that these fires in Los Angeles have literally “hit home” for many people and families. There are many people who may try to put on a brave face but are hurting inside. All their efforts over the last few decades are now ashes and ruins. They’re not even sure if their insurance will cover the rebuilding costs, let alone if they have coverage, which many don’t.

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

Of course, real estate is a big money-making business. But as the Los Angeles County wildfires and countless other disasters have shown, when someone loses a home, they lose a big part of themselves. That home can be their anchor, their rock of mental stability.

Now everything they have materially has turned into rubble and ashes. In addition, they may still have mortgage payments to make. Ideally, their insurance should cover the closing of this mortgage, but unfortunately many policies have been pulled.

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

So when we see our people in the real estate industry doing unethical things like jacking up prices to take advantage of a sudden influx of demand versus a decreased supply of rental units, that’s just wrong.

It’s time for us in the real estate industry to look at this not just as a way to make money for ourselves and our families, but as our way to help our people.

I’m sure many of you feel this way and I’m just articulating it. Let us strengthen this feeling and give those who have lost much in life the best service we can. This not only makes us richer physically, but also mentally and spiritually.