Looking Back, Moving Ahead

Spring 2021 is here. The pace is picking up. And real estate’s busy season—something we weren’t sure we’d see again—is actually on a roll.

It’s been a time, hasn’t it? 2020 was a testing year for all of us. As the unimaginable global pandemic set in, we all had to face the fundamental truth that change, even major change, is a constant. The only real question is how do we survive, even thrive, within it?

At first, that meant dealing with a minefield of unfamiliar questions: “Do we need to shut down?” “How can clients tour properties?” “Who knows about Zoom?” “Can anyone hook us up with Clorox Wipes?”

Then the constant pivot began. For example: what to do about agents in the midst of important deals, who were suddenly stuck in the wrong place due to lockdowns? Answer: Drop everything and wade in, even if it meant clearing dogs, toddlers and pants-free spouses out of camera range.

It was a stressful time, even a little bit crazy, and often left us gasping.

But soon enough, we took a collective breath—and found new ways to take care of business. When the unexpected cropped up time and again, we discovered we could handle it, often with aplomb. Working in real estate had prepared us to deal with swerves and surprises; after all, transactions can go wobbly even at the best of times. We’re always planning for almost any contingency. And that’s how, at among the worst of times, we moved ahead.

Today the fallout from COVID continues, but we’re happy to find ourselves still here, still charging into the unknown, changing as the market requires, and even finding things to laugh about. Learning that we can survive and even thrive under tough circumstances has been a tremendous, unexpected bonus.

So if the operative word for 2020 was change (often quite unwelcome), that’s OK. Because the fact is, it’s led us to the perfect word for now in 2021: Gratitude.