I hear real estate agents whining all over the place.  Times are tough.  The phone isn't ringing.  People aren't walking into my office.  Nobody wants to buy a house.  Nobody can get a loan.  The economy...blah blah blah...

Okay kids, who was around in the late great 80's?  Remember the foreclosures?  Remember the S&L scandals?  Remember the inflation?  Remember the 18-22% interest rates?  Whether you were in real estate at this time or just living your life...it was a little hard to miss the problems.  The biggest problem was that even if you wanted to buy a house, you had to pay such a rediculous interest rate that it made people pretty much want to pitch a tent and wait out the storm.

I look at the still historically low interest rates we have going on and think...you people just don't get it.  Ok, yeah, we have some economic challenges going on...but it's not like this is our first rodeo.  Why is it that everytime life isn't a walk in the park people start acting like the world is going to blow up tomorrow and we are all going to die?  It seems that long term memory fades and we cannot seem to remember that we have walked this path before.  I had a GRI instructor years ago who told this story...

  She was talking about being a recently divoriced single mom who happened to be a REALTOR.  She said I had no choice, I had to make a living selling real estate or my kids didn't get to eat.  She recalled walking into her weekly office meeting where the announcement was made that interest rates were 18% and no one would ever be able to sell another house.  She relayed how her fellow agents and even her manager were practically on suicide watch and decided just to go home and hope for better times.  But alas, she had hungry kids at home and waiting wasn't an option.  She went on to tell about driving to an appointment across town that same afternoon and on her drive she passed three moving vans.  She said "I saw those moving vans and I thought to myself...if there are moving vans on the road, someone is moving and if someone is moving then houses are being bought and sold!"  She went on to have her best year ever in real estate.

This story brought me hope and joy.  Not because I was in a market that in any way reflected the one she was referring to, but because I knew that if I showed up, had a plan and worked diligently, it would not matter what was going on around me, I would be successful in real estate.  Just show up!  Well now, there is a concept.  A concept I learned from my mother.  She is a successful REALTOR who started by showing up.  Everyday...at the office at 7:30am when everyone else would mozie in at 10, 11, noon or only when the duty calendar said they should.  She never left until her work was done.  The result...she went from obscurity in a market where she knew no one but her broker to having market share in the community.  She is an icon in our market and is highly respected and I have no doubt that choosing to show up was a part of that success.

  What we do everyday, if we are serious about success, involves commitment.  It involves showing up.  Showing up with a plan in hand.  Showing up with a commitment to work diligently.  Back to basics...back to basics...how often have we heard that mantra?  Now the tough question...How often have we done it?  I don't have to prospect because everyone knows who I am.  I don't have to stay in contact with past clients because they love me.  I don't have to write down my goals because I know what I want.  You are not fooling anyone but yourself if this is your attitude.  Never forget the basics.  Never divorce yourself from the basics.  Never believe that you are above the basics.  You must prospect.  You must stay in contact with your database.  You must write down your goals. 

No matter what the economic climate or the woes of the world, people must have a roof over their head, housing will always be a necessity, therefore REALTORS will always have a job.  But the REALTORS who are here for the long haul are the one's who show up, have a plan and work diligently.  I would rather be a REALTOR who gets back to basics regularly and stands the test of time than be a flash in the pan sales person who rode the lucky wave when the going was easy.  How about you?