I have mentioned in previous posts that I was a Social Worker and Counselor for many years before I began my career in real estate. As the new year approaches, I find myself reflecting on the ways in which my current choice of occupation relates to my past experience. One way in which my marketing will change in 2007 is that I will focus on being me. Marketing is about letting people know who you are. I chose reidential resale because I believe in recycling and because I am all too familiar with the difference that the lack of a home can make in an individual's life.
Few people realize that more than 30% of the homeless are women and children who are put into that situation because of family violence. We can all donate to charities that help battered women or volunteeer at the local homeless or battered women's center. What I strive for is a more substantive lasting change. One thing that contributes to that is assisting these women in a concrete way that helps them get back on their feet and put a roof of their own over their and their children's heads. A local program that I will become much more involved with does just that. They provide emergency shelter to battered women and their children like so many other programs; but they go further.They have a TWO YEAR program that helps women get education or training, assits them in finding a job, helps them to understand finances and budgeting and moves them toward the goal of finding at least rental housing on their own. THIS is a homebuyer education program!!
I have realized that residential resale, especially in low to moderate income, unglamorous neighborhoods provides a wonderful opportunity to work with organizations like this one to help educate people to the possibilities of home ownership and sweat equity. This is a market that is really interested in "green" homes when they understand that simple, inexpensive measures like caulking and adding insulation can cut their energy use and therefore their utility bills by as much as 50%. For these folks, that means food on the table or actually being able to pay all the bills and have a couple of bucks left at the end of the month. When I explain to them that roofing or flooring made from recycled materials (carpet from plastic milk containers for example) might cost a little more to start with but not only will last longer and cost less to maintain but it also will make for less worry about the air their children breathe and as an added bonus, it's production is creating jobs for folks just like them, they are REALLY interested. Then they tell everybody they know. These are smaller, more difficult deals usually, but because you have an incredibly grateful, loyal clientele there can be a lot of them. More importantly, they are incredibly rewarding in non monetary ways.
Edible landscaping is not a hard sell for people who have trouble making ends meet. Fruit trees provide cooling shade AND food. Herb gardens are beautiful, easy to tend and if you have bought spices or herbs at the store lately, you know how much money you can save! Lots of yards have decorative hedges....much more attractive than most fences (although our penchant for adobe (often concrete block covered with stucco these days) can be pretty attractive) an ugly chain link fence covered with blackberry vines can be a very effective deterrent!
Getting two or three homeowners in an area to begin doing these things often sparks a neighborhood wide movement. Voile! Neighborhood revitalization without gentrification or even a large influx of government money.
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