Just read a blog post What drew you to become a Realtor?  As I began to comment on her post, my comment was evolving into a post.  So rather than monopolize her page, here's my 2 cents.

I stepped out of Real Estate sales about a year ago to take a growth opportunity to become the Southern California Sales Specialist for HomeSteps a unit of Freddie Mac. (a position parallel to an Asset Manager position).  It was a localized pilot program that was recently eliminated and relocated to Dallas.  

You would have thought that I'd jumped at the relocation opportunity for such a prestigious, well paying job in this economy.  But I was so tired of dealing with people's broken dreams; I gladly chose severance over relocation. 

Over the past 15 years of being a realtor here in the Southern California area, I've helped buyers, sellers and investors achieve their real estate goals, helped lenders liquidate their distressed assets - and both have been rewarding on so many different levels.  What drew me back was not so different than what drew me in 15 years ago. I'm excited to be back to my passion - helping people buy, sell and keep their homeownership dreams alive!

Living here in the Inland Empire (the REO trenches), I've had a daily reality check of seeing this market from the unique advantage of both perspectives and how this economy is effecting families here in our community...my neighbors, my friends and my past clients.  

Like so many of you, I benefitted greatly when this market was good.  Now, I want to make a difference and be a benefit to this market.  I don't just want to stand by idly doing business as usual spending all of my efforts focusing on using the knowledge and experience that I gained as an advantage in obtaining REOs.  I learned much more than that over this last year. In an effort to give back to my community, I'm going to include Loss Mitigation into my business to provide Sellers assistance with either saving their homes or selling them to avoid the devastating consequences of a foreclosure.

As for the REO business that I am blessed enough to acquire, I want to generate awareness to Buyers that foreclosures are an affordable housing option that can become the cornerstone of their future wealth creation.  My goal is going to be to turn those REOs into new beginnings for families that want to own a home.

OK, our market has changed over the last few years. Homeownership has long been symbolic of the American Dream and that hasn't changed. There's nothing we can't adapt to. We just need to remember why we became Realtors and find ways to contribute to rebuilding our neighborhoods and communities through education and public awareness.