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President Howe: When Life Hands You Lemons

April 8, 2020 in Guest Columns

When life hands you lemons… Make Facebook Live Hot Wheels races or lemonade or something like that. When I initially planned out my President’s Messages for the year and picked out sports as my theme, it was a no brainer that April’s theme would be the Royals and the 2020 baseball season. But like many things in our life right now, that is on pause. Though there were some indicators of what was to come, I could never have guessed all the things that have changed in our daily lives in the 30 days since my last message. So, where does that leave us, and where do we go from here?

I’m not going to lie. This isn’t easy. For any of us. There is no protocol for what we are going through right now. We can only do the best we can do each day and forgive ourselves for the days that are less than. Please remember none of the decisions we make during this time are set in stone. Just keep taking it one step at a time.

Please know that your family at KCRAR is here for you and had already been in action before the Shelter In Place order was announced. During that time, we’ve advocated to make sure that people in need of shelter during this time are still able to get access to this essential need. On a Zoom meeting with Missouri REALTORS® CEO, John Sebree, last week, he said something to the effect of, “It’s not that we are essential. It’s the people we are helping during this time and their need to have shelter that is essential.” We have heard from many of you who do not think that real estate is an essential service during this time. We’ve also heard from just as many of you who are helping military families, medical personnel and other essential workers who are relocating during this time. While it might not be clear from the outside what is going on in someone else’s life right now, let’s all give each other a little leeway and assume they are doing what’s best given the situation they are in.

So, while we may still be in business, this certainly isn’t business as normal. To help you during this time, KCRAR has developed a list of Best Practices to help guide you and your business decisions. While only your broker can restrict or prohibit your activities (other than open houses, which have been fully banned) during this time, it’s time for us all to come together and use common sense in our businesses. April is Fair Housing Month, and it’s a great time to remind you that what you do for one client, you have do for all clients whether there’s a pandemic going on or not.

And that takes me back to the Hot Wheels races. With the lack of live sports going on, my husband thought it would be fun to have nightly Hot Wheels races on Facebook Live. I thought it was silly but agreed to go along, because that’s what good wives do. And sure enough, it’s become a hit. Most importantly, it’s become a good distraction to look forward to each day no matter how stressful things get. What’s your Hot Wheels race?

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