Now that the dust from the federal election is starting to settle, maybe we can all get back to work on fixing the economic troubled waters that we are sailing through. It all starts with real estate and the purchase or sale of property through a licensed real estate agent.
It is a simple process. It goes like this.
A girl graduates from university and begins her career. After a time she has some funds saved to put down on a small condo downtown and she secures a mortgage to buy it. She paints the walls and buys furniture. Store clerks are working serving her, as well as some other customers in the store who have also just bought their first condo. She sets up her computer, buys a new printer, and gets Internet service, telephone and satellite television. Men and women are working to install the systems she has chosen and maintain them. Since it is summer, she buys an air conditioner and agrees to purchase the warranty as well. A lot of people are working and selling services because this girl and others have bought their first condos.
At the other side of town a family that has immigrated to our country immediately takes any jobs that come their way. They serve coffee at donut shops, clean rich peoples’ houses, labour on construction sites and pool their savings. The whole family lives in a cramped two-bedroom apartment in the basement of a house for almost two years and they emerge together to put down enough of a down payment to buy a four-bedroom house in the suburbs. They continue to work and live together to pay the mortgage and now they buy furniture, televisions, video games, automobiles and driveway sealant. Some of the family travel by mass transit, so they buy bus tickets and pick up magazines at the subway station. All kinds of people are working to serve their needs by driving buses, clerking in stores and designing software for the kids’ video games.
On the other end of the province an older couple is selling the home where they raised two kids. They have lived in their home for 30 years. They want to buy a townhouse in the city. The man is looking forward to walks downtown and cooking. The woman will continue to work in the city but now she will be closer to the office and not have to commute like she did for so many years.
They have no stocks or bonds; the house is their nest egg. They have decided to hire a financial planner. They are going to trade in the station wagon and buy a small car. The man is going to buy a whole new set of pots; the woman is looking forward to setting up a home office. There will be lots of people helping these folks along the way, from the receptionist at the financial planner’s office, the factory worker assembling the cooking set and the mechanic who will be doing the oil changes on the car.
None of these people will ever know each other.
But they will all have one thing in common. They all will be buying or selling property. They will all be driving the economy. The purchase and sale of property is the foundation of a good economy.
It does not all start with a good job or a good education or a lot of money or the right connections or years of experience or being clever and smart, or even winning the lottery. Hey, these things help. But that’s not where it all begins.
It all starts with real estate. Everything starts with real estate.
So it begs the question, especially in these challenging times. If real estate has so much importance in our economy and if real estate is in fact the most important thing anyone will ever buy, then why would anyone buy a house at all without the guidance of a person who is a licensed real estate agent? Someone who sat through hours of classroom time, learned the detail of the towns and neighbourhoods, understood the fundamental workings of a home or business and then continues to take the courses as well as attend seminars to upgrade their awareness of new developments in the real estate industry. And above all, someone who is obliged by law to conduct themselves with business integrity to a greater degree than the buyer or purchaser of the property.
Where do we start to fix the economy?
What’s the next question?
Heino Molls is publisher of REM. Email [email protected].
