“Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf’s edge and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.
The man was struck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached, the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.
As he came up to the person he said, “You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and picked up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, “It sure made a difference to that one!”
I think about this story every day as we walk back and forth along the massive real estate beach looking at all the distressed properties. There are so many – how can we possibly make a difference with so many people in danger of losing their home to foreclosure or wondering how they can continue to make payments on a property that has thousands of dollars in negative equity?
I know that we have all talked about volume and waiting for the onslaught of short sales that we know are out there waiting. But we need to remember that the only way to really help all the distressed homeowners and would-be homeowners out there is one at a time.
At this holiday season, I am thankful that the HomeTelos LEO program has achieved such resounding success! We are making a difference – one homeowner at a time.