Deep Dive: The Only Thing You Can Control

There’s a universal law that nothing stays completely still.

Nature. Relationships. Business. Technology. Industries.

Everything changes.

Change is constant and has always been part of our lives, but this moment in real estate feels particularly transformative.

There are so many forces at play.

Wars. Tariffs. Interest rates. Public opinion. Politics. AI. Lawsuits. Regulation.

Then there are the questions we're asking ourselves from inside the industry.

Is less technology actually more? Or is more, more?

Do we need 1.5 million real estate agents? Or would the industry be healthier with fewer, more qualified and better educated professionals?

What happens to the brokerage model? The MLS? The portals? The agent? The technology companies serving all of them?

Here's the reality:

I don't know.

And neither does anyone else.

We can make educated guesses. We can look at trends. We can prepare for different scenarios.

But there are going to be things that happen to this industry that none of us can predict — and certainly can't control.

There’s a Buddhist principle that attachment is the root of suffering.

I think there's something in that for our industry right now.

There's plenty of hand-wringing about what happens if interest rates climb significantly again. And yes, higher rates could be incredibly painful for real estate.

But many of us are old enough to remember mortgage rates of 9% or 9.5%.

Markets move. Industries cycle.

Things expand. Things contract.

There is an ebb and flow to almost everything.

And while those periods of transition can absolutely be destructive, there is always opportunity inside disruption.

Always.

Companies will disappear. Others will emerge.

Business models will break. Better ones will replace them.

Some people will leave the industry. Others will build careers during this period that wouldn't have been possible before it.

And when this particular moment passes, it's entirely possible that real estate comes out the other side stronger than it was going in.

So if you're going to attach yourself to something right now, attach yourself to the things you can actually control.

Your behavior.

Your mindset.

Your attitude.

Your relationships.

Learn more. Get closer to your customers. Take care of your people. Build better relationships. Make the call. Have the difficult conversation. Try the new idea. Be useful.

Because whether rates go to 8% or 5% isn't up to you.

What Washington does isn't up to you.

What AI does to our industry isn't entirely up to you.

What your competitors do certainly isn't up to you.

But how you respond?

That's yours.

And when you really think about it, that's all you could ever control in the first place anyway.