Real estate is very interesting in the respect that it is something that everyone has an opinion about and always has something to say about it. Much like politics, sports and religion, it can spark a conversation by just asking, “How’s the market?”
Without real estate to talk about, the world would be far less interesting. If our language didn’t have real estate vocabulary, the world would be a little less colorful.
Without real estate vernacular in everyday life, we wouldn’t see “for sale by owners” signs in people’s yards. We wouldn’t care about the difference between condos and townhomes, and a “hot” or “cold” market would just be terms for weather.
Without real estate to buy, we wouldn’t have mortgages, bills of sales and settlement statements. Title companies would be empty buildings, and we wouldn’t have Realtors or lenders.
Without attention paid to real estate, we would never have had television programs that told us to “move that bus,” or to “love it or list it!” HGTV would never have been “must watch TV.” Without real estate, tiny houses would still just be glorified tree houses, and house hunters would have nothing to hunt for in every corner of the globe.
Without real estate on the small screen, we would never have cared about “Full House,” “Little House on the Prairie” or “This Old House.”
Without real estate online, we wouldn’t care about Realtor, Trulia, Homes.com or other websites like that. “Zestimates” wouldn’t carry the weight that they do.
Without real estate terminology, “going under contract” and “falling out of contract” would have much more physical consequences.
Without local real estate, we wouldn’t care about vacancy rates on Main, CAP rates in Bodo Park or when Three Springs was going to be developed. Twin Buttes would just be a place to ride your bike, and Durango would still be just a sleepy mining town.
Everything ties back to real estate. It’s something like “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” with a real estate angle.
Real estate has invaded our everyday lives and isn’t going away anytime soon.
Jerome Bleger is the 2015-16 president of the Durango Area Association of Realtors and a broker for The Wells Group and can be reached at Jerome@wellsgroupdurango.com and 970-375-7004.
