As of March 28, 2020, residential and commercial real estate moved to the list of essential services from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. What is your knee jerk response to this action?

I was excited at first, of course. I have been in residential real estate for over 14 years, and I love getting up every day to go to the office, show homes, and negotiate contracts. But more than that, I just love the people that I am lucky enough to call my clients and co-workers. It fuels me and my initial thought was frankly that that was what was going to help me get through this.

But then the humanity of the matter hit me. And rather close to home, as I had just moved out of my home last week as to not unintentionally infect my immune-compromised husband with COVID-19 as I was still working. He is battling a lung infection, and we must keep him healthy at all costs. Was I really willing to live separately from my husband so that I could show homes in the midst of a global pandemic?

On one hand, I felt like the answer was yes. As an inherently social person, I am quickly finding myself on a vocal and emotional fast of sorts, and it’s only really been two weeks of strict isolation. There are some days that end in tears and others with a longing for the simple normal tasks that I took for granted a mere three weeks ago. This is not what real estate agents were made for, and for that reason, we must press forward and save the market from potential crisis. People, after all, still are moving and need places to live, right?

Eventually the truth started to show itself no matter how I looked at the issue. It is my number one duty to protect my family. Not only my family, but my clients’ families. We have to take care of one another, and for that reason, we need to shelter in place despite residential real estate now being considered an essential service.

In fact, as a person who prides herself on helping people find their dream home, would I actually be doing a disservice to the industry that I know and love so much by not helping people do all that they can to stay safe inside of their residential refuges that we found, and we will eventually sell together?

So, what does that mean for me? What can I do from home to better serve my clients and my profession?

I will adapt. I will be stretched. I will be challenged. And because of that? I will ultimately become a better realtor. I am used to starting off my day running from listing to listing and calling my networking groups to tell them all the homes that I cannot wait for them to see. Now? I will hit the ground running on learning more. I will participate in video chats and continuing learning education courses and find ways to sharpen my skill sets that could use a little fine tuning.

As far as the creative side of my job? Beautiful post cards, social marketing pieces, and print ads announcing new listings gets my blood pumping. I can still do some of that now, but I can also use this time to help my clients prep for making those materials even stronger when photo shoot day rolls around. And as far as interacting with my clients? I am always, always a phone call away. And that is one thing that no amount of social distancing will EVER change.

If you read nothing else, please hear this last take away:

THIS TOO SHALL PASS IF WE DO THE RIGHT THING AND STAY AT HOME. THIS VIRUS IS NOT HERE TO STAY, AND WE WILL RISE AGAIN—LIKELY STRONGER THAN EVER. DALLAS REAL ESTATE AND ITS PEOPLE TEND TO BE RESILIENT IN THAT WAY.

Christy BerryMarch 31, 2020