Striving to create a better life for everyone by sustainably solving real estate problems

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Tag Archives: A Better Life for Everybody

What Do We All Need?

Today must be “deep thoughts” day. For some reason, meeting people’s basic needs has been on my mind lately. I’ve been reading The Poisonwood Bible, where at first it seems like the Congolese people in the book have nothing, then it dawns on you that they have all they actually need.

As an exercise I’d worked very hard in my mind to distill basic needs to five or fewer things. I came up with some that worked for me:

  • Food
  • Family and friends
  • Fulfilling work
  • Freedom from Fear

Then I had to laugh to myself; I’d forgotten the basic need that our company tries to help with. I guess that was because, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get it to start with the letter “f” (darn it):

Home

Oh yeah, people need that. I chose “home” rather than housing or shelter, because I believe people need a place that feels like home, which means that they will also have the other four needs, which I chose with these details in mind:

  • Proximity to a place with affordable and healthy food to keep their bodies in good shape
  • A commuity of supportive other people to support them in times of need and celebrate good times
  • Something to fill their days that contributes to the greater good and their self esteem, which allows them to keep the home going
  • And safety – you don’t really have a home if you don’t feel safe from war, crime, abuse, etc.

Just pondering why I chose the things I did made me realize that just buying and selling property, or just renovating a house to make a profit does not contribute to the basic needs of our fellow humans. And that’s not what we want to do in our rehabilitatio work. We want to provide homes that help create a better life for everybody. That means they allow people to have all five components of my basic needs list.

Are there other basic needs I’ve missed that you’d add to the list? Sanitation? Health care? Education? Tell me!

 

 

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Pigs with Lipstick? Not Our Pigs.

It’s what’s on the inside that counts!

The “pigs” here being houses

I talked to someone a couple of weeks ago who knows some other “house flippers” in this business. That conversation has really been churning over and over in my head. The premise of the conversation was that we at Hermit Haus spend way too much money rehabbing the houses that we buy and how that cuts into our profits. Our houses are really expensive, and we could sell them cheaper and faster if we just did it the way their friends do it. The flippers they know will go in, paint, and add some stainless steel appliances for an updated look. Then the house goes on the market “as-is” or as a rental that is just never quite right. I see that as a problem for obvious reasons, but that also goes against our core values as a company. 

Why is it an issue?

I know someone who lives in a flipped house. They rent it (thankfully) and have had nothing but headaches since they signed the lease. The drains always run slow; the HVAC has to have work done on it every year in summer and winter, because it quits working; the roof leaks; a ceiling has had to be replaced; the windows are painted shut…the list goes on and on. But the house sure is pretty!

That is a prime example of lipstick on the pig. The landlord is just lucky that the people I know actually care about the house. If a landlord doesn’t care about the house, why should the tenants? If everything is always breaking in the house, why should the tenants bother to make rent on time, or even report problems? Then the landlord is shocked when the house is trashed, or they have to evict for non payment. This of course isn’t always the case. Sometimes people just trash houses and don’t pay. However, keeping a nice, safe house that is priced accordingly will draw the right people and eliminate a lot of the chances for bounce tenants (tenants who move a lot) to crash our house next.

Yes, we experience some profit loss up front because we WILL fix that roof before anyone moves in. We also experience tenants who see that we will fix problems and are more likely to pay a little extra for a house that is very nice and well kept. Our experience has proven that there is a person who is willing to pay a little bit extra for a nice and safe place for family. They also pay on time, and report even the little stuff so we can fix it before it is a big expense. Some tenants have even covered the small problems themselves. They are not required to do that, but it is part of our relationship.

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We Need a New Elevator Speech

A cute white puppy.

I don’t care what you do unless you first convince me why I should—quickly. Are there treats involved? Remember, I’m a puppy and I have a short attention span.

Here’s another example of why we need to Start with Why.

At Rotary this week, we spent a lot of time talking about how we don’t do a very good job of explaining why anyone would want to be a Rotary member. If members even know why, they tend to focus on some of the things that Rotary International does, not why it does them. That doesn’t necessarily encourage folks to visit or join.

Our district governor said we need a new elevator speech. An elevator speech is a short description of your organization, short enough you can deliver it between floors in an elevator. What he suggested was something like this:

Rotary is 1.2 million people working together to make the world a better place to live.

See why I like Rotary? #mindset

When you push the button, are you ready with YOUR elevator speech?

I realized Hermit Haus also needs a better elevator speech. Like too many businesses, we focus on what we do, trying to cram as much as possible into a few words. But if we focus on why we do what we do, we don’t need so many words, and we make a more effective argument. Here’s what I came up with, just before the DG gave his suggested Rotary elevator speech.

We strive to make a better life for everyone by sustainably solving real estate problems.

Let us know what you think about ours, and share yours if you have one!

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