Counter Intuitive
Going against the grain.
Police Officers are naturally counter intuitive. Perfect example is the classic, "Man with a gun call" or, "417 gun" for short. It is one of the radio calls where chairs will be knocked over at the bagel shop, (Cops, Deputies, or CHP officers really don't eat donuts much anymore) as they hustle out the door and roll, "Code 3" to confront the threat as quickly as possible. The more dangerous the incident or threat to human life, the faster and harder law enforcement officers will strive to get there. It is like fire fighters running into a house on fire. Most people don't do those things. It's well, a bit, "crazy".
As an example, when Theresa and Gretchen were on a ride-a-long with me in Mid-City Division a several years ago, an armed man who was high on methamphetamine, fell through a ceiling of a house. As I recall, we drove for quite awhile on a sidewalk to get around cars in traffic and to the scene of the action. Thinking about that afternoon reminds me how much I enjoyed taking friends on SDPD ride-a-longs. They would tell me years later every nuance of the ten hour shift, while I recalled very little. It was just another day. It was also kind of weird that whenever Theresa would come on a ride-a-long, we would inevitably respond to at least one murder. She had a knack for selecting hot summer nights where street gang members or drug dealers would meet their final destination.
There are so many ways I could go with this weeks' story. I need to re-focus on what I opened up with. I was talking about being counter intuitive. Going the opposite direction of the crowd or what seems, "normal" to most persons. In this instance, I will actually be making a comparison of police work to real estate. Our real estate business model is in many ways, counter intuitive. We feel as if we are moving the opposite direction of the current real estate crowd.
A few years ago, we opened our first Community HubTM in a kiosk next to the Chevron gas station at 4S Ranch Village. People said we were, "crazy". Theresa and I are now preparing to open our second, Community HubTM in 4S Ranch Commons!
Saturday night at our Client Appreciation Event, at the Del Sur Ranch House, we announced to over 150 friends our plans to continue our unique business model. We will soon be opening a 1200 square foot Shay Realtors of RE/MAX Ranch & Beach Community Hub at 4S Commons. It will be next to Brett's Barbecue, which happens to have the best barbecue in town.
I promise you have never seen a real estate office like the one we will be building. Our 2nd Community HubTM will be strikingly different from our current location. For example, there will only be a single desk in our, "real estate office."
A single desk allows more room for the most important people in our business...You, the customer. It is each of you and your referrals that make our business grow. We are very respectful and appreciative of that fact.
Why a Community HubTM? Let me answer that. Another thing I learned by working the roughest areas of the City of San Diego is that people, regardless of race or economic level need a place to gather. A place to talk. A place where you will be greeted with a smile and receive help, regardless if it is real estate related question or not.
As a new SDPD Lieutenant assigned to Mid City Division, I worked the areas around Euclid, and University Ave. A working class part of San Diego where over 53 different languages were spoken. My first few days in the command we received complaints of about a dozen Somalian men loitering outside the 7-11 store on University Ave. I saw them there almost every day. They were doing nothing wrong. They drank their coffee and talked. Not any different then what we do outside Starbucks or Coffee Bean at 4S Ranch, or any other upscale neighborhood. The difference is we have tables and chairs, not a dirt parking lot in a poor neighborhood with only a low block wall to rest your weary bones on. In fact, as I think about it, I wish I could have gotten those men tables, chairs and maybe even a fountain. Would that not have been grand?
In each area I worked, SDPD ultimately developed sub stations and community centers where people could meet and share ideas. It is a basic human need to be able to speak freely. It is also a basic human need to gather. It is one of the foundation of our great country. It is freedom that young men and women are fighting for and also dying for around this little place we call earth. Each and every one of them are our heroes.
So as some real estate brokerages are moving out of retail locations to office complexes and filling their buildings with desks and agents, Theresa, myself and other local RE/MAX agents want to go the other way. Let's push our paperwork to the ICLOUD, get almost all those desks out of the office and make room for the community. And most importantly, let's get into a retail location where it is convenient for our customers to get help, whatever it is.
So at Shay RealtorsTM we are being counter intuitive. We're moving in the opposite direction. Theresa and I know this adventure is rife with risk. But as I sit here writing this, I know at the end of the day, I won't be peeling off ballistic body armor that is drenched with sweat. The dangers we are facing are not of a physical type.
Theresa and I believe if we build this Community HubTM, you will come, and our business and ability to help our community will grow. If for some unforeseen reason this radical concept fails, and the landlord takes our keys back, I know a great place in Mid City Division where I can get a great cup of coffee and say hello to some old friends. I could also bring our three boys and have a pretty good soccer game in that little dirt parking lot. Sure, It's not a fountain, but I know we would be greeted with some pretty big smiles.
Make the most of your day,
Sincerely,
Ray & Theresa Shay
