How Realtors Can Show Up in Natural Disasters

No intro, not outros. Just some real thoughts and conversation on how to show up as a human AND Realtor when a natural disaster strikes your community. 

You can find me on instagram @rested.real.estate.agent, and you can sign up for my newsletter to keep up with upcoming workshops and other offerings on my website www.suminabhatti.com. 

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Transcript

Introduction and Flood Tragedy

Speaker 1 0:01

Hello everyone and welcome to the Rested and Rich Real Estate Agent , a podcast that helps you navigate life as a real estate professional , while finding some rest and balance along the way . I'm your host , sumina , an agent with 18 years of experience in the Austin Texas area , and I believe there's a better way to do our business serve our clients and not get burnt out . So today's episode is maybe a little different in format to some of the others I've done . I'm recording this on July 9th 2025 , which is just a few days here in the Austin Texas area after the very tragic floods that we had on July 4th weekend in the Hill Country , which has affected a lot of people and colleagues and our community around here . Well , I personally don't know anyone who is in those areas . I know many people . I may be a degree or two of separation between people who have lost loved ones or know people who have .

Speaker 1 1:06

So , as I've been sitting with the question that a lot of us are asking you know , what can we do ? The work of cleaning up , the recovery process and the cleanup process will be going on for a long , long time . I have friends who live in the Asheville North Carolina area and nine months in . Obviously , they are still cleaning up from Hurricane Helene , hurricane Katrina . The cleanup there has gone on for years , and so the needs are immediate , but the needs will be ongoing

Realtor Superpowers in Community Crisis

Speaker 1 1:37

for a long time . So this got me thinking about what the role of being a real estate agent is in these times . There are clients of mine who are closer to some of the rivers that overflowed or had excessive flooding , and while their homes are not affected , they were not far away from the areas that were , and it feels helpless . What can you do to make a difference ? What can you do knowing that the work is really just at the beginning of what's going to be needed for the next year and beyond ?

Speaker 1 2:10

So one thing I was thinking about , and I've mentioned before in this podcast , is that I really do think realtors have superpowers . We care about the community , we live in the community . There are a lot of us in every community . I think there's 1.3 or 1.6 million realtors across the United States . We are everywhere and we own homes everywhere and we sell homes everywhere . These roots that we have in our communities , with the people we serve , builds this very tight web of connection that we have . We know the streets , we know the neighborhoods , we know the local businesses , we know the highways , we know what developments are coming , we know challenges that areas face , and so we have a unique perspective on when areas get affected by natural disasters , in this case flooding . We have roots that go deep with the people , with the homes , with the streets , with the neighborhoods . How do we use that ? How do we utilize that ?

Speaker 1 3:16

One of the ways that I've seen people showing up in my community right now realtors in particular there are some that have rallied and really created a very strong network of help . This one particular agent here has a very strong connection to the community . He's put a call out to other realtors for supplies that they need , where to meet , what to be doing things like that , and so partnering or finding someone in your community who's already doing the work is a great way to know what to do and how to show up . The other thing you can always do , of course , is send money . At this point , a lot of the emergency response responding teams are telling people don't show up because it's clogging the work and the work ways that are needed for emergency personnel to get there . So they're saying don't show

Strategic Giving During Ongoing Recovery

Speaker 1 4:05

up , don't , we have a lot of supplies at this point , you can send money to organizations that know what to do with it and the money will then be used in the way that it's needed . So there's different ways you can work with that . So one is you can just give a lump sum depending on your budget and your means and your ability at once .

Speaker 1 4:26

I kind of prefer to spread out my giving over the course of a year again , because these cleanup efforts and these needs are going to be ongoing for quite some time . As is often the case , there's a huge influx of money and supplies at the very beginning of a disaster , but then that very quickly trickles off . So maybe what you can do is say , hey , from every closing , from now to the end of the year , or the next 10 closings or whatever , I'll donate 100 bucks to this charity , 100 bucks to that charity , et cetera , and that way it spaces out not only between the different kinds of charities and causes that are important to you , but also because it helps keep those organizations and those areas who are going to you , but also because it helps keep those organizations and those areas who are going to need ongoing support funded Per your ability , per your desire . That's one way to spread out the giving that I find a little more helpful than just trying to give one lump sum all at once in these kinds of situations and to think about the causes that are important to you . For me , something like donating to pets and rescue organizations is always very important . There's always so much need around pets that have gotten separated from their owners , or owners who you know don't have a home or can't take care of them anymore , Children's organizations , et cetera , right , so there's no shortage of people in need and places to donate , and so find what calls to your heart and you can adjust the amount and the place as it feels right to you , and it depends what the need is too , as time goes on .

Speaker 1 5:53

The other thing that I think realtors are really good at is organization and

Using Organizational Skills to Help

Speaker 1 5:57

details . I mean , when you think about what it takes to choreograph a closing , it's like an orchestra , right ? There's all these different components of what has to happen . There's a buyer , there's a seller , there's inspectors , there's title company , there are agents on both sides , there are title reps , there are sometimes attorneys , depending on the state you live in . At some point I can't remember I took a class years ago and the instructor said that there were 27 different people involved in a transaction . There's a buyer , buyer's agent , seller , seller's agent , transaction coordinators , title rep , escrow officers , their closers , home insurance person , regular inspection person , etc . Etc . Regular inspection person , et cetera , et cetera . I have not verified that number , but it takes a lot of coordination to make sure all these pieces work together to get your client to the closing table . And so , managing these different kinds of things , our brains are great at it . Our brains are so fantastic at managing so clients at multiple different stages of a transaction and keeping all the details straight and getting them to that , that comes in really handy when you're also trying to organize equipment getting to a certain place , people getting to a certain place , supplies getting around . So being able to apply your mind to some of these needs is also a

Finding Your Unique Way to Contribute

Speaker 1 7:22

place that you can show up .

Speaker 1 7:24

The other thing I think is helpful in times like this is find your skill . What is this ? What is something you're already good at ? Do you already like taking photography ? If you do , maybe volunteering at the animal shelter to help take pictures of the pets who have been separated from their families is a great use of your time . I also think that not everybody can show up out in the field to go clean debris right , that's not going to be everybody's role , and nor can you have thousands of people doing that , because that can become dangerous and just not best use of how you know , best use of how those things work and not everyone is physically able to or can do that . So what are the skills you already have ? If you like to cook , could you make meals for the people that are volunteering ? Where is your skill set already existing that could provide some relief and some help to people there ? That's not boots on the ground , hauling tree debris , et cetera in these areas that are heavily affected .

Speaker 1 8:26

Another thing I've been thinking about , too , is what does it take to get certified as an emergency responder with the Red Cross or some of the organizations ? Being able to mobilize , being able to guide your community in what to do in case of an emergency , are going to become more and more useful skills . As climate change and as more inclement weather issues happen , these needs are going to be more and more relevant . And on the micro level , what are you doing in your neighborhood ? Do you know the names and phone numbers of the 20 closest neighbors to you , can you communicate with them if there's something happening on your street ? This is just being a good neighbor and not just being a good realtor , but it's being a good neighbor as well . But it really just feeds into our skillset . Already we tend to like to get to know our neighbors and know what's happening in our neighborhoods .

Speaker 1 9:16

The other thing that I know that I can do , which goes back into what is your skillset and what can you do , I obviously teach mindfulness meditation classes , and one thing that I am doing tomorrow is offering a meditation class specifically focused on grief and acknowledgement of the loss from this event . And so , again , to me these seem very small things that can be done in light of the bigness of what's happened , but it's one little pebble I can put in the bowl of offering , I suppose . And so don't underestimate the littlest thing you can do , because if all of us did that , that can add up to be a lot . These are just thoughts I've been noodling on . I know this episode is a little bit rambly and less organized than some of the others I've done , but , um , it's been chaotic here and it's been hard to know what to do and how to show up and I thought maybe talking about that and sharing that could be helpful to those of you who are listening .

The Importance of Being Present

Speaker 1 10:26

The other thing really also allowing people to have their grief around a situation like this so often . We want to move into this quote positive vibes only mode and just say everything happens for a reason and whatever it is that people say , but just really letting people and yourself have the grief . Be there . It is horribly sad , tragic and there's all kinds of emotions there and rather than telling people they shouldn't feel a particular way , be present . That's , I think , one of the best gifts that we can give to people in our community when they are struggling is presence , not diminishing what they're feeling , but positive vibing them out of it .

Speaker 1 11:13

But when you or they are talking about how much it sucks , it does there's no positive spin on parents losing their children at summer camp . You know , and I think being able to really sit with someone in that moment is where presence and mindfulness matters and why we do the work of being present in our meditation practice , paying attention to this moment and to this breath and to where we are , so that when these hard moments show up , we can show up in a way that feels helpful and relevant and purposeful . I'll leave you there with that . Thank you for joining me on today's episode , and if you have anything else you'd like to share , all my contact information is in the show notes . Please take care of your loved ones and stay well .