The last two years have been miserable ones in this industry. And, the human toll has been awful. When faced with the overwhelming pain, fear, anger and misery it is human nature to want to pull away.

I was reminded today of how this is impacting both real estate agents and the clients we serve. The story was about a soldier coming back from deployment over seas, living in a hotel room with his family, trying desperately to get a happy ending for all of them. They were buying a foreclosure and, as usual, the process seemed never ending.

People under stress can react with anger and rudeness. Clients under stress often take that stress out on agents. The agents, out of self-preservation often pull back, even hide. Over time, given enough stress, even good agents can find themselves trying to avoid client contact. Who needs more stress, especially when you have so little power sometimes to make things better?

But being there for our clients, really listening, telling them the truth, good or bad and sometimes just telling them we have nothing to tell them is what needs doing right now.

So, for all the clients for whom I haven't been a good enough listener, for those whose pain I avoided in order to spare myself, I apologize. I'm going to take better care of me so I can take better care of you!