A new grandchild and the tragic events unfolding in Houston have me feeling overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude.
Meanwhile I have been re-reading novels by Eve Babitz, one of my favorite writers who in the 1960s and ’70s wrote about the cultural milieu of Los Angeles and touched on the topics of social unrest, wildfires and earthquakes. An entertaining and poetic acknowledgments section precedes her classic 1974 novel Eve’s Hollywood.
Babitz’s lyrical structure and this collision of thoughts and events inspired me to write about a few of my favorite things (and characters) gracing our wacky industry.
Let’s call this my 2017 Acknowledgements Unlist.
To Mary & Peter homebuyer
But also to the bank that made them a loan and to the escrow company that recorded their sale
And to the agent and the search portal that helped them find a house
And to Richard Smith and the American flag pin on his lapel
And to the single-family house
And to Glenn Kelman and Robert Reffkin for spilling a tray of Big Gulp sodas all over the industry
And to role models Marsha Rand, Ebby Halliday and Helen Hanna Casey when the ceiling was fierce
And to the mighty — Bill Foley, Adi Tatarko, Pat Stone, Howard Lorber, Rich Barton, Warren Buffett, Lloyd Frink and Rupert Murdoch
And to the Toto toilet
And to Opendoor’s Eric Wu for the wit to use a sledgehammer
And to a life-in-full Dave Liniger with his pony-sized dog Max and ankle pistol
And to central air conditioning and to Wi-Fi
And to be Sherry Chris
And to FEMA and to flood insurance
And to the reassuring voices of Duane LeGate and Jim Walberg
And to industry writers Teresa Boardman and Sam DeBord
And to real estate’s Oprah Katie Lance
And to the front porch and the gas range
And to Hale Bob and vice versa
And to tussling with NAR
And to America’s first housing leaders Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
And to Gary Keller and the entire state of Texas
And to raucous debates about the fate of the MLS, the plight of brokers, instant offers, commission compression, FSBOs and disintermediation
And to the 30-year mortgage
And to great expectations for Elizabeth Mendenhall
And to the condominium
And to the zillions of pillows that became Zillow
And to the final episode of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing
And to grinning at Andrew Flachner
And to the townhouse and the wading pool
And to the startup boosters Constance Freedman, Brendan Wallace, Aaron Block and Mark Birschbach
And to prophet Hank Miller, whose jeremiad against the industry put a fire under our readers
And to a 1000watt when you need it
And to bunkbeds
And to warrior priest Jay Thompson, the man with a strong heart despite sword blows to the chest
And to everyone named Victor & Sparkles
And to housing activists everywhere
And to the moment Mark McLaughlin put the Cobra GT500 into drive
And to the 4th and 5th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
And to the inheritors Ben Kinney, Kymber Lovett-Menkiti, Sue Adler, Thad Wong, Eddie Berenbaum, Vanessa Bergmark, Shaun Osher, Chris Lim, Mauricio Umansky, Mark Spain, Mark Choey, Kendyl Young, Peter Lorimer, Laurie Weston Davis, Tiffany Kjellander, Pam Liebman, Raj Qsar, and Matt Beall
And to all of the disrupters, the new business models, the tinkerers and the entrepreneurs
And to the Pinecrest Diner, the Big Four, the Lambs Club, the French Roast, the KGB Bar, the Redwoods, the Box and the Beverly Hills Hotel
And to the reformers Team Diva, Rob Hahn, Debra Trappen, Tommy Sowers, Sunny Lake, Bill Wendell, Sara Sutachan, Anne Jones, Brian Copeland, Marguerite Giguere, Ryan Bokros, Caroline Pinal and Carl Carter
And to Section 8 housing and the mortgage interest deduction
And to missing Peter Flint
And to tiny homes
And to the definition of loyalty Laura Monroe
And to notorious wing (wo)men Nyda Jones-Church (to Steve Games), Greg Schwartz (to Spencer Rascoff), Lisa Fettner (to Scott Olsen), Joan Dailey (to Avi Gupta) and Paul Boomsma (to Pam O’Connor)
And to those whose first name is enough — Billy, Seth, Sami, Vija, Yaz, Blair, Errol, Peter and Celeste
And to the turnaround crackerjack Amy Bohutinsky who should be running Uber
And to those who didn’t turn a big fortune into a small one Lennox Scott, Stephen Baird, Hoby Hanna and OB Jacobi
And to the 1950s
And to the unsung: Stephanie Anton, Deidre Woollard, Cary Sylvester, Mike Ryan, Ryan Gorman, Leslie Appleton-Young, Katelyn Castellano, Amy Gorce, Diane Ramirez, Susan Yannaccone and Art Carter
And to housing the homeless
And to the everyday Realtor who saved lives in Harvey’s wake
And to Oakland, WEHO, Sausalito, UES, WPB, Palm Springs, 9th St., Carlinville and all of Illinois and most of Australia
And to Steve Murray, Jeff Lobb, Ken Jenny and a few other consultants
And to the garden apartment
And to Dottie and Dolly, if I have another daughter it will be a tough choice
And to the flacks we hate to hate Amanda Woolley, Audie Chamberlain, Kevin Hawkins and Sara Wiskerchen
And to Ryan O’Hara who keeps smiling through it all
And to Nest thermostats and Google Home
And to battle-scarred disruptor Joshua Hunt, who does not go down easily
And to your inner Ferry-self and to Tim & Julie’s clever rants
And to running water, light switches, warm floors and Mr. Coffee
And to Alex Lange for swimming with the salmon
And to the kidney-shaped swimming pool with a diving board
And to industry muckraker Greg Robertson
And to Joe Schutt, Nicole Beauchamp, Sarita Lahoti Dua, Bob Watson, and Sean Carpenter for being everywhere for all of us
And to immigrants and their families
And to the software musketeers Jed Carlson, Grier Allen, Morgan Carey and Matt Barba
And to the loud and the proud Leigh Brown
And to the steady hands Ron Peltier, Chris Heller, Joel Singer, Marilyn Wilson, David Charron, Suzanne Mueller, Rick Sharga, Billy Jack Carter, Charlie Young and John Aaroe
And to the Weber Grill and Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser & Polish
And to the thinkers Bill Lublin, Jeff Turner, Bernice Ross, Leslie Ebersole and J. Philip Faranda
And to sidewalks, bike lanes and street lights
And to trusting Lela Richardson and Joe Rand
And to missing Alex Perriello already
And to an industry that always puts up a good fight and feeds on community generosity when its neighbors are most in need
And to you Nate Ellis, who I know would approve
And to my last list…maybe.