Change is an interesting thing. As much as we may not like change, we cannot run, hide or evade it. It will always find us. In fact, the only constant thing in life is change, and the best thing we can do is embrace it.
Three years ago, in July of 2006, I could do no wrong. My division was number one in the country. My homebuyers were raving fans of the company and loved their luxury homes. I had purchased the best land in Reno which took my projections out to 2013. My employees were professional machines all highly trained in their respective duties…all was perfect.
Then, in early 2007, I began to see cracks in the castle wall. As the housing market began to soften, buyers, specifically investors, began to walk away from their deposits, leaving the company with their half finished homes and increasing our inventory of million dollar mansions. Foreclosures began to climb, which flooded the market with even more unwanted homes, and forced our hand into dropping pricing and competing with desperate people wanting to unload their burdens. Consumer confidence became nonexistent.
The housing market, which for five years had gone a 100 miles an hour, hit a brick wall and dried up. We tried every incentive, every trick in the book to bring buyers to the door but with no success. Daily, the media and newspapers underscored the idea that buying a home in today’s failing market would be a catastrophic decision.
As I watched the balance sheet of the division dwindle, it did not take long before I had to lay people off. These were true professionals who were masters of their craft being laid off after, in some cases, decades of service to the company. This had a dramatic effect upon the existing employees’ morale, not knowing what the future held for them and their families.
In May of this year, the decision was made to shut the division down completely except for one small community. The staff, which initially started at 165 employees, was cut to only four, and the doors on the beautiful communities we had built were shut. After 18 years of hard work for this company, it was time for a change.
As much as I, like most of us, do not like change, I can honestly say my change in employment and coming to work at MXI has been for the better!
I cannot tell you the gratitude I have for Andrew, Jeanette and Marty for giving me this fantastic opportunity. I am appreciative to be in an industry where people are happy, motivated and grateful for their potential. I see hope and excitement in people’s eyes. I see everyone working daily to improve this company and making it stronger today than it was yesterday. We have a fantastic product, and the Brooks have surrounded themselves with incredible employees and distributors. The industry is thriving, and the people are motivated. Our path is clear.
When change comes it often can be painful, often times it can be a struggle, and many times there can be unanswered questions. But I can honestly say, knowing what I know now, the economic downturn was one of the best changes that ever happened to me. Change is good.
