It's Sunday September 26, 2004, in southwest Orlando and Hurricane Jeanne is wreaking havoc on us here in Central Florida.

I am reminded that the old adage "You are either getting ahead or falling behind" no longer applies to most of Florida. Sometimes just staying off the rocks is enough progress for the moment.

Whether we crash or not, depends a great deal on our anchor, doesn't it?

As I write this, the eye of hurricane Jeanne is passing through the nearby Winter Haven area, near Kissimmee/St. Cloud with sustained winds of 100 mph. The television weather man reports that this area is "getting hammered." Thankfully, our home still has electric power.

Kissimmee/St. Cloud is the home of the Osceola County Association of Realtors, whose members embody the American pioneering spirit and are some of the most dedicated real estate professionals in America. Their members, like members of many other Realtor Associations in Florida, have been through four major hurricanes in the last six weeks. It got real ugly, but they responded beautifully.

Last Friday night, as Jeanne was bearing down on the state, I had the opportunity to catch up with some of these Realtors at their annual installation banquet.

Rajia Ackley of Coldwell Banker Ackley Realty, is just recovering from Hurricane Charlie where the roof was blown off her building and flooded her newly upgraded office. Her property management company was working hard, she said, to repair the roofs on many homes in her rental portfolio. But there she was, as cheerful as ever, bragging about her great rental department and how its employees were "responding to incredible demands by the tenants."

Hope Andrews, owner of Sapphire Realty, had damage to her office and her home is weeks away from being repaired. Many of her rental properties were damaged. Yet she was talking about her excitement about chairing the committee next year to build a home with Habitat For Humanity.

Earlier in the week, Ramada Property Group emailed to say they needed to cancel a recruiting seminar planned for September 30, because they were overloaded with property management repair issues. Chief operating officer Jim Endicott said on the phone last week that they had no idea when they could focus on recruiting "but we will get it done," he added.

All of this before Jeanne, the "worse one yet," was to hit us last night.

Sales and listings are being cancelled and closings delayed as home inspectors and appraisers update reports after each hurricane and mortgage lenders wait on repairs to be done.

I am pleased to report that the anchor is holding among some of the hardest hit, hardest working real estate professionals in America.

I have never been so proud to be associated with members of the National Association of Realtors in my life.

Published: September 28, 2004

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David Fletcher has been a Florida licensed real estate broker and new homes sales and marketing consultant for 30 years. Along the way, he has sold more than $3 billion in new homes and condominium products for developers and builder/developers. He has been broker of record for 16 rental conversions and marketing consultant in 29 lender workouts for major communities and condominium projects, a featured speaker at the National Association of Realtors, and chaired the Florida Home Builder Association's Sales and Marketing Council. In 2008 he was named a 'Lifetime Achiever' by Keller Williams Realty's International Division. You may contact him at or call him at 407.234.2349.