2020. Where to begin?

Since Carla Labianca and I are a Real Estate Partnership, let’s begin with one aspect of the beast that was 2020 – the local real estate market since COVID-19. Picture a (beast-themed) roller coaster with almost vertical climbs, a few minor dips but no extreme drops. The Seller’s market, which exploded in April after COVID safety protocol was squarely in place, produced list-to-sale price ratios that surpassed even the years leading up to the great recession of 2008 – the benchmark by which all other crazy markets are measured. No local market has come close, until 2020.

Fortunately, our years of experience in the consistently competitive region along the Mid-town Direct Train lines became the foundation from which we developed creative tools designed to give our clients an edge in the turbulent COVID market. We learned on a dime how to practice the “new” Real Estate deftly throughout the unprecedented times of 2020.

And while what’s to come in 2021 is unknown, we can surmise that we will be feeling the effects of COVID in many ways well into the future.

Because of the challenges of 2020, it’s difficult to review this past year and not address the concept of gratitude. To be clear, we are very aware that the requisite speak of gratitude, when so many have lost so much, could sound trite and tone-deaf. We have all been affected by COVID to greater or lesser degrees. And we are all experiencing our own framework in which to reflect as the end of the years draws near.

GRATITUDE

We are absolutely, truly, and abundantly grateful for is our South Orange and Maplewood community; connections, love, and support. And of course, for our families and friends as well.

We are also grateful that come Fall 2021. The (3rd!) Annual Resource Home Show Trade Show, which we have sorely missed producing this year, will return. And because gratitude and giving are linked, in 2021, Resource has chosen to support the fight to extinguish rare diseases.

2021 Resource Home Charity Organization of the Year | Project ALS

We believe in science. In the wake of the great scientific achievement that is the COVID-19 vaccine, it feels like a good time to turn our attention to the fight against rare diseases. For far too long, so many diseases have received minimal funding. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease is just one of many such diseases. According to Johns Hopkins, ALS affects approximately 30,000 individuals in the United States, with 5,000 new cases diagnosed each year. ALS causes motor neurons to die in the brain and spinal cord. A person afflicted progressively loses the ability to walk, speak, swallow, and breathe. Many will die within two to five years of diagnosis and it affects all ages.

To that end, we have chosen Project ALS as our charity of the year.

“Project ALS identifies and funds the most promising scientific and medical research that will lead to the first effective treatments and a cure for ALS. We recruit the world’s best scientists and doctors to work together—rationally and aggressively—to develop a better understanding of the ALS disease process and, in parallel, better therapeutic strategies.”

Let’s do this in 2021!