Here’s the Story…

If you know it, you know it…

Were you singing along and feeling the flashbacks in your mind? Can you see the opening credits like you’re sitting on your old family sofa with a bottle of Coca Cola and an after school snack? Do you remember watching with your brothers or sisters?

Today would have been actor Robert Reed’s 88th birthday. Of course, most people over the age of 40 will remember Reed as Mike Brady, the patriarch of The Brady Family. Mike and his second wife Carol (played by Florence Henderson) blended their family; Mike’s three sons (Greg, Peter, and Bobby) mixed with Carol’s three daughters (Marcia, Jan, and Cindy) and created the family that was the focus of the 70’s sitcom “The Brady Bunch.” Add in Alice the Housekeeper and you had the premise for a great show.

The split level house was the unforgettable with the long staircase, the shared bathroom between 6 kids, Mike’s architect home-office and the back family room overlooking the yard. If you remember the show, you probably have some “favorite episodes” coming to mind, huh? Maybe it was “The Slumber Caper” (itching powder in sleeping bags), “My Sister, Benedict Arnold” (and the dunking booth), or “The Subject is Noses” when Marcia gets bonked in the face with a football before a date with Charley…and Doug. Or was it when the Brady’s went to Kings Island amusement park or when they ventured to Hawaii?

What Families Do You Remember Most?

From my earliest days of watching TV, it was the Flintstones and the Jetsons (opposite ends of the time spectrum), the Cleavers, Taylor’s (from Mayberry and The Andy Griffith Show), Walton’s, Cunninghams, Bunkers, Jefferson’s, and Bradfords. Then it was the Sanford’s, Drummonds, Keatons, Salinger’s, and Taylor’s (from Home Improvement). More recently it might be the Huxtables, the Bundys, the Bluths, or the Taylor’s again ( this time from Friday Night Lights). The Clampetts or The Cohens? The Heffernans or the Hecks? The Simpsons or the Sopranos?

My guess is if you’re still reading this, you’re either smiling or yelling out families I forgot.

“How could you leave out The Addam’s Family or The Munsters?”

“You left out The Ewing’s, The Connors, and The Ramones? I guess everyone doesn’t “love Raymond” after all, huh?”

“What about Walter, Skyler, and Junior White in Breaking Bad?”

“You’re in real estate and you leave out Phil Dunphy and the Pritchett’s from Modern Family? What’s wrong with you?”

Thank You for Proving My Point

I argue this point with anyone who will listen; Our business is not about houses. It’s never been about houses. It’s a business built on relationships. It always has been and it always will be. The house is just the “widget” we deal with, but it’s never been about the house. It’s about the people that live in the house. The person, the couple, the family. The homeowner. The person with the family…and pets…and story.

The best Realtors build relationships with people. They solve those people’s problems. If they are good at what they do, they have fun doing it…and their clients do too.

We aren’t in the house business, We are in the people business. Keep that in mind and you’ll continue to have a bunch of families come to mind years from now, except they won’t be Hollywood creations. You’ll remember them as real life husbands & wives, moms and dads, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, or like Alice…even someone’s housekeeper.

Call it more than a hunch but if you do things right and you’re a little bit lucky, they will remember you too.

Photo courtesy of Pablo Merchán Montes