Today's date in history...

Two interesting events happened on March 7 that I thought brought an interesting perspective to the Real Estate biz.

In 1854 - Charles Miller patents 1st US sewing machine to stitch buttonholes. Can you imagine the state of the Real Estate industry (or its players) if the buttonhole hadn't been invented? What would agents, financiers and attorneys be wearing today if not for this invention.

Even better, in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. I remember selling real estate back when we didn't have mobile phones of any kind, and voice mail was just catching on. At my first real estate brokerage a Real Live Secretary answered the phone and took messages for you that you would read off scraps of paper when you went back to the office. I still have real estate colleagues in other parts of the country that still print their home phone numbers on their marketing materials.

Today's standard of service is to have a mobile device that is capable of handling calls, voice mails, instant messges and email. A laptop won't do as contemporaries of mine now consider email a form of instant communication. If I want to keep up with my clients I had better have my email delivered to a handheld device and respond quickly to questions.

For you Real Estate Wheeler-Dealers, in 1933, the game of Monopoly was invented. I've been playing my own small potatoes version here in Chicago since the early 1990's. No Boardwalk or Park Avenue in my collection, but still something to cash in on someday.