What is Real Estate?

“I am the basis of all wealth, the heritage of the wise, the thrifty and prudent.

I am the poor man’s joy and comfort, the rich man’s prize, the right hand of capital, the silent partner of many thousands of successful men.

I am the solace of the widow, the comfort of all age, the cornerstone of security against misfortune and want.

I am handed down to children through generations as a thing of greatest worth.

I am the choicest fruit of toil. Credit respects me. Yet I am humble. I stand before everyman bidding him know me for what I am and possess me.

I grow and increase in a value through countless days though I seem dormant, my worth increases; never falling, never ceasing, time is my aid and populations heaps up my gain. Fire and the element I defile, for they cannot destroy me.

My possessors learn to believe in me; invariably they become envied. While all things wither and decay, I survive. The centuries find me younger, increasing in strength. The thriftless speak ill of me. The charlatans of finance attack me.

I am trustworthy. I am sound. Unfailingly I triumph and detractors are disproved. Minerals and oil come from me. I am producer of food, the basis for ships and factories, and the foundation of banks.

Yet I am so common that thousands, unthinkingly and unknowingly pass me by:

I am real estate”

Lou Scott