When RE/MAX internationally award-winning real estate agent Cathy Lammie found out her Fig Tree Pocket home had been flooded in January, along with many others in her town, her first thought was how she could help her community.
Ms Lammie was on holiday when the flood waters swept through Fig Tree Pocket on January 11 and cut the trip short so she could be back at home. After assessing the damage to her house (which had been flooded on the bottom level), she decided there were more important areas on which to concentrate. "It was devastating for everybody because we're a very tight knit community in Fig Tree Pocket. This is where I live, this is where my children went to school and this is where my business was born and it's my community," she explained. "It was just devastating to see the destruction and the confusion and the sadness of people's lives just spilled out onto the road, but the positive was so many people from so many walks of life just came in to help. It was one of the most amazing things I've seen - and am still seeing today," Ms Lammie said, but added no one in Fig Tree Pocket died, unlike in the other natural disasters around the world during 2011.
Instrumental in setting up community meetings and coordinating efforts to help out and get back on track, Ms Lammie put her business on hold for a few months and "mucked in". She even gave house keys to friends and neighbours so they had somewhere to go for coffee meetings and helped coordinate collections for essential household items. "Everyone thought they would get insurance money because there was flood water, but in many of the houses it was actually storm water that came in first. "When the kids went back to school everyone else's lives had gone back to normal, but ours hadn't."
Ms Lammie was approached by 12 groups to sell their flood-affected properties, but by rallying the community to help out those who wanted to stay, only three homes had to be sold. And Ms Lammie did this commission free.
"I spoke to my principal Brad Jackson and said I couldn't charge a fee. Brad didn't even hesitate, he knows what I'm like, and said he would support me," she said. The first of the three sales was for a 90-year-old woman who was not insured. Her four daughters thought the stress of the clean up and flood would be too much for the elderly woman so she moved to an aged care facility and Ms Lammie took care of the rest.
"She had a beautiful garden. I sent a personal letter to my own qualified database in my area and I had three written offers. The person who bought that paid $20,000 over bank valuation because we waived our fee." The next sales was for a vendor who had already moved interstate and had been contemplating selling, but once the property was flooded the decision was made for her. The sale price was $320,000 less than Ms Lammie's valuation from the end of 2010.
Last was a sale for a man whose elderly mother had been living in the home and she too moved into aged care. Each of the three properties was sold to a Fig Tree Pocket resident and Ms Lammie is thrilled they have stayed local, and even sees the silver lining.
"The houses have presented opportunities for the next generation of Fig Tree Pocket families, who never thought they could afford to live here, to come in and buy these houses. It's provided an opportunity for them out of something so bad, so there has also been some light at the end of the tunnel for me as a salesperson."
This selfless act by Ms Lammie was supported by her principal, who said he was not surprised she had coordinated such a strong community effort because it was in her nature. "We just followed Cathy's lead. She abandoned her business for several weeks and just worked in the community," Mr Jackson said.
"I went down there [to Fig Tree Pocket] the week before Australia Day and every fourth or fifth house had a flag and I knew it was Cathy's doing. There were scores of them to rally the spirit of the community and when I was with her, people kept flagging her down to talk to her," he said.
While there is still work to be done in Fig Tree Pocket, life - and business - does go on for Ms Lammie and her community. "I sold my first house in Fig Tree Pocket after the flood in February and I cried because I was so happy. I knew our suburb was going to be OK. Three months after that I sold one for $2 million, so it just made me realise I had a job to do and I had to do it. Being able to support my community this year has been a gift and I'm very grateful for that."
Ms Lammie said she hoped her experience would encourage other agents to help and give back if their community had a natural disaster. "Just take a moment to look in your own backyard and see how lucky you are. If you've got your health, you're lucky, you can start planning from there," Ms Lammie concluded.