Surviving the Storm
Toward the end of 2007, Jacqueline Jackson, a realtor in Orland Park, Illinois, was struck by how much her business had taken a tumble. She had sold more than $3 million in property the year before, but she says, “One day I woke up and I realized I hadn’t had a closing in a year.†Grim projections for the ailing real estate industry only added to the uncertainty Jackson felt about her ability to maintain her business and standard of living.