Savannah Pope and her family are navigating the unknown after furious winds from Hurricane Helene sent a tree crashing through the second story of the roof of their western North Carolina home. Wind, rain and debris came rushing into their home as Pope, her husband and their baby daughter narrowly escaped with their lives.
Pope, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Advantage in Arden, North Carolina, says her family’s house, which they just built two years ago, is now uninhabitable. For now, the family is staying in an Airbnb rental until they figure out next steps and how long it’ll take to repair their home.
Despite their lives being turned upside down by Helene, Pope says her family are among the lucky ones. They are still here.
“The past couple of days, in general, for western North Carolina, has been pretty much a nightmare that everybody just can’t wake up from,” Pope tells RISMedia. “But the community has definitely been brought together stronger than I’ve ever seen. Everyone is stepping in and lending a helping hand, because resources are limited.”
The storm slammed into Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane on September 27. Helene left a trail of widespread destruction in its aftermath, killing more than 230 people (and counting). AccuWeather estimates the total damage and economic loss from Helene between $225 billion and $250 billion.
At press time, another monster storm—Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 160 mph as of late Tuesday—is barreling toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, prompting thousands to evacuate the Tampa Bay region as it braces for a direct hit.
Housing industry steps up with relief, donations
Helene brought many mortgage and real estate companies together to pitch in with relief and recovery efforts to ease some of the suffering their impacted employees and clients are feeling.
From monetary donations to getting much-needed supplies to the storm’s hardest-hit victims, the housing industry sprang into action immediately to help. For instance, Keller Williams Realty encouraged their employees to donate to KW Cares, the brokerage’s nonprofit public charity that helps employees experiencing an emergency financial hardship.
As of October 5, KW Cares had awarded 75 grants for financial assistance totaling $218,028 and gave out 525 generators to agents and their families, says Alexia Rodriguez, CEO of KW Cares. But the work is far from over, especially with dozens of Keller Williams agents in the region unaccounted for, which is the first priority, Rodriguez adds.
“We’re looking at well over a million dollars that we have provided in assistance to the victims of this storm,” Rodriguez says. She adds that during Hurricane Ian in 2022, KW Cares distributed $3.6 million in aid. She easily expects KW Cares to spend double that amount for Helene relief.
“There’s so many people that will be affected long term,” Rodriguez says. “All of us here just want to express how concerned we are for all the communities that were affected (…) by this devastating storm, and our hearts go out to everybody. We know that they’re facing a long road ahead of them.”
Additionally, RE/MAX, one of the nation’s largest real estate brokerages with more than 53,000 U.S. associates, is encouraging its employees to donate to its We are RE/MAX Relief Fund to support impacted employees.
Meanwhile, Will Poteat, a Co-Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Crossroads in Lincolnton, North Carolina, is keeping followers updated on his Facebook page as his office collects and distributes desperately-needed supplies to smaller, isolated mountain communities outside of Asheville. These communities aren’t getting as much attention or resources, and their need is immense, Poteat explains in his posts.
Immediately after the storm, Fairway Mortgage CEO Steve Jacobson announced on LinkedIn that his company was donating $1 million to clients and employees impacted by Helene. But he didn’t stop there; he challenged other leaders in the mortgage industry to step up as well.
“If we’re really here to help and serve consumers and that’s our main (mission) then, to me, this is something that we all should do,” Jacobson tells RISMedia. “I can’t imagine a mortgagee that’s a major mortgagee not doing the same. People are devastated.”
Fairway also has a relief fund in place to help its impacted employees in the region. The company is receiving up to 50 requests for help a day, Jacobson says.
More mortgage companies have come out in force with donations to help Helene victims. Wells Fargo, Truist Foundation and USAA have each donated more than $1 million to hurricane relief efforts, distributing funds among nonprofits with boots on the ground in affected areas, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
South Carolina-based Movement Mortgage, which has 775 offices and more than 4,500 employees, posted videos on its social media pages showing employees mobilizing to donate and deliver supplies and other aid to impacted communities.
A long road to recovery ahead
The outpouring of support from her office, the Coldwell Banker brand in other states and other real estate companies in the area has been “amazing,” Pope says.
“Whether it’s providing some financial assistance if possible, or gathering supplies and trying to get them up here,” Pope says, “every Coldwell Banker office that I have been able to connect with, they’re doing everything in their power to try and help the local offices and their fellow REALTORS® here through this hard time.”
Tim Milam, CEO of Wilmington, North Carolina-based Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage (the parent brokerage of Pope’s office), has worked tirelessly to ensure the 80 agents in his four offices in the Asheville area get the immediate help they need. Milam’s brokerage operates 60 offices with more than 2,000 agents in the Carolinas.
“The great news is we have accounted for all of our people, so they are alive and they’re okay,” Milam says, noting that all of his offices have been collecting and delivering supplies for their impacted colleagues. “The not-so-good news is that they’ve suffered a tremendous amount of damage to their homes and cars.
“We believe it’s going to be some time before we’ll start seeing any activity in that market. It’s so early, and because it’s so difficult to travel in the mountains after storms of this magnitude, we’re still learning things about what’s going on.”
The road to recovery will be long and painful as communities continue to assess the damage and economic toll from Helene. But “come hell or high water,” as they say in the Appalachians, they’ll be back—stronger than ever.
“We will recover, we will rebuild,” Pope says, hopeful for the future. “Right now, everyone is still very much in mourning of what happened. But we will get through this together.”
Have you been impacted by Helene? Here’s where to go for help:
