Nothing brings my neighborhood together like a crisis. Last year the roof on the house next door caught fire.  Fortunately no one was home and alert neighbors contacted the fire department and located the family’s emergency numbers so that they could inform the family. When the family returned they found that their insurance agent had been contacted and a realtor was available to help them get all of the permit and code information for when they were ready to rebuild.   The family was impressed with the effectiveness and speed with which the realtor responded.  The realtor explained that she employed a real estate answering service who contacted her in cases of emergency and that since this tragedy had happened in one of her neighborhoods, she wanted to do what she could to help. The family didn’t know what was more impressive, the neighbors,  the real estate answering service or the realtor.