From Food Stamps to Fortune: With Help, He Got His Life Back

The Indiana wind was howling around Randy May’s pick-up truck on the night he broke his neck.

May, a construction company owner, never really saw the tree that crashed down onto the vehicle and changed his life forever. It sparked a chain of events that would cost him his home and leave him wondering how in the world he’d get his life back on track.

The 2006 injury didn’t paralyze May, but it put him into a back-and-neck brace that limited his mobility and made it difficult for him to lead his company. Maybe it didn’t even matter, because the construction industry downturn smacked him almost as hard as the tree had. Building stalled almost completely. Projects dried up. Phone calls stopped. The need for his services screeched to a halt.

In a classic case of unfair timing, May and his wife, Brandy, had finished building their dream home – a labor of love – just six months before the accident. The  mortgage payments didn’t shrink just because May’s income had, and the couple soon found themselves eating through their savings, just to pay the bills.

They understood the math. In a matter of time, they wouldn’t be able to pay their mortgage anymore.

“I felt totally helpless,” May says.

ASKING FOR HELP
Familiar with the short sale concept that would let them escape their impossible situation, the Mays turned to Tracee Lutes, a well-established independent brokerage owner in Bloomington, Ind. She deftly guided them through a short sale and helped them get out from under the crushing weight of their mortgage debt.

“Tracee was kind, professional and compassionate the whole time,” Randy May says. “We were devastated that we didn’t have any money to buy our three little girls Christmas presents that year. Tracee and her assistant, Georgia Johnson, put together a toy drive for us. How amazing is that? We were absolutely shocked. When someone does something like that for you, you don’t forget it.”

The Mays were so impressed with how Lutes ran her business that they wanted to earn their real estate licenses and join her team. They asked if she would have them. Lutes said yes.

There was no overnight success, no immediate turnaround in their lives, but from that point forward the Mays had a goal and a renewed sense of hope. It was a new beginning, and that was reason enough to work as hard as they could.

Randy says he remembers feeling shame and embarrassment when he used food stamps at the grocery store. But those moments also drove him. He became fiercely determined that his family wouldn’t have to rely on assistance for long.

They took the classes, earned their licenses (in 2008) and spent far more time working than relaxing.

“Brandy and I worked the graveyard shift at Target making $8.50 an hour to supplement our income while we got started in real estate. It was humbling,” May recalls. “That was a tough time for us because we were so new to the business.”

After nights stocking the store shelves, the Mays built their real estate business during the day, generating leads, working with the team and learning the ropes. Slowly but surely, things started to click.

In 2011, Lutes announced she was planning to buy into the RE/MAX Acclaimed Properties brokerage in Bloomington. The Mays had enough faith and confidence to follow her there.

“By that point, I knew that if I focused on providing great service, I’d be successful,” Randy says. “With RE/MAX, I’d have the added benefit of brand-name recognition and great tech tools; everything was at our fingertips. This was great timing for the move.”

UPWARD CLIMB

The couple has flourished ever since. Although Brandy left sales to launch a successful asset-management career, Randy hit his stride at RE/MAX Acclaimed Properties. In 2012, his first full year with RE/MAX, he earned his way into the 100 Percent Club. This year, through August, he’s closed 28 transaction sides for $4.5 million in volume.

The Mays now own a beautiful home in a historic district of Bloomington. They’re renovating it into their “dream home 2.0.” And with his real estate business humming along, Randy even had time to take a once-in-a-lifetime mission trip to an AIDS orphanage in Uganda with one of his daughters.

Lutes believes that May’s attitude has had everything to do with his remarkable success.

“Randy is an amazing example of what can happen when you have a positive, never-give-up attitude,” Lutes says. “Most people would’ve quit in the face of such adversity, but he just kept pressing forward.”

By turning his misfortunes into an opportunity for new dreams, May believes he’s rebounded full circle. The darkness of his post-accident period is long gone.

“I only wish I had gotten into real estate 30 years ago,” he says. “I love what I do, and I couldn’t be happier than I am right now.”