As I’m writing this, we are nine weeks into 2021, and I have posted a news item regarding an industry acquisition or merger almost every single week. Some of the deals are with industry suppliers and vendors, but largely it’s restoration companies. In most cases, one company purchases another, but in others, a private equity firm has come in and made an investment.

One of the challenges in making predictions is being blindsided by items you could never have seen coming. Before last year, imagine someone telling you the country would be shut down for months, you could not go to a restaurant or church service for months, college basketball would stop the week before March Madness, and most schools would be closed for months (or in some cases, a year).

Imagine coming home from work one day to find a real estate broker sitting in your driveway. They get out of the car, approach you, and politely make a cash offer to buy your house at the current market value.