Back in a former life, I used to sell Real Estate. I spent my last nine years in Kalamazoo, MI selling homes, but as most Realtors know, writing up the sale is the easy part. Before and after present most of the problems and I might add fun.
When I first decided to try real estate, I answered an ad in the paper and interviewed with a fellow who had sold homes for about 100 years. He had come up with a plan where Realtors could keep most of their commission by not having an office to pay for. So you would work from your home. He cautioned me that this was not for someone who needed to stand around the coffee pot and chit chat with others. Well right away I knew that wasn't where I wanted to be.
That decision turned out to be the right one. The office camaraderie energized me. I worked at three different offices met wonderful people, both inside and outside of the office.
I remember house tour when we used to actually go out and tour newly listed homes on the market. It really gave us a feel for the home and neighborhood and was much more effective than photo tour which is used now in most offices. It was a great way to interact with fellow agents.
There were times when for some reason or another, I didn't click with a client, but most of the time I made friends for life with my clients. I remember one particular instance when I took a client out to house hunt. An appointment was made with the listing agent who mentioned that the seller was moving that day, but to go ahead and show it.
When we got there, sure enough, the moving truck was out front and the front door was off, sitting in the yard. We walked in to nothing short of chaos. There was a large bird in a cage and when someone moved the cage the door flew open and the bird flew out the door. That was quite a sight. We continued through the house looking around all the clutter when we reached the kitchen. There was a myriad of doors so in my usual way, I opened the doors to show the buyer what was behind them. We came to a pocket door that I thought might contain the laundry room. When I opened the door there sat one of the movers, a Rastafarian looking gentleman, on a toilet smiling up at us, no embarrassment on his part, just a big grin. Whoa Nellie, I thought I was going to swallow my tongue! I was embarrassed enough for both of us. I was mortified, Donna, my client almost wet herself from laughing hysterically. Needless to say the showing was over. It took me several years to be able to talk about it with anyone other than Donna.
I miss real estate and everything that goes with it. I tried it out here for a while, but it wasn't the same. Mostly I miss my friends, who I visit when I am back home.
If any of you out there have funny real estate stories, please comment and let me know what they are, I would love to hear them.
I wish all my real estate buddies only the best in this horrible economy that we are stuck in. You are all professionals and I am confident you will weather this storm and come out on the other side even better.
