Realtor finds selling houses very satisfying
#660 in a series of true experiences in real estate
There are so many things I like about being a real estate agent. First of all, good people and beautiful houses are my favorites. We meet wonderful people all the time, humorful, kind, smart people. And oftentimes these people live in interesting houses, houses they have painted and cleaned and made better while they lived there.
Or they are looking to begin with a certain house and already have plans for how they will use it, change it, make it their own.
Even houses that aren’t especially appealing to me I like to see because they give me experience and perspective. I think about all the people who’ve lived in them, guessing about who designed the parts, then the crew that put them all together. I like to think about what a house looked like when it was brand new. I always wonder if each owner stood outside across the street looking at his future before he entered for the first time.
I see new ideas in houses all the time. Corner showers with see-through glass walls available all in a preassembled piece. Raw sheet metal on the walls around a kitchen stove niche. Very recently we saw for the first time marvelous wooden windows that slide on ropes and disappear into cavities in the walls below them.
Finding the right person for a job that improves – repairing a garage door opener, replacing glass, installing sheer walls, new leading in old glass – whatever needs doing. Very satisfying.
Gardens. I love seeing gardens new to me. Once in awhile I get cuttings for my own garden.
Knowing where streets are and the routes to the streets, stairs on pathways is interesting. Also, knowing where the reservoirs are located and how the earthquake zones run – all useful. There are houses that have no street frontage at all but are accessed via easements. Some houses are way up at the top of stairs while others are down below the street and in the trees.
There are many people I’m glad to know. Agents, lots and lots of good agents in our area. Greeting a full house of agents is supreme. And support people – title company geniuses, inspectors who teach us and our clients, carpenters and workmen who solve problems, and maybe especially, house cleaners who actually see dirt and remove it.
Getting houses pulled together is thrilling every single time. Seeing a house at the start, then being there as it is made clear and clean. Staging, painting, windows washed. Being there when agents and buyers come in and see it for the first time, watching them, hearing them.
People’s stories are good, very good. How they came to live here, what they did along the way. How they met one another, who they know that I know. What they enjoy, why they’re scared, what they plan to do next.
Sorting out what is done for the present owners versus future owners. Making guesses about what a house will sell for, how much a buyer must offer to make it his, how much value might be added if the seller refinishes the floors before marketing.
Tour food is fun. Toss-them-in-your-mouth tidbits while in motion. Cheese and bread, little club sandwiches, donuts.
I like good staging, it can be miraculous. I love fresh flowers used in staging.
I love that people are appreciative. We do what we do because we like to and because people appreciate it.
We are continually reminded of the episodic nature of this business. High/low interest rates, high/low demand, country/sleek styles, colors – all circular.
Working with Anet is terrific. She’s so competent. And thorough and kind and in need of completing tasks.
Awake or dreaming, I am constantly thinking about goals – my own and our clients’ — what’s best, most direct, most fruitful.
