Help! We Do!

a uniform might be appropriate! Angels of mercy - we do see ourselves in that role, often, but more and more, the truth is likely to show us in the image of workhorse behind the scenes - keeping everyone in line on the way to close after having kept everyone in line (other agents included) during the showings leading up to contract and through negotiations. Talking with my friend Lisa, this week, we pondered the image a realtor has in the mind of the public, how sometime in our careers, we each wish for that image to be more positive, erego, the Angel of Mercy illustration!

This week I listened to one of my favorite agents interviewed for a feature article and the words, "I want to be crucial to my buyer finding the home they love, believing they are happy in the end, satisfied with the whole process." A sincere statement which I believe applies to the rare yet excellent agent I admire so much - so many who are true characters, achievers, deeply interesting people and devoted to their work. Years ago, I wrote a book where the heroine is a realtor, finding answers, solving every problem and the illustration for that first effort was a treehouse drawn by my grandson. He was my goal, I wanted his respect and the recognition came with that simple drawing.

Need some super glue!

one sided My Managing Broker and I have been making jokes for the past few weeks that we should apply to the State Department for jobs. Recruiting and solving problems between what feels like warring factions asks a great deal of those who must take the position of Switzerland! We pat each other on the back, and urge a retreat to home, sleep, peace in our personal valleys, but the effort takes a toll.

Real Estate in general IS negotiation on every level, from the selling an agent does to be selected by a buyer or seller, to the negotiation necessary once a home is chosen and a contract written; a price must be achieved! Then more diplomacy once the banking process begins and patience is required of everyone (and shall I mention NO ONE has patience with the process these days). Banks have oversight over the oversight, which said realtors are left to excuse and explain . . . while doing the blasted bank's bidding, errr work. In every deal there is a new lesson and lately, as I said, it is as though the peace process - the laurels offered, need some super glue and streets more and more often are one way. Agents need some credit they are not getting; perhaps we can laud each other!

What We Don't Know

before the flowers come Each year, in my work as the month of March raged in or out (it would always rage) we'd wait for the flowers to correct the harsh landscape. Selling would be the hardest for these four weeks. The unknown would loom. This painting captures so much for me the rather bleak time of year, the equally harsh landscape I faced in my upstate NY real estate world, year after year. Mastering the craft of real estate sales was a feat I enjoyed, savored, even in the iffy weeks of winter's end. March was the perfect example of what we don't know; a month representing what a realtor must learn to balance. Kentucky brings March differently to the table, so much more palatable.

After a weekend of showings, an offer is written. The unknown rules. Will the agent be able, is the seller prepared, is the house what the papers say it is, can the buyer hold on during the process of negotiating the best deal I can land for her? Am I able to hold her hand and her heart for these few days as I sort out what I do know and turn the table for her, into a deal she'll be pleased with? Add the challenge (always present in my work) to the dailies. Life at home, life with friends, some new event happening with or for or around the kids now grown whose lives are at a peak for intensity and excitement - life at it's MOST. Then, there's weather, health, the need for downtime, a friend's issues arising, not to mention the state of the world and personal efforts to play some role bigger than for myself alone.

I submit, a realtor, a reliable one, with years of experience and accomplishment is a fine tuned machine for the larger picture, for finding that balance and leading a few people through the maze of a deal while also being a good person, a good parent, a good friend. Turning what we don't know into a daily assignment to be completed, the best way possible. I believe.

It started with MOVES

flowers make the buyAs realtors, we all have a story about how we got started; sometimes there's a WHY, but more often a choice for what we consider at the start, a simple fit. We like houses, real estate is a family talent, or we thought the work day arrangements would be a good thing.

For me, it started with the moves, lots of them and all brought a profit. The last few properties were bought knowing the profit would result and we spent to gain. Fun and the times were right. But, when I look at the day to day over 25 years now, I have to say . . . I'm a gardener. Maybe not as in landscape expert, but one who loves flowers, looks for how the beds hug the house and naming the blooming trees as I show homes to a new buyer. The most fun is when a buyer thinks as I do - often the case - and doesn't mind my saying, "three dogwoods in the front and did you see that row of peonies"? Always my eye is on the bloom as we are narrowing in on a choice. The setting, the house on it's lot and the home is framed by it's trees and lawn is tantamount in an exclamation I wait for, "THIS IS IT"!

Now I've been shut down in the past . . . a buyer saying "I don't care about the garden out back" (shhhhhhhh jude) and then the worst of all time (talked about it for a year), the buyer who walked under the most stunning Korean Cherry tree, over 100 years old and in full bloom, flooding the house and garden with it's beauty . . . and said, "oh, THAT, I'd take it down, I want an organic vegetable patch". I died.

This spring, I'll creep down the street to see if the splendid specimen survived as I show homes to new buyers, hoping to find those who, like me, love gardening!

Who's your bud?

Walking down the hall in our office is like being in the cradle of comfort. Need advice, choose your door. Want to consult, choose your style, wish for a negotiating break through . . . just take your pick of the accomplished pros, always ready to share, to brainstorm. Get ready, it could be the likes of a charming Charlie Lotze, the most serious Barbara Kinderman, young talented Tim Holland or any from a long menu of experience! There are assistants here who can make the earth move!

Who is the person you talk to when you need to shake loose from your own thinking? We all need a best bud in the business for conferring. One of our agents, who’s pretty wonderful on her own, has a best friend who ranks among the best in our business but lives in another city; some of us are on teams where another keen thinker is only a desk away, but there are many agents who practice rather independently and like to take that cool walk down the hallway, you’ll see them linger, then step inside or slide into the conference room for a meeting of agents’ minds. I often think, the advice here is as fine as from an Attorney or a sage; then some RE/MAX Agents are attorneys, or have MBAs, very “sagey”.

If I had to say the one thing I like best about being a RE/MAX agent, it would be consorting with these players, these incredibly able Pros who make me proud every day to call Real Estate my profession, and that would be true if I were visiting my son in San Francisco, taking a trip to the Bahamas or home here in the Bluegrass; our signs are all over the world.

A prideful bunch, we are. To quote Melody Malone, “I am RE/MAX”.

Who’s your best bud? If you don’t have one, get one . . .