Selling real estate

I'm a realtor so I get the pleasure of helping people buy and sell homes.  Its a lot more work than most people think.  In addition to what they see on HGTV's House Hunters where the realtor shows them 3 houses and they buy one, we often show people a lot more than 3, and some don't buy.  And for those that do buy, as their agent I must also coordinate their inspections, help them resolve inspection issues, provide the appraiser with comparable properties, facilitate the transfer of the utilities, and ensure the attorney handling the closing has all the necessary documentation for the contract and addenda.

Occasionally I'll get a call from someone from another state that's not familiar with our market here.  The joke around the office is that they always want 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and to be walking distance to the beach for no more than $200K.  Those people make me want to say this:

Appreciation

Last evening I went to a realtor appreciation party sponsored by one of our local home builders.  Every year they invite realtors to a nice party with free food, booze, and prize drawings. Builders count on realtors to bring their buyers to their new communities, and to show their appreciation this builder has an appreciation party every year.

This year's party was held in a penthouse party room in an oceanfront hotel.  As you can imagine, the views of the beach and ocean were incredible from that height.  I tried to take a selfie in front of the view but there was too much light so the view was washed out.

Several of my realtor friends were there so I took some selfies with them.

The builder's sales reps were also there so it was fun to chat with them as well as my realtor friends.  The food was really good and who doesn't like free food and booze?

Outside the box

Today is my last real estate settlement of 2018.  It will be a happy day as my young clients get the keys to their brand new home; a home they didn't have to rebuild from the inside out like their last home.  I anticipate lots of smiles and excitement at the settlement table.

These clients were "walk-ins".  That means they just showed up at the office without an appointment and asked to speak to an agent, who happened to be me that day.  That almost never happens.  With the plethora of real estate information (and misinformation) on the internet, most people begin their real estate search online and have a good idea what they can expect to get and pay.  But I sat down with these clients and talked about what they wanted, where they wanted to be, and discussed details of their situation.

But in my 8 years of being a full-time agent, this has only happened to me 3 times.  That's right; 3 times in 8 years.  Obviously you can't build a business on 3 walk-ins in 8 years.  Fortunately my real estate team has done a lot to get leads by having a robust online presence, using our own team website and having profiles on public real estate websites.  We also advertise in local publications too.

But this year I was also struck by how much more business happens outside the office, which is making me think outside the box on how I can capture more of it.

As an example, I sold a home to a couple in 2012.  The wife referred a colleague to me in 2014 and that couple also bought a home from.  That couple referred a colleague to me this year and that couple bought a home from me too.  This reminded me how important word-of-mouth referrals are.  I need to think of some new ways to encourage my past clients to refer their friends and neighbors to me.  After all, I've already proven my value and trustworthiness to them so they can vouch for me when they refer others.

Another example:  2 independent clients to whom I've sold homes struck up conversations with strangers at happy hours (that's common around here).  Both clients referred those strangers to me and both have since purchased homes.  This reminded me that 'not all business happens in the board room', sometimes it happens at happy hour.  I need to consider the potential of capturing new business at happy hours.  

When the market is good and business is easy to get we can get a bit lazy with prospecting.  But as the market slows down and interest rates go up I don't want my business/income to go down too.  I need to think outside the box for ways to capture business.

I tried going to a couple of local business networking mixers but didn't find them to be helpful.  It was mostly people like me who were trying to expand their reach to new customers.  And although those people had the potential to refer their clients to me, these events were heavy with realtors so I never saw any benefit from them.  I think they're more effective in larger metropolitan areas.

Do any of you guys have any ideas to share?

What happened on Sunday

So yesterday was the end of daylight savings time so we turned our clocks back an hour.  Of course my body woke up at the normal time so I struggled to go back to sleep a few more times before finally getting up to go to the bathroom.

Later we met up with Steven & Thad for breakfast at the Crystal. 

Although I was scheduled off, I had agreed to meet a new client and show her 3 homes close to where we live.  Spouse picked up some items at the store while I was showing the homes.

Then we met Steven & Thad at the movie theater to see Bohemian Rhapsody.  I've long said that the song Bohemian Rhapsody is a piece of musical genius, somehow weaving together music from several different genres and several different keys, and instead of sounding like a hot mess, it works.  Perfectly.  This film is about the band Queen, not just about this song.

I'd heard good things from several of my friends on Facebook who'd seen it on Fri or Sat so I figured it would be good.

It was fantastic!  Rami Malek did an amazing job portraying Freddie Mercury.  The mannerisms, the body language, the dancing on stage, it was all there.  I expect him to be nominated for an Academy Award for this performance.  I heard that Malek sang/recorded all the music for the film and then both his and Feddie's were mixed together to make the soundtrack.  Very clever.  The pacing was very good too, never getting hung up for too long on any particular scene.  I was shocked the film was over 2 hours long.

Do yourself a favor and see Bohemian Rhapsody!

Weekend recap

On Sat I worked (as usual) but didn't have any showings scheduled so I volunteered to drive the company bus for a couple hours, providing shuttle transportation to/from a local arts festival.  People were very nice and appreciative of the free shuttle service and it gave me a little something different to do since I had no appointments.

That evening we had a simple/easy dinner out with Steven & Thad, then came home and relaxed a little before heading into town to perform in the Legends show as Boy George.  I love doing that Legend because the songs are so good and his presence is unmistakable. The place was really full and the crowd was really 'into' the show!  Immediately afterward we go out into the audience for 'meet and greet' time, and I got several requests for photos and had several conversations with folks who complimented me on my performance.  My buddies Jason & Kevin were there too so I spent a little time chatting with them as well. It was a really fun night!

When I got home about 11:45 Spouse was watching 'Justice League' so I grabbed a big glass of water and watched it with him.  I can never come home from a show and go right to bed; I need some time to settle down.  

Since we went to bed so late we didn't get up until 9:30 Sun morning.  We picked up wraps and chips and headed to the beach, arriving just before noon.  Believe it or not this was our 1st beach day this season!  May was very rainy and cool, and then in June it seemed like every Sun it was overcast, so this was our 1st opportunity to go.  It was glorious!!  The oppressive humidity we've had for the last 2 weeks broke and there was a lovely breeze blowing.  

The.  Perfect.  Beach.  Day.

I didn't get the laundry done or the dogs bathed as I'd planned, but it was worth it to take advantage of such a pretty day.  That evening we had dinner with Steven & Thad and then stopped at the grocery store on the way home.

A pretty decent weekend.

Nervous tick

Last Sat I was showing homes to new clients and we looked at a home that was bank-owned.  "Bank-owned" is a nice way of saying it was a foreclosure.  Since no one has lived there in a while the yard has not been maintained.  Banks will occasionally pay someone to mow if they get a letter from the HOA saying the grass is too high, but in this case the home was not within an HOA so the grass had not been cut in a while.

While still showing homes I noticed a tick on calf so I removed it with a tissue.  Of course the rest of the day I was nervous and kept checking my legs and arms every time I thought I felt something.  A few hours later when I got home and was changing my clothes I found another tick on my upper thigh!  I removed that one too, then stripped and made Spouse check me for any additional ticks.  Fortunately he didn't find any others.

Then on Mon I was showing homes to 2 nurses so I asked them if there was any kind of after-care I should do after finding 2 ticks on me.  They suggested seeing my doctor for a Lymes disease test, so I got an appointment for Tues afternoon.  My doctor said the Lymes test is not conclusive, and that a negative test result wouldn't mean I didn't have Lymes.  He said people have tested negative but then developed Lymes weeks/months later.  Instead of the test, he suggested I just go ahead and take the special antibiotic they would prescribe if I had Lymes disease.  This kind of made sense to me, to treat as if I had it just to be on the safe side.

So now I'm taking the antibiotic twice a day for 21 days, just to be sure I don't develop Lymes disease or any other tick-borne illness.

Weekend recap

On Sat I worked (as usual) but also drove the company bus to shuttle folks to the Sea Glass festival, which is rather unusual.  Our bus holds 14 passengers and when asked we try to give back to the community by providing transportation to local festivals from the off-site parking areas.  Folks were very appreciative and it was kind of fun.

That night I performed as Neil Diamond in the Legends show.  My friend Chris from DC was there, as were some clients to whom I sold a condo a while back.  It was a fun show and the audience seemed to really enjoy it.

Sun morning Steven, Spouse & I met up with my friend Chris for breakfast.  Spouse & I putzed around the afternoon, and then Chris invited us to join him and some of his friends for happy hour followed by dinner.  Spouse didn't want to go so I went without him.  We had a lot of fun!

Chris and I went to the same high school and had many common friends, although I don't believe we were actually friends while in school.  I met him 20 years later, randomly at a bar, and in conversation discovered our common history.  Since then he's become a good friend with whom I always have a good time.

Friday

HA HA!!  I laughed out loud when I saw this.

Actually, I had a great day at work today so I have no reason to be an asshole on Mon.  This morning I had a settlement on a high priced home with views of the water and the buyers are super excited.  

Its not the most expensive home I've sold, but its #2.  Spouse (jokingly) said that with this big sale I could "just relax and coast the rest of the summer".  I laughed out loud and replied "As if!!!"

So I'll probably won't be an asshole on Mon.

Not much of a weekend

So Sat I worked, as I normally do.  I had a home inspection in the morning, and a couple showings in the afternoon.  Sat I night I performed as Boy George in the Legends show at the Blue Moon.

I'm typically off on Sundays but I agreed to meet some new clients on my day off for a couple of home showings.  Just before we met up it began pouring down rain, and it was very windy too, like a monsoon!  It was miserable weather for showing homes and we all got wet, but at least they wrote an offer on 1 of the homes so it made it worthwhile.

After the showings I met up with Spouse and Steven & Thad for lunch at a new place called Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant. Its a chain, but we found the food to be quite good, and the place is HUGE!  There's a big bar, lots of indoor seating, and a sizable patio dining area.  By the time we finished up it was after 3:00 and I felt like the day was over.  It was still raining so Spouse & I just watched some TV.

So, not much of a weekend.

Patrick's visit

My long-time friend Patrick arrived Wed evening, and he and Spouse were talking out on the back porch when I got home from work.  We chatted on the porch for a little while, then I changed out of my work clothes and the 3 of us met up with Steven & Thad for dinner at Jimmy's.  Patrick had met them on previous visits so we all had a nice time catching up over dinner.

Yesterday (Thurs, my regular day off) we had coffee on the porch and Patrick got some special lovin' from Marvin & Walter.

I suggested lunch and a walk on the boardwalk which Patrick quickly agreed.  On our way to the restaurant my phone rang 4 times.  While I'd hoped to disconnect from work the entire day to spend uninterrupted time with Patrick, unfortunately I kept getting calls and emails from clients to whom I'd shown homes earlier in the week.  Patrick was very nice about it and understood, but I was annoyed.  After handling what I needed to over lunch, we went to the boardwalk.  As if someone had flipped a switch, the sun went behind the clouds, the temperature dropped, and the wind picked up.  It was so chilly we actually had to cut our walk short.  As we were driving away from the beach, again as if someone had flipped a switch, the clouds broke, the sun came back out, and the temperature warmed back up!

We returned to the house and talked some more, and then I went into the office to meet with my clients and write a contract.  This can often be done via telephone and technology, but these clients are kind of 'old school' and wanted to talk and sign the contract in person.  2 1/2 hours later I returned home to Patrick and Spouse, and since I had a taste for pizza we decided to order delivery. After dinner we just hung out together, with 1 eye on the TV and 1 eye on Facebook, relaxing.

This morning Patrick & I had breakfast at a local diner together, and then he headed home and I headed to another real estate appointment, even though I had planned to be off that day so Patrick could stay as long as he wanted.  While our visit wasn't 'uninterrupted' as I'd hoped, it was still nice to visit with my old friend.

Scared

Recently I was showing a vacant, distressed home.  As I approached the home from the parking area I noticed a window with no screen was wide open.  I thought this was odd since I knew the home was vacant.

As I pushed open the door I startled a bird that must have flown in the open window.  The scared bird flew toward me and crapped on my pants!  I LITERALLY scared the shit out of that bird!

My new client arrived a minute later so I had to explain the stain on my pants and we both had a good-natured chuckle over it.

When I returned to my office I tried a tiny dab of liquid soap and a damp paper towel to clean the spot on my pants.  It worked really well, and once the area dried the shit stain was barely visible. Of course the pants will go to the dry cleaners for full removal but at least I didn't have to walk around all day with shit stained pants.

So, how was YOUR day?

Vacation: Sun

On Sun we had a leisurely breakfast, talked, and sat in the sun for a while before getting ready for our 2nd home tour.  This one was not a vintage home, but rather, was a brand new build that was built from a vintage Donald Wexler design.  The home tour was called Steel & Glass. 

While beautiful in its simplicity, I found this home to be far too cold and sterile for my taste.  Some of this may have been due to the furnishings/decorations. I did like how light and open it was.

Living room

Breakfast area looking into kitchen

Pool and spa

Since it was Sun and we saw several open house signs, we decided to pop into some of the open houses.  We went inside 2 large homes near a golf course, both well over $1M, and then 2 more modest homes close to the 1 in which we were staying, priced at $399K & $449K.  It was fun to talk to the agents and learn more about the rental season there, which is understandably much longer than here in DE.

Next we had lunch at Trio which was yummy and then walked over to a vintage sale in a nearby parking lot.  They had a lot of really cool stuff but we all thought the prices were high.  I took these 2 photos because my friend Thad loves all kinds of vintage chairs and Pyrex.

I'd never seen anything like this

Cute polka dot design

Once back at the house we spent some time in the pool and hot tub, then showered and got ready for a nice out.

1st we went to happy hour at Trunks which was fun, then went back to Sherman's Deli to have cake since we were too full on our 1st visit there.  The slices were huge and we ended up taking parts of them back to the house for later.

Then we went to a drag show at Toucan's which advertised appearances by queens from RuPaul's Drag Race Morgan McMichaels, Delta Werk, Pandora Boxx, and Raja.  It was free/standing room only and we really couldn't see the performers from where we stood.  There were some people who rudely pushed through the patrons as if they were going somewhere, so within about 1/2 an hour all 4 of us were over it and left.  Oh well, what do you expect for a free drag show?

Business

If you're a realtor and you want to boost your business, plan a vacation.

It never fails.  Whenever I'm planning to be away for a while, my clients come crawling out of the woodwork.  Its like I've put out some invisible sonar signal that says "Call Mark now".  

This week is no exception.  The fact that this coming weekend is a 3-day weekend (Presidents Day) may be a factor.

2 clients with whom I've been working want to come this weekend to look at homes.  I've had to get assistance from colleagues so these clients can tour the homes they've been reviewing online, and hopefully 1 or both of them will want to buy.

Today I got a call from a new client who wants to look at a specific property on Sun.  I've had to get a 3rd colleague to help this person.  But since I've never met or really worked with this person, I decided to simply 'give' this potential buyer to my colleague.

And its not like I won't be working at all while I'm gone.  My personal and work emails come on my iPhone and I'll have to check them and respond to time-sensitive things a couple times each day to keep things moving.

So the next time my business is a little slow, I'm going to plan a quick trip and then just wait for the phone to start ringing.

What I do

New house

On Mon afternoon we bought a new house.

Well, its not really a new house.  Its a used house, 25 years old, but its new to us.

No, we're not moving out of this house.

Grey Gardens, as our friends Steven & Thad refer to it

This is our house.  Where we live.  Its roomy enough to easily have guests stay over and works for us.  Maybe when Spouse retires in 10 years (and we're in our early 60s) we'll downsize.  But not now.

The new house is going to be a rental.  Its in a very convenient community, has a big back yard, a deck, and spacious rooms.  But the decor is reflective of its previous owner: an old lady.  So before we put it on the market for rent we're going to make some updates.  Nothing tos crazy or expensive; mostly cosmetic stuff to modernize it.  We're keeping the carpet and flooring and kitchen cabinets and appliances, for now.  Maybe in a few years we'll remodel the kitchen.  But for now we're replacing light fixtures, ceiling fans, towel bars an toilet paper holders in the bathrooms and the like.  

Oh, and we're adding an island.  The kitchen is big enough for one, but the reason we're doing it is to accommodate a dishwasher.  Apparently the old lady who had this home custom built liked to hand wash dishes because there's no dishwasher.  And no way to retrofit one into the cabinets either.  So we're creating an island that will house the dishwasher.  We hope to have it finished in about 2 weeks.  It should make a great home for a young family or older couple.  It'll be a fun project for me & Spouse too.

Work

Work has been so busy!

This isn't entirely surprising since its spring and I live/work in a beach resort area.  There's always an influx of buyers looking to own their own place at the beach.  But not only do we sell beach homes, we also sell homes to people relocating from neighboring states who want lower property taxes and a high quality of life.  

Sorry if my blog posts end up being mostly photos and quick references.

Ooops I did it again

I have not gone bowling since I've known Spouse, so that's over 20 years. 

I belong to a real estate association that decided to host a bowling outing.  They advertised prizes for the highest team score and for the best team outfit.  Initially I scoffed this off, but gave it a 2nd thought when my friend Joey asked me to be on his team of 5.  

It turned out that no one on our team had much experience bowling so we were pretty sure we weren't going to win the highest team score.  But our bowling inexperience would have no effect on our creativity, so we decided to focus on the team outfit.

After a few mediocre ideas for our team name/theme, I remembered an episode of Modern Family where Mitchell & Cameron bowled with or against a team called Britney Spares so I tossed that out to the group.  Imagining the costume possibilities, we immediately adopted Team Britney Spares as our name and outfit theme.

At first we thought each of us would take a different Britney look, but soon realized most of them were too skimpy for our group to be seen wearing in a bowling alley.  So, we decided all 5 of us would wear the same Britney look:

Hats off to Joey's 2 assistants who did all the purchasing of pieces on Amazon and at a local teen girl store.  Here's what we came up with:

Can you find me??

And on the back of our cardigans you can see our team name:

Click the photo to expand it

Yes, we're wearing fake headsets.  We took it that far.

When the person entered our names to display our scores, they entered them as Britney Joey, Britney Mark, etc.  This prompted us to refer to each other by these names all night long.

"Britney Joey - you're up!"

And each time 1 of us got a spare, we'd high-five each other and yell "He got a Britney Spare!!!"

We had our photo taken by lots of our friends and colleagues which added to the fun.

 Needless to say we took the prize for best team outfit, but more importantly we had a super fun time.

Our bowling was okay.  4 out of 5 of us broke 100 points, but again, the intent was to have a good time.

The next day my right hand and forearm were aching, even though I only used an 8 lb ball.  I guess it was a case of using muscles in a different way than usual.  But it was my day off so I didn't have to do much typing.  800 mg of Ibuprofen took care of it for the most part.

Tired but grateful

This is how I'm feeling today.

Last week was SO BUSY at work!  I had showings with different clients every day.  Even though I was supposed to be off on Thurs I wound up working pretty much the whole day anyway.  And although I'm typically off on Sun, I worked yesterday because our team had 2 people on vacation and a 3rd person who'd requested the weekend off.  As of yesterday I've worked 7 days in a row, and by the time we close for Thanksgiving I will have worked 10 days in a row.

But I'm thankful to have a job I enjoy, and am happy that although this is typically a slow time of year, its been busy for me.  Remember, I'm a real estate agent so I don't get paid unless I go to settlement, so I'm happy for all the business.

On Fri I had 3 closings, and earlier in the week I'd gotten 2 homes under contract.  I'm grateful to be busy at a time that's typically slow, but I'm also tired.  I'm getting sufficient sleep, so I think I'm mentally tired.  Hopefully Thanksgiving Day and Friday will be restful days spent with the family.

High hopes update

A faithful reader Calvin asked for an update on my earlier post about a home in the historic district of our little town that was undergoing a renovation.

This is what the home looked like before:

This is what it looked like during the renovation, once the rotten 1st floor was removed:

And while the interior may/many not be complete, the exterior looks like its just about done:

You can kind of see on the left side that they added a large addition onto the back of the home as well as rebuilding the main level of the original home.  This project has been going on since the early spring.

Showings and offers and contracts - oh my!

Wow, work has been so busy for me!  Being a real estate agent in a beach resort area you'd think I'd be crazy busy all summer long and then things would cool off when the weather cooled off.

Not so!  In the last 2 weeks I showed dozens of properties, and just this week I've written 5 offers!  I don't think I've ever written that many offers in a single week before.

And while I'm certainly not complaining about being busy (remember I don't get paid unless I go to closing), I just kind of wished this wasn't going on at the same time as Frank's passing.  On Sun when we were in VA I excused myself a couple of times to take work phone calls and close some deals.  I felt bad that I couldn't just spend the day with the family.

Looking at this from a different perspective, the timing of all these deals closing in late Nov and early Dec will mean that we will have the ability to be a little more generous when Christmas shopping, and will still be able to put away money for my quarterly tax payment.

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.