Legs on Stairs, ok so this IS Real Estate!

"You pays your money and you rolls the dice and you takes your chances". That pretty much sums up what it's like in Real Estate. Hurry up and wait. I might just get a tattoo that says this, hmm maybe not.
Every level and facet of Real Estate has an element of wait. Wait to hear if you are confirmed for that showing. Wait to go to the showing. Wait outside for your clients. Wait while they tour the house. Wait to hear if they liked it or not. Wait to write up an Offer. Wait to get their signatures. Wait to present the Offer. Wait to hear if your Offer has been accepted or is being signed back. Wait to present the sign back. Wait Wait Wait. It's all worth it, believe me, my favourite part of my job has become that phone call to my Buyers telling them their Offer has been accepted or to my Sellers that their house is conditionally SOLD. It's the pure joy you hear on the other end that makes it all  worth while.

The Home Inspection.... dun dun dunnnn....
On the Buyer side this is a great opportunity to tour the home with your clients and the Home Inspector to see if there is anything significantly wrong with the property that we can negotiate a better price for the Buyers. It's always worth a try to ask for a reduction on the purchase price based on the findings of the Home Inspection. Lets just say we try and limit any nonsense in this area, it's not cool to ask for a reduction because the Home Inspector pointed out that the basement door doesn't close just right or that there is a crack in a tile in the bathroom tub. However, if there is something worth fighting for like the furnace doesn't work or the dishwasher is leaking water on the last cycle, these are worthy of an amendment.
On the Seller side I try and calm my Sellers down through the process. This is a re-sale home, there will be things that the Home Inspector finds. We can deal with anything that may crop up. Not to worry, not to worry. But every homeowner who is waiting for the answers to that burning question; "What did the Home Inspector find wrong with my house and are the Buyers going to walk away from this deal" is unnerving.

This is a FIRM DEAL. The words a Realtor LOVES and LIVES to hear! No kidding, I have only been in Real Estate a short time and I can tell you this is it! The perfect storm, all your hard work and efforts have paid off in spades! Hippeee! Do your paperwork, keep your Sellers and Buyers in the loop until the home stretch "Closing Day"....

Yup like the sign above says "Keep Calm". It's in the hands of the Lawyers God bless them. They tie it all up into a neat little thing called the balance sheet. Who owes what and how much do the Sellers get. I don't understand this process and maybe I should take a Reader's Digest course on what it all en-tales but for right now I'm just going to let the experts handle it!

Real Estate is a non-offensive organic drug that once you take to it you can't stop, won't stop, thinking about it day and night, night and day or every minute your awake. It's true what they say: "If you love what you do you won't work another day in your life"... that's me, a Realtor.

Madam E

Legs on Stairs, climbing the Real Estate Ladder

Up I go one rung at a time. In the beginning when I first got my real estate license I felt like a mouse in a maze, so many walls and turns, the ability to go forward and backward at the same time. Not being able to see whats coming around the corner but needing to go and look anyway. Now after time has passed and a routine is in place I know what to do and how to do it and when to do it and why I'm doing it, if that makes any sense... It's all about systems.

Systems are everything from data entry to calendar entry. My one little brain simply cannot remember everything. I know in the moment "I got this" but ..... a few minutes from now, I don't got this. I have developed several systems to make sure "I got this" is how my business runs. One system is lead tracking. If you don't do this you're in trouble. Trying to remember who I have spoken to, what property they own or are interested in and how soon they'd like to act is just not something I'm capably of doing without a system. The other important system I use is a virtual calendar on my Iphone. This calendar has an alarm set to remind me of every task on the calendar exactly one hour before I have to be or do something. It has saved me several times from losing track of time and missing an important something.

A very smart person running a real estate workshop once said "Don't be a secret Agent". This is so true, telling everyone from the lady cashing me out at the grocery store to making sure my Doctor knows I'm a Realtor is vitally important to growing my business. Nobody has a sign on the lawn of their home that says "I'm an auto mechanic" I work at Wendy's" or "I'm a Realtor". Can you imagine the networking that could go on if everyone DID have said sign on their front lawn? I might just try it and find out. Honesty, how much would it cost for my favourite graphic designer lady to make me up a 3'x4' sign that says "I'm a Realtor" and stick out there and see what happens. I like to advertise my business on Facebook, Twitter and other forms of passive social media. I have had some moderate success with this type of outreach, and I believe there's more out there for me I just want to make sure dollars are making sense. 

Keller Williams Complete Realty, Brokerage here in Hamilton is where I call home. What a fantastic group of people! Common goals and culture are what rise up from these folks. From our amazing Leadership Team to our top notch support staff, we've got it all and then some. I can't imagine working anywhere else! Shout outs to this Team and thank you for your never ending support, encouragement and your loyalty to our Brand. 

I can honestly say I am not looking for a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I'm not even sure I want one. Life for me is about the day to day, moment to moment amazing things that seem to happen to me! Pots of gold won't make me happy. Work and family make me happy. I'm going to keep working and learning and trying to do my very best for the people who grant me access into their worlds. For that I am truly blessed. 

Madam E