What has your Realtor done for you lately?

Look, the last year has NOT been the easiest time to be a Realtor.  From mortgage fraud to unprecedented foreclosure rates, from appraisal industry overhauls to interest rate rollercoasters, the name of the game has been just ‘hang on, ride out the storm, and only the strong will survive’.  A lot of Realtors have taken this as a forced time-out, sitting back and letting the rest of us do the hard work. 

Because, let’s face it, it’s not easy to show first-time homebuyers literally hundreds of homes in really low price ranges, most of them foreclosures that have been trashed inside and out, only to get into bidding wars over and over again, until they finally get into their first place.  For a while there, it felt like I was making about a dollar an hour, but I stuck it out, because I honestly, honestly LOVE this industry.  It would have been easier to go and get a “real” job with a steady paycheck and benefits, but I decided to work HARDER instead.  I didn’t have very many clients, but the ones that I had got the best of me.

Now that I am part of a team, we have both adopted this attitude, knowing that if we work hard now, we are building a really strong foundation for our futures – and if we have to tile and landscape, scrub floors and paint porches, hold millions of Open Houses and spend thousands of hours in order to sell our listings for top dollar, that’s what we will do.

And there’s something really satisfying about taking a rock and turning it into a diamond…then putting out the For Sale sign and seeing what happens.

The front yard of this cute little bungalow was completely overgrown when we took the listing. We cleared out all of the weeds to reveal fantastic xeriscaping and hardscpape.  Hello, curb appeal! 

 

The kitchen needed an overhaul, but without any budget to speak of, we decided that the backsplash would create the biggest impact for a relatively small investment – we chose, purchased and installed the glass mosaic tile and gave the rest of the kitchen a good clean up.  Instant retro charm! 

 

We also painted the kitchen and bathroom, power-washed the house, cleaned and waxed the hardwood floors, and painted the front porch.  Above and beyond?  Yeah.  Under contract in less than 30 days?   Yeah!