Stuff Happens – The Life of a Realtor

If you ever wonder what the life of a Realtor is like, just know that it is anything but predictable. Yes, there are processes we all go through that are consistent. Every good Realtor has consistent practices and standards to follow.  Right priorities are essential. Critical. But, those priorities sometimes need adjusting as things happen. And believe me, things happen. All.the.time.

As an example, an agent was recently heading to closing. She’s a great agent and did everything above and beyond to assure her client’s property was marketed and promoted correctly. Offers were thoroughly vetted. So was each loan officer. It was ready, set, go. And, then it wasn’t. Who could have predicted that the buyer would fail to perform right before closing? Both the buyer’s agent and the loan officer were broadsided. So were we. But, it happened. So, it’s back on the market and the agent is running on all cylinders to get the property back into escrow. And, she will.

True Stories From a Realtor

But, that is nothing compared to some of the other stories I can share with you. There’s the time a Seller fell through his ceiling while removing things from his attic. True story. Our Seller client closed on his property, but negotiated a late occupancy for the purposes of packing and cleaning. Not a big deal. But, it becomes a big deal when there is a gaping hole in the ceiling and the ceiling happens to be popcorn. Here comes the abatement company. And the contractor. We fixed the problem. It’s what we do. One nightmare I particularly remember was walking into my client’s vacant home to discover several inches of water on the floor. One of the pipes had burst over the weekend. Nothing like ruining a weekend, and worse, the floors and cabinetry. We kicked into action and so did the insurance company. We sold the property.

The Naked Neighbor

The stories are endless. There’s the one with the naked guy standing on his adjacent balcony during a showing. Suffice it to say that the young female buyer did NOT buy the unit. Or, the time a Realtor got locked out of the unit and remained stuck on the high-rise balcony until someone came to her rescue. This was before cell phones. I remember one time being stuck in an elevator with a group of Realtors while we were out previewing property. CPR anyone? Some of us couldn’t breathe. Others couldn’t stop laughing.

Walking in Someone Else’s Shoes

One of my favorite stories is about the buyer who only pretended to be interested in property because he was smitten with the Realtor. He never bought a property, but he did buy a diamond ring. They are now happily married. Oh, and then there is the time a Realtor walked off with another Realtor’s high heel pumps. She didn’t steal them. In Hawaii, we remove our shoes before showing a property, so it’s pretty easy to slip into someone else’s. Doesn’t everyone wear a size seven black pump? She was pretty embarrassed. We are pretty amused.

Realtors Are Resilient

Realtors deal with all sorts of things — unruly kids, escape artist pets, nosy neighbors, messy houses, messy transactions, and messy people. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And, it’s all in a day’s work. What do you mean the title company won’t insure the property? Did you just say the appraisal came in $50,000 under asking? The inspector broke what? No, we can’t delay closing just because you want to hang around for the annual boat parade.  The list goes on, but you get the idea. What we do isn’t easy and it definitely isn’t boring. It’s challenging and multi-faceted. Hard. But, oh so rewarding.

Real estate is real and real comes with challenges. Stuff happens. And as Realtors, we just happen to do the stuff that makes transactions happen and our clients happy.