The Realtor Waltz

Every night when I was a little boy my dad would take me to my room to get ready for bed. We would kneel beside my bed where I would say my prayers. I blessed my entire family - Mommy, Daddy, Ronnie, Shirley and Joe, Grandmother, Granddaddy, and my dog - Blacky and later Mickey. I didn't know what "if I should die before I wake" meant, but I said it and meant it. Then I would get in bed and my dad would either tell me a story, whistle a gentle tune, or sing me to sleep with either "Red River Valley" or his favorite "Tennessee Waltz". The lyrics go like this:

I was dancin' with my darlin' to the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced her to my loved one
And while they were dancin'
My friend stole my sweetheart from me.

Looking back I wonder why this song had such an impact on my dad. I know my mother never, ever cheated on my dad. The thought would have never crossed her mind. The melancholy in his voice rang just too true when he sang that sad song, even to a little boy who knew nothing of the world.



As a little kid and later as a teenage my world centered on me and not my parents. I wish I would have cared more. Maybe I would have learned something. My dad died the week before I graduated from high school.  You can't fix things like that.

I remember the time I met with another Realtor to take photos of her new listing for my buyer. I don't recall exactly how it happened, but she unburdened herself about receiving a phone call or email from a buyer for whom she had been working for several months. It seems her buyer bought a house using a different Realtor in Key West. Key West is a small place with maybe 300 Realtors. She told me how much time she had spent on this buyer. How many different places she had gone to take photos for him. How many emails and phone calls she had made. And then to find out the buyer actually consummated a deal with somebody else was so hurtful.

She said she felt like such a fool. She complained that this same thing had happened before. She said she trusted people too much. And then she complained that she will have to see this other agent for maybe 20 more years, each time remembering that he stole her buyer. Frustrating. Hurtful. Maddening.

I have experienced the same experience as my friend plus multiple instances when people tell me they read about a property in my blog, called their Realtor, and then bought the property. It's like a "Thank you very much for the info, Gary!" and **** ***! It happened again a couple of weeks ago during an open house I was hosting. The person walked up, introduced himself or herself (don't remember for sure), and said we read about our house in your blog and bought it from ***** *****. "Gee, thanks for telling me. That's why I write my blog, so that buyers go to other agents to buy houses I write about."

I am sure most Realtors have experienced the loss of a customer to another agent and felt a sense of betrayal. To me it's akin to finding out your sweetheart has been cheating on you, like in the song, and has run away with your best friend.