From March 31, 2018
Key West - Is that all you got?
I think a lot of people think selling real estate is easy. A Realtor
simply sticks a sign in the ground, puts pictures in the MLS, and buyers
show up to buy a house. A Realtor then sends the contract to the title
company and a big fat check is wired to the agent. That would be great.
But that is not what happens.
I remember the time I had a particularly bad day. (Wait, as I write this
I had a flash - when is that not the case? I have so many bad days.) I
got a call from my clients. They had decided to follow my advice and
asked me to go to their house to sign the contract I had presented to
them much earlier. Many things had happened during the intervening time
period, none of which were good, and many which were predictable. I
decided to meet with them in person to get the contract signed to reduce
the chance of change of heart. I got in my car and headed to my
clients' house.
Key West was particularity busy that day. Tourists were everywhere - in
cars, on bikes, walking in streets with go cups, jay walking into
traffic taking selfies and dragging kids behind. It was bedlam.
I was sitting at a red light behind a car with tourists. The light
turned green. The tourist-mobile did not move. The driver had her left
turn signal on and seemed to wait and wait and wait for all the traffic
from the opposite direction pass. That is the proper thing to do. Then
there was no traffic. Yet she waited. Maybe she had not noticed there
was no traffic. I gave a short "beep" as opposed to a blast from my
horn. She edged forward but paused long enough that I would have to wait
for the next light. She finally turned and stuck her left hand out the
window with the middle finger pointed toward God. I accelerated and went
strait through the intersection before the yellow light turned red. I
simply laughed and said to myself "Is that all you got?"
I got the contract signed and eventually got my commission. I went
through a small amount of hell along the way to get that deal done. Some
readers will gripe that Realtors make too much money for so little
work. When I was a kid I worked hard for every dollar I made. Physical
labor is so easy compared to the stuff I go through now.
