I often
get asked about being a REALTOR® and what this job entails. There are good
days, bad days and some days that make for great stories. Without going into
too much detail, here are some of the stories of my life as a REALTOR®. I
assure you, these stories are true and either are my own personal accounts or
that of a situation that happened to one of my colleagues.
Rural showings are a way of life here and that can mean run-ins with animals. I often encounter yapping dogs, snarling cats, and occasionally unfortunate creatures that are no longer with us (taxidermy is cool, right?). I have yet to see any animals that I was overly fearful of… at least not face to face. I was showing a very large parcel of land in a rural area and my client wanted to “walk the land” to check out the 90 acres that came with the house. We began our trek (one of
many) that led us through brambles, thick undergrowth and parts of Nova Scotia
that I am confident had not seen human traffic in quite some time. We were ‘walking’
along (scrambling/dodging/scraping through the forest) when, as if by design we
come across a recent deposit of fresh animal poop. It was full of berry seeds
and quite a large pile. It was bear scat. By this time we are halfway to nowhere
and decide the best idea was to make noise to frighten off whatever left this
gift. I have never been known for my singing voice but it’s usually handy for
scaring things away. So there in the silence of the forest in the centre of the
province, I picked up a large stick and I sang. I see lyrics as a guideline and
pride myself on my creative rhymes, making sure to incorporate the surroundings
of my current situation. If I don’t know the words I make my own! My poor
client who is very talented musically must have been as happy to get out of
those woods as I was. I can’t speak for the bear, but I doubt he will be
seeking out any human contact in the future.
This next
story is an account from another REALTOR® that was showing a 2 unit rental
property I had listed. The only tenant was out of town when I contacted him
about the showing but assured me the house was ready to be viewed. I confirmed
with the buyers agent and waited hopefully for the report on how the showing
went. The agent called immediately following their appointment and was
obviously shaken up, asking if the tenant was elderly and when was the last
time he had been heard from. The tenant had forgotten to take out the garbage
before going away for a few weeks. The entire house smelled so bad that the
buyers agent was concerned that they may have been in an episode of a forensic
investigation show! They promptly left before seeing the upper and lower levels
of the home.
My third and
final story for this entry is a shining moment in my career for certain (and I
have amassed quite an impressive list in very little time!)
This one feeds on two of my weaknesses, stilettos and garbage.
While I don’t usually show houses in heels, sometimes duty calls and my office
attire gets called out into the field. On this particular day I was feeling
snazzy in the morning so I thought a very smart (looking) outfit would be a
snug high waisted pencil skirt a white blouse and a towering pair of my
favorite heels from le Chateau. Oh YEAH! I got a call to show buyer clients a
home and made the appointment for that afternoon. We looked all around the
large home and were just finishing up in the garage when their energetic son
got bored of the process and was ready to leave, NOW. They rounded him up before
he took out anyone or anything and bolted from the garage… In my haste to exit
after them I attempted some high stepping moves over a pile of trash but
impaled my heel on a cardboard box. It folded up over my leg to knee level and
I lost my balance crashing backwards into an impressive mountain of recyclables.
There I was in a skirt too tight to move, feet in the air with an empty box on
my leg, squawking loud enough to alert any authority (or scare off any bears).
Luckily the buyers were old friends of mine so they hauled me out of the pile
and we all had a great laugh at my expense.
Life in real
estate is a roller coaster, sometimes the success lies in learning to pick
ourselves up, grab a large stick and sing a song about garbage and stilettos.
