It hasn’t all been sunshine and roses along the way – a lesson I quickly learned when I started work in real estate was that you can’t get too excited about the good things or too down about the bad things, as there will be just as many of the one as the other. Oh, and hold off on buying that new couch until the check clears! Many times a seemingly ‘sure thing’ deal has ended up dying for one reason or another – sometimes due to a rookie mistake of mine, but more often than not, courtesy of some fact or circumstance completely out of my control (e.g., a landlord who had already approved my client changed his mind and rented the apartment to his friend; a renter is finally ready to sign a lease after weeks of searching, and then that same day her cousin is transferred to London and leaves behind the perfect, below-market apartment she’d be crazy not to take over; a coop board turns down a wonderfully well- qualified buyer who turned out to be not quite as divorced as presented when he signed the contract with his new fiancé, and the not-yet-ex-wife couldn’t, or wouldn’t represent that she would have no claims to the new apartment). It does no good to dwell on the failures, as debilitating as they may seem, especially when a particular deal may have been what you were counting on to pay that month’s rent. What has consistently saved me is an overwhelming sense of God’s providence and provision. In fact, my faith in God and my Starbucks gold card are my two absolute keys to success! I really don’t understand how it is possible to make it in this crazy wonderful business of ours without God. I pray every day, multiple times a day, and truly believe that God cares if I catch that cab, if that lease or contract gets signed, if I am making enough money to survive…
While real estate is not rocket science, there is always something new to learn and each deal has some little quirk to it that makes it unique. I will say that I feel I use as much if not more tact and diplomacy as an agent than I ever would have as a diplomat at the US embassy to Uzbekistan! But most importantly, I do love how every day is different, how I can schedule my time as I like, and can vacation whenever and wherever strikes my fancy. It is fascinating to see all the unique and different properties there are in this one-of-a-kind city of ours, and I am privileged to meet and work with so many interesting people every single day!