Selling real estate is so cool because it’s an up close and personal view into courageous humans navigating life’s transitions and experiencing the range of emotions that naturally go with the change. I love the humanness and the stories and seeing people jump through hoops to get where they want to go. I love listing appointments because it’s humans daring to dream and to start on a journey to make a change. I love the close of escrow because it’s success and a step in the direction of achieving the dream.
A sale closed this week where the family moved to a larger space so their kids could do Corona better. They took a risk and a leap taking a large bridge loan from a family member so they could buy first and sell second. As everything fell into place this week, they are beyond excited that they got where they wanted to go. It’s fun to look back to the listing appointment right at the beginning of Corona when the world was so shut down and it was scary but they wanted to dare to dream anyway. It’s such an honor that I got to witness that hesitation and fear, the worry of the unknown and the time when it felt like being on a trapeze and swinging between the ropes midair, and through it all, the push to do it anyway. And then ultimately the achievement of success when it all really happened just as they dreamed, and the mission is accomplished and the kids love their new space and they’re all settled in as if they’ve lived in the new house forever.
Another sale closed this week where the family is moving to Brentwood so their daughter who is starting high school in the fall has a short commute to school. The buyer moving in is a woman relocating to live closer to her grown son since her husband just died and she wants companionship from family. It’s fun to look back to the initial listing appointment at this house too and it’s the same story – hesitation and fear but putting one foot in front of the other to keep moving forward anyway and then success and so much excitement at the close.
Buyers who just opened escrow on a house where we represent the sellers are getting engaged, planning a wedding, and buying a new house at the same time. The sellers took a new job in another city, rented their house while they tried it out, and are selling now because the new job and the new city are great and they’re ready to set roots and to commit to staying there. I represented these sellers and I witnessed the joy when they bought the house and they became first time home owners. And then I represented the sellers when they took the new job in the new city and they moved out and we found a tenant and I witnessed the hopefulness of trying a new adventure. And then I was on the phone with them in another continent experiencing the emotional tears over facetime as I showed them their house all beautifully staged with a sign in the lawn. And then again the joy of the house getting sold and the opportunity to buy a new home in a country they now know they love and are ready to call home.
Working in real estate for 14 years, I’ve seen “new” studies throughout that time saying that moving is the single most stressful life event, rated more stressful than divorce or death. In real life, I see people moving every day and even though it’s no doubt hard to make a change and it’s a lot of work to move, I see from witnessing it first hand that the experience of moving is more exhilaration and over-the-moon excitement about getting where people want to go. I wonder if it’s the people who choose to focus on the end goal instead of on the stress of the move who are the ones who are able to make it happen because the excitement of the dream pushes them through the hard parts so they can reach the exhilaration and joy that comes later.
Even as restaurants are closed again and we haven’t been to a recreational event in almost a year, I know that the human spirit and the drive to keep pushing forward will never shut down no matter what! I love the fighting spirit of the human soul! I love going on listing appointments and hearing of people’s dreams to fly. And I love putting their plan in place, fastening the seat belt, and even making sure the oxygen mask is under the seat in case of emergency, and then taking off! And then I love when the dream comes true. Being in the real estate space for me is perhaps about writing a fairy tale version of life that’s simplified into: human has a dream, human puts a plan into place to effect the dream, human helps human make dream come true. Obviously life, especially our life in a pandemic at the moment, is no fairy tale. But no matter what’s going on in the world around us, we can still dare to dream and we can still make those dreams come true.
Have an awesome weekend!
Xoxoxox,
Sheri