Don't lose your enthusiasm...

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” (Churchill) – from the Jack’s Winning Words Blog that I so frequently find to be inspirational. Boy, do Churchill’s words apply to our lives in real estate today or what? They are especially applicable for those dealing with short sales and foreclosures these days.

I had an agent who had been a bit rude earlier in the day call me back recently to apologize for his behavior. He explained that he is experiencing so many failed deals these days that he was just in a foul mood when I called earlier to cancel a showing on one of his short sale listings. I can understand and relate to his attitude issues. It is sometimes difficult to maintain enthusiasm in the midst of so much gloom and doom in our business.

If it’s not failed inspections, it’s low appraisals or some other glitch in our deals all too often these days. It’s having to deal with impatient buyers demanding to know why you can’t get the bank to get back to them on their low-ball short sale offer that they put in 3-4 days ago. It’s having to watch a widow cry in front of you when you have to tell her that she’s going to lose her house. It’s having to fight and argue with your sellers to get them to reduce their homes so that they have a chance of selling. And, it’s having to look at 30-40-50 homes with every buyer because there are so many well priced homes out there right now. All those things can get to you every now and then.

But, then, you go to that closing with a young couple who have a newborn baby in a carrier on the floor and you see the look of excitement in their eyes as they sign the papers for their first house and you regain some of that lost enthusiasm. And occasionally you get to help some really nice people sell and realize their dreams of moving on to the next phase of their lives. You get another shot of enthusiasm.

Yes, ours is sometimes a frustrating and maddening profession; however, the rewards for what we do go well beyond just picking up a commission check at the end of the deal. Not many other sales professions offer the opportunities that ours does to have a real and very positive impact on he lives of the clients and to be close enough to them during the process to see it first hand. For that we should be thankful; and, from that we should draw lots of enthusiasm. OK, so maybe I don't do cartwheels anymore, bu I still love doing what I do and I get pad to do it. What could be better?

Getting pumped up...

“Enthusiasm, like measles, mumps and the common cold, is highly contagious.” (Emory Ward) – from a recent Jack’s Winning Words Blog post. Enthusiasm and energy are what our office manager Vicki brings with her to our weekly meetings. Sometimes that’s a tough assignment, especially if one isn’t feel well themselves; but, somehow, she pulls it off consistently.

I have to work at it to stay enthused about the day-today grind. Sometimes my wife let’s me know when I’m acting down by calling me Eeyore, the donkey from Winnie the Pooh. I suppose I can be a bit of an ass every now and then, but I’m trying to get better at staying positive and up. Vicki calls me Mr. Grumpy when she sees that I’m down. It’s probably a good thing that they keep an eye on me, so that I don’t get down and wallow around in self-pity or doubt.

It’s especially hard sometimes to summon up enthusiasm when answering oft asked question, “How real estate these days?” Obviously, it’s not where any of us would like it to be, especially those trying to sell a home. But, I always answer the same – “It’s OK. We’re selling more homes this year than we’ve ever sold before and it’s a great time to be a buyer.” That’s all true. What goes unsaid and can remain unsaid as far as I’m concerned is that about half of the homes that we’re selling are foreclosed homes that are selling for about ¼ to ½ of what they would have gone for 2-3 years ago. That’s sad, but it does help sales.

What I do find it easy to get enthused about is working with the many first-time buyers that are out looking right now. Some of these buyers are about the ages of my kids and many are much younger. It’s fun to see how excited they get about finding the perfect house or at lease one that they can work on together to make perfect. I’ve had that pleasure several times this year and have 4-5 more couples that I’m working with right now, trying to find just the right house.

So, excuse me for now, I’ve got to run off and show houses to a young couple. All this fun and I get paid for it, too. How great is that!