As I reflect back on my first decade in real estate, there are many memories. In this business, there is never a shortage of interesting experiences or hilarious and heartwarming stories. It’s fun to reflect back on some of the more entertaining and memorable ones. So, as hard as it was to narrow it down, here is my year-by-year highlight reel!
2010 – Jan & Jeff. Nailed it! Jan and Jeff had no intention of moving, and I wasn’t out to change their mind on that. But, early in my real estate career, I “practiced” on Jan one night at dinner – interviewing her to get better at asking questions and learning what someone wants and needs in a home. I must have done a good job, because a few short months later, I showed a house to a different client (who passed on it), and I immediately thought “this is exactly what Jan described to me as the house that would make them move!” The rest as they say, is history. We bought and sold in just 4 days in the worst market ever, and they’re still in that house today. I love how perfect it has been for them.
2011 – Jamie & Ron. Adventures in the country! Jamie and Ron decided it was time to leave the city for a quieter, more laid back setting. This took us into several interesting areas and we had some quirky experiences that left us with good stories to tell. This marked the first time at a showing that I crawled through a doggy door because the house key wouldn’t work. Ron had taken off work and I was not going to let him waste his time – we were getting in that house one way or another! It was also the first time I thought I might be in a haunted house. At a farmhouse east of the city, and something was just not right. The basement felt like it was the set from Silence of the Lambs and it didn’t take long before the hairs on our arms were standing on end. Needless to say, we skipped the rest of the house and hightailed it out of there!
2012 – Ann & Joe. A New York minute! In addition to helping Ann and Joe purchase one of the loveliest, most tranquil properties south of the city, I also fondly remember how we actually made it happen. We looked at this home the day before I left for NYC for a weekend with my teenage son. As tends to happen in real estate, things moved quickly and we found ourselves needing to put a late night offer together to compete with another buyer. The Times Square Starbucks wifi was my friend that night – where my son and I sat at midnight while I wrote an offer and gathered electronic signatures. Eight years later, I still can’t go to Times Square without thinking about Ann and Joe!
2013 – Rona & Mark. More adventures in the country! Acreage adventures are the best. You never know what you’ll find. On our house hunting trips on the west side of KC, we had a couple experiences that have stuck with me. In a cute little farmhouse, we found ourselves at the end of a long hallway and coming around the doorway, we were greeted by a room full of mannequins in full military dress. Like 8 full-sized mannequins. Needless to say we were shocked and frightened and impressed all at once! At another house, my recent continuing ed on meth houses kicked in when I (correctly!) identified a house as suspicious. I looked back at the seller disclosure and it was the first and only time I’ve seen the question about meth or other drugs on the property checked yes (by the prior owner, of course)!
2014 – Jana & Mat. Bar business! This was a fun relocation project from Texas. You know you’re working with fun clients when you end up at a bar to debrief on the day, discuss the pros and cons of the different houses we saw, and write an offer on a house! I wrote it on my iPad, they signed on their phones, and before we left the bar we had submitted an offer on their new house. Real estate happens from everywhere!
2015 – Cynthia. Lucky me! This gal was so pleasant to work with, I wish I had 100 clients just like her! She had such a positive attitude, always had a smile, and we had such fun shopping. I will always remember the text message I woke up to the day after our outing, where she just said “Let’s buy a house today! Which one should we buy?” It makes me smile to this day and she’s one of those people I feel so fortunate to have crossed paths with in my life.
2016 – Michele & John. All the pretty dresses! I had the pleasure of helping this couple and their 4-year old girl find their new home. When we looked at the house and in particular, the room of the little girl who lived there at the time and was about the same age, their daughter loved all the pretty dresses in the closet. When we found ourselves competing with another buyer for the home, John and Michele wrote a letter to the sellers telling them about themselves, and included the funny little story about how their daughter thought if they bought this house, the dresses would come with it. Well, as the kindness gods would have it, when we did our final walk through before closing, we found a closet full of pretty dresses and a sweet note to their daughter. You should have seen her face light up! This remains the most heartwarming story of my career.
2017 – Teri & Craig. Dream house! The year prior, I had helped these two buy a lot to, someday, build their dream home. It wasn’t long after they decided they couldn’t wait, and we kicked off the process to find the perfect builder and make their dream come true. My favorite part about working with them was seeing their entire vision come to life. Teri had actually designed their home in an excel spreadsheet and it was very custom. It was cool to see the architect take that excel vision and transform it into something real. It’s so cool to be part of that process from start to finish. Oh, and this was also the first time I’d seen a 17-foot kitchen island, and it was magnificent!
2018 – Britt & Brent. GIFs! This is a special couple for so many reasons, not the least of which my husband performed their wedding ceremony. We had a blast selling and buying a new home, and they are truly super heros in following my advice and direction. And while it was super exciting to sell their house in less than 24 hours, and with 12 offers, they left me with something else – the gift of GIFs. I learned to communicate in text message GIFs – all the time – and laughed multiple times a day as they made everything fun and entertaining. When they unexpectedly moved out of state in 2019, I referred them to a great agent to help them find their new home, and I made sure to tell her she needed to have the GIF keyboard on her phone!
2019 – Victor & Francisco. No pressure! These guys were so much fun for me! Moving here from Oregon, they chose not to travel to KC to house shop, but instead trusted me to shop for them (with the help of FaceTime) and manage everything from a distance. The house was an awesome find and we were lucky to get it, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about them liking it as much in real life. I was so excited for them and it was an exercise in patience to wait until they were able to come to KC to see it in person – 4 days AFTER they actually closed on it!
These are just a few of the memorable moments of my first decade in real estate. There are so many others and they all make what I do so fulfilling. I look forward to making new memories over the next 10 years! Who wants to be part of my 2020 recap?!