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I Found Your Picture Today, and I Cried

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX of Orange Beach

Dear Princess Janie Doe,

I found your picture today, and I cried. Strawberry blonde, with angel dusted freckles across your little nose; you looked up at me from the flat, lifeless paper that captured your tender smile.  It was your first grade school picture wasn't it?  Or perhaps it was from your kindergarten year. 

Others had seen you, or at least they should have.  Their crisp business cards with perfectly crafted messages and various phone numbers lay nearby, dutifully announcing their presence in your home. With nothing else left, they had to have seen you. I did, and I cried.

Your bedroom was painted the tenderest shade of pink. Not just any pink. This pink was carefully chosen just for the princess who once lived there.  Princess Janie's bedroom, or it once was, where fairy tales and first day of school jitters played out. 

I found your picture today, and I put it in my pocket, before my customers arrived.  It seemed wrong to leave you there, exposed to prying eyes, to bargain hunters, to those looking for a deal.  Like birds of prey picking through the remains they come, ready to swoop down and carry away the rewards of their hunt. You were far too precious to be exposed to that.

The husband didn't like your bedroom.  He thought the color ghastly.  I clutched your picture in my pocket as if to shield you from his words, from his invasion of your room.  I wanted him to leave it; he didn't deserve to be in the presence of Disney princess dreams, Barbie playtime, and places where tooth fairies visit during slumber.

I found your picture today, and I hope you heard me tell you that I was sorry.  I am sorry that I didn't find you sooner and in a very different way.  I am sorry that you were let down, that we all somehow failed you.

If only your mommy and daddy had known how to find me, or someone like me, to ask about what we know that could have possibly kept you in your world of pretty pinks and little girl dreams.

I found your picture today, and I kept it.  I hope you don't mind.  You remind me to keep searching, to keep trying to get the word out to other little girl's parents who I may be able to help, who I may offer some guidance to, or some words of comfort, and of hope that they haven't heard.  Words that may keep them from walking away from princess dreams and the land of fairytales.  Or at least, get you back into your land of pink far sooner than just walking away, as your parents felt they could only do.

I found your picture today, and I cried.

Comments (79)

Teresa Turner
The Premier Property Group - Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Real Estate Done Right!

I understand...I feel the brokeness too when I go into these homes. I sometimes wonder where they are now and if they are okay.

Jul 03, 2009 10:48 AM
Ann Cordes
Century 21 Randall Morris and Associates, Waco - Waco, TX
Home Ownership is Not a Distant Dream

Wow! How powerful is this. Teresa, you are a wonderful writer.

Jul 03, 2009 02:13 PM
De'Lores Arline
De'Lores P. Arline & Company - Longview, TX

Thank you for this display of compassion. It is so very needed by so many others in our industry.

Jul 03, 2009 02:20 PM
Mike Henderson
Your complete source for buying HUD homes - Littleton, CO
HUD Home Hub - 303-949-5848

The worst one that I found was a loveletter from guy to a girl obviously in grade school.  The other one was the note she wrote later, obviously never sent where he broke her heart.  I was looking at these why my investor was checking out the crawl space.

Jul 03, 2009 02:59 PM
Ronda Densford
Magnolia Properties - Jacksonville, FL
Realtor - Jacksonville and Northeast Florida

What a wonderful post Teresa. I've had to fight back tears on more than one occasion when showing empty, recently vacated homes.  The one that broke my heart was the home with the little marks on the door frame where the family had measured how tall the 4 kids were getting.  There were names and dates and the progress was charted.  I have 4 grown kids of my own and did the same thing for years!  I have to admit that I went back in and took one more look at that simple sign that a real, live, growing family had lived there.  It took me quite a while to get over that showing...

I'm sure some of you know exactly what I'm talking about...

Ronda Densford Signature

Jul 03, 2009 03:10 PM
Michael Kelly
The Kelly-Norman Team Keller Williams RE - Santa Rosa, CA
CDPE,CIPS,CRS,SRES

  I worry if our Realtors/Agents, after working this market of rampant foreclosues, defaults and short-sales, will become shell-shocked like returning veterans from a horrid battle. I see much of delayed stress syndrome in this post. Some will not reconcile themselves to the harsh realities of this marketplace. Striving to be of help is always paramount in most of the Realtors I've come to know.  But allowing it to find this depth of heart wrenching empathy may be your mind's eye issuing you a warning!

  Some of us may not be tough enough to advise folks of the hard decisions. Perhaps some should seek counseling as this might be too much for them to bear.  Many of my  Vietnam Vet buddies are just now dealing with buried denials of a war fought and friends long lost. I understand your concern but I hope you recognize the depth of your writing may also be a warning sign to you. I believe writing can be extremelyrevealing and a  journal or blog is a good way to deal with the daily battles and conflicts we face albeit in a more public way. But perhaps this IS your therapy.

 I feel your pain but also rejoice in NEW families acquiring homes at substantially less debt than previous homeowners with a more sustainable budget so we can avoid children or families displaced in the future as we are now.  The desperation and sadness in your post is the fodder which every fraudulent loan modifier preys upon. Be careful it does NOT cloud your judgement.

 

Jul 03, 2009 04:45 PM
Al Dobbs
ADD Real Estate - North Chicago, IL

Teresa,

If this real estate thing does not work out for you.  Writing stories may be in your future.

I hate knowing that I am selling someones foreclosure. This business is already tough. Now - a - days it has become that much tougher. 

Jul 03, 2009 06:08 PM
Al Dobbs
ADD Real Estate - North Chicago, IL

ps--that hubby would have had to get the heck out of that kids room

Jul 03, 2009 06:12 PM
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

Very heartfelt and wonderfully written, and I didn't see the pretty pink room and I didn't see litte Princess Janie's picture, yet I feel I know her too.  And I'm crying for her too. 

Jul 04, 2009 01:43 AM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

Very touching and a different perspective on foreclosures, etc. 

Jul 04, 2009 04:34 AM
Jami Van Den Bogaert
RE/MAX House of Brokers - Springfield, MO

You have quite a knack at writing.You painted the picture perfectly in my mind. You have something to fall back on should you ever want a break from the kayos.

Jul 05, 2009 03:36 PM
Pamela Frey-Primiani
Keller Williams Realty - Cherry Hill, NJ

Sometimes you can see the writing on the wall coming, and your customer just doesn't listen.  I had a buyer five years ago that bought through me.  I kept trying to talk him into something more affordable, but he needed to get the big brand new house with the much higher taxes.  It was an extreme stretch for him to even get into that property.  Once he was in, the next thing he did was go out and buy two big-screen tv's and a BMW.  When things got tough his wife was going to go out and get a job, but then they had a third baby instead.  Then he did several cash-out refi's and got himself upside-down.  Now he's just waiting for the foreclosure notice.  I feel so sorry for those three little kids who will now have to go into a rental, if Dad can even get a landlord to take him with his rock-bottom credit score.  It's sad that the kids have to suffer for the mistakes of the parents.  Sure, some people got hit with job loss, illness, and other issues beyond their control. but it's heatbreaking to see someone financially destroy himself all on his own.

Jul 05, 2009 11:22 PM
Tamara Pommells
Gloria Nilson Realtors - Lawrenceville, NJ

I really am teary eyed thinking of all the kids that lose their homes every day. That is one part of the business that I dislike, feeling the memories in a house, the joys, the pains, the daily living that existed in that home and wanting it all to be OK. I also want parents to wake up and do something, a refi,  a loan modification, something. I'm also angry at a society that makes decent living so hard. Here in NJ, I feel like an indentured servant crushed under the weight of high property taxes, misspent fiscal dollars, paying for health insurance, child care etc when billionaire CEOs are getting my tax dollars for a bail out. I'm with working class Americans, where is the bail out for the rest of us and our children who deserve it the most. OK I'm off the soapbox now.

Jul 06, 2009 02:30 AM
Tracie Stephens
McWaters & Associates Realtors - Bartlett, TN
Broker, Certified Residential Specialist, ePro

Beautifully written. I saw the most beautiful murals in a foreclosure a few months back. A princess fairytale for the girl complete with flying unicorns and castles with turrets and a pirates treasure trove for the boy. I just stood there and cried thinking about all the broken dreams!

Jul 06, 2009 04:32 AM
Karl Peidl
Moorestown, NJ
Accredited Loan Consultant

Teresa - Thank you for this wonderfully written post.  Very touching.

Jul 07, 2009 08:10 AM
Kerry Jenkins
Prime Properties - Crestline, CA

I see that too in many homes that I show.  It is sad to find that parents have left pictures or drawings or other childrens items when they move out.  In one house(it was a rental that the gentleman gave up) the man left the cremated remains of a child.  Of course it was buried in the garage behind a mountain of trash and the child had passed away many years ago, but still.  How can you forget that?

Jul 07, 2009 09:59 AM
Rick Schwartz
William Raveis Real Estate - Danbury, CT

Great post. It would be much easier to not think about this stuff but it's better that we do. We need to always keep in mind that we sell homes not houses. 

Jul 09, 2009 08:09 AM
Teresa Cox King
RE/MAX of Orange Beach - Orange Beach, AL
Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, Alabama

Thank you all for stopping by and reading my post.  I have read each and every comment of everyone.  Being the slow typist that I am, I'll refrain from commenting on each, but please know that I am appreciative of your input and experiences. Amy Steele, comment #76, I cannot imagine a parent forgetting something so important and 'storing' those remains in a garage anyway.  Sad...

Jul 17, 2009 12:28 AM
Anonymous
debra v edwards

Being an animal advocate...we've seen them left tied to die, or in locked homes until someone finds them, or just wandering the neighborhood, until someone figures out that 'they just left their pets' behind...or the one dog that stayed deligently on the front door steps waiting week after week after week, until he finally got so hungry and skinny, that he too had to leave, that very place that was 'a home.'

It affects everyone......

Sep 17, 2009 12:35 PM
#79
Teresa Cox King
RE/MAX of Orange Beach - Orange Beach, AL
Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, Alabama

Debra- Thanks for your comment and for stopping by.  I can't imagine just abandoning my pets like that.  My little guys are members of the family and taking part in finding a suitable home is unimaginable.

Sep 17, 2009 03:00 PM