When I first entered the real estate world it was as editor of the real estate section for the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif. What a trip that was. I got to visit celebrity homes and write about them. An agent even told me that actor Tony Curtis (remember him?) read one of my stories and bought the house.
That was in the early 80s. About that time the country was hit with a recession and I was glad I was writing about real estate and not selling it. One of the stories I did was about what agents were doing to supplement their income.
I probably knew more about the market than most agents, so I wrote a column for about five years until I left that job. I got some of the satisfaction agents get now when they sell a home and watch their clients' eyes lighht up as they sign the closing papers. Only mine was in giving information that helped people get the deals they wanted and the thank you notes I received.
We were just starting to write on computers then, a far cry from the manual typewriter I cut my journalistic teeth on. Now with websites, email and the rest of the high tech tools we have, my how the real estate world has changed!
I next went into real estate public relations and still practice that a bit, with my website, www.brellamarketing.com. But as an agent with Zip Realty I spend most of my time working with buyers and sellers and following up on the leads Zip sends me. With the current recession I'm grateful for those leads. Still, I believe in assisting others with their publicity needs, although that world has changed, as well. Used to be you had to be in the newspaper to sell homes. Now you have to be on the web. But an occasional story to the papers doesn't hurt, either.
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