"Real estate is our life."
You know I sort of resent that notion. Granted, I am not a young person with a young family to support. Thankfully, at this point in my life very few (only one to be exact) rely on me to provide them with a roof over their head and food on the table. In reflection, I have earned that status. Yes, sort of like it too!
I do, however, find a need to supplement my income from jobs past. I have chosen to be a professional real estate agent and Realtor(r); I do not, however, underwrite that real estate is my life. My chose profession but not my life.
My wife (of 48+years) and I have five children; we have 13 grandchildren and one great grandchild. The aforementioned are my life. I don't have sufficient time to spend all of the time with my family that I would like. Nonetheless, I do take time to spend time with them when I can. For example: one of my granddaughters plays volleyball for James Monroe High School (I like to see her games); her sister plays on the Walker Grant Middle School field hockey team (I like to watch them); their cousin plays football for the Clover Hill High School team (he has been offered a scholarship to Virginia Tech) and I like to see his games; another of my grandchildren graduated from college a few years ago and attending her graduation in New York state; my oldest grandson announced his engagement the weekend before last and wanted as many of the family to be there when he proposed (we traveled to North Carolina to participate). Do you think I could have been doing this without telling someone "Sorry, I would like to show you a home, but I have a prior family engagement."
I found it very difficult to "just say no" as I started in this career in Fredericksburg Virginia. I took a step back and looked at the real successful people in our local area, I saw that they were alloting time for themselves and their family rather than working 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Made sense to me! After all, do you have your doctor's home number to call? How about your dentist? Your accountant?
Have seen too many practitioners spend so much time chasing the next buyer or seller, that they neglected their family. Sometimes it takes years to experience the unfortunate results; but when it hits, it hits! It manifests itself in many ways (divorce not being the least of them).
Hate to tell you this but . . . you have been warned.
For those who wanted to contact me about helping them buy or sell a home - am sure you will understand!
No, real estate is not my life!
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