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Where Were You on September 11th? (or how September 11th launched my real estate career) -- Part 2 of 2

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President
If you haven't already read it, please read Part 1 where I detail my personal experience on September 11th

Part 2:  How September 11th launched my real estate career 

 

 

 Yesterday, I posted my personal story about September 11th.  Today, I tell the story of how I transitioned after September 11th from a career as an attorney to my current career in real estate and how September 11th was a catalyst.

 

 

 

 

 We left off yesterday at my wedding on September 30, 2001.  What a wonderful day!  I was thrilled to be marrying the woman of my dreams, Deborah.  A beautiful, intelligent, articulate, and adoring wife.  She’s a ballroom dance teacher, who shortly after our wedding started her own business, and now has 6 or 7 teachers working for her and a full-time administrative assistant handling the phone calls, scheduling and billing of clients.

As you might expect, there is a bit of pressure when someone marries a dance instructor for the first dance to be a spectacle.  It was.  We practiced for close to a year.  We changed out of our wedding attire and into our Argentine Tango outfits and put on a show! 

September 11th had us worried that many of our out of town guests (90% of the invitees) would not be able to make it.  They all did and more, including my parents from Florida, my sister from Colorado, and Deborah’s grandmother and uncle from England!  A very special day indeed, especially in the shadow of such tragedy.

 Rewind:

I graduated from law school at George Mason School of Law in 1998.  After graduation, I worked for 2 years for one law firm handling banking litigation, and then moved to a very small firm handling securities law issues and some general practice.  There were only 4 attorneys including me at this small Washington D.C. law firm.

Around late July 2001, we were starting to get our paychecks late, and then later, and then starting to wonder whether we would be getting them at all.  I was getting increasingly frustrated.  I was working way too many hours and way too hard to worry about getting paid!

 

And then 3 days before my wedding, I found out that our boss had not been paying our health insurance premiums for several months even though he was deducting it from our paychecks.  I only discovered this because one of the attorneys tried to get her prescriptions filled and was denied coverage at the pharmacy.  I confronted Mr. Boss about this and expressed extreme dismay knowing that I was heading out of the country on my honeymoon for two weeks w/o health insurance. 

 Upon returning from two wonderful weeks in Montreal and Quebec City, I went back to work in mid-October.  I met with the senior partner (boss) and discussed the future.  Was he going to be able to pay me or not?  From the gist of the conversation, I decided that it was not worth taking that chance.  So that weekend, as I packed up a moving truck with my wife’s stuff, I had the pleasure of telling my new in-laws that I was a newly unemployed lawyer son-in-law.  That was fun!

After September 11th, law firms in the area were beyond hiring freeze, they were laying off attorneys left and right.  I tried to find another law firm job, but to no avail.  I even interviewed with one or two real estate settlement companies, but they weren’t hiring either.  For a couple of months, I hung out my own shingle and handled a few small matters – a couple of wills, an eviction, some business formation, obtaining a restraining order against an abusive husband – real law kind of stuff.  The only problem is that it wasn’t paying the bills.

Then one day my real estate broker friend suggested I get my license and come work with him.  I thought about it, discussed it with my wife and decided it may be a good idea.  I could get started in real estate while trying to build up a law practice on my own (not easy 3 years out of law school).  My wife loaned me the money for the real estate course and I was off.

 

 

In the meantime, to pay bills, I helped a handyman friend out with odd jobs, painting houses, fixing doors, getting my hands dirty type of work (he was actually my first broker’s go-to handyman).  This got me involved tangentially in real estate at (literally) the ground level.

 

 

 

By February 2002, I earned my real estate license.  Two months later I sold my first house and I’ve never looked back.  A year after September 11th, an Alexandria, Virginia real estate attorney saw my website and set up a lunch meeting.  He ended up hiring me to work at his law firm on real estate litigation matters.  I worked there for 4 years, progressively less and less as my real estate sales business grew.  The experience I had there has helped me immeasurably in my real estate career.

I tell all my clients at our initial meeting:

 95% of real estate transactions go smoothly.  Everyone shakes hands at the settlement table.  The 5% that go wrong, go really really wrong – big money, big problems.  At the law office, I’ve seen those 5%.  As your Realtor and with my legal background, I will help prevent your purchase (or sale) from falling into those 5% and will guide you smoothly through the transaction to settlement.”

 

 

 

 September 11th, 2001 was a horrible day for all of us, our country, and the world.  We must pause to remember, reflect, and rededicate ourselves to the cause of freedom.

In the aftermath of September 11th, my career in the wonderful world of real estate was launched.

PART 1: Read about my experience on September 11, 2001 and my personal exodus from D.C. in the midst of the confusion.

Read my thoughts on the differences between the legal profession and the real estate profession: The Difference Between Realtors & Lawyers

Comments (34)

Jason Crouch
Austin Texas Homes, LLC - Austin, TX
Broker - Austin Texas Real Estate (512-796-7653)
Brian - I watched the wedding dance videos on your wife's site - very smooth!  It makes me want to learn how to ballroom dance.
Sep 11, 2007 02:45 PM
. .
no thanks - Harlem, MT
It sounds like you are very happy to be in real estate and that you are doing well. That is wonderful! I'll have to check out your wife's ballroom dancing site and your reception video. Fun! I'm engaged and I want my sweetie and I to take dance lessons so we can really dance at our reception. I will be visiting NYC in November and will visit Ground Zero. I don't think I'm prepared for what I'm going to see.
Sep 11, 2007 04:53 PM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
JASON:  Thanks for taking the time to watch the dance videos on my wife's website.  If you decide to take ballroom dance lessons, let me know -- I can give you some good tips on choosing a dance studio and teacher.  Unfortunately my wife doesn't have any locations in Texas (yet).  I think it would be a nice romantic thing for you and your wife to do to escape from the hustle of everyday life.
Sep 11, 2007 11:01 PM
Jason Crouch
Austin Texas Homes, LLC - Austin, TX
Broker - Austin Texas Real Estate (512-796-7653)

Thanks Brian!  We had actually considering taking swing dancing at one point, but other things always seem to get in the way of extracurricular fun stuff, namely having three children.  I think I would enjoy ballroom dancing more, but who knows?

Sep 12, 2007 03:36 AM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
MICHAEL:  I'm sure it still is tough.  Thanks for your comments.
Sep 12, 2007 09:32 AM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
BRIDGET:  I am very happy to be in real estate, as you guessed.  Like Jason, if you are definitely going to take dance lessons, I'd be happy to give you tips on choosing a good studio and teacher (either by e-mail or phone).  I visited Ground Zero about 4 years ago -- it's unbelievable to see the massive empty space, after having been to the Twin Towers many years before.  Thanks for reading.
Sep 12, 2007 09:35 AM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
JASON:  Swing is a lot of fun too.  My wife actually teaches ballroom, swing and Latin, and enjoy all of them.  Our favorite remains Argentine Tango, then salsa and swing.  Three children can keep you busy most of the time, I expect.
Sep 12, 2007 09:36 AM
Jason Crouch
Austin Texas Homes, LLC - Austin, TX
Broker - Austin Texas Real Estate (512-796-7653)
You are a true Renaissance man.  It won't be long before you have a gang of your own.  I think I would like to learn the Argentine tango myself. 
Sep 12, 2007 09:47 AM
Margaret Woda
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD
Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation
I would hire you in a minute!  Great background for real estate, and great pitch!  Things do have a way of working out, don't they!
Sep 12, 2007 11:02 AM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate

JASON:  Thanks!

MARGARET: Thanks for your great comments! 

Sep 12, 2007 11:05 PM
M. Suzi Woods (Gravenstuk)
NOW Sharing the life and spice of the GC one day at a time - Grand Canyon, AZ
Suzi Woods, Prior Independent REBroker in MS

Hi, Brian. I was in Divide, Colorado. I was watching CNN discussing the first crash with my husband who is an Viet Nam Vet (Air Force). We were already discussing the possibility of it not being an accident when the second hit ocurred. What sobering events. Not only the tragedy in human life, but the realization that we were not invincible as the USA; but in fact, vulnerable. It was a huge wake up call. I know I had grown complacent in my "feeling" of safety.

Later that morning I drove to work in Colorado Springs. The usually bustling city almost seemed like a ghost town. It was quiet. There was bumper to bumper traffic backed up on I-10 at the Fort Carson turn off. American Flags quickly sold out.

Sep 17, 2007 10:26 AM
Bill Duncan
Home Status Inspection Company, LLC - Haymarket, VA

Brain,

Thanks for your post.  What a wild swing in emotions from the worst on 9/11 to the best on your wedding day!   9-11  changed my life too.  I decided that it was time to stop working for someone else and start the company I had envisioned for a long time.  I did it and there is no looking back.   I wish you the best and keep on bloggin'

Sep 17, 2007 10:46 AM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
SUZI:  Thanks for sharing your story.  It is striking how that one horrible day has changed our perspectives forever.  As we drove off from D.C. to Montreal on our honeymoon, it was wonderful to see American flags draped over hundreds of overpasses.
Sep 17, 2007 12:26 PM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
BILL:  Thanks for your comments.  It certainly was a very emotional and stressful time.  Congratulations on starting your company.  Thanks for your wishes.
Sep 17, 2007 12:27 PM
Dale Campbell
Virginia Real Estate - Mechanicsville, VA
Great resolve, Brian!  It is refreshing that you did not let anything prevent you from getting married as planned going on honeymoon as planned, and it sounds like you have made something great out of something so tragic as 9/11
Sep 25, 2007 02:02 AM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
DALE:  Thanks for your comment -- I appreciate it.  One thing that I forgot to mention is that we actually changed our honeymoon plans.  Originally we planned to travel to Greece and the Greek Islands, but immediately after 9/11 we changed our honeymoon.  I almost had to sue the travel agency to get our money back, but we decided that we would not be flying overseas so shortly after 9/11.  We quickly reshuffled and decided to drive from D.C. to Montreal and Quebec City.  It was a fantastic honeymoon -- I've got cousins up in Montreal and we got to spend some time with them as well.
Sep 25, 2007 07:35 AM
Jason Crouch
Austin Texas Homes, LLC - Austin, TX
Broker - Austin Texas Real Estate (512-796-7653)
Hey Brian - Thanks for bringing this terrific post to the new "Family Ties" group.  Talk to you soon -
Sep 25, 2007 09:38 AM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
JASON:  My pleasure.  I look forward to adding more posts to the "Family Ties" group.  After our conversation, I've been thinking about how to tie the story of my marriage proposal to my wife into lessons learned for real estate.  Stay tuned.
Sep 25, 2007 10:59 PM
Lola Audu
Lola Audu~Audu Real Estate~Grand Rapids, MI Real Estate - Grand Rapids, MI
Audu Real Estate~Grand Rapids, MI ~Welcome Home!

Brian, I'm glad that Midori linked back to this post for the Blogger's Choice Spotlight.  It's amazing to read how your life's path was changed that day.  I must now read part 1.  Thank you so much for participating in the Bloggers Choice Spotlight.  I'm looking forward to reading your post.

Feb 06, 2008 09:44 AM
Brian Block
RE/MAX Allegiance, Managing Broker/Branch Vice President - McLean, VA
Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate
LOLA:  Thanks for reading.  Midori called today and we had a very nice chat.  It was a pleasure and honor to be selected for the Spotlight.
Feb 07, 2008 01:13 PM