What were you doing September 11, 2001? Me? I had a very busy day...
I woke up, and I turned the TV on. I heard something about the World Trade Center being on fire and hit by a plane. I'm looking at the TV half asleep, and I think to myself that I don't recognize the area so I must have misheard them. You see, in my previous life, before real estate, I was a buyer for the largest arts and craft store in the country (world) and we would go to the "World Trade Center" and Market Center in Dallas all the time. This is what I thought they were talking about, hence the reason why I didn't recognize the TV showing Dallas, as it was New York.
I continued to get ready to go to the office, as Tuesday mornings were office meeting days, and though they weren't mandatory, this particular broker I worked with "highly suggested" everyone always attend. We held our office meeting, and I can't remember if we went on tour of a few houses or not.
I stayed at the office for a couple of hours as that was before I started working from home. I made a few phone calls to follow up with people, not really knowing the extent of what was going on in the world. I had a couple of buyers contact me to back out of their contracts. There was no talking them out of it. After the second terminated contract and a couple of more buyers answering emails saying they were no longer in the market to buy a house, I contacted my last buyer I had under contract and said, "Are you still planning on closing on your house on Friday?" His response put a huge smile on my face. He said, "The world might be in shock right now, but I still need a place to live." Great! We closed that Friday the 14th.
In all, I had 7 buyers back out of contracts or decide not to buy. I had been in real estate less than a year, and I started freaking out wondering what I was going to do if I needed to get back into corporate world, but those were thoughts for another day.
Later that afternoon, I headed to my friend's restaurant and bar where we always met on Tuesdays for volleyball. We played on a 4-player sand volleyball league in Valley Ranch, and there was no news for canceling, so we decided, as a team, to show up, as did several other teams. We played volleyball, we won as we most always did, and we went back to the restaurant for a couple of drinks. At this time, the TV was on, and this was my first grasp of what was going on around us. I started thinking, "we just played volleyball while all those people are suffering?" I was kinda in shock at it all.
I went home and watched more of the news, and went to bed. I don't remember if I worked the next day or not, or what else happened past showing up for my closing on Friday. I do know that I had 3 closings in November and 3 closings in December that year, so the buyers and sellers did come back fairly quickly, and then we found ourselves in a H-O-T market right after that.
Watching some of the 9/11 memorial programs on TV the past few days has brought tears to my eyes a few times. It's sad to see everything over and over, and it's sad to hear from the kids who grew up without moms or dads. Having two kids of my own, the most sad stories to me are the ones where the babies were born after the dad died as they never got the chance to meet.
September 11, 2001 definitely changed the world, but for me, that actual day seemed to go on almost like nothing had happened. I try to watch the news a little more so I'm more aware of what's going on around me.
**Are You Packed Yet?**
Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
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* What did you do on September 11, 2001? * was first published on donnahomesblog.com.
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