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My Life in Real Estate

By
Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker Residential

I don't know if there was ever a point when I wasn't in real estate.  I grew up in a Real Estate Family.  I can remember my mother studying to take her license exam in 1962.  In my mind's eye, I can see her sitting in the shade of a peach tree out in the back yard, reading the book that the State of Texas provided people to prepare them to take the real estate license exam.   There weren't any classes or real estate schools.  You just took a test to get a license.  At that point, a person just made a decision about which type of exam they wanted to take, Salesman or Broker.  My mom said that she didn't see any reason to not take the Brokers exam, so she did.    She ended up as the President of the Women's Counsel in our town.  Participation in that group gave her a lot of pleasure over the years.  I have her President's pin in my jewery box.  It is one of my treasures. 

Josephine and Queenie

My mom liked to buy little houses that she used as rentals.  My dad always referred to them as "your mother's old dogs".  He was right.  They were. But, 40 years later,  we still have 4 of those properties and they are still making money for us.  There is a reason they call it REAL estate. It doesn't go away.  It is very, very real.

As a child it was common for me to have to help clean up a place after a tenant had moved out.  It seems as if it was always my job to clean the dead vegtables out of the refrigerator.  As I threw limp carots into the trash, I swore I would find another way to make a living.  Believe me, I looked.  But, I always came back to what I know best and love most.  And here I am, all these years later.

I did my first real estate deal in 1976 and I have never looked back.  For many years I just did deals for myself, buying and selling properties.  Another thing that I did was I was part of an effort that resulted in the creation of a small subdivision. We did the utility installation, built the roads, filed the plat, marketed the properties, privately financed the sales and then serviced the loans.  I got to hand-amortize those mortgages.  I bought my first computer specifically to deal with calculating the interest on those loans.

At one point, I worked for a lender, doing document preparation.  That job lasted for a couple of years.   During another period, I worked for a title company, cleaning up title issues.  That job really was fun.  I had a desk at the back of the abstract plant and I did the detective work needed to clean up files where title issues had developed.  It was also the only time in my life where I only worked 40 hours a week.  They made me go home at 5.  I hardly knew how to deal with THAT!  I'd walk out the back door of the title company at 5:05, look around and say to myself "now what?"  It was a really strange sensation to have my work-day end before bedtime.

Something else I have done is mess with old houses.  If you want to understand how a house is built, try taking it apart and putting it back together.  There is a learning curve there for just about everybody. Have you noticed that on most job sites, there is someone who gets to do the pointing?  Usually that is my job.   I get to point and say "that still needs fixing!".  That is an important job, believe me!

I haven't always been the Inspector on the job site.  Every now and then I have done the work.  I remember one time, reframing the floor of a rent house bathroom by myself.  I started to hang a floor joist.  There I was, with my feet on the dirt under a pier-and-beam house, when I suddenly realized that a level might be a really handy tool to have at that moment.  It still makes me laugh.

In 1998, my life changed dramatically.  Part of that change was that I moved to a new town.  I decided to go on and get my license and build a new life in a new town on the foundation of the large baseline of information I had accumulated over my lifetime.  So, there I was, in a town where I didn't know anyone, where I didn't know the names of the streets, trying to sell real estate.  It made sense to me at the time that I did it, but it wasn't easy.  I rapidly discovered that although I knew a whole lot about real estate in general, I didn't know anything at all about sales.  Nada.  And, it took me quite a while to climb up on that horse and start trotting down the road.  But I got it figured out and now I go down the road pretty consistently at a pretty fair clip.

And, that is the story of my life in real estate.

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Comments (22)

Will Hamm
Hamm Homes - Aurora, CO
"Where There's a Will, There's a Way!"

Judith,  good job and I am sure that the horse is going faster and faster everyday.

Sep 07, 2012 06:24 AM
Bob Miller
Keller Williams Cornerstone Realty - Ocala, FL
The Ocala Dream Team

Hi Judith, your post makes a good point.  All of us have been in real estate most of our lives even just as tenants.

Sep 08, 2012 11:50 PM
Susan Isaacs | DC Real Estate Consultant
Compass | 1313 14th St NW DC 20005 - Washington, DC
Partnering with: DOMOofCompass

Wonderful retrospective, Judith. Thanks for a good Sunday morning read!

Sep 09, 2012 12:10 AM
Steve Higgins
RE/MAX Kelowna - Kelowna, BC

Hi Judith,

Nothing like a move to shake things up! Sounds like you handled it and are doing well with it.

Sep 09, 2012 12:19 AM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

Good story with some interesting points in between. Good luck on AR, your blog & real estate.

Sep 09, 2012 12:20 AM
Lesley Henry
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Dallas, TX

Judith - Thanks for sharing your great story....I never knew! Kudos on the feature too!!

Sep 09, 2012 12:40 AM
Sharon Parisi
United Real Estate Dallas - Dallas, TX
Dallas Homes

I enjoyed getting to know you through this post.  Life changes often hand us challenges that become opportunities.  I'm glad you're "trotting down the road" of a successful real estate sales career!

Sep 09, 2012 12:48 AM
Hella Mitschke Rothwell
(831) 626-4000 - Honolulu, HI
Hawaii & California Real Estate Broker
I think many of us come to real estate sales after we have done related work. All that experience gives us confidence, something we have to have. Clients find out quickly when we don't. Yours is an excellent background, you would do well wherever you go.
Sep 09, 2012 01:23 AM
Mitch Muller - Charlotte NC Real Estate
ProStead Realty Charlotte, NC CRS SRES mitch@prostead.com - Charlotte, NC
Certified Residential Specialist

Great story Judith! BTW, we had a 57 Chevy when I was growing up as well!

Sep 09, 2012 01:31 AM
Virginia Hepp - Mesquite NV REALTOR
Desert Gold Realty - Mesquite NV Homes For Sale - Mesquite, NV
Mesquite NV Homes and Neighborhoods - Search MLS
Hi Judith - all of your experiences prior to getting your sales career going made you a better Realtor! We had a 57 Ford. My mother loved houses, too. With 10 kids, we could restore a rental back to shape in one day - I was the floor scrubber, we did everything by hand in those days.
Sep 09, 2012 03:19 AM
Kim Mulligan
Engel & Völkers Seattle/Eastside - Seattle, WA
Selling Homes for the 21st Century

Hi Judith,

I can relate! I also grew up spending my weekends working on my parents rental houses. It's a great way to learn about people too. Some people treated a home so differently, things I couldn't imagine. My parents never had a pension and were able to retire well based on their RE transactions.

Later I found work in college and after, based on what I learned on weekends as a kid.

I learned the concept of leverage, so when buying a first home after college, I also had room mates help me with the mortgage.

Now I am a Real Estate Broker.

Is it easy? None of it! Did I use it to my advantage, absolutely.

As "they" say be careful what you learn, it's what you will keep coming back to!

Sep 09, 2012 03:47 AM
Dorte Engel
RE/MAX Leading Edge - Bowie, MD
ABC - Annapolis, Bowie, Crofton & rest of Maryland

Dear Judith,

Looks like you have become the master of many trades doing this.

 

Sep 09, 2012 04:31 AM
Travis "the SOLD man" Parker; Broker/Owner
Travis Realty - Enterprise, AL
email: Travis@theSOLDman.me / cell: 334-494-7846

yeah, that part of "only working 40 hours a week", hmmmmm - maybe when I was part-time while going to college. Since then, even in the Army, two to three jobs at all times. But lovin' it!

Sep 09, 2012 09:14 AM
Karen Steed
Tallapoosa, Bremen, Waco, Buchanan, Temple, Carrollton - Tallapoosa, GA
Associate Broker Haralson Realty

Wonderful story Judith!  You have seen a lot over the years in real estate. 

Sep 09, 2012 11:51 AM
Lottie Kendall
Compass - San Francisco, CA
Helping make your real estate dreams a reality

Judith, it seems like everything in your life conspired to result in where you are today. All the info we pick up in life somehow comes together when it's meant to be. Hope you're enjoying your new life.

Sep 09, 2012 12:31 PM
Thom Abbott
MyMidtownMojo.com |770.713.1505 | Intown Atlanta GA Condo Living - Atlanta, GA
Midtown Atlanta GA Condos For Sale

From One Abbott to another....great story. Mine is certainly NOT that interesting. 

Got my license in 2004, after I saw how hard I was working in my landscape business, and the money I could make in ONE real estate closing. 

Regretfully, I let my landscape business slide (I still have it but it's only 1 day a week worth of work) and if I'd of kept it going, I'd be in a different place today. I followed that idea, "I have to work real estate full time to make a go of it" and I let that business go from 3-4 days per week, to just one. 

I've managed to stay in real estate while many I know have left for full time jobs. I've been on the skids a couple of times and Mom stepped in to help out. If I can ever get past the point of crawling from one sale to the next, I really will enjoy this. 

Sep 09, 2012 10:56 PM
Michael Murphy
Bienvenidos Real Estate - Parksville, BC

Good story Judith. My story has a lot of similarities going back to 73 and I love this business...going strong as ever.

Sep 10, 2012 01:24 AM
Kerrie La Guardia
ActiveRain, Community Manager - Kirkland, WA
Let it Rain!

Almost 40 years in the business, wow Judith, very impressive.  Your writing style is fantastic too, you kept me engaged right to the end!  Glad you're here with us!

Sep 10, 2012 03:50 AM
Nan Jester
Exit Real Estate Gallery Jacksonville Beach, FL - Jacksonville Beach, FL
Realtor, Exit Real Estate Gallery

Good for you!!! I got my real start working for builders in 1985 as a site agent and was inundated with sales training so fortunately I got that under control pretty quickly.

Sep 10, 2012 09:53 AM
Marte Cliff
Marte Cliff Copywriting - Priest River, ID
Your real estate writer

And now you're taking hurdles on a horse at full gallop. Great story - and fantastic story-telling.

Sep 10, 2012 05:16 PM