Have you ever thought about what made you choose your profession? To my Realtor friends, what made you choose to become a real estate professional? Is that passion still there?
For me, it was a series of events that lead to real estate as a career.
- Interest in business. Love for marketing. Advertising. Pricing.
- Interest in helping. Listening. Counseling. Figuring-out.
- Love for architecture and building (dad is in construction).
- Love for decor and pretty stuff (mom was a florist for a long time).
- A love of art. Photography. Staging. "An eye" "A knack"
- A belief that home and family matter!
- The gift of the gab. As well as the gift of when not to gab. (And yes, it takes both.)
But probably seeds were planted when I was born. As one of the most treasured gifts I was given at my birth was a little monogrammed pillow from a Realtor friend of my family (I think! I could very easliy have all this all wrong!) I slept with that little pillow for many years...
Imogene at Ebby Halliday Realtors (Ebby, she is like the Mary Kay of Dallas Real Estate, a local RE icon; however, today Imo is at CMT Realty, and she is an active real estate pro at the age of 86!) served my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Dwight (who I am currently in Houston visiting!), my mom and dad (Happy birthday, Dad!) and many of our family and friends along the way. When my mom reached out to Imo at Ebby in the 70s on behalf of my Aunt Barbara, who was living in California at the time, Imo replied in her Texas twang,
"Well, how 'bout that? I'll be in Sacramento for a real estate conference soon and I will meet your sister and get her family moved back here to Dallas for you! How's that?"
My mom was beyond impressed! Imo met them in Cali, as she said she would, I was born in '75, got a pillow I hung onto for at least 7 years, my extended family got a new house in Dallas, and the family friendship was forged. Deeply.
Fast forward many years, later, as a kid, and as a teenager, the same aunt and uncle who moved (back) to Dallas (retired airforce Colonel, retired Otis elevator, this would be yet a 3rd career for him) dabbled in flipping houses. My uncle bought a burnout house. A mold house. A rat house. A hole in the roof house. A flooded house. About every house had a nick-name (in my mind) and one name always in the yard - IMO.
Fast forward a bit more, a few moves later, I have a business degree from ACU, but really have a lack of appreciation for the corporate life. My children are young, my health is good, my love for RE is strong and I am sitting in an office all day at a Telco, merger after merger, biting my beautiful nails off, working in the RE and facility management department, anxious to be anywhere but there...
So I flipped one house in my spare time, bought one rental property and then was laid off due to a not-so-simple staff cut in 1/2 reduction. I was jobless. And I was officially in heaven. Real estate full time for me! I hit the ground running and I never looked back...
I have been a licensed agent, Realtor, since 2003. A broker since 2006. An independent business owner since 2006. Today in 2016 I have a lot of RE investments and serve RE clients with a lot of fondness for their houses and their families in my soul every day.
And Imo is still right here in my heart when I do this... I just called her. She is still lactose intolerant, eating cheesy pizza anyway, because she is tough like that, and as energetic as a sweet busy honey bee.
How 'bout that? I'll be in real estate conferences (just like her) blaming my family and IMO for all my sweet dreams and good choices for the rest of my life!
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