By Lea Deo, Realtor
Serving Overland Park, KS, real estate, Shawnee real estate and the metro Kansas City area real estate needs
When my husband and I were young marrieds, we moved from Kansas City back to Iowa. The hog market was high and my husband had raised pigs in high school so he knew how to raise pigs. I had no clue and really didn't want to have much to do with that business. However, he also was working at a construction job that entailed really long hours away from home. So, I learned how to be a pig farmer. It's one of those experiences where I can always look back and remember that I'm glad I'm not still raising pigs. Yet, there were a number of lessons I learned that I can apply to real estate today.
- The Market Will Have Its Way. It didn't matter what we thought we were going to make when we bred those sows. What mattered was what the market said they were worth on the day I loaded them in the pick up truck and took them to the auction.
- You can't time the market. Wow, did we learn that lesson well. We were getting into the business along with everyone else. Guess what, markets go up and go down in cycles. The same thing happens in real estate. We have to work with the cycle we're in.
- Manure happens. What a lesson! Sometimes no matter what you do in a real estate transaction manure happens. Just shovel it out and get on with it.
- Sometimes there are great side benefits to the job. Much as I disliked taking care of pigs, I have to admit that I never needed a fitness club membership during those years - and I was fit. I admit that I love real estate and a side benefit is the wonderful people that I get to serve.
- You can't lose what you didn't have. My dad always said that. I would be whining because the market went down and "I lost this much money by not selling a week earlier." Dad always said, "You can't lose what you didn't have." Your house might have brought more money last year, but you have to work with today's market.
- "Smells like money." If you can put up with the mess, you might be able to make some money in real estate investment. Just be realistic about the mess and cost of fixing it and make sure it
's money that you're smelling. It can bear a strong resemblance to the smell of something very different. Plan on making your money going in, not on the appreciation. Appreciation is like frosting on the cake. - You Have to Be the Best Deal. When you take your pigs to market, the buyers are comparing them with everything else on the auction block that day. We cleaned them up, slicked them down, made sure they weren't stressed, and made them look good. We wanted our pigs to show well in the auction ring. Buyers in the real estate market are comparing your house to every other house out there, and they are pretty good at spotting the diamonds. In a market like we have now with plenty of inventory out there, it's doubly important to be the best. Buyers are being very choosey and your house has to show well in the ring.
- You have to keep the banker happy. The reality of the real world is that the banker has to be paid. Make sure the deal that you're doing today is the one that you can reasonably afford tomorrow. Don't get tempted into buying more house than you can afford. Don't be "house poor".
- Even with our best laid plans, things don't always go like you planned. I remember one very cold January day on the farm. We had a problem with our water because the pipes in the ground had broken. My husband quickly identified the source of the problem and began digging the pipe. It was in the barn yard. He worked so hard to dig up the pipe to fix it and it was so cold. We had a farrowing house (a baby pig birthing barn) and several sows were having pigs. They were in crates and periodically needed to be let out to exercise. The weather warmed a bit so we let the sows out to exercise. One silly thing went straight for the hole in the ground and proceeded to fall in the cold water. We couldn't get her out and got my dad's pick up truck to pull her out. Finally we got her out and got her back in the barn, warmed her up, and proceeded to take care of the baby pigs that were scouring (diarrhea). My husband had to go to work and I was left with a 6 year old, a 1 year old, no water, sick baby pigs, and a sow that we were hoping wouldn't develop pneumonia. I had the baby's play pen in the farrowing house and worked feverishly back and forth all day to try to keep our livestock healthy. My 6 year old went off to school and even though it was his birthday we had our hands full. About 3:30 in the afternoon I received a call from my mother in law who had learned from her neighbor that my 6 year old was bringing home a bus load of boys so that he could have his birthday party. I had no water, no cake, no party favors, nothing but sick pigs and a baby. Grandma rescued me by bringing out chocolate Ho-Ho's, pop, and the boys all thought they had quite an adventure. I felt guilty for a long time for not having a birthday party for him, and some of the pigs died. Eventually the plumbing got fixed and we sold the pigs that lived though I'm not sure it was at a profit. That day made history in our family, and we often laughed about it later though at the time nothing seemed funny.
- If you pick a baby pig up by its back leg and dangle it head down, it won't squeal. I don't know why. I just know it works. If you try to pick it up and hold it like a puppy, it will squeal and then Mama Pig gets really upset. You don't want to upset Mama. We all have ways we like to be handled and if the relationship isn't right, somebody squeals. Nobody wins when Mama's upset.
I'm really glad that I'm not still raising pigs. God bless the farmers who take on all the risks they do every day and produce our food supply and the food supply for much of the rest of the world. It's not an easy job. Thanks.
Blessings,
Lea Deo, Realtor
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