Now that I've survived two years of real estate (one where everyone was buying houses and one where no one seemed to be buying houses), I've kind of been thinking about upgrading my current ride for a newer one.
Now this presents a problem. I don't know how it is in your area, but here in our part of the world, most Realtor type people seem to have gone to the school of "Thou Shalt Drive the SWEET Car". I kind of noticed this before I sold real estate, but I didn't pay much attention. After I joined the business, I saw immediately that I had a problem. My 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan didn't really qualify for what I felt was the acceptable category for proper Realtor cars.
But it was all I had and it was paid for. And besides, it would hold lots of people. So I made the decision to start with what I had. Besides I hadn't sold a single house. So as my practical wife pointed out, why would we spend what we didn't have? I'll confess that I wasn't in total agreement with her assessment, but we've been married long enough so that I knew it wasn't a figh...I mean "discussion" that I wanted to have. So it would be the van we hauled our pre-teen kids around town in that would start my real estate career.
Did you know that you can really make a vehicle look sharp if you wash it enough and use a lot of windex and Armor All?
Okay. The van looked good. But it ain't no BMW. So what could I do about this car class situation? Hmmm. I know! I could out-promote those big dog Realtors in our town! So that's what I did. I went down to the sign shop and had my name and slogan and company name and phone number emblazoned in vinyl on the back window of the van. I even had the saying "Get the Right Realtor" on the side windows. It fit with my first year theme of "The Right Realtor for the Right House". No comments on the theme please. I've moved on.
It took me about two weeks to get used to driving a billboard around town. And even though the people in my office didn't say anything when they first saw it, I'm pretty sure I heard snickers in the hallways about it. I mean, NOBODY does that. At least not here they don't. Well maybe a few do, but they're not the SERIOUS Realtors.
Sidenote - Not long after the BobHayood.com awesome Realtor van made it's appearance, one of the more experienced Realtors in my office got a brand new truck and guess what he did? Oh YES. It was glorious! He put vinyl wording on HIS back window too. SWEEEET!
Sorry...back to the story.
So I've used my trusty van for these last two years. And it's been good to me. It has made me a very "noticeable" around town. And I put a ton of miles on it. But I've done okay in this crazy career, so I was beginning to think that maybe it was time to trade in the old van for something else.
I'll cut to the chase here. I wanted to buy the BMW. I decided instead to buy a Honda Pilot. There's way too much rationalizing and debating here to go into it, so I won't. Let me just say that $4 gasoline we enjoyed recently was a big factor in the decision.
So the decision was made. I will get a Honda Pilot.
There's a part 2 to this story. I'll tell you that tomorrow. And I'll post pics of the BobHaywood.com awesome van too!
Stay tuned...
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