The Impact We Make on People's Lives

I worked as Executive Director of a Park and Recreation agency for 31 years and had a chance to really help build a community. I never thought after I left there that I would have another chance to impact people's lives. With Real Estate, it's changing lives one family at a time! Really quite incredible! And an awesome responsibility.

My first experience as a Realtor® was with a young couple in their early thirties who we got to know very well over a period of months. We met them when my wife Tammie had shown them a home we had listed. Unfortunately, they didn't feel it was the right home for them.

This couple was in the habit of calling listing agents off signs, and did not want to work with a buyer's agent. Their previous experience with real estate agents had been poor and they had a negative view of realtors in general. 

Tammie impressed them (remember I was the rookie here) with her knowledge of the community and the benefits of working with a buyer's agent. Not long after this, they asked us to work with them.

We often show homes together to couples and in this particular case we really connected with these two young people. Maybe it was that they really trusted our opinions or that they could tell we listened very carefully to what they had to say. I actually think that because of their ages, and our ages they thought of us as parental figures. In any event we got along so well, it was like family. However, it was a family that spent a lot of time together as we showed them home after home after home!

At one house in particular the young women and I were in the back yard looking at where the lot lines were located. She said, "Tom, I'm not sure. What do you think of this house?" A simple question really, even for a rookie agent. For some reason it hit me right there, right then, the impact that we make on people's lives. If we do our job well, we make a huge difference!

Eventually, after visiting many homes we found the "almost perfect house". Everything went smoothly and they moved in a couple of months later. They have since referred us to her parents who bought a new construction home which they will move into this summer. Believe it, we change lives.

An entry into the contest "Love is in the Air"