It’s NOT a glam life, being a Silver Fern Homes Realtor!
Of course you’re thinking this Silver Fern Homes Realtor is going to post actual pictures of houses… Meh… not really. I have a surprise for you;
These pics are among my favorite memories of showings and open houses and such in 2017. My job is intense, weird, diverse and has moments that take your breath away for good reasons and bad.
- Checking on a clients new build in DELO, Louisville. It was sunny and blue to look at… but freezing cold and blowing topsoil at 25mph across my face!
2. When I tell people I “work from my car” I think they have it in their mind that it means I drive around a bit. Actually, it means I use my cell phone as a mobile hotspot, push the driver’s seat back and get out my laptop. From here I pull comps, write contracts and send things to clients. I’m mobile. You need me… I pull over. End of story.
3. Sometimes “show condition” means the condition it is currently being shown in, rather than the condition you WISH it was being shown in. If this was scratch’n’sniff, you’d have already closed this page. My client didn’t buy it and no, this one didn’t spark a bidding war.
4. Need to see houses, do an inspection or get to closing and the weather outside is frightful? No worries. Audi is all-wheel-drive and sticks like glue to the road despite me pushing the boundaries of acceptable driving conditions.
5. Sometimes my sidekick joins me. He is more partial to grassy back yards, but puts up with long drives, short walks and loud noises to come to work with me simply because he loves me!
6. This is what happens when tenants set up an illegal grow operation in your home. They monkey with the electrical and jerry rig creative solutions to indoor irrigation problems. When it goes pear-shaped, it will cost the landlord tens of thousands and a buyer or two. This one was so moldy and damp inside that I stopped my buyers from bringing their toddler into the house for the showing. Silver Fern Homes property management services makes it clear to tenants that no grow operations are tolerated, FYI. Why? Does insurance cover this? Eh… not convinced! Plus, growing is still a federal offense and strictly speaking, your mortgage holder could call your loan due in full because of the illegality aspect. Check your loan paperwork, if you don’t believe me.
7. Open houses; Even the busiest of them (and this one had 50 or so guests) have some downtime and furry company is always welcome. This guy spent hours leaping into and out of my lap and if he didn’t already have a loving family, might have been stuffed into my car and taken him home with me.
8. The question is, are you moving into a less than friendly neighborhood or are you moving into a clean neighborhood? I’m a “glass is half full” kinda gal and loved the humor, combined with reminder, planted in the common space near the condo my client just purchased. No-one wants to walk poo into their new home accidentally, am I right?
9. The opposite of blizzard is 100 degrees. Actually I think this day I hit 106! What you may not realize is that when showing 6 houses, your car never gets the chance to cool down, so neither do you. With each short drive to the next property, you get a little closer to becoming jerky. 🙁
10. This home was clearly owned by a master gardener. I fell in love with the back yard and took some pics to try and replicate some of this zen in my own landscaping design – That would be the big project of 2018 at my house. Without a doubt, a true perk of showing houses for a living.
11. Every now and then some creative colleague of mine will hit the nail on the head when it comes to entertaining kids at open houses. If you can keep the kids from melting down, the parents will stay longer. My 2.5 year old client was besotted with the bubbles and I was besotted with him while his parents poked around inside. Sure, I double as nanny when the situation warrants it.
12. I’d like to say this was my first experience with animal rescue at a showing… but it wasn’t. The exterior sunshade had been lowered and trapped a bat between it and the window screen. We waited 20 mins for the weak creature to “snap out of it” and leave, before restoring the sunshade to its down position. Seriously, this wasn’t so bad; Once I had to rescue a bird from behind the glass bi-fold doors of a basement fireplace (it was covered in soot and then, so was I) and another time, a baby bunny (at Easter!) from inside a window well, so the bat was actually a pretty hands-off rescue.
13. My listing needed the carpet cleaned so I called Stanley Steamer. Did it ever occur to anyone else that when the condo is far inside the building and the steamer is truck-mounted, they need to run 300 feet of tubing? This pic is the common hallway leading to the second floor unit. Our carpet cleaner just kept connecting the tubes until he had it long enough. Hahaha. Carpets looked amazing afterward, in case you were wondering.
14. Moving day. For those special items that you just don’t trust with the movers and you need to secure them like children in the car instead, they invented seat belts. (This was my personal moving experience and I don’t have kids … So you can stop judging me now.)
15. And finally… Most days along the Front Range look like this. It’s a pleasure to drive on scantily used roads under a brilliant cloudless blue sky with views of natures grandeur in every direction. Life as a Silver Fern Homes Realtor is great!
