Why I Do What I Do.

Have you ever felt genuinely drawn to something? But maybe a bit afraid to take the plunge? That’s been my internal battle with deciding to become a Real Estate Agent. I LOVE real estate, and looking at and designing basic floor plans (especially for barns!). But I’ve never really been known to be a risk taker, so I put it in the back of my mind as a dream, one that might actually come true some day when I was ready. And it has.

My draw to real estate came decades ago. I was a tiny and curious child who wanted to keep my mind busy. Every time we went to IGA for groceries, I would sit under the cart and pull it along with my feet. I loved getting Jenny Linds (apple fritters), and on the way out I would grab all of the free real estate ad books they had, which probably shows my age a bit. I would scour them on the way home (which is not easy when you get carsick), and searched for local homes for sale, or ads that included floor plans. I loved to study the flow of a house and think about how that would work and what I would like. All of the agents in the books had great pictures and looked like they love what they do. I thought it would be so much fun to be one of them, so I added it to my list of occupations- alongside large animal vet and horse racing jockey (like I said- I was tiny!). As the years progressed and the internet developed, new tools became available to search for homes, and gradually my favorite books were virtually weeded out.

Maybe that’s where I started to shift my goals. In high school I was active in 4H and the FFA, and continued showing dogs and horses. By the time I went to graduate, I had a boyfriend who didn’t live the same way I did growing up, so I decided to go to college for Interior Design instead of Equine Therapy; hoping that would curb my desire for interacting with real estate. It was fun and interesting, but soon after I started school, our daughter was on the way and I opted to work in retail and “regular” steady jobs.

Not long after, we went to buy our first house, and I got my first adult experience with a REALTOR. I called the name on the sign, and we were off! He was helpful and navigated us through the purchasing process, and my little dream voice crept back up and hung out in the back room of my brain. I could sense that it was there, but continued to ignore it for what I deemed to be steady income. Eventually, things changed and divorce was imminent. The housing market wasn’t great and our home was foreclosed on when it didn’t sell. We went our separate ways to stay with family and restart after bankruptcy.

It would be 4 years before my now husband and I (and our 3 kids) were able to purchase a home again. And that was a DOOZY! We contacted my original REALTOR and found the perfect small brick ranch on 11 acres at a steal. It took about 10 seconds to decide to put in an offer. And so began our experience with a Short Sale. I knew nothing about them, and quickly found out that there is nothing short about purchasing a home under Short Sale! The process drug out for months. I learned a lot. We had to change our financing package once it was discovered there was enough road frontage to sub-divide the property, making it ineligible for Rural Housing (which wasn’t caught by our agent or mortgage broker). We were at the closing table multiple times before the bank finally said okay and allowed us to purchase our home. That experience truly brought it to the forefront for me on how much goes into being a real estate agent, and what all you should study and learn, because you never know what you might encounter. It was incredibly stressful, but the end result was a safe home on a beautiful piece of land for our family.

We lived there for over 3 years before we decided we’d like a bigger home. That sale and  purchase was a much smoother process, and our kids have grown up enjoying the 52 acres we live on now.

Fast forward to this year, and a job loss forced me to rethink my career and where I was going. Real Estate School popped up in my head, but I diligently job hunted for several months before even bringing it up to my husband. He said he had the same idea, and told me to go for it. So I did. I jumped in head first and soaked up all the knowledge I could. I think having previous buying and selling experience made it an even smoother journey- and I completed my course work and exams within a couple months. I was meant for this! Right away I found a client looking to relocate to the general area- from a random Facebook post, no less! I loved sharing my local knowledge with them, and within 2 months I had my first closing as a buyer’s agent. That feeling of accomplishment has just reiterated what I’ve always known- that the little girl studying the real estate ad books would someday get to be one of those agents in the ads.