. . . unless you’d like help working through them.

Over the years, we develop our Realtor personalities. We refine what we like to do and what we don’t like to do. We become smarter (hopefully) with what we are willing to do, and become more aware of when to walk away from some situations.

When my girls were teenagers (I survived five teenage/pre-teen girls at once!) I realized somewhere along the way that as much as I loved being ‘the mom,’ they were better off talking to each other when they just wanted to ‘drivel’ about their problems. If they wanted to talk about solutions, then I was certainly the one to turn to, and I was always there.

I recently became aware that I get frustrated with friends who call and tell me the horrible things that are going on in their lives, but when it gets around to solutions, they’re not interested. They don’t want to change anything, they just want to complain. Please understand, you are welcome to complain. But if that is your only purpose in calling me, you’re better off calling a different friend, because I just may tell you how you might be able to change things (lovingly, of course).

As I have developed my adult and my Realtor personalities, that seems to be the trend for my business.  We all have standard things we tell people as we take a listing or as we establish relationships with new Buyers. One of my ‘standard lines’ is: If you’re looking for someone to hold your hand, to call you every day to tell you that no one showed your house today, then I am probably not the Realtor for you.  However, I will be happy to refer you to someone who will gladly answer your call each time you call them to find out why they haven’t called you.

I’ll call you every Friday (or Tuesday, or whenever), and we will discuss your home, the marketing, the market, etc., even if nothing is going on. I’ll call you whenever there is something to report or discuss. I will answer when you have questions, and if I miss your call, I will return it in a timely manner. But I will not call every day to talk about why I didn’t call you, or if I think your house is going to sell, or why your home hasn’t sold yet. It is not who I am. It is not who I want to be.

I know that. I embrace that. I tell them up front. But no one will work harder for you than I will. And no one will be more empathetic to your situation. It’s all a matter of balance.