CHRISTMAS: Giving
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE
It’s the time of year when we struggle with New Year’s resolutions, wrestle with whether to bother with them, and wonder if they do help for awhile, maybe, at last til January 5th.
This year, however, I see it all from a slightly different angle that I did a year ago. I am now marveling at how some certain wonderful concepts should never change. Take generosity for example.
It all began innocently enough in November when one of my sellers asked me if I knew anyone who might want her piano. She didn’t want to haul it to the new house and try to sell it there. She’d love for a child to have it and it was free. Well, our little 5 year old grandchild, Rachel, was in need of a piano, is taking lesson on an electric keyboard (which doesn’t have the same touch) and we had been keeping an eye out for one for her. So, I was thrilled to tell my family of the offer. We could have it if we could pick it up that Saturday morning when her movers came.
Yippee! Suddenly I felt like the rich Orange County realtor that I have occasionally been called. After all, consider this. While some people give their grandchildren cheap trinkets from Target, rich Orange County Realtor, Ann Baker, who has alleged endless funds (just kidding, don’t I wish) and a generous heart, is giving her grandchildren a piano for Christmas, no less. (Uh, never mind that it’s free).
So, after many phone calls…how to move it, could we pay her movers to help us load it, yadda, yadda, we met at 8:00 AM at her house and loaded it into son Rob’s van. You see, the moral of the story is that if you have as much money as the rich Orange County realtor, you can pull off just about anything. Even though I’m kidding, I am so tickled to do this and especially for not a penny spent. My client wouldn’t hear of it. By the way,
I could write 3 more pages about generous sellers who took the high road at every turn in their escrows wanting to be fair to the new buyers coming in. Even though I place certain phrases in their counter offers to protect them on every level, some still insist on being generous. And, a few here and there, are, well, jerks by nature and will fight over a hair on the ground. It seems there is a delicious story of human nature tucked away in the little crevices of every sale in the dramas of real estate. I don’t tell these tales often, though, for fear some future client will think I expect him to be generous in areas where they can’t or shouldn’t be.
And I kid about the rich OC realtor thing because many times a new client takes that position when they look at realtor commissions, because they just don’t know, until I show them with pencil and paper that I really, if I’m lucky, clear about 1% of the commission listed after my marketing, delivery crew, printing, insurance, taxes, signs, flyers, etc. I even had a buyer in my car last week ask me if Tarbell pays for my car! I explain that we are independent contractors and pay for everything. This is why you see such a high turn over with real estate agents every year. If you don’t do volume, you can’t cover your expenses and if you can’t spend money marketing your listings, it’s not fair to the seller, in my view. For example, I’m the only realtor in South HB that I know of who has an entire crew of 7-9 people delivering flyers promoting my clients homes 3-4 times per month to thousands of homes. Of course, some clients think regardless of the market that realtors always have the advantage. But, when you thin about it, in a “bad” seller’s market, clients want a good hunk of your commission because they will now get less because the house isn’t worth as much anymore. Conversely, in a good seller’s market, they think the realtor is making a lot, so he should give them back part of his commission, forgetting that he is also making a lot more on his home and to get top dollar, he needs good marketing…which costs money. But, you know, that’s the name of the game. I say if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. In my 14 years as a realtor, I like to think I’ve learned to balance the whole thing and be fair at the same time. We get paid for what we do because we assume a great deal of liability on both sides. We earn it. Or at least I think I do. Indeed, most of the time, at the end of an escrow, my clients tell me they really had no idea o all that I do and are, in fact, astounded and grateful.
But I digress. What’s this all got to do with a piano? I guess being able to give the kids a piano struck a chord with me (pardon the pun). Pretty jazzy, huh? (Even though it was free to me). The point is that for one brief moment in paradise, I really felt like the rich Orange County realtor I’ve been accused of being for so long. (Never mind that it was free. And we didn’t call it a Christmas gift to them because, well, I can’t live up to that every year.
I’ve had a lot of fun with this. I am reminded that there is no greater joy than giving someone something they really want or need. And that concept never changes. Now, I may attempt to change some aspects of my life next year, but this kind of joy I intend to work on and never change. By the way, the extra benefit is that we may have another piano player in the family coming up besides me. And I’ll get to play when we visit the kids since I don’t have much time to when I’m working. In which case, I think I’ll buy the family earplugs for when I come over. But that’s another story.
Happy Resolutions and Happy New Year To One and All!
It’s the time of year when we struggle with New Year’s resolutions, wrestle with whether to bother with them, and wonder if they do help for awhile, maybe, at last til January 5th.
This year, however, I see it all from a slightly different angle that I did a year ago. I am now marveling at how some certain wonderful concepts should never change. Take generosity for example.
It all began innocently enough in November when one of my sellers asked me if I knew anyone who might want her piano. She didn’t want to haul it to the new house and try to sell it there. She’d love for a child to have it and it was free. Well, our little 5 year old grandchild, Rachel, was in need of a piano, is taking lesson on an electric keyboard (which doesn’t have the same touch) and we had been keeping an eye out for one for her. So, I was thrilled to tell my family of the offer. We could have it if we could pick it up that Saturday morning when her movers came.
Yippee! Suddenly I felt like the rich Orange County realtor that I have occasionally been called. After all, consider this. While some people give their grandchildren cheap trinkets from Target, rich Orange County Realtor, Ann Baker, who has alleged endless funds (just kidding, don’t I wish) and a generous heart, is giving her grandchildren a piano for Christmas, no less. (Uh, never mind that it’s free).
So, after many phone calls…how to move it, could we pay her movers to help us load it, yadda, yadda, we met at 8:00 AM at her house and loaded it into son Rob’s van. You see, the moral of the story is that if you have as much money as the rich Orange County realtor, you can pull off just about anything. Even though I’m kidding, I am so tickled to do this and especially for not a penny spent. My client wouldn’t hear of it. By the way,
I could write 3 more pages about generous sellers who took the high road at every turn in their escrows wanting to be fair to the new buyers coming in. Even though I place certain phrases in their counter offers to protect them on every level, some still insist on being generous. And, a few here and there, are, well, jerks by nature and will fight over a hair on the ground. It seems there is a delicious story of human nature tucked away in the little crevices of every sale in the dramas of real estate. I don’t tell these tales often, though, for fear some future client will think I expect him to be generous in areas where they can’t or shouldn’t be.
And I kid about the rich OC realtor thing because many times a new client takes that position when they look at realtor commissions, because they just don’t know, until I show them with pencil and paper that I really, if I’m lucky, clear about 1% of the commission listed after my marketing, delivery crew, printing, insurance, taxes, signs, flyers, etc. I even had a buyer in my car last week ask me if Tarbell pays for my car! I explain that we are independent contractors and pay for everything. This is why you see such a high turn over with real estate agents every year. If you don’t do volume, you can’t cover your expenses and if you can’t spend money marketing your listings, it’s not fair to the seller, in my view. For example, I’m the only realtor in South HB that I know of who has an entire crew of 7-9 people delivering flyers promoting my clients homes 3-4 times per month to thousands of homes. Of course, some clients think regardless of the market that realtors always have the advantage. But, when you thin about it, in a “bad” seller’s market, clients want a good hunk of your commission because they will now get less because the house isn’t worth as much anymore. Conversely, in a good seller’s market, they think the realtor is making a lot, so he should give them back part of his commission, forgetting that he is also making a lot more on his home and to get top dollar, he needs good marketing…which costs money. But, you know, that’s the name of the game. I say if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. In my 14 years as a realtor, I like to think I’ve learned to balance the whole thing and be fair at the same time. We get paid for what we do because we assume a great deal of liability on both sides. We earn it. Or at least I think I do. Indeed, most of the time, at the end of an escrow, my clients tell me they really had no idea o all that I do and are, in fact, astounded and grateful.
But I digress. What’s this all got to do with a piano? I guess being able to give the kids a piano struck a chord with me (pardon the pun). Pretty jazzy, huh? (Even though it was free to me). The point is that for one brief moment in paradise, I really felt like the rich Orange County realtor I’ve been accused of being for so long. (Never mind that it was free. And we didn’t call it a Christmas gift to them because, well, I can’t live up to that every year.
I’ve had a lot of fun with this. I am reminded that there is no greater joy than giving someone something they really want or need. And that concept never changes. Now, I may attempt to change some aspects of my life next year, but this kind of joy I intend to work on and never change. By the way, the extra benefit is that we may have another piano player in the family coming up besides me. And I’ll get to play when we visit the kids since I don’t have much time to when I’m working. In which case, I think I’ll buy the family earplugs for when I come over. But that’s another story.
Happy Resolutions and Happy New Year To One and All!
posted by Ann Baker, Realtor at
6:52 PM
