There’s always something to howl about.

Working With Virgins

I like working with experienced buyers, somewhere in their fifties, savvy, know what they want, know they can get it. I like working with investors because investors don’t cry, they’re rational, straightforward, wham bam, that’s it, buy it.

I like working with experienced home buyers and investors, but I love working with first time buyers. There’s something about the mixture of fear and excitement that’s exhilarating J. The dream in their eyes rekindles mine. It’s a special joy of achieving something big, something life changing.

There are many cynics who would read this and snipe about subprime and foreclosures, anything to tarnish what the jaded and hip-ironists see as illusion. May I never become jaded.

Of course there’s a huge difference in the check at closing between a waterfront home on the island and a starter home, but the satisfaction is greater with the starter home, and whatever high-end niche I may lean towards, I don’t think I’ll ever quit working with first time buyers.

There’s a sense of satisfaction in doing a good job and most times work is work and the satisfaction comes from doing it well; however, there’s a spiritual aspect to work that makes it more than a job. “Spiritual” is a loaded word and sounds pretentious in the context of real estate.

To me, spiritual, in the context of work, means that part of experience that transcends the banal actions of accomplishing a job, or the routine, logical actions of work – it’s the combination of physical action, mental  application, emotional connection and something greater that includes the participation of others. The “something greater” is the spiritual part.

When buying a home becomes more than buying a home, as it is with many first time buyers, it creates in me a sense of participating in “something greater”. The buyers are planning their life, thinking about the future, the creation of “home”, the pride of ownership, and the excitement is contagious.

They are also open to new knowledge, asking questions, absorbing the experience, connected to the experience, alive with the idea of having something that’s their own and full of creative ideas of how they will personalize it, to make this space unique and reflective of their personalities and tastes. It’s more than a home, it’s an extension of who they are and what they want to achieve. To me these are all expressions of the human spirit, and it’s easy to lose sight of the source and experience of this spirit in the middle of all life’s hubbub, calamity, pomp and self-absorption.

The buyer(s) can be a couple or an individual, but it seems more intense when it’s a couple because they’re sharing the experience. What it does for me is re-connect me to the source of that spirit and infuses my job with meaning and purpose. I can then carry this forward for a little while longer making all the mundane tasks I perform daily easier to digest and more effortless. May I never become jaded.