My Journey As A Realtor

As it is with any journey, it never leaves you the same as where you started. For over fifty one years my life was real estate. It’s been said you have to “eat, sleep, and breathe” real estate to really be a success. No doubt there can be exceptions. But it isn’t an eight hour a day job. In this business I believe only the strong, and tenacious will survive for very long. It is a constant learning experience. You learn from your mistakes, and your experiences make you wiser. Problems take their toll, but they serve to make you stronger. They make you who you are. The changes, from beginning to end, were enormous. To agents that started their career in the fifties and sixties the technology used today would have been inconceivable. Things have changed in the last three plus years since I am no longer active in the business. I do still maintain an active license. Over the years I wrote articles and poems that were published in our real estate board’s newsletters, The “REAL-TORO,” “SACBOR TODAY,” and “S.A.C.A.R. REALTOR GUIDE.” Some of my poems were read at different functions such our “Ole Timer’s Survivor’s Party.” Many of them I have included in this book. In 1979 I started writing a book about some of my experiences in real estate. In 1980 I filed it away. Only recently, I opened up the manuscript again, and decided it might be of interest, at least to some, who have been through some of the same challenges. Thus, my decision to complete the book. It will include stories of experiences before 1980. So, when reading that portion you should keep in mind those thoughts were written about events that occurred 1980 and before. Also, it includes some articles I wrote, and pictures about events that our real estate board published through the years. On my journey there have been “highs and lows.” Interest rates have gone up and down. Markets have been good and bad. There have been “down cycles and up cycles,” “weak markets and strong markets.” Our “task” has always been to keep up with the constant changes that occur and are on going. We typed paper work on a typewriter with sheets of carbon paper. As contracts grew in pages and more and more disclosure statements were required, our folders grew to inches thick. Today, a Good Faith Statement can be created in just minutes. When on the road you can print, save, receive your listings, and e-mail. You can use DocuSign for electronic signatures. There are iphones, BlackBerries, and all sorts of new technology available. Zipform6 offers comprehensive document storage solutions. You can create and apply a template for a purchase or listing transaction, printing and e-mail forms. There is so much new technology. Years ago the possibility of agents accessing property information over the phone would have been unimaginable. Who would ever have thought there would be such a thing as a cell phone? When I first started in real estate the wife’s income could not be counted toward qualifying for a loan. There were some cases if she was past child bearing age, or was a nurse, it was allowed. We had one page contracts/ deposit receipts. If any changes were made we crossed out the item, and both parties initialed the change. The same with the listing contract agreement. It was a small form (used in our office) and that one page served as our listing agreement. Our listings were filed in a box under “for sale/active,” “sold,” and “pending, and “expired.” We received sheets of listings that we tore apart and filed. Later our real estate board started producing huge books containing our listings. It seemed by the time we received the books they were out of date. Finally, along came the computer. Years ago we didn’t have all the disclosure forms to fill out, and we didn’t have to pay for the listing and contract forms that we used. They were furnished by our real estate board. As time went by the board started charging for the forms, and it became very costly to pay for all the many disclosure and other forms that were needed and required for each transaction. Our files became larger and thicker as contracts grew from one page to seven and eight pages, plus all the disclosure statements. Now, forms can be kept in the computer. Even in the past three years there have been unbelievable changes. When I entered the business as a new agent there were very few women working in real estate. I was young. I had done office work, modeling, and originally started work at a Cake and Company in Oakland, California at the age of fourteen. My aunt knew the lady who was head of Personnel that gave me the job, because I was supposed to have been sixteen to work there. I worked four hours and attended school four hours a day. Also, I worked Saturdays and holidays and summers. I graduated at age sixteen, then I was able to work full time. I got a job as receptionist in Officer Personnel at Naval Air Station, Alameda. However, I wanted to do something different so I went to a real estate school in Berkeley, studied (with the help of my mother,) and passed the real estate exam. I immediately went to work for a Broker in Castro Valley, Ca. who had been referred to me. I was one of two agents working there, plus the broker. The only female. In 1957 I went to work for a Broker in Hayward, Ca. that had a couple of offices and a number of sales people. Every Monday morning we attended a sales meeting that our broker held. He always kept us abreast of what was going on as far as interest rates, lender requirements, and the market, plus to help motivate us to get out and make sales. At that time we were allowed to fill out the loan documents for buyers. Later lenders put a stop to that, and only those working for banks and loan/mortgage companies were allowed to fill out the applications, and order verification of employment, and verification of deposit. We held homes open, knocked on endless doors, spent hours and hours on the phone, sometimes calling from the reverse directory. We “covered the floor.” Took “floor” time. In those days, as agents, we worked together, and helped each other get each other’s listings sold. We had “caravans,” going on tour looking at homes/listings. Mostly, the agents I worked with were ambitious, and full of optimism. We attended seminars, and went to real estate conventions. We went to meetings, listened to motivational speakers, and listened to positive thinking/motivational tapes, and read books on how to attain success. The opportunities were out there if we would just “push open the door of opportunity.” After working a few years as a sales agent, in 1964 I studied for, and passed the test required to get my broker’s license. Then, at that time, after paying the $500.00 fee required by our real estate board to join, I became a Realtor, and opened my own office. Back then, you could only use the term “Realtor” if you were a broker and paid the required fee to the real estate board. (That has since changed and all agents are now allowed to use the term “Realtor.”) The term “Realtor” is a registered trademark, copyrighted, and denotes competence, fair dealing, and high integrity, resulting from adherence to a lofty ideal of moral conduct in business relations. We are members of our Board of Realtors, State (in my case California) Association of Realtors, and National Association of Realtors. My personal commitment was to give quality service as best I could, stay on top of changes in the law, and share my years of experience as time and things changed. Also, to help clients attain their dream of home ownership, the “American Dream” as it is called. And, to “go the extra mile” to help clients reach their goals, and build an estate for themselves and their children.