The One With The Tattletale

In this job you often meet eccentric people and it’s funny. Sometimes you come across people who go slightly beyond eccentric. A person, a stranger, such as this crossed my path for 2 minutes one day and “tattled” on me.

Once I had a house for sale that LOOKED haunted. Three generations of women had lived and died there. In my photos I took there are orbs in a couple of rooms. It was a very old Tudor so the gothic-ness of it lent itself to spooky splendor. Everyone who knows me knows I love this stuff. I go to mediums. I historically have been able to tell when there are spirits or an energy in a house that doesn’t want me there. There weren’t any mean spirits in this house but the energy of these women was for sure present in my opinion. Houses often take on the energy of the people who loved and lived inside it’s 4 walls. I enjoy talking about it. It’s interesting and fun.

Anyway, it was sort of joke amongst people in my office because I was alwasys posting pics etc of this house and like I said, it just LOOKED haunted by nature of what it was architecturally and decor-wise. I didn’t need to SAY anything to elicit comments from the public on how it looked haunted.

Here’s where my story getting downright hilarious/scary/unbeleivable.

One day I was walking into my office as a colleague was walking out so we stopped and chatted casually for about 2 minutes. We were joking around and laughing about my “haunted house” and about the orbs in the pictures etc. I went inside and did some work in the computer room. About an hour later my manager calls my into his office. WHY? WELL….Let me just tell you!!

I got reported by a stranger for SELLING HAUNTED HOUSES. A woman had been in the nearby area outside sitting on a bench or something and overheard my 2 minute funny convo and TATTLED on me for selling a haunted house. I wish I could have been there to hear how it went down, but it went something like this:

“I heard an agent outside say she purposely is selling a house she said is haunted! She said there were ORBS! Do you really have agents here who will take a haunted house and sell it to innocent people and not tell them?” Obviously she was told that of course it’s not haunted, and how could one prove it was haunted to begin with? She was VERY MUCH a willing believer in haunted houses and was REALLY mad at me. She kept talking about the orbs as PROOF beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s haunted. Of course this isn’t true. Orbs are caused by dust in the air hitting the flash etc. We had just been JOKING AROUND.

She literally walked into my building, asked for the manager and reported me for selling a haunted house without disclosing it in writing to every buyer. First of all…..a house being haunted is not a disclosable item in Pennsylvania. Someone dying in the house isn’t even a disclosable item. Second of all, I’m a REALTOR not a ghost hunter. I don’t actually KNOW it was haunted. Certainly not enough to say so as material FACT. Laughing out loud at this moment just recalling this happening. BUT SHE SAID THERE WERE ORBS!

Lady on the bench eavesdropping on people: You refused to give your name so I was never able to defend myself which is SO frustrating. It was a joke. So, in case you are reading this, for your peace of mind, a young couple bought that house and both seller and buyer are happy.

So are the ghosts.

Too much?

Moral of the story: Be careful what you say in public because you never know who is listening and if they are put together right or not.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

The One With The Honest To God Truth

Truths:

  1. Having to work all summer while my kids are home and hubby home (he’s a teacher) is a tough pill to swallow.
  2. You’ll find me with my laptop working from the pool more days than not.
  3. If you ask me to show you houses for months and months and then screw me over and use your Aunt’s neighbor to help you buy a house I will haunt you and your family when I die. No, really. I will.
  4. Listing agents don’t get paid a penny until your house sells. Pretty much no one wants your house to sell more than you do except me. So, never worry if I’m doing everthing I can. Believe me when I tell you I am.
  5. Buyer’s agents don’t get paid until you actually buy a house. Many people think someone is paying us. They are not. Our time spent with you is our time freely given in the hopes that you will indeed find a house to buy. See haunting warning, item 3 above.
  6. If we tell you over the summer we are unavailable because we have an appointment it’s probably code for “we are at Kennywood and my family will disown me if I cancel their fun day”. You WANT your Realtor to have a balanced life because a happy Realtor is an efficient Realtor. A miserable Realtor will make YOUR life miserable. Truth.
  7. When you write a review online for us on our website or Zillow etc, it’s a priceless GIFT to us. For you it takes but a moment, for us it means a lot and can have a lasting impact. If you have been living under a rock and don’t know….Reviews are EVERYTHING. Buyers read them. Sellers read them. They use them to make decisions on who to hire. You can go to your Realtor’s website and find the review link, or find their profile on Zillow and add your review.
  8. TRUST US….don’t micromanage us. I don’t tell you how to cut open your patient, file charges against a criminal, grade a thesis paper, or deliver the mail. I don’t know how to put an IV in a person or how to safely build a bridge. I TRUST YOU to do those things. You need to trust me that I know how to do my things. I do. Swear.
  9. For God’s sake DON’T PLAY THE WHAT IF GAME. Nothing makes me crazier. Things will happen when and how they are going to happen. Going over 7 different possible scenarios isn’t healthy for you. We figure out a game plan when presented with specific situations. The variables in this job are endless. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN so playing the what if game is so futile. When presented with a situation we find the solution if one exists. Period.
  10. Finally, Realtors aren’t psychic. OMG how awesome would that be? Sadly it’s just not the case. 11 years later and I’m still shocked when the nicest house ever sits on the market for 62 days while the craphole that smells like cats sells with 7 offers in an hour. Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to these things. I often wonder if a house doesn’t sell right away if it’s because it’s waiting for the special person who does eventually buy it. If you have read my other blog posts you know I believe homes have energy and I believe certain people are drawn to or repelled by a home’s energy. There truly is a key to every lock, a buyer for every home. Patience and faith is the reality. Crystal balls are not. If only!!!

The One With All The Trips

The job I do comes with its fair share of unbelievable stress, pretty insane hours (I’ll leave that for the next blog post), a constant barrage of problems to solve without letting any of my clients know there even IS a problem, and sometimes it’s a true wonder we all still do it.  

We do still do it though, because when it’s all said and done the job is actually pretty fun and there’s some perks that someone in a regular 9-5 just doesn’t get. The most awesome of which, for me, is the trips. 

I have gotten to go on some pretty fun ones over the years. The resorts and hotels are always top notch, with the best amenities and luxury all the way. The Hanna family doesn’t mess around when it comes to where they take us. They are there too, for even longer than us because they host the different regions at different times. That means the family can be there for weeks in some cases, so the places we go are pretty damn fabulous.  

This year we are going to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. Some of the other trips I’ve had the pleasure of attending with the Hannas are Naples, Florida, Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Miami Beach, Florida (That one was going to be Cancun but there were too many travel warnings at the time). Every year at the trip they announce where next year’s trip will be. I look forward to that each time. Going on a trip with my good friends who are in the same business is therapeutic and a salve for the stress. Relaxing, drinking, letting loose, and venting, venting, venting about all the craziness we deal with is always just what the doctor ordered.  

My huge passion for travel is one of the reasons I set myself such high goals…. You have to earn the trip. It’s not just handed over to you. I strive for it each year, and always reach it. Here’s to 2019 and another trip well earned. If any of the Hannas are reading this, THANK YOU.