More thoughts on real estate

Well, here we are again. It has been about six weeks since my first post. Not much action so far. Although I have been a realtor for just six years, I feel I have a lifetime of experience around construction, beginning with scavenging scrap piles around construction sites at age 7-8. Back in the early 1960's, there was a bit of a building boom in Del Monte Forrest, along with the construction of the Shore Course at Monterey Penninsula Country Club. Building materials and methods of the time created quite a bit of wasted plywood and dimentional lumber, and builders were always pleased to see neighborhood kids show an interest in building things like forts, rafts, and even space ships. I learned to use a hammer and saw to create things powered mostly by my imagination. During high school and college, I developed an interest in architecture and photography. I have been fortunate to have been a homeowner most of my adult life. Mucking around in the yard has been a consumng past time, always trying to make my built environment a little bit better. In 1973, I visited my sister for three weeks in Washington DC. My first experience with 150+ year old houses which don't exist on the West coast. It gave life to the Ethan Alan catalog of the time. After flirting with modern design, we have rediscovered Pottery Barn, taking us back to the 1st half of the 20th century. We feel good in places which takes us back to what for most of us, was a happy childhood. I have enjoyed reading the works of Tracy Kidder, Lewis Mumford, and other authors who tell us the story of home and why we feel good there.

When working with clients, I try to bring a sense of who they are, and what makes them happy to the home buying process. I am often frustrated working with the client looking for the "best deal". A successful buyer, to me, is one who finds the place that touches them inside, makes them feel secure and alive, full of love and energy. Home is where we are renewed. We heal from the injuries we receive from the outside world. We can be ourselves. I can't sing, dance, or make music very well, and rarely do those things in the spotlight. In my house, I do all of those things with bliss.