I’ve been a mess the last couple weeks. Waking up in the middle of the night with my head swirling. Feelings of stress, anxiousness, and fear. My to-do list is getting longer, and my bank account is getting smaller.

Why?

I’m a buying a house.

Ridiculous, isn’t it? I’m a Realtor with fifteen years experience, who knows the process backward and forward, acts as the voice of reason when calming down my clients, but yet here I am, a freaked out mess. Like my lender said, “You’re scared because you know too much.”

And sometimes knowing too much has its drawbacks. During negotiations and inspections, a couple things came up. They were minor, but still warranted a conversation with my husband about our next move. “This is your niche. I’m relying on your expertise to make that decision,” he said.

UGH!

Here’s the thing- my job as Realtor is to lay out all the facts for my clients and then they go home and make a decision. I don’t make the decision for them. So making this decision myself? No thanks. I dragged my contractor, my parents and my broker to the house for reassurance. I quizzed the inspector the entire 3.5 hours we were there. I was what most people would deem a nightmare client.

And then I got over it. I turned the corner. I made peace with the fact that my beloved current home would eventually belong to someone else, that I was making the right move, and my family will be happy in a new neighborhood closer to town.

Through all this, I was reminded of some things, though. As professionals, we do this stuff everyday. To us, it’s no big deal. It’s not our home and money, so we are able to focus on the process.

But to our clients, this is a monumental decision. It requires patience, understanding, and the ability to stay calm. Sometimes it just takes a person a little extra time to come to grips with the fact that they are not only considering something big, but actually doing something big.

I’m embarrassed to say I went a little crazy over something I help people do everyday. But sometimes you need to experience the other side of the process to be able to help people more. And if nothing else, all this renews my belief as to why our role as Realtor is invaluable to the buying and selling process. 

So as a current client to myself, I’m taking note: Be an encourager, sounding board, and nurturer. Be willing to show them the house one more time, be at the inspections to ask the necessary questions, and most importantly, when possible, give them the gift of time.

Sometimes people just need someone to hold them by the hand, whisper encouraging words, and gently lead them down the path towards home ownership. For a lot of our clients, this move is much more than a mere financial transaction. It’s a transition into a new life.

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Amy Gilpin, Associate Broker, Manager, ABR, SRES.

Fifteen years of helping clients. Seven years of helping agents. All for this crazy thing we call real estate.
Production Realty 517-879-4141 Jackson, MI Amy@ProductionRealty.com

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