Posted by Three open houses were done on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Well, it was not an easy job of being a realtor, I kept talking with visitors about 3-4 hours a day. Still there were funs in my job which I’d like to record here to cheer you and myself up.
Broker tour on Friday
I met with a local landlord again. We talked about his rental properties again. He told me he had done 1031 exchange five times. I had been doing a lot of research on this topic for my client recently. So we chatted a lot on 1031 exchange. He is planning a downsizing. I said, please consider me as your agent, I will give you discount so as to learn from you. Participation itself is reward to me. I will be always happy if you make more and I make less. He took my business card and then left. Dear friends who believe in collective subconscious, help me pray that this landlord will contact me soon.
I would like to correct a mis-image that Chinese are the main buyers in Palo Alto due to media. I felt there were only about 20% buyers were Chinese of whom most are passers-by. There are many local people who have been here for many generations and who are constantly purchasing real estates over time like this landlord. These people are on the top of the pyramid of our local real estate market. The base of the pyramid are those who have made a fortune from high tech startups. Dear friends, these investors on the top of the pyramids are the examples of real estate investment. Come contact me to be your real estate broker, I am not going to make commission simply by pushing you into buying and then pushing you into selling. I assist you purchase and your management in the hope that we plant our root here and grow into a palo alto (big tree in Spanish) someday in the future.
The best grandson in town and his gramma came to my open house. The grandson knelt down and put booties for his grandma, hold her arm walking and looking together in every corner. Every time grandma commented on a paint, the grandson repeated. Every time grandma commented on the yard, the grandson repeated slowly.
Towards the end of the broker tour, there came a senior broker in our neighborhood. His sister was the tenant of one of my clients. I asked him to say hi to his sister. He complained, “She is my younger sister, yet she always thinks that she is my daughter.” I asked how many years you guys were apart. “Eight.” Well not too far apart. Isn’t it a mistake? I empathized him, “I am the elder in the family too. My sister who is five and half years younger than me always expects me to be her mother.” Damn it. （exasperating)
Open House on Saturday
The house was full of visitors on Saturday. One kind of booties were running out. I took out another kind. One visitor was complaining that the floor was slippery. Then we figured out the problem was caused by the booties. Immediately I removed these booties and wrote down a reminder for myself to bring another kind of booties tomorrow.
The neighbors across the street came. We were chatting about new constructions in the neighborhood and commented on the situation where it was hard to find workers during the pandemic. He also complained that workers were lacked in regular maintenance and repair. I agreed and said that I felt grateful that my Chinese contractor had worked extra hours to help me get the house on market in only two weeks. He smiled and said, “Now we know who to look for next time.”
Open house on Sunday
It was storming on Sunday. In the storm, I set up my ten open house signs. I put them as close as possible to some fixtures such as traffic light posts and as far as possible from the car lanes in the hope that they won’t affect running cars in case they fell. Stay worried …
My open house ends at four and I went to collect my signs. One sign fell down. Some kind neighbor put both plates together with the word sides facing each other so that the words won’t be damaged. The other sign fell down. Some kind neighbor put a weight on the top of it. When I was about to leave after I put the signs in the trunk, a lady who were sweeping the leaves out of the street drain came up to my window gesturing me to roll down the glass. She said, “Don’t park your car under the tree trunks. You’d better park under the space without tree trunks. You know your car can be hit by falling trunks in this storm. It is not safe.” What a wake-up call! Yes, friends, don’t park your cars under trees especially in a storm. One time, a tree in my client’s side yard fell down and crashed their neighbor’s car totally on the street. Well thanks goodness nobody got hurt. The neighbor was happy to get a new car with the insurance. But I do hear one incident in which a person was hit dead.
Since the house was listed, I went to turn on/off the lights every dawn/dusk. I noticed some agent was kind to help me pull off a lamp’s wire for the lamp was tilt and broken. It could have caused a fire. I was so tired after collecting signs after Friday broker tour that I forgot went back to turn off the lights. The next morning I bumped into the neighbor. She told me she could not sleep well for those lights shine on her room. I was so sorry. She said, it was not your fault. You would not know before I told you so.
This reminded me of a story when I just came to the US as an oversea student. On my way home after school, two people were talking and worried about the smoke coming out of a window. Then they went up and knocked the door. I was touched by their warm hearts. Some people might be afraid of meddling others’ business. But I like the way how people here care for strangers. My husband ever helped a lady who fell down and sprang her ankle and offered to be a witness for a car accident. I was horned by another car, gesturing me that my the cap of my gas tank was not covered. I was walking my bike for I was too tired to paddle. A guy passed by and asked, “Everything is OK?” … Ten years ago, the Americans were even better. …