No diagnosis for you, but is it a good time to invest?
Over the last three weeks I have been in many, many, Doctor’s offices, one Emergency Room, and a few X-Ray and Imaging Labs throughout town. No one is any closer to knowing yet, what the problem is, than when they drew the first seven vials of blood, and left that nasty looking bruise on my arm. What many of them are closer to knowing though, is that for some of the nurses, lab techs, admin, or doctors, it could (or could not) be a good time to buy or invest in real estate (really, you didn’t think this was going to be a poor me column, did you?).
It’s really kind of amazing that once you start spending hours, or even a few minutes with the same people over and over and over again in little, tiny rooms, and you’re waiting for test results, or waiting to get registered into whatever system, you kind of get forced into small talk. For one person, it’s usually clear what they do for a living- doctor, nurse, tech, admin, etc. Many of these professionals are doing their things so well that they try to keep the client (me, this time) calm by asking routine questions- am I married? do I have kids? pets? and the big OBVIOUS, what do I do for a living?
Open the floodgates
Once the real estate thing is established, Holy Gods. Everyone wants to know about it. And they want to know all about it. Where is it good to do rentals? What about this area to move to? How long to sell? What about interest rates? What about investing in general? What about this town, or that town? What about getting rid of my parents’ home? What about short sales or REOs? What about appraisals? What about the market in general?
The two comments that I get when people learn I am a Realtor that are my personal faves are, “I have an interest in Real Estate” and “I used to be a Realtor.” So if you’re looking to drum up some business and you don’t have it in you to have a mystery disease, spend some time somewhere in your town that you know requires close contact or repeated contact- talking shop is one of the top small talk topics, so why not? If you have an hour during lunch, eat somewhere that encourages socializing like a town square or communal seating areas. Instead of driving, why not take public transportation? It’s good for the environment, AND you’re stuck with strangers in a small space.
Maybe you won’t go to those extremes, but instead of keeping to yourself, try being more chatty with strangers if it is socially acceptable at the time. Don’t go to a stranger’s funeral and pass out cards, but do go to the mall and be personal with sales clerks- everyone has a question about real estate.
