Real Estate stories from Central Valley area Merced and Atwater

Here it is years later and my job as a real estate agent representing both sellers and buyers still presents new exciting opportunities and challenges. Whatever happens in my day it’s all about making things better for my clients. There is no typical day in real estate. The night before I plan out my day to maximize my time based on marketing properties, viewing homes, networking, reviewing current contracts, looking for new clients needing my help and making sure each home sale or purchase is project managed according to deadlines in contracts. Scheduling pest and home inspections, making follow up emails and phone calls, sending out property disclosures, addendums, property profiles, reviewing recently sold homes and current trends and finally yes every now and then writing new blog entries to inform and sometimes to relieve some tension. The list goes on and on but these are the most common daily and weekly activities. I attempt to schedule these activities but anything can and does happen anytime to blow up any resemblance of a routine schedule. In the end I love it and that’s what makes this career the one for me. It’s the combination of being passionate for everything real estate coupled with helping people that gives me satisfaction.

In looking back at the past 7 days here’s a few quick stories which all add up to eating, drinking and sleeping or lack of sleeping real estate. Take last Monday as an example. Sunday night I wrote up an offer on a bank owned property (REO Real Estate Owned also known as foreclosed). Monday Morning I dropped off the kids at school and grabbed some breakfast to eat in peace or so I thought at around 9:25am. 9:30am a call comes in from the listing agent asking if I saw the multiple counter offer asking us to present our highest and best offer. I quickly double checked my email for it had been 45 minutes since I last checked. I saw the attachment which indicated we had until Noon this same day to present our best offer. The next 2 hours was spent relaying information to my client, preparing a new offer, running over to my client’s home for signatures, heading back to the office, scanning the new contract and off it went. Afterward my client commented that perhaps on the other 2 offers those agents wouldn’t have made the deadline or even checked their email or answered their phone. My response was if they are working for their clients they would.

Tuesday afternoon lunch was approaching. I ordered take out from a local Thai place. I checked my email by phone. A message arrived from another agent indicating that they received a lien release on a short sale offer I’d been working on the past 35 days. The food would have to wait. I printed the release form and forwarded this to my client’s lender. I then called my client to let them know we were one step closer to having an executed contract. In reviewing the letter it turned out that the bank had not yet approved 3% seller concession costs that we asked for toward the buyer’s closing costs. Long pursuit of this approval had started and took up another hour of the day. One bite of lunch every 5 minutes or so as real estate was my lunch.

Thursday dinner time almost here. 5:30pm a call comes in from a client that indicates they are having trouble keeping up with payments. We discuss options and short sale seems to be the best thing to do at this time. I talk to them about how to approach the short sale process. We prepare the hardship letter and look forward to starting the negotiation process. Paperwork is being completed on both ends and helping them move on is under way.

I’m looking for a mid-afternoon 2pm break to catch up with a past client when I receive a panic call over a home being in a flood zone where insurance will now cost 3x as much. To make matters worse there is no elevation flood certificate on file with the county and the seller can’t seem to remember ever having one. It now requires a surveyor and a few other things which will cause delays in ordering appraisals and more. Time is spent resolving these issues and keeping everyone relatively calm.

Post work I’m at the gym and I probably should have put my phone in a locker. After all it’s only 1 hour or so. A text message comes across asking a question on a property. Another text arrives from an agent asking for help. Since I saw these I don’t simply ignore them. While walking on a treadmill I return the texts.

This is the life I love! Eating, drinking, working out and yes going to sleep knowing that tomorrow new things in real estate are about to happen all over again. I’m smiling as I finish this blog knowing that helping people in real estate find or sell their home is what I truly do best.

-Scott Messing