Well, it happened. Yup, I submitted my first offer and I scored my first acceptance. 1/1 baby. I am so stoked. Closing date is July 10.
It all happened very fast, but it was by no means easy. I don’t want to reveal too much since we haven’t yet closed, but as my father has always insisted, “There is no free lunch.” I will say, I am grateful that after seven months of busting my ass, I have finally received some kind of affirmation that I can do this work. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the last several days have certainly taken years off my life. I’m hoping the anxiety will subside as I gain more experience and exposure. But shit, I sure felt like I got sucked into a cyclone. Yes, a cyclone (and NOT a whirlwind) of intensity. I had more sleepless nights, runny bowels, tummy aches, numb fingers, no appetite, and two meltdowns.
In my defense, I mean, this is a huge transaction. For many, it is THE biggest transaction of their lives, so even though no-contingency offers are common in this market, I felt so much weight in the responsibility. I wanted to get it all right. And shit, aside from the transactional components, I also learned so much about communication, interaction, negotiation, and the ridiculous messiness of carrying out my fiduciary duty in the midst of high drama and high emotions.
In retrospect, it’s ironic: Even though I have spent a lifetime training up, between my social intelligence and social psych classes, personality tests/readings, comm books, body language seminars, etc., nothing ramped me up like the week following my offer acceptance. The good news is that I made it through and seriously, I have gained so much wisdom.
That said, I’m still keeping my foot on the gas pedal. I know, Bubs and my friends are telling me to take it easy but shit man, I have a fear that I will lose the momentum if I stop. So the next weekend, I hosted another open house. It was a condo just five minutes from home. I randomly pinged a Chinese agent (among several others), met with him two days prior to the open house, and bam, just like that I scored a decent professional contact. He seemed quite impressed by my initiative and attention to detail (I had numerous questions about the HOA docs). Hehe. Yes, I am keeping tabs on all the positive feedback I get: I’ll need a stash for those days when I’ll be discouraged and down in the dumps. 😛
In general, condos are logistically more complicated to host, bc you’re not allowed to prop open the main doors, so visitors have to call your cell first and then you go out front to let them in. That means I leave my shit unattended while strangers are checking out the unit. NBD if I don’t overthink it. I tried to line up a partner for the open house, but my lender got caught up at the bank, so she was 2.5 hours late. Regardless, I fielded the visitors ok. No real sparks. Remember: there are no loyalties in this business, right?
Other general observations? The young professionals can be really standoffish and rude. Older folks are more chatty and friendly. Sadly, no real leads after two days. Ah well, it won’t stop me from staying in touch and from adding the peeps to my database. 🙂 Hey man, I gotta work my system!
Randomly, I got a text from a former colleague at SCU on Sunday afternoon. His family lives in downtown Mountain View and he saw my open house signs as they drove home from Trader Joe’s. Muhahaha, my signs are paying off! J made some funny comment that he felt weird putting up signs near our own hood. I interpreted that as him feeling some shame about my work and career. He dodged my probing questions. In the end, I think he was just feeling sheepish about my work in sales… kinda like when he just drops me off for flyering at the parks. It’s just too much people interaction for the Unabomber. Indeed, I have been feeling pretty darn talked out at the end of each day.