It is 7:48 am and our outdoor thermometer is clearly broken. At the moment, it is registering the surface temperature on Venus… in pesos.
Our little Tax Deductions are restless. School starts on Tuesday. On Labor Day Weekend, carefree summer fun will take its last breath. And while summer is on life support, my children will be finishing required reading and art history papers, and will be getting a jumpstart on college and job applications. Where did summer go? And, I don’t mean this year. Rather, which year was it exactly that summer packed its bags of simple occupations and idle pleasures and caught a train for the city?
Rolling in the cut grass, drinking from the garden hose, playing in the sprinklers, and only returning home throughout the day with asphalt-blackened bare feet to hijack a Popsicle before rushing back to the game at hand: These are the things of summer which I remember. The joys of boredom and the spine-tingling anticipation of seeing friends on the first day of school before reality sets in – These were the emotions of my childhood summers.
Some days when I reward myself with a frivolous mind-wandering moment, I am stricken with the realization that our children have been orphaned, rendered summerless. This has come at the hands of our society, demanding more and better, a society which has established that the proper measure of self-worth is less in strength of character than heft of balance book. This has come at the hands of each of us, through our career choices or through our simple nonverbal communications. Demonstrating tremendous work ethic and drive to succeed are valuable gifts we impart. Taken to the extreme, our quests for success and financial reward become an endorsement for imbalance. Society may be robbing our children of their childhoods, but we are driving the getaway car.
You can easily pick me out of the line-up. For real estate agents, all the days are the same. The lines between weekend and weekday and workweek and holiday have become hopelessly blurred. In part, it is the nature of the business and the level of difficulty with which one (very few) can succeed, yet in part it is our own unwillingness to choose a different way.
So, today I choose to take the summer off. My summer begins today and, if I am successful, it will be endless. To be successful, I will need to resolve to a few behavioral changes:
- I resolve to not take the important call from my client while my daughter is mid-sentence. While I may consider your call more important than the Jonas Brothers’ latest CD release, she does not.
- I resolve to schedule time for my family with the same zeal that I schedule your listing appointment. And, much like I will not cancel your listing appointment for the last minute request to drive carpool to the movies, I will not cancel a planned trip to the mall for more of that cool lip gloss that “everyone is wearing” for your appointment. I am certain there is another time we could meet.
- I resolve to limit my workday. By this I mean, I will not be answering my cell phone at 6:00 AM (I received two calls from a seller before 6:30 AM yesterday morning) or at 8:00 PM (I receive those almost every night), and I will do a better job of communicating reasonable expectations of my availability when we first meet so that no one will be disappointed.
- I will take one day off a week, and I will respect it and request that you do the same. On this day, I may choose to hang with my kids, spend time with my husband, or blog, but it will be my choice.
- I will attempt one vacation a year where I am truly on vacation. No cell phone, no laptop, no fax machine, no exceptions. A vacation defined as “working from a remote location” does no one any favors.
Many of you will relate, while many others will not, already having achieved the balance I long for and busy enjoying your summers. To the enlightened bunch from the neighborhood, I will meet you under the big palm tree at noon (this is, after all, San Diego), and I’ll bring the Popsicles.
But, not tomorrow. I have a 10:00 appointment.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kris Berg is Co-Owner and Designated Broker of San Diego Castles Realty. If not-so static web sites are your thing, go here at once where you will find loads of real estate information including homes for sale, market trends, floor plans and more. Kris's hobbies include fencing and spot welding. She likes kittens. 
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Welcome to the dark side Kris – we’ve been waiting for you.
Are you leaving real estate to get this kind of life?
Nicely said, Kris.
When I first got into real estate in 1972, I sacrificed everything for “the deal”.
I ate dinner with a cordless phone next to my plate, lest I miss a good call.
I swear that phone was hard wired to my fork.
As soon as I touched my fork, the phone rang ~ at every meal.
I even took calls while I was in bed or sitting on the toilet.
I worked 7 days/week, ignored my family, and took calls at all hours of the day and night.
I worked with anyone who had a pulse, in the fervent hope that they would buy or sell a home.
And, I paid the price for it in later years.
Eventually, I realized that I had the ability and the absolute right to conduct business on MY terms after attending one of Chuck Chatham’s client counseling courses in the early 80s.
I eventually developed a 20-point client selection checklist and began to pick and choose my clients instead of letting them run me around.
It’s interesting to note that my business actually increased when I started letting prospective clients know that I had standards of practice and that I was a professional.
Note that I said “prospective clients” because therein lies the key.
People are “prospects” until they become “clients”.
Not to sound arrogant, but I clearly understand how to identify a good client and those people are the only ones I will work with these days.
There’s an old saying that holds true for real estate and it goes like this:
“You can help a hundred, but you can’t carry even one on your back”.
I am going to use your Labor Day Resolution list in a blog posting for tomorrow. I like it and can understand it.
Did some checking on eloan today; 8.5% for 450K loans. Hope the rate cut in Sept fixes that or it will be a long winter unless the buyers really want to sell.
KC – I just opened escrow on Friday for one of my buyers at 6.375% for a Jumbo loan (much higher than $450k). If what you say is true, E-loan is, shall I say, trying to take advantage of the situation? You don’t have to be an alarmist. There are plenty of great loans for qualified buyers out there.
Not trying to be an “alarmist,” sorry. I wont post here. Just trying to get information since I do not know agents/mortgage people personally. I have used eloan for 2 loans (one a rental in Wy and another for a refi on my house I sold in 03, they were always pretty good with an easy fee structure to understand) I’ll leave your site alone as I think it is “realtor only”. Have a good labor day….
kc
Beautifully said. Keeping priorities straight is often a struggle and kudos to you for recognizing it and making a smart commitment to yourself. I personally think it was a little more like Mercury today rather than Venus – but who’s splitting hairs? God bless the inventors of AC!
KC – I think you know your posts are welcome here and that this is far from a “Realtor Only” site. Steve was simply (correctly) pointing out that rates vary dramatically right now among lenders, and the 8.5% terms you quote are not the final word. Depending on down payment, credit and other factors, there are still many good financing opportunities below even 7%. You just have to know where to look.
KC – I agree with Kris (for once). This dialogue is primarily intended to provide buyers and sellers a better understanding based upon our experiences. Your comment was valuable in that it allowed me to clarify the facts regarding interest rates. Terms for mortgages have been and will continue to change day-to-day and it’s almost impossible to keep up unless you’re involved day-to-day. Even then, it’s a challenge. So we thank you.