The first year that I was in real estate, I was “on floor”. All realtors, especially when they’re new, have to take what is called floor time. That means that you sit and wait for phone calls or walk-ins. That’s when I met “Ray, the Builder”. He came in to the office and wanted to buy land in a very pricey area called the Golden Mile. I really knew nothing about buying land and felt rather lost. So I excused myself and told him we had a land expert, thinking at least I would get a referral fee.

I went to my manager, unsure to whom I should give the referral. He suggested M.L. and I gave the referral to her. She had Ray come in to her office, they talked and, soon after, he left. A month or two later, I walked by M.L.’s office and saw the referral slip under a pile of other slips. I asked M.L. how it was going with Ray. She said she hadn’t called him back; “What he is looking for is impossible to find”. I was disappointed and, on an impulse, asked her if I could have the referral back. She said “sure” and kiddingly asked me if she would get a referral fee for giving it back to me. (I thought, “I don’t think so!)

I called Ray, fearing that he had gone on to another realtor, and he honestly thought that M.L. had been out looking for properties and just hadn’t called back. I decided that honesty was the best policy. He wasn’t very happy with the honest answer and I told him that, in all truth, what he was looking for would be very difficult to find. I told him that I liked challenges and I would work hard for him on this. He said he’d think it over and hung up.

About three days later, he returned my call and said “Let’s go”! My manager thought I was nuts to take this on. “A waste of time”, he said, “a huge waste of your time”.

Over a year later, with bruised shins and ego from all the stumbling blocks that I encountered, I succeeded in securing several acres for him. One acre included an abandoned home full of dead raccoons. What he wanted the property for was to build several high-end (Check Zillow) land-site detached condos, all brick exterior.

There are a lot more stories that could emanate on this tale but that would be an entire book by itself. The “coup de grace” on this story is my boss changed his mind on his “waste of time” remark when his boss, the head of the company, came to our office and presented me with the final check from the closing on these properties for over $31K. (Verify amount of check). On the back of the check was a note from the company head saying “OK, Karen, this time, dinner is on you!”