Ghosts of the Past

Inspirational song: Come and Knock on Our Door (Ray Charles & Julia Rinker)

I had flashbacks to early in my real estate career today. I used to volunteer to do open houses on other agents' listings in my brokerage. It was an opportunity to fish for buyer clients, and a few times I got nibbles. Once I made it all the way to a closing. Not all open houses went so well. I often had very poorly attended events, and a few times I had absolutely no one show up. It was so boring, and frankly physically painful when it was held in an empty house. I would have nowhere I could sit, and I would pace so that I wouldn't hurt from just standing still. I would ache and be so tired when I went home.

There were four appointments scheduled for today, at 11, 12, 1, and 2. I went next door at 10:45, and left at 2:30. The only place I could sit was on the brick hearth, where I couldn't lean back. The first two appointments were no-shows. I was sort of glad at first, because I wad already struggling with making a short list from many well-qualified applicants. But once I had been pacing the empty house for 2 hours, the bad feelings of open houses past started creeping in. The third appointment did show, and they had a lot of good things to say about the place. The final group wasn't there long. They didn't seem impressed, and politely declined to continue once they learned there was no air conditioning. I was relieved not to have another application to add to the pile, and I packed up to go home.

I needed someone else to make my dinner, so Saoirse and I loaded up in the car to go acquire sandwiches. We were both somewhat disappointed. I had a gluten-free Cuban from Snarfs that left me feeling yucky. She got a double cheeseburger meal from McDonald's that she ate reluctantly. She liked the fries more than the burgers, and I will keep that in mind for the future.

This is all so mentally and physically taxing, all the pacing on hard floors and masking my usual social awkwardness when I have to interact with people. There isn't one night this week that I haven't just collapsed with total fatigue. I have two more showings left, and then I can deactivate the listing and stop answering requests. Once the lease is signed, and funds are deposited, I am going to sleep for days on end.