Ouch

I hate hate hate to say I am coming in with an application and then it falls through. Happened twice yesterday. I suppose that means I am getting closer to being a closer.

On the very plus side, my corporate lawyer who came to me through Craigslist came back from Philly yesterday, viewed the actual apartment for which she put in the application, said yes officially and now we can move forward with her application. Plus her lease should be able to start before the 15th, so I could get paid before I go to California. Which would be wicked awesome.

The "ouch" refers to my lower region; I am mooning right now!

I am so freakin' professional

This was supposed to be on the previous post, but the thingy wouldn't upload. I've had this on my wall somewhere since childhood. I think it is still pretty relevant.

I love writing professional emails. I think most of the time I strike just the right note of humor, professionalism and compassion. Sometimes it feels like I am playing dress up. But instead of high heels and lipstick, it's email.

This was also supposed to be on the previous post. My cute crooked smile, my retro futuristic sometimes super fantastic haircut. When I saw Rod on American Idol, I realized I have the same haircut as he does. But if I am being completely honest, his "Rod the Mod" was an influence. I am so freakin' professional.


A crazy row of all our shoes has somehow happened at our house. I think we think we are starting a shoe store. They just lined up like that. ?? It has been this way for days now; in fact, we have been removing and replacing pairs daily as we wear them, treating it as an interactive display. It looks so freakin' professional.

Is this thing on?

Talent is only about 10%. Of course if you have none, it's 90%. But if you think you have none, you're doing the wrong thing. Drive, routine, practice, shrewdness, noticing the opportunities as they come to you, that's most of it.

Real estate is hard and lean for me right now, so I am falling back on the practice and routine part of things. I'll discuss more in a few days; I'm sure by then my insights will be funnier.

By the way, $8000 wrote me a very kind goodbye email telling me that the apartment was just too expensive but could they "bother" us (me and the biz partner) toward the end of the year should they find themselves in the market again? I was quite pleased with my instincts toward professionalism and kindness. In other words, my return email was great! Go me!

Watching out

Collaboration is a sticky thing, especially in an industry (field?) like real estate where no one gets a paycheck. Real estate can be a lonely business, with no clear power structure telling you what to do and how to do it, and so collaboration can seem like a welcome shift. But I gotta watch out. Lots of people are willing to share, except when it comes to the paycheck, and determining who did how much work can be tricky. Splitting 50-50 can only work over time, but people are prone to make judgments before "over time" has even happened.

I get really lonely in real estate. I welcome and can thrive in an atmosphere of teamwork and collaboration, but I am not sure I have found the right partner or team yet. I am sure I have found some unsatisfying relationships and one potential right one, but not the one that fits like a glove. I am looking for that space between silence (this is when the sabotaging self-talk creeps in) and chatter (distraction, gossip, your basic blah blah blah, not related to productive).

I have started to notice more things, if not quite act on them (yet). For example, I notice (and sometimes can almost see visually) someone else's (and sometimes my own) negativity or scrambling (for me) energy. I notice how power moves around. I notice when people play it close to the chest. I notice when my own business is charged with energy and when it seems to have no wind in its sails. I think one of the things I am seeking in a business partner is someone to wittingly or unwittingly change that deflated energy. But what I already know is that the business partner has to be me, and that looking outside for a change is never going to produce a satisfying, lasting result, because real energy shifts come from within. FUCK!

I'm perfect

I guess one of my two college boyfriends was right, only Pablo the Painter was talking about himself, and I am talking about myself.

I showed $8000 an $8000 apartment on Lower Fifth Avenue, vacant and therefore available immediately (or as soon as they can paint and perform the necessary repairs), fourteenth floor, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, decorative fireplace, six or seven closets, private outdoor space, sweeping, panoramic views including a tiny sliver of the Hudson River that can be seen from the master bedroom. She even said it was perfect. She talked about where to put the furniture, she talked about what would have to be done in order for her to accept the apartment for the asking price. She said it was perfect. Just what she'd asked for. Even if I never rent to her, I feel like a winner for bringing this very difficult to please customer the apartment she asked for.

That being said, I don't expect her to pull the trigger, but what a beautiful apartment and what a nice feeling. I mean, $8000 a month is a lot of money.

This afternoon, I showed another exclusive within my company to some new clients I met on Sunday. Didn't go anywhere and now they are out of town for the next week. They seem like very nice people. He is in corporate development in New Jersey, she is a banker.

Four weeks until I go to California for what feels like a really long time now....

Getting it together

Many of you may be waiting for some pearl to be coming in this long overdue post. The truth is that I have been pretty tired. I spent most of last week catering for a small company based in Brooklyn. I decided to take the work because after many months of commission only living, some guaranteed hourly money was pretty welcome. Cooking (and its corresponding lessons) has never been something elusive for me--not like my current form of employment, real estate. As much as I know in my heart I don't want to be a cook for the rest of my life or ever again full time, it is a skill I have for which I am grateful, and it is a career I don't get tired of visiting.

The next day after finishing my catering gig with a bang (13 hours cooking at the NY Bar Association building) I swiftly returned to my Union Square office for some appointments I had set up the night before. That was Wednesday. It snowed. I was wildly unprepared for the day, most notably in my choice of outfit. Walking to work I was talking myself into being warm enough, just wearing a denim skirt, v-neck shirt and aforementioned kelly green poly trench. When I got into the office, I had about 45 minutes to firm up all my appointments before venturing out to meet the new wife of a good friend who was also my new client. Before long, huge, giant, almost cartoonish snowflakes filled the sky and hit me on the bare knees as I skip walked over to Sixth Avenue.

I had no choice.

I had to go buy myself an outfit at Old Navy in the 10 minutes I had before the first appointment.

A symphony in khaki, feeling MUCH better, I ran my ass over to the apartment where, fortunately, Mrs. Nacho was late too. Things went well from there, we chatted easily, even though the weather was uncooperative and Mrs. Nacho was finicky about the apartments. We ended our day together at the restaurant where her new husband works, a warm and cozy Nolita place. I went back to the office for a bit then home.

Most of Thursday is a blur, except that I woke up exhausted. I dragged myself to the morning meeting and then around on some appointments. I planned to go home mid afternoon when it became clear that I wasn't functioning like a normal person, but at the last minute I arranged an appointment for a Garment District loft showing with one of my many picky (somewhat unpleaseable) clients. She could only make it at 6pm. To be honest, I was surprised she even agreed to meet me, given the neighborhood. But in an effort to save us both time and energy, I was forthright with her about the location of the apartment.

By the late afternoon/early evening I had rallied and was even trying to make plans with an out-of-town friend, who ended up showing at my house hours later. At least I hadn't put the clay mask on yet.

She didn't like the one I selected for her at all, but there happened to be another in the same building, two flights and $1600 higher that she said she was actually interested in, even though it had no official outdoor space, something she told me was non-negotiable. It goes to show that sometimes listening and responding to the clients is not the best thing to do, and knowing the inventory is ALWAYS the best thing. If we could get her boyfriend to OK the space, she might put in an application. Unexpected and also possibly unlikely, given that there was already a strong application on the more expensive apt. from another agent in our office.

We agreed that I would call her to inform her one way or another if the other deal would go through, which I did. Meanwhile I was attempting to find out if the listing agents (also from my office) would show it to her anyway and consider taking her application anyway. We made an appointment for 8pm, Friday night. She canceled, citing the lack of light as the (understandable) reason. We rescheduled for 10am today.

I woke up this morning around 9 without having heard from her, so I called her then the listing agent to inform them of my clients' possible disappearance. She called me half an hour later to say they were going upstate for the weekend, leaving right now, she forgot they were going when she made the appointment with me. Right. Ok then, if the place is still around when you get back you can see it again then. In my limited experience, people move ahead right away when they want something and when they don't, they come up with excuse after excuse not to see it, not to commit, not to hand over cash. That's what I think is going on here. The other application fell apart, by the way.

I took Friday and today to get myself together at home, conducting whatever real estate biz I had on the phone and internet. Starting not to feel so exhausted. Eating vegetables again.


A year ago, in Michigan.