Twenty years ago today, I started in this crazy business! I was going to do a cute post card with all my photos over the years, but am going to save that for the 25th!
Roses were delivered to my office today from the owners of our company, with a very nice note. When you think of working for one company for 20 years, that is actually a feat these days! I spent 19.75 years at the same office location! Just this September I moved to another of our offices closer to my new home in the burbs....I do love it!
Looking back over twenty years I thought of a few highlites to share.
MY FIRST DAY ON THE "JOB" I showed up dressed nicely, a challenge as I had been a stay at home mom for several years....I was wearing matching pink shoes....not so great in Wisconsin in January when we left for tour, and it was snowwy and sloppy! Since then I've built a better 4 season wardrobe AND a business!
MY HAPPIEST CLOSING: the buyer who left the hospital with a 12 hour old baby to close on their new home! (I know you thought I'd say the happiest closing was the one with the BIGGEST CHECK! That was a happy one too, I must admit)
MY SADDEST CLOSING: the one where my 80 year old gentleman seller cried, as he signed the paperwork. He was thinking of his late wife, and the life they had made in that home. He was now alone and headed back to the nursing home. (I cried too)
MY HAPPIEST BUYERS: the ones who had cold hard cash from a lottery winning!
MY SADDEST SELLER: the little old lady who had a 3 foot stuffed animal of a poodle (yes a toy stuffed poodle)..when I commented on how cute it was, she said sometimes she is soooo lonely that she'd just sit and hug it (never had a husband or kids, and no relatives left) .......
MY WEIRDEST OPEN HOUSE EXPERIENCE: when a man dressed as a woman signed the guest book as Julie Andrews...I seriously thought it was candid camera or something, and someone was going to shout "Victor Victoria"....
A TRULY CASH CLOSING: the buyer actually brought a suitcase full of CASH....we counted it out for over an hour!
MY MOST FAMOUS LISTING: A home used to film an independant movie: Milwaukee, Minnesota, directed by Allen Mindel, starring: Bruce Dern, Randy Quaid, Debra Monk, Troy Garity & Josh Brolin. My listing was used as the home of the main character in the movie. Interesting to watch this process from the sidelines!
THE WORST HOME INSPECTION EVER: when my buyer was busy taking photos of her new home. She was in an attic storage area, and while focusing the camera stepped forward..............She didn't realize that the hardwood floor ended there, and then it was open flooring, and she FELL THROUGH TO THE LIVING ROOM BELOW!!! Thank God she only had some minor injuries. I was in the dining room and saw it happen from below.
HMMMMMM....Twenty years actually went by faster than one would think. In the beginning, we did have a computer, but mainly used those old mls books, black carbon paper, real film, NO-actually we used POLAROIDS... now I have a blackberry, a laptop, digital camera, AND BLOGGING? Who could have ever predicted what it even is, or how addicted one could become to something like AR!.......what a difference 20 years makes! My youngest son was only 2 when I started, he now is a giant 22 year old college student and football player.. He has worked for me over the last few years and hopes to get his license one day! Guess he will be an SOB "son of a broker"!
You know what they say TIME FLIES WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN! 
It looks good enough for a Christmas card.....This is park lagoon is where I skated as a child....enjoy the blizzard..
