Memoirs of Recent Time Gone By: Real Estate, Love, and Life

October 26, 2013

As I fly a couple thousand feet above the ground the rest of the world is walking on, India Arie ringing in my ears, I am at peace. For the first time ever in my life, I am at a place of perfect peace. For the first time in my life, I am grateful to my core and it is providing me with the inner peace needed to sustain.

On October 11, 2013 I closed on my first real estate transaction. As with most every other hurdle I have leaped, it was not the easiest transaction, but where there is a will, there is a way.  

My sellers had not packed nor cleaned their home by the time closing day arrived. This led to us having to create a one day lease back contract. The whole thing was a fiasco. I spent an entire day making this right. At the closing table, the buyers were ready to walk because, “The sellers took the joy out of moving.”

For me, I stuck to my most sought after mantra, “Remain calm and cheerful.” I did not let these things phase me. With the help of a savvy title officer, I offered the buyers a free consultation with an interior designer and a gift card for dinner as reparations for me and my clients’ inability to perform as stated in the contract on the closing date.

Meanwhile, I also made plans to meet with a client slash potential new courtship, a woman I met at a speaking engagement a week prior. Despite running a tight yet liquid schedule, I made time to keep my 3:30pm appointment with the interest. Our meeting was based in her wanting to attend graduate school, and my ability as an educational consultant to assist her. I would soon find out, the energy was saying so much more than book sense.

I dipped into the Domain in Austin and out as if the chaos of my first closing was not happening. We hugged, and I was off to Round Rock, to help my clients pack their old home up and clean. When I arrived around 5pm the house was about 80% packed, which for 2,800 square feet, left a great deal of work if the buyers were to retrieve keys and move in first thing in the AM. Upon my arrival, I did what any good agent would do; I grabbed a vacuum cleaner, and vacuumed the entire downstairs area room by room. I picked up clothes and sheets and fine china and carried them to a small truck which was loaded with other belongings of my clients.

Seven o’clock came and went, and despite my needing to pick my aunt up from work at 6pm, I was still in Round Rock tending to this brush fire. Meanwhile, the movers I arranged for my clients were sitting at their new home with two 32 feet long trailers waiting to unload all that they’d packed the previous day. Notwithstanding, one of my clients was stuck in the historically bad Austin traffic some one hour away picking up keys to the new home at the title company.

Anyone with experience in closing real estate transactions will know by now, this was everything a perfect closing is not. When the buyer’s agent arrived at 6:30pm to inspect the house for her vehemently angry clients, she was not at all too happy with the floors, which lacked the deep cleaning you might expect when transferring owners. Good thing is, the Buyer’s Agent did pick up my check from the title company after funding had gone through earlier in the day. Only thing was, the check was made out to my broker and not to me, which meant I would not be able to get paid until I came back from Washington, DC.

I boarded a plane on October 12, 2013 in route to the Nation’s Capital. The reason for the trip was strictly business. As a result of God’s grace manifesting itself through a Mastermind Alliance I’d formed this summer with three friend from college, I was in Obama’s backyard to work on a book project. I of course have my own published book, “5 Proven Strategies on How to Pay for College,” an autobiographical take on how I was able successful matriculate through Morehouse College with a dollar and faith.

Now my friend, whom has travelled to more than 15 countries was prepared to share his journey in words, and he wanted me to help him tell the story. For ten days in a row we allowed creativity to peak as he went on numerous evangelical rants about his experiences, and I through synthesized osmosis transfer his words into my thoughts and onto a Google Document. The result would be the stuff legends are made of.

The book is tentatively titled, “If it wasn't for Love: Travels of a Renaissance Man,” and it is due out later this year just in time for Christmas. What we did is use traveling to share life lessons. It was a real spiritual exercise combining, Bikram Yoga with Bible Study, Roof Top ponderings, public transit, and that good ol’ Morehouse Spirit.

As for my checks, I picked them up when I returned to Austin on October 23. I had to complete a few more pieces of paperwork, and like magic my life was changed forever by the realization that “stay the course” is so much very more than a catch phrase. It’s a way of life. It is the only way to truly live and reach your goals. Similarly, I plan to take this course to find out more about what could be a new courtship. I found a place in Austin for us to experience Bikram together, and the rest is up to a power greater than me. As for right this very moment, I just got word, we are about 80 miles from the Atlanta airport. #SpelHouse2013 is upon us!  

Love. Peace, and Hair Grease.

EB