HELP - I'm Drowning In Social Media Apps

ONCE UPON A TIME all I had to do was check my FACEBOOK to stay connected.  Today, I have to monitor my TWITTER accounts, update my Google+, upload my PINTREST pics, keep up my BLOGS, update my BUSINESS WEBSITES, answer the requests on my LINKEDIN, post notices on my NEXTDOOR site, and new stuff is coming in EVERYDAY. 

In 1979 I moved to California from Denver, Colorado.  I picked up the Daily Breeze and found an ad for a rental and CALLED the agent on the telephone.  I didn't have email then so instead of spending hours of my morning answering hundreds of them, I usually took a lengthy walk on the beach.  I was living in Hermosa Beach then and it wasn't quite as built up and we still had the old railroad tracks running down the middle of Ardmore, but I digress.  It was just simpler then (and a lot cheaper.)

In 1980 I became a fully licensed California Realtor and began conducting my real estate business in the South Bay.  I didn't have a cell phone until years later.  It was attached to the floor of my car and cost $.90 per minute so it was more of a status symbol than a tool.   We actually called people back then (the do-not-call list hadn't been hatched) and met them for coffee at the quaint little coffee shops that have long since faded into the beach mist.  I used to walk to Pier Avenue for lunch and catch up with the locals on the business of running the Beach Cities.  I drove a huge Chevy 4 door, 8 cylinder, gas guzzler with no GPS.  I carried around a Thomas Guide everywhere I went.  I used to drive with one hand on the wheel and the other flipping through the pages.  My clients were happy when I sold their homes and gave ME gifts.  Interest rates were 16-17% for a long time.  I remember when we finally dipped below double digits and everyone was so happy we had a week long party!  It was harder to conduct business then but also easier.  All our business was "belly to belly" as we used to say.  You actually had to be in front of a customer to work with them.

Today, I receive emails and tweets and calls from people I don't know but they seem to know me.  I try to get together with people for coffee but they don't have time.  I've given up calling people because they only want me to email or TEXT - they are too busy for the telephone.  Oh, did I mention that in this period of time, even the FAX machine, which wasn't available for our use in 1979, has pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur in conducting business.

Yes, a lot of things have changed...some for the better, some not so much.  I got together with a few of my old time buddies a few years ago.  We're in the attached photos (if you can still pick us out) and we're all Grandmas now but still working!  Some of my clients call me their "second Mom."  I'm proud to have earned that badge.  I'm grateful I'm now working with the kids of a lot of the folks I sold homes to back then.  The relationships we've built over the years are the prizes for surviving this roller coaster business. 

So, after that ramble,  I guess you can now call me, email me, tweet me, fax me, IM me, send me a YOUTUBE, video conference, or wave at me when you see me rolling down your street in my non-gas guzzler car  (soon to be traded for something ELECTRIC?) 

p.s. Check out the prices in those ads - that was REAL. 

p.s.s. If you are in the market to buy or sell, call me, 

Your Real Estate Agent For Life!  

Charlie Hoffmann
Broker/Owner
Team South Bay Realty
310-534-3940

Perspective - Perspective - Perspective!

As a Realtor, I have to keep reminding myself not everyone views life as I do.  For example... interest rates today are so low they seem silly to me.  Maybe that's because I started selling homes in 1979 when interest rates were 16-17%.  We couldn't even get loans on most of the homes then and had to use "creative financing" to close those escrows.  Every sale closed with a major party for me and the buyer or seller!  And celebrate we did ... it seems amazing today as we remember how happy we were just to be able to put together a transaction in those times ... sometimes you don't know what you don't know and it doesn't matter.  We all visualize things differently and therefore we all see the outcomes from those perspectives.  I was walking my beautiful Great Pyrenees dog the other day and was stopped by a lady walking down the street toward us.  "What an amazing animal that it is" she remarked.  "It looks like a wolf walking down the street."  I laughed - you should look at her from behind I said, from this angle with her long legs and dewclaws she looks like a hooker in high heels.  We both laughed.  How different she looked from each perspective.  

I was working with a first time buyer showing homes this month.  He was so excited and worried as he looked at each home we were previewing from the perspective of what it would be like to live in that house, in that neighborhood and with that mortgage.  We looked at quite a few homes over a few weeks and finally we found one that seemed to appeal to him.  We parted ways for the weekend and regrouped on Monday.  I asked him which home he liked best out of three we saw the previous week.  I started with helping him remember how the houses appeared from the street, how big the garages were, how many bathrooms and then he stopped me.  "I know" he said "which one I really liked."  Which one? I asked - he hesitated for a moment and then explained  "I liked the one with the kittens the best - remember the kittens in the backyard?  I hope they are still there.  That was the house I liked the best."  I laughed because I remembered the kittens too, they really pulled at our heartstrings knowing someone had left them behind.  But the big surprise was how he was processing all the previews and what made him remember his favorite house.  He remembered the home quite well too but his trigger was the kittens.  

I try to remind myself to slow down and smell the roses from time to time but sometimes the greatest help is to stop and try to see the world through someone else's eyes for a change.  It can make such a difference.   

Blessings for a wonderful summer!  

Team South Bay Realty
24214 Hawthorne Blvd. Suite B
Torrance, CA 90505
310-378-4440