Surviving Your Serengeti..The Rome Way

Surviving your Serengeti: An ActiveRain Challenge

                                          

While reading Stefan Swanepoel's book Surviving Your Serengeti, I could not help comparing it to my  book Real Estate the Rome Way, We both have a quiz. You can take the Type E quiz here.     
  
                                                
This is how the Type E Mystic is described...
'You’re a mystic visionary who operates so far outside the box you can’t remember where the box is most of the time. Since you have more than just your head in the clouds, it can be a challenge to communicate your ideas and passions to other people.

You’ve also got the gift of time travel, that is, the ability to bring the vision of our world’s future into the present. Without you, human experience would be an endless stream of mundane routines, never reaching for the limitless possibilities that you bring to the rest of us.

Type E Mystics have an uncanny ability to see the big picture even before anything can be seen on the horizon. Their challenge lies in dealing with the details and communicating their vision to others. They require the help of a Type E Translator to put their ideas into action and a Type E Manager to keep  things running smoothly.

When in balance, Type E Mystics are the picture of creativity, enjoying every second of life. Out of balance, they likely will experience a roller coaster ride that creates extreme levels of stress for  themselves, their businesses and families as well.'

                                             

After reading the first two chapters of  Surviving Your Serengeti, I took the quiz and found out I was none other than the crocodile.  I love the comparison.

As the crocodile... you are an enterprising and resourceful person... you see the opportunities by keeping your mind open and active. You understand that by being creative, confident and bold enough..you can  seize the opportunities that present themselves... you  may even  have the ability to influence the outcome of future events.

Crocodiles show a willingness to undertake new projects, and a strong desire for success and achievement—all qualities that support the role of the entrepreneur.... energy, creativity, and ambition required to see the possibilities in the future that others cannot see.  Enterprisingindividuals are passionate about their work, learn from mistakes, understand their weaknesses as well as their strengths, recognize opportunity, and make strategic decisions with limited data. 

If you are an enterprising person, you’ll see the following characteristics in yourself:  The ability to “think outside the box” when facing difficult problems.... support and encourage imaginative and creative solutions.  The determination to succeed... another important trait...self-confidence...and the tendency to spend a lot of time working alone....  Entrepreneurs have a strong desire to lead rather than follow; they  seek out opportunities that specifically provide a great deal of autonomy. They seek out change, rather than fearing it.

As a Type E Mystic and a now a crocodile... I feel that both describe me and are quite similar.  I have that  willingness to go against the crowd and stand above.  I take advantage of difficult situations, and I don’t allow them to become burdens. 

Enterprising people understand exactly what to do when opportunity knocks.

They don’t complain about the noise!

I am in Love...and We Just Met Today!

I am not the only one who feels this way about this young man, either. The other Margaret in Maryland, Margaret Woda introduced us: My Hero, My Tech Co-ordinator - David Fox.

For the past 5 hours (I'm writing this Sunday night) I have been shopping, bought a new CPU (which blew up and was running all my printers), monitor, cable connection for an old printer, new keyboard, mouse, replaced Linksys with Netgear, and it is all installed and up and running! All this in just FIVE hours on a Sunday night. It is unheard of to have this kind of trust in a techie that I just met...yet I do.

What is so terrific, he knows real estate and all the systems including MRIS photos, MLS, Internet Sentri, Settlement Express, and all the other goodies that we agents need. Plus he is an Active Rain member....how cool is that!!

I did not have to explain one thing...just told him how I worked and what I needed. Voila a whole new system, back up and virus protection in place, and he set it up so he has remote access to my systems

Where has he been all my computer life? With David just a phone call, I mean an email, I mean a text away, I am one happy agent.

Now I can concentrate on my 15 listings, my seminar this afternoon Still Three, Still Free - But With a New Face , and all the other important things going on in my wonderfully busy life.

How could it be any better? David and I are two of a kind…he is Type E, scoring 29 out of 30!

Marketing and Media and My Face in the Paper

Here's the lead line of the article in today's Baltimore Jewish Times: "It takes a certain kind of personality to be a real estate agent, and Margaret Rome thinks she has the right type." The article goes on to talk about my new book, about my Type E personality, about the CyberStars®, and my particular approach to real estate. Please take a minute to read the article here.

I'm loving it, of course! But it didn't just happen – this kind of coverage in a weekly newspaper that gets delivered to my market area did not just fall into my lap. I've been a regular advertiser with the Jewish Times for years and have built relationships there. Some time ago I told one of the people I know at the paper about my book. She told someone else about me and my book, and before long I was talking with Maayan Jaffe, a delightful young reporter. That conversation lasted for more than an hour and I did whatever I could to provide her with information that would help with her article. I rearranged my schedule to meet the paper's photographer at one of my properties. And when the article came out, there was my picture at the top. Two other agents were quoted later in the article, but at least 2/3 was about me.

We've said it before – in real estate, building good relationships is the key to success. And sometimes, the key to getting great coverage that your clients, prospects, and friends will see, too.

A Six Word Challenge

Recently someone challenged me to sum up my life in just six words. My reaction was, "You're kidding, right? Choose just six words to sum up this whirlwind that is my life? Ha! Waaay too many choices."

So I've got a better idea – here's a list of six-word summaries. Take your pick!

• Sell Your Home With Margaret Rome
• Made a wish, Lee came true!
• Real Estate the Right Rome Way
• Packing Light...No Room for Shoes
• Have to dress - time for Radio!
• Don't let unimportant things become important!
• I just do not do upset!
• What's Important Now is important now!
• Houses sell houses; agents foul deals
• Can't eat more than you have. (Mom used to say this to others when planning a party so as not to worry if there was not enough)
• Pay you stay, don't you won't. (This sums up a loan)

I guess it's a Type E thing – ideas bubble up, and I don't see any reason to choose just one and discard the others!

Staying Dry on a Rainy Day Baltimore House Tour

It was pouring down rain when I got the call on Rockridge Rd. It hasn't rained in Baltimore for months, but now when we finally had a good, hard, rain…someone was driving around looking at homes!

The one he called about had just gone to settlement, and he was disappointed when I told him that it was no longer on the market. It seemed to be THE perfect house, the perfect location, the perfect price – everything he wanted.

An interested buyer is not someone you let wander off. But he was out there in the rain, and I was home and dry. So I asked, did he have time to view a few other properties? Yep, he had time. So I gave him directions, turn right and go to 413 Milford Mill. Turn left on Greenwood and Right on Upland to 321. Back to Milford and take a right to 902 Adana. I stayed on the phone and "drove" him to all three of my other listings within the same zip code.

As he approached each property, I was able to answer all his questions such as age, condition, number of bedrooms, type of heat, room sizes, additions, upgrades etc. This remote control touring seemed to be better than sending him back home to look at the website. After all, he WAS in his car even though it was raining, and thankfully I could give directions.

He seemed to really like Upland Rd. He asked for the size of the yard, so I stayed on the phone with him while he walked around the house, and I described everything to him from the parking pad to the storage shed, and he could see the large level backyard. No, I don't usually suggest that buyers walk on properties, but with my permission and with me on the phone…no problem. He was extremely appreciative. I asked if he was working with an agent, and when the answer was affirmative, I suggested that the agent call me to set up an appointment.

Wonder if his agent will call? Too soon to tell. But even if not...look how much time was saved. By being flexible and adjusting to his needs and the opportunity, we both came out ahead.

I'm not sure what to call this kind of showing. It's not a virtual tour. Maybe a remote tour? Driving tour? Flexi-tour? Whatever name we give it, I think of it as a Type E showing – effective, efficient, and a time saver. Plus, I didn't have to go out in a downpour!

An Adorable, Dependable Housekeeper

He's wider than he is tall, but he works like a charm. Never complains, just gets down to work vacuuming every floor in the house making sure to get close to the walls as he goes. Needs absolutely no supervision either – he just does his thing and then goes home.

Did I mention that his name is Roomba…and that he is a robotic vacuum? We bought the Roomba to stand in for the lady who cleans for us but has not been well lately. I love this fascinating machine. He's more fun than having a pet around.

This little wonder works in a random pattern, and it is hard to leave it alone at first. You want to move it and make sure it gets a certain area. But patience, as always, pays off. It has its own "built-in" pattern of cleaning. It's amazing how much stuff this little guy picks up. We have different floor surfaces in our home including carpets, ceramic tile, and wood. This little robot handles them all with ease. It even takes itself back "home" and parks where it also recharges. I feel like I'm in a Jetsons episode!

Here's what Investor's Business Daily said about my new helper:

“The Roomba has a lot of smarts built in. It uses strategy to clean rooms, with different behaviors for different room patterns. It has sensors for detecting dirt and cliff sensors for avoiding stairs. It also can figure out how to get around obstructions, adjust to different floor surfaces and free itself when it's stuck.”

This is another assistant that I have just added to my team. Now I'm vacuuming the Type E way!

What's this got to do with real estate? Think about people you delegate work to. Do you hover over them to make sure they get the job done "right"? I've found that once you delegate you need to let go. You wouldn't give the person work if you didn't think they could handle it, so step back and let them do the job. Micromanaging a Roomba is a waste of time – he knows exactly what he's doing, and all you do is slow him down. Works the same with people, don't you think?

A True Type E Listing - Lightning Speed!

Some days it just all comes together, and it feels soooo good! A couple of days ago I got a call from an agent who works at a retirement community in Florida. She was hoping to improve a situation for sellers who are moving into the community down there. This agent has always referred to someone else in the Baltimore area, but these sellers were not impressed by his service and lack of follow up - the house had already been on the market for 92 days. The agent in Florida found me on the internet, I think because of an article I wrote about Pikesville.

That's right, by sharing information about my area I attracted attention from hundreds of miles away. Anyway, I told the Florida agent that I'm booked solid, but then learned that the agent has known these sellers for three years, that they've already bought and settled on their new home in a 55+ community called The Villages, just waiting to sell their home in Pikesville so they can resign their jobs and move on. I could imagine the pressure on the sellers, and so I called them just to touch base.

Well, the phone call turned into a visit when the sellers and I connected in several ways. First, they are both RNs, and I talked about how I approach real estate as I did nursing. Find out what the "patient" needs, and make it better. The three of us agreed that we work for the satisfaction of how we continue to heal the situation. By the time the evening was over, I had a signed listing, and had measured and photographed the interior. It's just too bad they had a stager come in who made them remove a lot of their stuff and send it to storage…like the dining room furniture! Wonder what was he thinking?

The next morning I was back for the outside photos, got the listing into the MLS, and sent the photos to my computer tech who put them up on the my website. The listing blog followed right after. Whew! I made up flyers and delivered them the next day – the sellers love the flyers, love seeing their house on the website, and love that they can google their address and the property comes up number one. I have to admit, I think it's pretty neat also.

What was that second connection we found? Of course, one of the sellers is a Type E personality right up in the Mystic range. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that this might have been my fastest listing time ever from phone call to MLS. Hoping to make it a real record breaker by closing that circle with a contract soon! Stay tuned….

It began a couple of weeks ago. The world of technology seemed to be turning against me. First my trusty Treo started having an identity crisis, some of the features not working, so I began looking for a backup on eBay just in case. That was before I dropped the phone a couple of days ago and created this colorful display. And before my wonderful tech was able to coax what was left of the phone to sync to my computer – a process that took hours instead of the normal seconds – so that I could at least find out what appointments I had. And just to top things off, the back of my watch fell off – again – and this time I lost it.

At first I figured it was must me, but then I noticed that almost everyone I talked to had a similar tale of technology and communications gone haywire. My buyer who is scheduled to go to settlement on Tuesday reported his DSL suddenly went out. His agent tried to fax a repairs list over, but her fax was down. An appraiser couldn't email information to the lender – the message kept bouncing – but could send it to me so that I could forward it on.

I happened to mention these technoglitches to my client in California who is negotiating for a home here in Baltimore. He had two words to explain it all: Mercury retrograde. Excuse me? You heard right – Mercury is in retrograde, from February 14 through March 8. The smallest planet (since Pluto was demoted) is blamed for disrupting and misguiding communications, breakdowns in phones and computers, and transportation snafus involving cars, buses, and trains during its retrograde phase.

Three or four times a year it does this little routine, and people who study the phenomenon know the symptoms well. This client takes it seriously; he planned his trip to Baltimore and several important dates around this period. And he wasn't surprised at all when I told him that his counteroffer kept bouncing back when the other agent tried to send it, but went through fine from my computer.

Yesterday I was losing it with my phone broken, my watch broken, and did I mention my GPS that suddenly decided to change the route home? If you've ever been around a Type E over the edge, you know it's not a good place to be. Thanks to my client, today I have an explanation. To explain my multi-tasking say of working, I say "That's just me, a Type E," and now I have a reason for the unexplainable: "It's just Mercury in retrograde!"

Does Mercury have it in for us mortals and our tech gadgets? Or is it the full moon tomorrow? Or just coincidence? Whether the answer is none or all of the above, I'm handling it better. And if you think about it, doesn't it generally work better if you admit when you can't control a situation and move on to how to cope?