Being Lucky the Rome Way

Being Lucky the Rome Way 

This story reminds me about what it means to be lucky in real estate or in anything you do in life. 

A teacher told his class of pottery students that he would grade half of them on the quantity of pots they produced, and the other half on the quality.

In the "Quantity" group, it didn't matter how good or bad their results, only the total amount of pots they created would count.

For the "Quality" group, all they had to have at the end of the semester was just one perfect pot to get that "A" in the course.

                                          

They started to work. The wheels were spinning and the "Quantity" students turned out pot after pot, improving with each creation.

On the other side of the room the "Quality" students thought and planned, and agonized every nuance of their creation. The strain of trying for perfection paralyzed many of them so that they ended up with nothing but unused lumps of clay.   

What's the moral of this story?

Good work is not perfect work. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he kept picking up that bat and standing at the plate.

Not everyone you meet will be a client, and you won't sell every house you list. But if you keep meeting people and talking to prospects, you will find clients and even new friends.

                                           

Those of you who know my background can understand why this got to me.

I was that ceramic artist and I made lots and lots of pots, tried new techniques, and learned a lot. Boy, did I learn and develop my talent! Some pots were not so good and some were really, really good. Some I even tossed before they got to the kiln.

But many are in my home, and many more are decorating other homes and being enjoyed by clients who purchased those pots.  

Now I use this same talent in my real estate career.

-The more people I meet, the luckier I get.

-The more risk I take the luckier I get. 

-The harder I work the luckier I get.  

I have been very “lucky” in this wonderful world of real estate!                                                                  

Being Lucky the Rome Way.

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What's Luck Got to Do With Selling Houses in Baltimore, MD?

What's Luck Got to Do With Selling Houses in Baltimore, MD?

What's Luck Got to Do With It?

Not long ago I talked with Ylan Q Mui, a staff writer at the Washington Post, who was writing an article on the things sellers do to help sell their houses. She wasn't interested in decluttering or staging. What she wanted to talk about was lucky charms, totems, and other magical devices.

Her article, "Lady Luck Lounges on A Red Couch," ran on August 9, but you can still find it online (http://tinyurl.com/nkmher). She interviewed some agents in the area and included this about me and my lucky number:

"Margaret Rome, a real estate agent in Baltimore, has established her own lucky tradition. When she started selling houses about 20 years ago, she said, she was scooting around in a brown Porsche 944. She loved the car and decided to claim the number as her own. So on her very first listing, she ended the price in '944.'

"It sold within a week. Rome tried it again with her second listing, and it sold within two weeks. She did it again for her third listing, and it also got snapped up.

"I said, 'There's something to this,' she recalled.

"Rome has since used the number for every property, though she now drives a convertible Lexus. ("I didn't want to jinx it," she said.) Only once did she stray, when a family instead asked to use a number that is auspicious in Asian traditions, an eight. So Rome priced the house to end in '988.' Luckily, she said, it sold."

The thing is, I believe luck really has very little to do with selling houses. I believe it's much more the total of how you become known in your community, how you build your referrals over time, and how you treat people. As the saying goes, "The harder I work, the luckier I get!"

This story was picked up and ran on the front page of The Baltimore Sun's Real Estate section. Two calls from friends who read it in the Boston Globe.

How's your luck these days?