The Stoop: Call the Broker!

You know how nerve-wracking it can be to have a baby? Well buying or selling a home can be just as scary.  Putting your signature to a listing agreement or submitting that offer is not unlike seeing that positive pregnancy test. Things get real. Real fast.

Suddenly all those dreams you’ve had over the years about owning a home or starting a family collide with reality. The journey to parenthood or homeownership is not without serious decisions to make or emotional ups and downs, and can sometimes feel pretty exhausting.  

As a former UK based midwife, I’m often asked why I went into real estate. It’s way too long a story to tell here, but what I do always say is that they’re both helping professions and that they actually have more in common than you’d think (although working as an agent is a little less messy!)

Here’s an example. As a midwife, I would always tell my clients to try and relax and enjoy the process. I’d suggest they write their birth plan as specifically as they could so we could go through it and then advise them to ceremoniously burn it. Why? Because nobody can predict what will happen during labor any more than you can predict what will happen during your journey towards buying or selling. All you CAN do is make sure you have a truly wise and supportive advocate in your midwife or doctor, and that that person will do as much as they can to help you achieve your ideal birth.   

As a real estate agent, I do much the same thing when advising my clients. I’ll often ask “If you could wave a magic wand and have this sale or purchase go exactly how you want it to, what would that look like?” Making that happen then becomes my top priority, but sometimes, as illustrated by that burned birth plan I have to prepare my clients for some little bumps in the road.    

So – to prove that being a broker really IS kinda like being a midwife, here are a few examples of the advice I’ve given to those on their way to home ownership or parenthood…

TRYING TO GET PREGNANT VS TRYING TO FIND A HOME

The Midwife’s Advice

Getting pregnant can take time, and that’s totally normal. Try not to get despondent. Failing to see that blue line on the pregnancy test month after month is super frustrating but try to relax and stop thinking about it as much as you can (easier said than done, I know). Enjoy your baby free time by doing things that you may have to put on hold as parents to very young children – a romantic vacation with just the two of you springs to mind. Try for a year (using ovulation predictor sticks might help as can quitting smoking) and then change your approach – it might be time to talk to a fertility doctor.

The Broker’s Advice

Be comfortable with the possibility of looking for a while. It takes 9 months to grow a small human and it may take just as long to find and close on your perfect home. A good buyer’s broker won’t tire of you or your search and will stick by your side. And remember, it’s not you. It’s so much more likely to be a lack of inventory or a competitive market. Believe that your place is out there – my clients have often found their dream home just as they’ve decided to give up their search.

Everyone needs a little love from their midwife or broker. We all need to have our fears understood and appreciated, and when we choose someone to guide us through our journey we’re all looking for a little TLC and encouragement.

MORNING SICKNESS VS ACCEPTED OFFER

The Midwife’s Advice

Morning sickness SUCKS, there are no two ways of saying it.  If you often feel worse first thing in the morning, it may be because your blood sugar is low so it’s a good idea to keep a snack by your bed and eat it before you get up. Ginger biscuits (sorry, cookies!) are perfect for this as ginger is a natural anti-emetic which can really help and the sugar in the cookies will give your blood sugar a lift.

The Broker’s Advice

Once that offer is accepted, however excited you might be it can literally be nauseating as you go through due diligence in your race to sign a contract and secure your deal. Here’s when a great buyer’s broker, inspector and in particular a great real estate attorney come in. It’s their job to guide you through everything, protect your interests and help you make informed decisions. Hopefully, with a great team working on your behalf, you’ll be able to keep your nausea at bay!

YOUR DUE DATE VS YOUR CLOSING DATE

The Midwife’s Advice

A baby will usually come when it’s good and ready so don’t stress if you’re overdue. Remember 37 – 42 weeks is full term (not 37 – 40), you can’t schedule a natural birth and only around 5% of women actually deliver on their due date. Talk to your doctor or midwife about the risk factors for you to go over 40 weeks, but in my experience, healthy, fit and well women with low-risk pregnancies are just fine to wait it out past 41 weeks. Both my babies were over 41 weeks, they were NOT small at 9.5lbs each and they were just fine…

The Broker’s Advice

Understand that closing dates are often scheduled just a week or two before the closing so it’s really hard to plan for them or predict exactly when they’ll be. It’s just part of the process. When submitting your offer, work with your broker to negotiate an ‘on or about date’ for closing, (which gives you 30 days leeway past that date if necessary) and work out a backup plan if you can’t close EXACTLY when you want to.  

That might mean as a seller asking for the option of a post-closing leaseback in your contract (where you can rent the home back from your buyers for a short period until you’re ready to move to your new place), or as a buyer that might mean thinking about extending your lease month-to-month, paying for a few extra weeks rent, or finding temporary accommodation and storing your furniture briefly to bridge the gap between the end of your lease and your move to your new home.  

It’s a royal pain, I know, but a good broker will help with all of this – just another reason to have someone you trust and who will advocate for you and guide you.

LOVE & DISCIPLINE

When I think about the convergence of my two careers, and how midwifery has influenced the way I work as a real estate agent, it comes down to two words: love and discipline.

Everyone needs a little love from their midwife or broker. We all need to have our fears understood and appreciated and when we choose someone to guide us through our journey we’re all looking for a little TLC and encouragement.  

I think that’s why I’ve formed such good relationships with my clients. Because I get that. Because, as a midwife and a broker, I’ve been honored to be with families at some of the most important yet vulnerable moments in their lives.  I know how essential it is to be a calming, supportive and reassuring companion and how taking the best care of my clients is incredibly meaningful, not just financially but emotionally.

And the discipline? Well, giving birth or selling a home isn’t easy. But in the most part, it’s a process that just takes some self-belief and discipline. I have to be super disciplined in doing the best job I can, but so do you.

Whether I’m guiding and encouraging you as you push that baby out or telling you what you’ll need to do to prep your home to sell, if you can trust me and be open to doing what I need you to do – from changing to a new position to push to painting your home prior to photography – if you can really be disciplined despite your doubts and trepidation, then it can be a lot easier than you think.

And on the other side of it all?    

Oh wow, that really is the sweet stuff and it makes EVERYTHING worth it.

Lindsay Owen is a real estate agent with Compass based in the Park Slope office and can be contacted at lindsay.owen@compass.com.