 Last week, my Little Library arrived from Amazon in a a GREAT BIG box and on Wednesday, my handyman, Luis, assembled it and put it in the ground for me outside our white, picket fence. Between the Sally Holmes roses that are blooming in abundance, and this newest addition to my home, it's a pretty sweet scene (if I do say so myself).
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 Yesterday, I had the pleasure of hosting my newest listing on Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Berkeley for Thursdays' Brokers' Tour while the sun streamed through the newly washed windows and the birds melodically chirped outside. Between the stunning house, the coveted location and the beautiful, spring day, the Sellers and I couldn't have wanted for a better debut. In a word; it was "ideal."
 For perhaps only the second or third time in more than a decade of writing The Perspective, I've literally had NO time this week to come up with a clever vignette, let alone write. So here I sit, deep into the night, pulling together a last-minute attempt. In fact, I'll probably plagiarize myself. (That's allowed, right?)  "I don't mean to talk down to you," Dr. Anne Becker, DDS, patiently said, "this is the talk I give to all my new, incoming patients . . . but I need to show you how to correctly brush your teeth." (Say what?)
At which point, Dr. Anne pulled out a HUGE model of horse-sized teeth she keeps in her office for 5 year olds (and me evidently), and a Sonicare toothbrush, and showed me how to slowly drag the brush along the gum line for proper dental hygiene. (Thank you for the detailed demonstration.)  On Wednesday, I was invited to the McGuire offices in San Francisco to participate in their twice-yearly "Boot Camp," which is designed for new licensees and seasoned Realtors alike.
In a series of short seminars over the course of several days, Agents learn everything from best practices, to online marketing, to digitally transforming our CMAs (Comparative Market Analysis) into more current, visual presentations. (That's a smart idea.)  "Hey Julie," came the email from my System Paver's rep and new BFF, Beth Froelicher,"Would you like to be my guest at the Bay Area Renovation Awards on Wednesday evening? We have a good shot at winning!"
 I spent last Saturday in the garden working out my frustrations over a transaction that had NOT been going well, despite everyone's best efforts. My front beds, in particular, were too schizophrenic and consequently, what started as a small project quickly grew into a larger one as I began moving plants from one bed to another in order to create a calmer landscape. Some struggling shrubs were eliminated altogether (I can be brutal like that) while others were moved to more fitting locations in hopes that they'll do better in the weeks ahead.
 "Sign here, sign here, sign here and sign here," Sahid said as I initialed each paragraph in the leasing agreement at the Lexus car lot near the Oakland Coliseum. I should preface my story by saying that I hadn't necessarily intended to look at new cars except that the last time I took my Audi in for maintenance, it was no longer under warranty and the "fixes" were $7500, not a few hundred as I'd expected.
 As I sat listening to my chiropractor's pitch on Tuesday at my weekly BNI meeting (Business Networking International), mesmerized by the x-rays of misaligned - and then corrected - vertebra, presented by Dr. Carolyn Finnegan of Core Wellness Chiropractic, I couldn't help but think about how many of us in that room are in the "before and after" business.
 I often joke that Realtors are like therapists (except we practice without a license), which is my way of saying that there's a fair amount of difficult conversations, hand-holding and empathy that go along with this profession (there is), but after a conversation last Saturday with a past client who mentioned that she really appreciated how direct I'd been (brutally blunt sometimes), how organized our process (a little OCD goes a long way), and how we'd managed to keep both her and her husband moving forward without getting sidetracked (that's imperative), I'll need to augment my job description from here on out.
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AuthorJulie Gardner, referred to as, "the pulse of Piedmont," has been writing The Piedmont Perspective for 11 years. 
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McGuire Real Estate 2991 Oakland Avenue Berkeley, CA 94705 office: 510.883.7000 Cell: 510.326.0840 |
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