Monday, May 3, 2010

A Change in the Market

Looking back now it is amazing we didn't really see what was coming. Yes there were voices saying that this cannot last. Our manager at the time, Liz Stevens, while sharing in all our success was also starting to warn us that Real Estatre runs in cycles, and we should prepare ourselves for the change. Afterall, it was just a few years ago that most of us lost money when the tech bubble burst, but we were all flying high on Real Estate. I has a new career. I had just bought my first house. I was one of the top producers in the office. Maybe not one of the top ten, but a solid producer, and growing every year. I was making more money than I ever had as a baker, my previous occupation.

Our manager, Liz Stevens, the visionary left to form her own company, and I followed her, wanting to be part of something that would grow to be great, sure that I was on an upward trajectory. This turned out to be just awful timing.

Earlier than others, in the third quarter of 2005, I began to feel the change. At a time when new clients were everywhere, it started to dry up. That constant stream of new buyers that fed into my pipeline, and led to sales 3 months down the line began to vanish. Soon no one was coming to me, interested in buying a new home. You could almost feel the grinding of the gears as the engine began to shutter and stop.