I’ve only thought about quitting real estate one time in my life.

It was on a hot summer day very early in my career. It was a hot summer day, and I was still learning how to sell real estate. My income was very shaky, pretty much everything that I was doing was trial and error, and I was making a lot of errors.

I was in the middle of putting two sales together, representing two different buyers on two different purchases. And, within the span of about 30 minutes I watched both sales die.

First I received a phone call from one agent who told me that their seller had accepted a higher offer. Ouch! That was a painful. Then I got another call from a buyer, who told me they changed their mind and wanted to walk away from their sale.

I was in shock. I just lost about $11,000 in commission, in only a few minutes.

Of course now, I know that losing sales is part of the business, but back then it felt like a truck just hit me.

I remember staring at my computer screen, asking myself, “Do I really want to continue doing this?” I did not know what to think or what to say, I was devastated.
As I sat there questioning my life and the decision to be a 100% commission based salesperson, my phone rang.

It was Bernardo. Bernardo, was a "For Sale by Owner" I had met with about two weeks ago. Bernardo was also having a bad day. He started venting “I’m sick and tired of having to show my house to all these people and not one of them has even made me an offer! Walter I want you to sell my house!”

I was in even more shock, at the lowest I had felt, getting a call from Bernardo changed everything for me.

I had to ask Bernardo, what made him call me. I know how much competition there is, I needed to know what made him contact me instead of anyone else.

Bernardo said, “Walter you were the only agent that I met with that wasn’t pushy. You gave me information on selling my home and on the value, and you let me try to sell it on my own without telling me I couldn’t do it or I should just list it with you. I knew that when I was ready to hire someone I would call you first.”

This was one of my very first listings, I learned a lot from working with Bernardo. His house sold in about a month and a half, and I was able to get him a good price so he could move his family down to Florida.

There were some fundamental lessons that I learned from working with Bernardo. Listening to my clients, constantly communicating, understanding what is important to them, and figuring out what will work best for them are all fundamental lessons I still practice today. These lessons, have kept me in business for over a decade.

My business has changed so much from when it began, but these fundamental never change, that's what makes them fundamentals. So, what are some fundamental lessons that you learned early on in life that you still carry on until today?

I would love to hear back from you. Until next time.

Here is a photo of 1038 Virginia Ave in the Bronx, the house I sold for Bernardo.