Real estate agents are always on the clock.
But the term “rain or shine” was taken to another level for me on Saturday afternoon.
While you were all sitting at home sipping hot cocoa, I was fighting my way through the snow, showing real estate to brave clients…
When you work for yourself, you set your own hours and work according to your own schedule.
In real estate, you have complete autonomy, and can work as much or as little as you please.
Since your clients usually work 9-to-5, it means you do most of your property showings on evenings and weekends.
This brings me to last Saturday.
As everybody knows, Toronto was hit hard by what can be described as a “blizzard” on late Friday night, and it continued all day Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday morning. Almost 40 centimetres of snow hit the ground in our in a 36 hour span.
I had a full day of appointments on Saturday, and I was willing to brave the conditions and keep my schedule.
Here is how my day progressed:
9:42AM – Alarm clock goes off, hit snooze the standard two-times and get up at 10:00AM. It seems pretty dark outside for early morning, and a quick look outside reveals a fresh six inches of snow on the ground.
10:30AM – As the underground garage door in my condo slowly opens, all I can see is snow. The plows must have just come by since there is a large snowbank blocking the driveway. I rev my car up, and drive at the snowbank as fast as I can…..WHAM! I plow right through it, and my car does a 360 on Adelaide Street. There isn’t a single car on the road, however. The next person through the garage can thank me for plowing the way…
10:50AM – I’m halfway to the office, and the two lanes on the Bayview Extension have been reduced to one. The lady in front of me is driving about 15KM/H, and while I don’t want to be “that guy” that drives recklessly in poor conditions, she is still frustrating me. Yes, I’m taking photos as I’m driving…
11:00AM – I get a page from the office: “THE OFFICE IS CLOSING DUE TO WEATHER. PLEASE CALL IF YOU NEED ANYTHING.” Must be nice for whichever teenage girl is reading Cosmo at the front desk today…
11:00AM – I finally arrive at the office and again, the plows have forced me to fly my car up over the snowbank in front of the driveway. I step inside, where I’m the only agent, and I proceed to drink Tim Horton’s coffee at my desk for an hour…
12:00PM – I fight my way through the snow-covered streets to a house in Moore Park where I meet my client, who is a builder. He’s dressed in a furry-parka and thick snow boots, and begins to mock my lack of appropriate clothing. This is actually the first time in a while that I’ve worn jeans and a sweater instead of slacks and a dress shirt, but he continues to laugh at me as we trek through the un-shovelled driveway, slipping on the ice underneath.
1:30PM – A five minute drive from Moore Park to Leaside takes me almost twenty minutes. My Toyota Corolla is performing like an M1-Abrams Battle Tank…
1:45PM – My client, Peter and myself sit in the warm confines of a bungalow for sale on Sutherland Drive while discussing the pros and cons of purchasing the house. The listing agent had left cookies….where the heck is the milk?
2:00PM – I’m supposed to work an open house on Rumsey Road, but thankfully the listing agent agrees with me that in this snowstorm, we’re not likely to get anybody through the door. AM-640 is telling people “Stay inside today! Don’t go out, and don’t drive anywhere!” An ambulance on Merton Street rushes to the aid of an unlucky driver…
2:20PM – Now back at the office, I have to page eight listing agents to book appointments for my evening showings, since all the offices are closed and receptionists aren’t booking showings. I’m now drinking hot chocolate from Tim Hortons…..rolling up the rim reveals “PLEASE TRY AGAIN.”
4:00PM – I’m on my way to meet a new client of mine named Mark, who is covered in snow when he enters the lobby, even though he only walked a block. The snow is now coming down full-throttle, and five minutes inside 123 Eglinton Avenue means an inch of snow on my car windshield when I return. My car is barrelling down side-streets and the uneven clumps of snow give every road that speed-bump feel.
5:30PM – Three buildings and four condos later, Mark tells me “Do yourself a favor, just go home.” I feel like Daniel Stern in Home Alonewhen Macauley Culkin says, “You guys give up, or are you thirsty for more,” and I reply “NEVER!!”
7:00PM – The on-ramp to the Don Valley Parkway was a dicey, uphill drive! I arrive at Queensway & Lake Shore after an un-nerving drive along the Gardiner Expressway. There aren’t many cars on the freeway, but those that brave the conditions are driving 20KM/H. All the news-radio stations are reporting another 15 CM of snow is going to come down over night.
7:15PM – Where the heck are Kelly & Mario?
7:16PM – Why, oh why, did I wear leather shoes? The snow outside Voyager Condos is up to my calves.
7:17PM – Kelly & Mario show up and cite the poor driving conditions for their slight tardiness. Well, you came from two blocks away, I came from 15 KM! Just kidding around….these kids are awesome clients and know more about real estate than anybody their age. We have fun every time we go looking at condos.
8:30PM – While driving back “to the city,” I can’t help but dream of warming my feet by the open fire and drinking a fine cognac in a snifter glass. Unfortunately, I don’t have a fireplace or a snifter glass, and I haven’t drank brandy since those bad-idea shots of Remmy VO when I was seventeen years old…
Well, there you have my entire day.
I love my job….most of the time, and despite the concerns for my saftety I actually enjoyed the day. It was very surreal to be out driving when nobody else is, let alone driving around to look at real estate!
As I said before, most people have to run errands and attend to their extra-curricular affiars on weekends, and being unavailable to them would mean they would miss out on whatever properties it was that they wanted to view.
Perhaps it could be worse.
It rains ten months of the year in Seattle. And in an (un)related story, their real estate market isn’t doing too well…
