Our oh-so-very unstaged bedroom.
Hello there! You may have noticed it’s been quite a stretch since we posted anything here. Like the stereotypical business blogger, we have started off with the best intentions, then fallen off the wagon. I suppose it’s time for us to apologize and get back to it, or to officially throw in the towel. We ask then, for you to consider this as our unapologetic apology. It is really more of a story of what we’ve been up to for the last 8 months. I can’t exactly call it an apology, because as we reflect on this year we have no regrets and we’re incredibly thankful— and we’ll never be sorry for that. Also, don’t expect us to throw in the towel, because we are energized and excited about the steps ahead of us. The best is truly yet to come!
Let’s start with talking about home staging. Do you ever click through Zillow pictures or walk through homes and wonder how people there keep things so beautifully organized? Our business is all about helping people see the possibilities in spaces they live in, and creating welcoming environments to tell a family’s story. We’re pretty good at it too—Julie can stand in a space and imagine its potential into life, and Ted has a hidden talent for coordinating paint colors and picking wall art. We help every seller we work with stage their home, from rearranging the pieces they already have in place, to hauling furniture up and down flights of stairs. We regularly scour thrift shops and clearance aisles for the perfect home décor to add to our collection, and have enough throw pillows around our house for a hundred person pillow fight.
Throughout our real estate career, what we’ve learned about the “secret to staging” is that more than anything, it’s about cutting out 90% of the clutter, and focusing on the core of the home’s story. It’s more about what you take out than what you put in. In real life, living a “staged life” may look awesome if your passion in this world is good Instagram pictures, but rarely can we fit things we’re passionate about and grow and change as people if we always live within our limits.
Then consider our real life—Over the last almost decade of our marriage, Ted and I have developed a habit of pushing our limits further than we ever dreamed possible. I like to call it “believing in ourselves.” Ted likes to call it “biting off more than we can chew.” Regardless, we are like a couple kids at an all-you can eat candy buffet. In eight years, we’ve weathered 4 moves, 4 kids, 3 houses, and several large job transitions. This year truly hasn’t been much different. We welcomed our fourth bundle of joy into our three-ringed circus, and discover daily that as our kids grow, their school papers and commitments seem to multiply. We also went through a re-branding as we came on board RE/MAX, and Julie has been working a not-so-secret side hustle in strategic business consulting. We doubled our real estate business from 2017, closing on 40 houses. Oh, and we’re closing on a property we’re flipping in Swissvale in a couple weeks!
When we look at our chaotic mess, it’s easy to see the mess. It’s easy to be overwhelmed, and to think about all the clients that we closed on and haven’t had the chance to check in on, the blog posts we haven’t written, and the awesome clients we missed the chance to work with because we didn’t have time to meet them for coffee on their timeline. We wake up in the middle of the night thinking of inspection addendums we need to get signed, school permission forms that need to be turned in, and whether we remembered to send our nephew a birthday card. But when I step back and look at what I would change if I were “staging it”, my heart overflows with gratitude for all we’ve been blessed with.
So then we’re stuck in a predicament. I don’t want to cut out any of the beauty in our chaos, but the chaos isn’t sustainable. At first we (very illogically), decided that if we wanted more peaceful moments in our life, that we just needed to add them in. Newsflash: adding in water to an overflowing cup doesn’t work. We learned this pretty quickly, and stood together looking at our life, as if it were a room to be staged. What matters most in our life? What do we want this to look like when we’re done? What’s our story to tell? What needs to be removed?
We have re-established our priorities and re-organized our commitments for this coming year in a way we are proud of and excited about. Julie is officially quitting her day job, and we are trusting that real estate will sustain our family. We’re forming a formal partnership with Lillian Denhardt, an agent we admire and respect, and will pull resources together to invest in operations and administrative support. We’re committing to stay in our own home for one more year (it’s small for six people, but we know how stressful moving is, y’all!!). We’re also engaging professionals where we need to—with a professional accountant, financial planner, lawyer, marketer, lawn cutter, and occasional house cleaner… it’s like a dream team for #adulting.
Along the way, we’re coming to appreciate that change of any sort isn’t easy, and we have a heck of a lot to learn. When we step back and think about our story and the “life we’re staging,” this is what we believe matters most:
o We love our clients: We don’t sell houses because we love houses. We sell houses because we love people. We love watching families establish roots and become homeowners and invest in their communities.
o We love our family: People aren’t kidding when they say that kids grow up fast. Every little moment with them is precious, and there will never be as much time as we want to spend with them. This world is CRAZY, and if we contribute nothing else to the world, we want to make sure the four beautiful little souls we’re trusted with are lights of hope and love.
o We love ourselves: Try as we might, we aren’t machines fueled by coffee. We are interesting people, and we need to make time for interesting things in our lives. From throwing a Frisbee on a fall day, to curling up with a good book or taking a nap—we are better able to serve the people that matter in our lives (YOU!) by taking care of ourselves.
o It takes a Village: Our ability to provide awesome professional service to our clients isn’t because we’re the smartest people about everything in the world. It’s because we know and trust great resources—from the best lenders to the best take-out joints, we rely on people in our network every day ourselves, and are grateful to be able to share resources with our clients.
And above all, we recognize that we have so much to be grateful for. We are grateful for the people that believe in us and support us—they make this all possible. We are grateful for the hope that lies ahead of us, and the strength that lies within us.
So sorry (not sorry!) if we’re late to posting blogs again next year, but we know 2019 is gonna be our best year yet!
Cheers,
Julie & Ted