Real estate is always a fascinating case study of human behavior, but particularly so during COVID-19.
First Case: There are the tenants who are pulling the “COVID Card,” busting up a sale, causing financial loss to both buyers and seller mostly because they don’t want to move even though seller has right to sell.
Second Case: There is the buyer that pretends to be three different people causing mayhem during a multiple offer situation for my seller. Yes, you cannot make this #!@! up!!!
But the real curiosity comes with Case Three: My Own Self-Study.
Then it escalated…One day, I showed up to show a home and walked straight into the wrong house. Thank God it was vacant!!! My error dawned on me within seconds and I exited with lightning speed. Heart racing, I have never locked a door so fast in my life! I looked two doors down and there stood my clients.
About a week later, the second major incident happened.
I was showing a house near Gabriel Park. After the showing, I walked to my car as I simultaneously watched my clients get into their vehicle. I grabbed “MY” door handle and opened the door to the horror of the agent who was sitting in HER car. You should have seen the look on her face!!! She almost screamed as I quickly apologized and then promptly closed her back in. What a scene. Both of us with our masks and gloves on startled like a couple of deer caught in the headlights. My clients witnessed the whole thing.
My inability to multi-task (walk to a car and watch someone else) was confirmed moments later as I left the scene and received a phone call from my Mom. Don’t worry Mom, it was a hands-free conversation thanks to Apple Play. But taking a slightly unfamiliar route I soon found myself veering a tiny bit too much to the left, missing the I-5 on ramp and heading into the off ramp!! What was wild was not only that I did this, but my response. As calm as a cucumber I did a U turn and re-routed. Evidently, multi-tasking is no longer my groove.
What is the world coming to?
As with most stressful situations, including real estate transactions, the best, the worst and sometimes the unknown comes out in all of us.
My buyers will find an even better home despite those tenants causing delay and loss. My seller received an even better offer and we closed despite COVID-19.
Now for me…. the yogi in me has postulated that perhaps my parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) has kicked in and is overriding my sympathetic nervous system (fight and flight).
The scientist in me postulates that perhaps my body is experiencing a protective response to COVID-19. My blood-brain barrier is on high alert blocking the entry of COVID to my vital functions and therefore I am not thinking as clearly because I am not getting as much blood to my brain.No joke… this is what goes through my head. There is probably a little bit of truth in it all. One thing that I do believe is that this experience has changed us all and offered new perspectives. I have been reminded almost daily of what is an emergency and what isn’t. We are not our reactions to our experiences but much more. May we all be open to the change that is before us and grow offering ourselves and others a little extra grace right now.
