You Could Make This Place Beautiful

Good Bones

by Maggie Smith

Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.

Why I Named My Company Abide Residential

Folks often ask me what the name of my company, Abide Residential, means. Abide is a bit of an archaic word, not used very often and forever associated with the legendary Coen Brothers character (who is also considered an honorary mascot of old-time Austin), but it’s also rich with multiple meanings for the way I want to embody my values as a company.

First and most obvious, abide means to take up residence somewhere, to dwell or reside. Of course, that’s the ultimate goal for my clients—to find a place where they want to abide. But it also means “to remain steadfast or faithful; to keep” and “to endure, sustain, or withstand without yielding.” This describes the way I strive to be for my clients—with them every step of the way and on their side, no matter what. 

The Realtor code of ethics states that “When representing a buyer, seller, landlord, tenant, or other client as an agent, REALTORS® pledge themselves to protect and promote the interests of their client.” I am bound to protect and represent my clients’ interests above all others, even my own. To me, this means being available to talk or text with clients, being present at inspections and closings, giving recommendations for service people when my clients’ refrigerator stops working a year after closing. Sometimes it means being lovingly honest about my gut feeling on a property or how to keep the peace between parties. Sometimes it means asking happy questions like, “you seem so in love with this kitchen...tell me what about it makes your heart sing.” Or hard questions like, “it seems like you’re not feeling quite right about this...what is the hesitation you’re feeling?”

You get the idea: it is my calling to abide with my clients through it all, so I named my company after my business practices, as a daily reminder of who I want to be and what my clients should expect of me. This is the ethic I expect for myself and each and every agent at Abide Residential. If you want a Realtor who will be your advocate and stay by your side, we are your people! Let’s get together and dream.

Why I’m Not Afraid of a Robot Stealing My Job

Recently, there’s been a fair bit of professional angst over the news that in the coming decade up to 30% of the U.S. workforce will be automated. It’s difficult to imagine a full 30% of workers could be replaced by robots and automatons, but it's projected that particularly workers who perform repetitive or administrative tasks will likely make way to different kinds of jobs that we cannot even quite imagine yet. People are justifiably uneasy about the economic uncertainty of this.

Even among Realtors, there is fear that companies like Zillow and Redfin are threatening to make our profession obsolete with fancy algorithms and contract writing services. Why, then, do I think that the jobs of Realtors and Home Counselors like me will be safe from automation?

Because real estate is all about intangibles.

You would not believe how many times I’ve thought that a degree in counseling would dovetail perfectly into being a Realtor. That’s because buying or selling a home is full of emotions: nostalgia, excitement, anticipation, determination, idealism, hard decision-making, vulnerability, disagreement, conflict, disappointment, anger, and anxiety. When people look for a new home, they aren’t just looking for 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, in this specific neighborhood at this specific price. Well, sometimes they are, but more often, they are looking for a place with just the right natural light. Or a place where their family heirloom dining table will fit perfectly, where their kids can play safely and happily in the backyard, or where they can cook dinner while still effortlessly carrying on a conversation with their guests, or a place that they can imagine putting some elbow grease (“but maybe not too much elbow grease, you know?”) into to put their own personal touches on a home.

These are not criteria I can plug into an MLS search. These are intangible factors that require an expertise about neighborhoods, about construction and remodeling, about how people live and spend time in their homes. It takes asking good questions and helping people put words to the “je ne sais quoi” that they can’t quite put their finger on about why a house just doesn’t feel quite right even though it checks off all the right boxes.

The Washington Post states, “Caretakers, psychologists, artists, writers — anyone who relies on empathy or creativity at work — can expect to have the most job security as automation continues to spread.” I consider my job to be in this category—a job that takes a considerable amount of empathy, self-awareness, verbal communication skills, intuition, and genuine connection. Without these, you might as well be working with a computer. I named my company Abide Residential because one of my core values is to abide, to be fully present with my clients—to be there with them through the ups and downs, thick and thin, of the home buying and selling process.

There are certainly parts of my job that could be done by a computer—the scheduling, the contract details, the coordinating (maybe one day I’ll have an android as my personal assistant!), but here are a few aspects of my job that robots can’t do (yet, at least):

• Negotiate a contract when emotions are high on both sides to produce a win-win for everyone
• Help buyers dig deep to understand what home means to them and develop a search criteria based on their values and lifestyle to help them find the best possible house that becomes a place that feels like home
• Walk through a house and sense the tension between a husband and wife when one of them loves a house and the other does not and facilitating a conversations that helps clarify their shared values and needs
• Help empty-nesters prepare for the difficult process of selling a home they have raised their family in and downsize to a new home
• Help buyers and sellers work through the results of a home inspection, discuss their disappointment and fears if things did not go as expected, and come up with a strategy to negotiate that makes them feel comfortable moving forward
• Be a devil’s advocate and express my gut feelings and intuition about a house to buyer if something feels “not quite right”
• Give buyers and sellers an honest third party perspective with their best interest in mind

I’m able to do each and every item on this list because I’ve had a decade of experience with the intangible, interpersonal, emotional aspects of home buying and selling and leasing AND I know my city like the back of my hand—I know all the secret neighborhoods that no one thinks about, I know the back ways to get to work, I know how long it takes in traffic to get from South First to Georgetown in rush hour (it’s a long time). I know that if you like a certain neighborhood up North, you will probably also like a certain neighborhood down South.

Do I think some Realtors might be at risk to lose their jobs to automation? If anything, I think a new age of automation will bring a new era of even better customer service in the real estate industry. Because if you don’t do your job any better than a computer could, you won’t cut it anymore. Gone will be the days of agents who let their assistants handle all their calls, use pushy sales tactics, and show up as little as possible while still cashing their commission check. I’m quite looking forward to this new era, actually. And I guarantee I will still be here, helping my clients with all the things about home buying and selling that computers can’t do—being an expert, an advocate, a confidante, a support person, a sounding board, and a friend.