I hate moving. Or so I always thought. We’ve moved 14 times and during the 7th move, with 4 children under 9, I was grumbling about how I hated to move and the man packing looked at me and said, ” No you don’t! I’ve seen people who hate moving and you like moving.”

I thought about it and although that move in particular was very hard, moving away from our roots again, I was looking forward to… the warmer weather…the next adventure…maybe I just liked complaining. My husband would confirm that.

So my many moves have not been without complaint or stress or histrionics but it wasn’t until I helped others move that I learned so much from them.

Most of my clients look at the same things I do to start out-moisture, slope, condition-the basics. But after that it’s been so interesting to hear what’s important to them and what could make or break the sale. I’ve learned to shut up after I’ve had my input about our market from years of buying and selling homes. But it’s then that I learn. Sometimes it’s the previous experiences that they’ve had or their own expertise in a related field. Other times it’s what they’ve learned through the period of house hunting, doing research, observing the inspector. First time home buyers can quickly become experts in their own right after walking away from defected homes, sometimes willing to crawl under the house (herself) to see what’s under there!

During a recent unexpected move in my life, entering this difficult market , competing with others for houses, we lost out on our first offer. I’ve watched my clients navigate this crushing blow with grace and move on to the next one. I would have loved to have more repairs completed but then again, I’ve watched my clients concede to get the house. Walking away was an option but how long would it be to even find another house yet win the offer? Watching my buyers have the patience and willingness to accept this difficult market helped me be a better buyer. It wasn’t our first choice and there have been many repairs but there is so much to enjoy creating a new lifestyle when you buy a hew home.

I especially love when clients send photos showing how they updated their homes making them their own and in our Chattanooga market any updates equal equity down the road thanks to our regional beauty, great community and cost of living.

And I love my clients because no matter what we’ve been through none of them ever complained as much as I would.