I was humbled by the overwhelming emails and text messages about my column last week from real estate brokers and agents who praised the column not only for its timeliness but of course for giving them hope that property selling can transform their lives for the better. I thought there was nothing special about it until this seemingly grateful and moving email from one of our readers who related this short testimonial on his stint in real estate:
“I was laid off in 2011 and feared for my children’s education. Even though that I am an engineer by profession, no company was willing to get me because of my age. We almost sold everything just to support the tuition of my two daughters who were taking nursing and dentistry. My son was in high school at that time in a private school. With no steady income, my wife had to work in a call center. But her income could barely meet our everyday needs because we had to pay our monthly amortization of our house. It was one of the most depressing events of our life as a family because there were times that we had no light because we couldn’t pay our bills.
I joined real estate by accident or maybe it was designed by Providence for me to try real estate. My high school classmate who was in Dubai sent me a message on Facebook to help her look for a townhouse in Lapulapu and promised to compensate me if I could find a good house for her. I had no idea what to do but had to do it because of the compensation. I tried searching for real estate agents on Facebook and found that one of my friends worked for Leuterio Realty. To cut the long story short, I was invited to join a seminar and heard many success stories of agents who became millionaires. I thought they were just making these stories up. But what the heck, I was there to help an old classmate anyway so I tried.
But when I received my incentive, wow…it’s like receiving two month’s salary as an engineer. This does not include my commission! So I decided to go full time. I didn’t expect they pay this much for helping someone find a house.
I owe it to real estate for bringing me back on my feet. Like you mentioned, it is a rewarding job and proud to say that I am better off than before. I got my family a condo and car, which I never imagined to have. I should have joined real estate a long time ago had I known that it’s fairly easy to be in this business. The advantage also is that, I have more time for my family.
Your column gives me courage to share my story and I’m sure there are many others out there whose stories are more inspiring than mine.
Thank you for writing about real estate and I just hope more and more people will try real estate selling for a living especially now that our country is experiencing a boom.”
I wish to put the other stories and comments from those who followed our previous column. But one thing is for sure, selling real estate may be a good venture you want to consider whether full time or sideline, now that we’re seeing a lot interest not only from local buyers but also from other nationalities.