My Short Career in Real Estate

We just sold our house in Nebraska, so I was reminiscing with our kids about when I was a real estate agent. John and I were young and broke, and God came through for us in a big way. You may find this story encouraging, especially if you’re struggling financially right now like so many people.

Most of you know that John and I were married and baptized on the same day in 1996, but what you may not know is that I was also a brand new real estate agent and quite the go-getter. Every morning I would make one hundred cold calls, where I would introduce myself and ask if the person on the other end of the line might want to sell his house. Of those hundred calls, only three people on average would say something like, “Why, yes! How did you know?” and I would set up an appointment to discuss the details of putting his house on the market. Of those three appointments, two people typically said they weren’t quite ready, and just one ended up in a listing. The other ninety-seven people I had bothered that morning would either politely decline, hang up on me, or hurl an unimaginative insult. I got comfortable with rejection.

My broker offered bonuses for recruiting new agents who produced income for our office. Since I was full of energy and hope and had several listings on the market, it made sense to take a break from all those calls one week and add recruiting to my tool belt. So, I went to the local real estate school and stood outside, waiting for class to be dismissed so I could intercept any bright-eyed potential agent who didn’t already have a broker. I was new and hadn’t made much money yet and may have gotten a little ahead of myself. The first and last girl I drafted never made me a dime, but she did impact my life in a way that money can’t buy. I will call her Pamela.

Pamela and I spent a lot of time together during the first week she was in our office. I was motivated for her to do well, so I took it upon myself to show her the ropes. Unfortunately, she wasn’t at all comfortable with rejection and did not appreciate hearing irritated people practice their French over the phone. By the end of the first week she realized this may not be the right job for her. In the meantime, my listings were not selling as quickly as I had hoped, and I realized I should have been making those calls every day instead of playing trainer with the new recruit. We had gone into debt to get my license. What was I thinking? John and I talked about it over the weekend, and I decided I simply had to make as many calls each day as it would take to get a few listings and pray that something would sell.

So, first thing Monday morning I headed to the office, grabbed a cup of coffee, picked up the phone, and started to dial. That’s when Pamela walked in and plopped down in one of the chairs that really were meant for clients. I kept the huge handset close to my ear while I pressed the switch hook in a gesture that was meant to say, “I’m kind of busy here.”

She apparently missed the cue, because she asked, “Hey, do you have a minute?”

Since she wasn’t acing like someone who only wanted a minute, I hung up the phone. “What is it, Pamela?”

“Why are you always so happy? I mean, you’re always smiling and I want to know why. What do you have going on in your life that I don’t?” She apparently didn’t notice that I wasn’t smiling at the moment and really did not want to be having this conversation.

I contemplated saying I didn’t have time to talk but then suddenly realized she was asking about my faith. I knew I was supposed to tell her about Jesus, but I didn’t know how. I mean, she knew I was a Christian, and she knew I went to church, but those were not the answers to her questions. Starting where I knew to start, I patted the Bible sitting on the corner of my desk just inches from her elbow. “It’s this.”

“A book?”

“Well, not just any book. It’s the Bible. And I’m not really talking about the Bible as much as what’s in it. Do you know who Jesus Christ is?”

Her eyebrows shot up, and she leaned in like she was about to hear the meaning of life—and she was. “No,” she said, “I don’t.”

That was the beginning of an all day discussion that ran into the next day and the next day and the next, until it was Friday morning and she was back in my office and back in that chair. I couldn’t believe I had spent two full weeks with Pamela, doing none of my own work. John and I were counting on a commission that wasn’t about to happen if I kept playing missionary at work. We prayed every night for Pamela and for our finances, but we were frankly quite nervous. My broker was also apparently not thrilled; he kept walking by my office, looking at me like I had lost my mind. I just closed my door and kept talking and doing my best to answer Pamela’s questions.

On Friday, at the end of week two with Pamela, she abruptly cut our study short with this comment: “I believe all of this, and I want to follow Jesus. Can I be baptized?”

“Now?” Maybe it shouldn’t have caught me off guard, but it did.

“Yes.” She was confident.

“Um, sure. Hold on.” I called John, he called the preacher at the church and the lady who had told us about Jesus, and they opened up the church and warmed up the baptismal while Pamela and I hopped into my Honda Civic hatchback and drove for an hour to meet them. A small group of church members greeted us at the door. John hugged me, saying how proud he was of me and how he sure hoped God was seeing all of this. He was.

I’d love to say the baptism will forever be etched in my mind, but I don’t honestly remember it. What I remember is Pamela being overjoyed and hugging everyone there, while I waited rather impatiently for her to get back into my car so I could drive her back to our office and get back on the phone. I left her, glowing with joy in the parking lot in front of our office, and beelined to my desk, where I closed and barricaded the door, lest she—or anyone else—decide to drop by for a chat.

Saying a quick prayer, I asked God to please come through and, as I reached for the phone, it rang. A desperate sounding woman told me that her house was in foreclosure and that she and her husband needed to have a contract on it within twenty-four hours. It felt a little surreal, and I contemplated taking my sandals off since I suddenly felt like I was standing on holy ground, but I instead headed to the address the woman gave me. After taking a look around and hearing the couple’s story (which, if you’re wondering, doesn’t completely explain why they waited so long and let things get to the point of desperation) I assured them that if they would list the house with me for seventy percent of its market value, I could have a contract by midnight, which would save them from financial ruin. They signed.

I went back to my office where I kept a file of potential buyers and pulled out a folder from a sweet young couple looking for the perfect starter home. I had told them, rather sincerely, that what they were looking for and what they had to spend on it might require a miracle. When I explained what was on the table, they said it sounded too good to be true and said their kids were in bed and they were already in their pajamas, and… I interrupted, asking if perhaps they remembered our conversation about miracles. They went silent for a few moments, then said they were on their way. They bought the house. It closed faster than any other house I ever sold. The owners avoided a foreclosure, the buyers got their dream home, and John and I got all our bills paid and then some.

I continued to make one hundred calls every morning and became the top agent in my Century 21 office during my first year, something my broker said was unheard of. He also told me it was unheard of for someone with my sales ability to leave for the mission field, but that’s exactly what John and I did. The money was nice, but it did not and does not compare with the deep, soul-nourishing satisfaction of leading someone into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The promise in Matthew 6:33 is true. Whatever gift or talent God has given to you, use it to put His Kingdom first and everything you need will be taken care of. Thank you to those of you who are using your gifts and talents to make money and to give sacrificially to the HUGS for Tomorrow program. You are offering these precious children an opportunity to grow up and find what God is calling them to and how they can use it to His glory. Together we are making the world a better place and expanding the borders of the Kingdom here on earth.