Once a Realtor...

Friday morning, I woke up at 3:06. 3:06 AM. About an hour early but you know, I just couldn’t sleep, so I tiptoed downstairs, scheduled several posts for Facebook, had a cup of tea and let Martha out. By 5:30 AM I had stuffed my family in the car, driven to Everett, parked and shuffled my family through airport security and was enjoying my latte and butter croissant at the Paine Field Airport lounge with Martha curled up in our feet under the table. Paine Field was just as painless as they promise. No crowds, no lines, no long walks, no hassle. Less than five minutes to get a dog, two grownups, three kids, five carry-ons and a dog crate through security, straight into the beautiful lounge with gates at each end of the room. If I have a choice, from now on, I will fly painlessly from Paine Field.

I haven’t met too many people saying they absolutely love Los Angeles. I know plenty of whom are in love with San Francisco or San Diego, but for most Los Angeles seems to be endless traffic, freeways, gang violence and tourist attractions. I’m not saying it isn’t all of these, but it’s so much more… my first time in L.A. was in the summer of 1988, I have a picture of myself standing on Santa Monica Pier in 1995. No crowds around me, just me, the pier and the ocean. A lot has changed in almost 25 years and now the only thing I could think off on that pier, was that I had to get out of there. Luckily there are still less crowded piers to lean over the railing and look at the dolphins playing below.

Sunday is open house day, probably in all of western world, and as a realtor I couldn’t resist the signs. Park the car, greet the realtor, hand over my business card and let them know not to waste time on me as I’m just being nosy. Discuss the market in L.A. versus the Seattle metro, only to find out that they are pretty much the same. Run through the homes, go ooh and aah looking at the amazing views, the pools and the walls that open up to the patios. Look at the price tags and realize that the prices are not really that different in L.A. We were not in Beverly Hills but definitely in an area where the Ferrari and Bentley density was higher than in Redmond, maybe partially because us here in PNW are more practical than our Californian friends, but nevertheless.

I was really hoping to see an older house, you know one of those rustic beach huts but instead the day offered us modern, new or newish homes priced from mid $2 millions to high $3s. My children were not particularly enthusiastic with my interest in real estate, however I didn’t exactly have to drag my spouse with me as he could view luxurious beach homes without the shame of curiosity under the flag of my Coldwell Banker Bain business card. It was a great afternoon.

As we boarded the plane early Monday morning to return back to home and work, I left yet another piece of my heart in Los Angeles. Luckily there's always my new coffee mug.