What Makes a Good Realtor?

 I was reading a blog post from a few years back, from the time I had just about gotten started in real estate, I only had a couple of transactions under my belt and was slowly starting to feel like I maybe had an idea of what I was supposed to be doing. It was those days when a more seasoned colleague told me to answer the question regarding experience by saying that I had enough experience to know what I was doing, as I was unable to reply with years or dollar amounts. I wrote about the glossy postcards I kept getting in my mail, the ones trying convince me and my neighbors to sell their homes, the ones that promised the best and finest real estate transaction for the lowest fee. I’ve sent glossy postcards myself. I’ve sent them because it’s what we do, but at the same time knowing deep down that this is not about postcards, this is about me. This is about my team, us.

 

A lot has happened since I wrote that blog. Enough has happened so that I know I have a business that I can call a business. I have way more experience and I also have a team with my hubs. We chose Team Muusa, not because I was more significant, but because it sounded better. Give it a try; Team Liinpaa vs. Team Muusa. Team Muusa sounds way better don't you think! We both bring the best of our expertise to the table and that truly is an incredible benefit to our clients. Not my clients. Not his clients. But truly our clients.

 

We recently jumped companies and went from well-known prestige and decades of knowledge to something quite different, a combination of a real estate brokerage and a startup that approaches all things from a technology-driven standpoint. We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the welcoming feel of our new community when learning to navigate all our new tools and marketing. We are genuinely excited for us but also for you as we know this is going to be amazing when it comes to your needs as a client.

 

In the end though, switching a glossy postcard to a different glossy postcard or email for that matter doesn’t do much if what I send you doesn’t touch you in one way or another. Real estate isn’t about postcards and newsletters, it’s about relationships, it’s about what you have in common with us.

 

I still have pink hair and I wear black leggings with a sweatshirt and a matching mask when you run into me at the grocery store. I no longer hug you, hugging is so passe, but I wave and chat with you a bit because I'm genuinely happy to see you. Let me share a secret with you, my family doesn’t want to take me with them to the store as I keep stopping and chatting with everyone I know from the neighborhood, from our school communities, dance and our clients. The kids keep asking me, if I can promise not to talk to everyone at the store, or maybe I can just wait in the car when they go with dad. Sorry kiddos no can do.

 

He’s the car guy. He always has been, and he always will be. He knows everything when it comes to car makes models and specs. If it’s loud and goes fast, it’s perfect and after a few months he gets that itch again and goes on a quest of finding something louder and faster yet again. This time though, it will be tough for him to beat the loudness of his Mustang GT. Hence, we’ve had the white beast for closer to 9 months now.

The laundry really piles up. 

Life is still messy or maybe even messier. Yes, the kids are older than they were when I wrote my last post, but you know, it’s 2020 and life as we used to know it ended sometime beginning of March. Suddenly our family, like so many others, have turned into these weird hybrids of fulltime working parents, home schoolers, juggling house work without my fabulous cleaners, yard work, pet grooming – well, Martha doesn’t need grooming, nor does Maeve - and Mikko has even learned how to cut hair. But boy that laundry keeps piling up just like it did before, and rather than sorting it out I pick my knitting and work on a new sweater for Mia or a pair of socks for Magnus. Laundry will wait.

So, it’s still me. Very much me. Loud and opinionated. Kindhearted and warm. Mom with the “M” in caps, always in caps and equally excited to make your dreams come true with my teammate.  Is there something you want me to write about? It may or may not be real estate related... my plan is to go through some older posts and re-introduce some of the topics but I'd be thrilled to hear what you think.