10 Things I Learned from the “10 Things I Hate About You” Home

 

2715 N Junett St, Tacoma, WA Built in 1905

This home is currently for sale for $1,600,000

 

Quick background: The above home was used in the 1999 movie “10 Things I Hate About You”. The movie’s plot was a modern day adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew”. In 1991, 8 years before the movie was filmed here, I was working as a painter’s apprentice and was assigned the task of stripping this old 5,760 square foot home to prepare it for painting.

 

The current 15+ layers of paint which accumulated during the previous 86 years was in serious disrepair – cracking, peeling, failing – so the idea was to take it all off – right down to the bare wood. Chemical strippers didn’t work and the only solution was a hair-dryer-sized heat gun and a little hand-held hook scraper. 4+ months, working all by myself – heat, heat, heat, scrape, scrape, scrape.

 

Below are 10 things I learned that may help you survive in today’s tough real estate market, and since the movie was based on Shakespeare – it’s only appropriate that I use Shakespeare quotes for the titles. Enjoy.

 

To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first: Staring at the 3 stories of 5,760 square foot home and the little heat gun in my hand, the task was impossible. All I could do was start in. I picked a spot, heated the first 2 square inches, and scraped it off. Then the next 2 inches. Then the next.  The hill would be climbed, 2 inches at a time. What hill do you need to climb? Is there some impossible project that you keep putting off? Why don’t you do 2 inches of it right now?

 

Nothing can come of nothing: There was no question that this was going to be a lot of work. It wasn’t fun or exciting. It was tedious and boring, not to mention potentially dangerous knowing many of those layers of old paint were likely filled with lead, and at times I’d be working high above the ground at odd angles. But this old beauty was not going to restore itself – it was going to take hard work, persistence, and patience. What about you? There are deals being closed right now. If you’re not getting your share, could hard work, persistence, and patience get you there?

 

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: It didn’t take long for me to figure out that the scraped-off paint didn’t just float away into nothingness. Not only did I have to scrape it off the house, I had to get rid of it too.  If I didn’t take the time to put down drop cloths to catch the chips and blobs, it would take me 4 times as long to pick the little pieces out of the dirt and off the plants and surfaces below, like the proverbial 2 steps forward / 1 step back. Do you make more work for yourself because you don’t plan ahead and think projects through before you start? Do you have your systems set up that will enable you to capture all the opportunities that come your way?

 

Though this be madness, there be method in it: My little heat gun had a simple thumb-activated “On/Off” switch. It was simple to flip it on and off with little effort.  Too simple, in fact. You see, when the gun was off, I wasn’t heating up any more 2 inch sections of paint to scrape. “Off” meant no progress. If it was too easy to turn off, it was too easy to not work.

So, before I’d start working, I had to wrap masking tape around the handle to keep the switch in the On position. It didn’t need to be held on.  The tape was only there to prevent me from easily turning it off.  Because if it was too easy to turn off, I would. Then I’d mark a target on the wall - a "written goal". Once I reached it, and ONLY once I reached it, would I allow myself a short rest or lunch break. Until then, that gun stayed on. This simple act of discipline literally doubled my progress each day. Have you set up daily and weekly “On” targets for yourself?  Are they written down?  25 phone calls before lunch? Talk to 5 new clients this week or you can’t leave early on Friday?

 

Cowards die many times before their deaths: To reach the upper sections of this home required two 40’ ladders fully extended and a 20’ long, 12” wide plank stretched between ‘em – that was my work surface. It was a long way down to an agonizing and painful death. It was scary – and there was no way to harness myself on and no one around to hear me scream (I hope OSHA’s not reading this). I could barely function up there at first and every little wobble and creaking noise made me wet. And then? After a while, it was absolutely no big deal. I was prancing back and forth on that little plank like I was walking down the sidewalk. I finally realized that if that same plank was on the ground, I wasn’t going to fall off it there, and the plank was no different just because it was 30 feet in the air.

 

What projects are fear keeping you from trying? Are you afraid to cold-call a neighborhood or check in with past not-ready leads?  It’s only scary until you’ve done it a few times, and you’ll likely never be killed or injured doing it. Go for it!

 

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind: The owners bought this home a few years before they hired us to work on it, and it really didn’t look like much. It was big and had a great view of Commencement Bay and Mt. Rainier, but the home hadn’t been well maintained. This was your classic “Buy the ugliest house in a good neighborhood” purchase. But they saw an opportunity to go back to basics (strip all that old, ruined paint and start from bare wood) and restore the original beauty. The real estate market when they purchased this home was not good, yet because they used sound investment principles they did really well. Are you helping your clients take advantage of the opportunities available in this market? Can you find real jewels amongst the common stones?

 

How poor are they that have not patience: This was a huge job for these homeowners to undertake. Not only the paint job, but there were several other areas of the home that needed restoring, and they took it all on one project at a time. And little by little, they transformed the home into a classic beauty. They did it right, took their time over several years, and the results are breathtaking. With patience, they were able to obtain a true dream home to live in, not to mention that their home has increased in value tremendously since they bought it. They did it little by little, project by project. You can apply this principle to your business too. Work to improve your skills and broaden your sphere of influence – little by little, project by project – and soon you’ll be working at your dream job.

 

This above all – to thine ownself be true: There were so many places on the home that were hard to reach and out of view where I could have “cheated” and not done a careful a job. Nobody would have known – until years later when the chances of paint failure could have occurred. But I couldn’t do that. That job was 27 years ago and I still drive by occasionally to see the home. And each time, there is a special pride in knowing that I did that, I gave it my all, and I have no regrets.

 

Treat your clients the same way. Give them the best service you can without taking shortcuts. Always keep in mind that they’ve trusted you to do the job right for them. Don’t let them down! 

Are you true to yourself too? Do you do what it takes to get the job done right – every time? When YOU know that your clients are making a smart choice by choosing you because you aren’t going to let them down, No Matter What, that sense of confidence will come across when they meet you and your competition won’t have a chance.

 

A hose, a hose! My kingdom for a hose! Yes, I know that is supposed to be “A horse, a horse…”, but hose fits better. I had completed 3 sides of the home and was 90% done with the fourth side. Way up at the top of the last side, as I was heating and scraping away, smoke started coming out of a knot hole. My gun had sparked something under the siding 35 feet off the ground! Oh my gosh! I needed water!  Guess what wasn’t on the outside faucet below?  There was no hose. Run around the house – no hose anywhere. Nobody home. No cell phones then – can’t call 911.  I’M GONNA BURN THIS THING DOWN!!! 

 

Running around the neighborhood from house to house – I need a hose! I found one across the street two doors down, borrowed it (as the hose owner yelled at me from his porch), hooked it up, turned on the water – up the ladder I went and somehow got it to stop smoking.  It was a real lesson in safety and caution – having a contingency plan – using common sense in planning. Of course I should have made sure I had a hose available. The only thing amazing was that I got through most of the job before I needed one. Whew!

 

What’s the lesson? For me, it’s “don’t throw files in to underwriting and ‘hope’ they don’t burn up”. Instead, anticipate potential problems ahead of time and be prepared with solutions, alternatives, and compensating factors to quickly douse any flair-ups. What things cause your deals to fall apart? Can you anticipate these problems and make sure you have back up plans?

 

Parting is such sweet sorrow! I was amazed at how emotional I was when I finished that paint job. I had bonded with the home and left knowing that I had absolutely given it my best effort. It was a real lesson – sometimes jobs come to an end. I don’t plan on leaving the mortgage biz any time soon, but I do know that when the day comes when I must quit because time marches on – I want to leave with that same feeling of pride and sorrow that I felt that day when I put away my heat gun and scraper.

 

Every day I work, and every client I work with, deserves my very best. Your life deserves your very best too! Put your best in to it – it’s the only way to truly live.

 

I leave you with a final Shakespeare quote (spoken by Robin Williams playing Teddy Roosevelt in “Night at the Museum”):

 

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great,

some achieve greatness,

and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."