Take-Your-Husband-and-Son-To-Work Day

By in Buyers with 2 Comments
Published on February 9, 2007 / Last updated on February 9, 2007

Sat down with the husband and our nine-year-old son last night to watch HGTV’S House Hunters. Normally, they’re watching sports, but for whatever reason, they were watching that show.  I joined them and we saw a couple working with a realtor, looking for a five-bedroom house.   My son Sean asked me if showing houses was hard work.  I replied that it wasn’t difficult, but it was taxing.  I explained that I was always “on”, always happy, and I could never really relax while I was showing houses. 

My husband Matt chuckled and asked, “Wouldn’t it be a blast to spy on Mommy while she was showing houses?  We could hear her say, ‘And this is the dining room…'”

I replied that I don’t say that kind of thing.  I don’t point out the obvious. To which my husband responded, “What?  Do you walk into the house and become mute?”

I fixed him with the stare that comes naturally upon the instant you say ‘I do’, and explained further, “I help people connect the dots.  I don’t say, ‘Here is wood cabinetry in the kitchen.’  They can see it’s wood cabinetry for themselves.  I would say instead, ‘This looks like cherry, but it’s actually birch with a plum stain.  It really gives a high-end look without the pricetag.’  Most people can’t make that jump on their own.  They don’t know that just by observation.”

I recently read an interview with a realtor, Bryant Tutas, in which he said he didn’t sell houses; he solved problems. And, until they invented a computer program which did that, he’d still have a job. Well, my husband and son (and grandkids, for that matter), will be able to try to visualize what I do for the rest of their lives because I, too, will always have a job.  Well, I’ll have a job, that is, until they develop the elusive software which connects the dots for you, is mass produced and available for $39.99 at your local electronics store!

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About The Author
Cari McGee

My husband and I came to the Tri-Cities in 1994, and we thought it would be a temporary stop on our way to larger cities. He was a television sports anchor at the time, and we planned to go wherever the "next step up" took us. Twenty-plus years later, we're still here and we've loved every minute of it! We have two children now, and we've found the Tri-Cities area is a wonderful place to raise a family. It's a great place to do outdoorsy things -- I like to hike Badger Mountain or run along the river path. I also love reading ... by a cozy fire in the winter or a beautiful picture window in the summer (with the A/C on!). I've been a licensed Realtor since 2004. I earned my managing broker's license in 2016, which means I can run my own brokerage, or create a team of real estate agents and supervise them, which is exactly what I did when I formed the Cari McGee Real Estate Team in 2018! We have administrative and marketing personnel, as well as additional agents to serve you. I became a director of the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016, became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, and was elected to Vice President in 2019. Want to talk about real estate? Click here to schedule a meeting with me!

2 Comments

  1. Find Buffalo says:

    Cari- Great post. A good Realtor answers the non obvious questions, points out unbiased pros and cons of a property, helps clients make accurate comparables to other properities shown and gives information deeper than the surface (upgrades, neighborhood, value).

    You’re not a tour guide!

  2. Cari McGee says:

    Thanks! A lot of people think (and maybe it is because of shows like House Hunters?) that all the Realtor does IS act as tour guide. There are a lot of reasons I show homes, but pointing out the convenient half-bath on the first floor is not one of them!

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