I know this is the name of one of the most horrifying movies of all time, but this story is also horrifying – for Realtors. It involves an activity that many fear. That activity is door knocking. I know those 2 words send a cold shiver down your spine and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, but I want to tell you the story about a $15,000 commission check I received. 😱
It was a fall day in Flatlands, Brooklyn. My oversized suite blew in the chilly air. I was officially on hour 2 of door knocking and I was going to give it one last block. Twenty more houses before I called it quits for the day.
It had officially been 3 months since my last commission check and I needed something to happen.
“20 more”, I said to myself, “only 20 more.” The first house no one answered. Most of the houses on this side of the block were the same. I got a couple of “not interested” but nothing unusual. The first 10 houses flew by!
I started back around to finish up my last 10 houses.
I gazed at the last house on the left. It seemed to pier back as I made my way up the first porch. I rang the bell and instantly broke out into a cold sweat.
“Who the **** is it?”, a voice from behind the door said. “Hi my name is Alex with…” Before I got to finish my statement a huge man swung open the front door. “Who gives you the right!?”, he said – throwing his arms in the air. His near 7 foot frame cast a shadow on me. “I’m sorry, I just...” He screamed, “You will be sorry, if you don’t get off my porch!” He turned around and slammed the door.
My ego felt like it had been hatchet murdered! I turned around and walked briskly off the property. If you’ve been door knocking before then you know one of these “curse out” moments tend to happen once every so often. This time it felt a little worse because I thought I was about to fight Kimbo Slice in a suit that was way too big for me.
I stared at the last house on the left. Just 9 more... Lightning doesn’t strike twice I thought to myself. Long story short on this block lightning struck 3 more times. I ran into one angry homeowner after another. I even had someone threaten to call the cops on me!
I thought about cutting out early! I didn’t want to deal with anymore abuse. I had enough and my ego looked like Freddy Krueger's face at this point. Finally, I looked at the last house on the left.
“2 more houses” I said shaky to myself. It can't be worse than what I’ve already been through.
I walked up to the second to last house and rang the bell. As soon as the bell went off I heard a massive dog slam into the door barking! I instantly ran for my life leaving my soul on the doorstep. I was really over it at this point! I was traumatized by this block! But I was going to finish the block if it was the last thing I did. As soon as I was done I was going to hop in my car and find a beer as far from this evil block as possible.
I walked up the last house literally ready for anything! I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. I waited a while and as I turned to leave an elderly lady answered the door with the warmest smile!
She’s going to mace me, I thought to myself as I introduced myself.
“Hi, I’m Alex with XYZ Realty. Would you happen to know someone looking to buy or sell in the area?” She looked at me confused and paused. Uh oh I thought to myself again, she was definitely going to mace me.
“I’m so very glad you're here!”, she was smiling widely, “I hate my neighbors and would like to move ASAP! Please come in! Come in” That deal led to a lot of great opportunities in my career. It would have never happened unless I didn’t stay focused on the last house on the left…
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