The Housing Roller Coaster

Two simple questions appeared on the computer screen before I began the on-line job application....

1. Are you willing to work most weekends?
2. Are you willing to work on full commission?

In truth, I wanted to answer NO to both questions, but I had been out of work for three months and kept hitting dead ends in my job search. I clicked YES for both.

After multiple on-line tests, two phone interviews, and four in person interviews, Ryan Homes offered me a job in August 2007. I figured if I made it through all that, I may as well give this a shot.

Thus began my career in NEW HOME sales and marketing. Seven years later, I am still working most weekends and still providing for my family on commission income. I barely survived the worst housing slump since home mortgages have been around, but through it all I've helped more than 100 individuals, couples and families achieve the American dream of owning a new home.

It's a job that's impossible to understand and appreciate until you've tried it. It's only suited for certain personality types, primarily goal-oriented extroverts. And it'll take you on a wild roller coaster ride of Ups and Downs. But if you survive...and SELL HOMES, you will make a decent living.

A new home I sold under construction nearby our house.

The same home pictured above, just a few weeks later.

My Housing Roller Coaster

We've all heard many stories and many of us have been personally impacted by the wildly changing housing market of the last several years. I had a front row seat to all the action, and it was a crazy ride! If you feel like it, ride along with me... (Some of this was mentioned in my post Our Crazy Timeline - 9 Moves in 10 Years.)

• August 2007: I started with Ryan Homes in Maryland as a sales assistant on salary, about a year after the housing bubble had burst. Most statistics agree that housing prices reached their highest point in mid-2006 before beginning an abrupt decline.... Moral of this story, I started in this career just as it was getting really tough!
• December 2007: I was promoted to Sales and Marketing Representative in new home community in Easton, Maryland where homes sold for about $500,000. The previous sales rep had quit since he had not sold anything in four months. I wrote 4 new home contracts in my first month of sales. Maybe I could be good at this. Up we go!
• Spring 2008: We found out Adrian and I were expecting our first baby! I continued to sell homes at a steady pace (about 3 homes a month), but other sales reps in our division did not. Without warning, one day they called us into the main office and announced they were closing the doors. Half the people lost their jobs, and the other half of us were sent to other divisions. Yikes - Down we go! I joined Delaware South.
• May 2008: Earned the award Rookie of the Year for our division, which had just been dissolved. Up! However, I was not at the annual meeting to accept it...That same day I was at a specialist learning that the baby I carried had spina bifida (Read "The Worst Question I was ever asked!") Down.
• Summer 2008: Even with the life-changing news about our daughter, I continued to work and sell homes around $200K in a townhome community. Pregnancy worked in my favor, and I even sold 4 homes the week before I went out on maternity leave. Up!
• September 2008: Our baby Adria was born and had surgery on her spina bifida bubble at a day old and was in the NICU for two weeks. I'll never forget sitting in the NICU a few days after her birth when news of the stock market crash flashed on the TV screens. Nurses were almost in a panic over how much money they had lost in their retirement savings accounts. But my whole world was centered around the tiny baby in front of me. The crash didn't seem like such a big deal to me compared to the unknowns in our baby's future... But then my husband lost his job. The economy was rapidly changing. Down.
• November 2008: I return to work in the same community where I sold well that summer. Apparently, everything had changed. Banks were going under. Loans guidelines were tightening to the point it was almost impossible to sell...and it was the holiday season. For the next three months, I did not sell a home and we began living off credit cards. Further Down.
• May 2009: Ryan Homes entered a new high-end golf course retirement community just 15 minutes from my home. I open up the new model home and sell 18 new homes by the end of the year. Up! 
• January 2010: Suddenly sales stop for me as housing values continue to plummet and people decide to wait to retire or sell their homes. They wanted to "wait until the market gets better" to make any move. Down. At the same time, my husband Adrian endured a series of three seizures that came out of nowhere with no warning. Really down.
• March 2010: Three months without a home sale plus an onslaught of medical bills...We put our own beautiful house on the market. Less than 3 weeks later our home was under contract, and we were making plans to move. Up (and Down).
• May 2010: Pack up our belongings and travel west to the new Ryan Homes division in Indianapolis. They were booming with sales with low real estate prices and the federal stimulus for First Time Homebuyers, plus we had some friends out there.
• January 2011: Selling in a new home community south of Indianapolis with starting prices around just $100,000...some the best prices but it introduced me to an entirely new clientele: the credit challenged buyer. I saw a different side of America's middle class as more than half those who came into the model home had experienced bankruptcy at some point. So many difficult stories, but still there were those who could buy. Down then Up. We also moved into our own new Ryan Home this month (taking advantage of the 10% discount I got).
• December 2011: Finish the year strong with more new home sales than any other sales rep in the Indianapolis Ryan Homes division. Our second daughter Johanna was born. Up! But while I was on maternity leave, Adrian had another series of three debilitating seizures. Down.
• March 2012: Return to work and fight for sales in a new community that had not previously performed well. Down. Earn two top sales awards for my performance in 2011 at the Indianapolis annual meeting. Up.
• August 2012: Relocate to Richmond, Virginia with Ryan Homes. The region performs well, but I struggle to adjust to the area and buyer profile.
• January 2013: I was able to sell many homes around the end of the year and earn a company sponsored trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas. Up! The region prospers in the spring with promotions and new opportunities, but health issues continue to rattle our family.
• May 2013: After the nearly six year roller coaster ride, I accepted a job offer from a small custom builder back in Delaware and left Ryan Homes. Both Up and Down. Unfortunately, I had to walk away from $1,000s in commission on homes that were still under construction. 
• September 2013: The housing market is showing great signs of rebounding, but I struggle to adjust to the vastly different approach of custom designed and built homes versus the production builder approach. Sales are slow in coming. Down.
• May 2014: Many people looking and ready to build, and I sell 6 custom homes in 5 weeks. Up!
• August 2014: Our small team at Bay to Beach Builders created and built a new Model Home with a an impressive Design Studio that's unlike almost anything in our region. We welcomed about 500 visitors through our "Idea Home" during Grand Opening Weekend! The future is Looking Up! 
• September 2014: For the first time ever, there are three homes I've sold under construction within a mile of our home. Not only am I providing for our family, but I'm getting some great neighbors too!

One of our soon-to-be neighbors is a sweet young couple who will be moving into this new home about the same time they learn whether their first child will be a boy or a girl! 

There is so much more that could be said about my experiences selling in four different states to all types of people from the low income, poor credit buyers to those with millions in their bank accounts. It's been a journey and a wild roller coaster ride that I wanted to get off of many times. But every time I thought we couldn't make it another day, God sent someone through that door who was ready, willing and able to buy a home. 

He always provided.