As I write this, tomorrow is my third wedding anniversary, which loyal readers of this column will know marks a milestone, because it was around the time I got married that I stormed out of my corporate job and decided to adopt a cool real estate life. The transition from employee to freelancer opened doors I’d never expected — including the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to write a book — but it caused all sorts of emotional and financial turmoil, too.

A year ago, I wrote "the first goal is, of course, stay married." Unless something absolutely catastrophic happens in the next three hours — and no newlywed worth their salt is going to absolutely rule that out — we’ve got that one covered. Ivan claims the character of the loyal and long-suffering husband is underplayed in this column, so let me say publicly: Honey, thank you. Hubby got promoted, too, which is a fact I’m as proud of as any ’50s wife.

For me, last year was my first full year working real estate in New York. It opened with a monster achievement: the close of a particularly hairy co-op purchase. It was my first sale representing a buyer, and at various times the selling broker, one of my sponsoring brokers, the buyer’s lender, and the buyer’s lawyer told me that we weren’t gonna close. My client believed me that we would, and we did!

I had another buyer success in getting a perpetual shopper to contract. She is one of those buyers who had to see everything, and did, and then backed out of the market, and then put her toe in again. We cycled around like that several times, and probably saw 50 properties. Her deal hasn’t closed yet, so I can’t count it as a chicken, but even getting a contract was huge.

Other than that, though, real estate was choppy, choppy, choppy. I write and speak about real estate half-time, and trying to prioritize the other half as an actual part-time real estate business is nerve-racking. I spent a lot of time with buyers who wandered off, decided they didn’t have money — my favorite was the guy with $10 million who decided he was too poor to buy a $1 million apartment — and just in general soaked up my time. I took a listing with high spirits in March and now, five offers later, I’m still hawking it. Getting jumbo financing is still a struggle, and many, many customers are deciding to rent instead.

Alison Rogers is a licensed salesperson and author of "Diary of a Real Estate Rookie."

***

What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.

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