Life in Big Canoe, Real Estate in the Mountains

Teaching My Kids to Fish

This time of year always makes me think of fishing! My grandfather taught me to catch flounder in the Great South Bay in Long Island when I was the ripe old age of six. Since then I have enjoyed just about every type of fishing  with the only exception being ice fishing (not my cup of tea). My husband and I have just started bringing our kids out to the lakes in Big Canoe and teaching them the art of fishing.  Last Sunday was the perfect. It was about the third day and as the kids were getting the hang of it, more fish were ending up on our stringer. I couldn’t help but to compare this experience to real estate and realize how important it is to use every minute, even the slow ones wisely. Six years of higher education has helped me in many ways but both fishing and real estate require two very important skills that do not have  a “101″ at the end,  patience and persistence. 

Like fishing, the career of a real estate agent is fairly simple.  A fisherman needs a pole, some bait on a hook, and of course  a body of water that has fish. A real estate agent needs marketing tools, buyers, and sellers. Aside from dumb luck neither the fisherman nor the agent will have any success if they are not familiar with their territory. for example; You shouldn’t hire a deep sea fishing guide from Florida to take you fly fishing in North Georgia,  just as you shouldn’t have a city agent find you a home in the north Georgia mountains. Then once again comes the 2 most important skills of all for both fisherman and agents, patience and persistence.

Many different conditions will affect the outcome of success when both fishing and selling real estate.

• Attitude: Being positive does not cost anything whereas being negative can sink you. The fish will know and so will the clients. 
• Climate is a huge factor: A storm on the ocean makes fishing dangerous, just as a poor economy makes selling a home difficult.
• Too Much of a Good thing: a saturated market can lower the value of your home just as too many hooks in the water will lower your chances of catching the elusive trout.
• Presence: You can’t force a fish on a hook but you can attract them to it and a home won’t sell if it is not advertised.
• Technology: GPS, Depth Finders, graphite poles and invisible line are tools for fisherman. MLS, IDX , GPS, may look like the Roman Numeral for 1 million, but along with a strong Internet presence they are technological necessities for agents.

The old saying goes something like this: Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. In the end we didn’t just teach our kids to fish, we taught them to love fishing! After catching several Tree Bass  they were a little discouraged but they used the slow times to  perfect their fishing techniques by casting into a bucket set at the end of the driveway. They practiced for days, went back to the lake,  and now we have a lot of trout in the fridge!  Parallel to the kids’ experience, I found that staying active and educated in real estate technology has given me a leg-up in this competitive environment. Having patience and persistence not only keeps my buyers and sellers loyal, but it also generates a lot of referrals which is by far the best compliment I can receive.

Whether on the buying or selling side my company, IBA Mountain Homes ensures your real estate experience with guaranteed patience and persistence.