Real Estate! Of Course I have other passions such as my Faith, my Family, Paddling, Sailing or just being on, in or under the Pacific Ocean, Photography, Interior Designs, Psychology. ..I could go on BUT Real Estate is my ultimate passion. There are so many avenues in this business; I can literally see myself doing this for the rest of my life. Now...it all makes sense!
Real Estate [ree-uhl, reel] - noun
- Property, esp. in land: three acres of real estate.
- Real property
Real Property [ree-uhl, reel] - noun Law.
- Property consisting of houses and land
- An estate or property consisting of lands and of all appurtenances to lands, as buildings, crops, or mineral rights (distinguished from personal property).
Realtor [ree-uhl-ter, -tawr, reel-] - noun Trademark
A person who works in the real-estate business and is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, or one if it's constituent boards, and abides by its Code of Ethics.
I'm sure if we asked our Associates if they dreamed of becoming a Realtor® when they were a child we would hear laughter followed by the infamous unison reply "no". I've actually found most Realtors® have very interesting (some hysterical) stories of how they even ended up in this business. For me it was something I consciously avoided for many years!
I was born and raised in the Real Estate Industry and started holding Open Houses with my Mom while I was still in diapers. As I grew older and understood more, I strongly disliked like the idea of working weekends and thought it was borderline boring & repetitively exhausting. My Dad is a General Contractor and has been building beautiful Speculative & Custom homes since he was 18 years old. Starting his Own Company when he was just 25 years old, he has since then successfully developed wonderful communities throughout the state of Washington, California & Hawai'i over the last 30+ years.
My parents raised my brother and me on the very beautiful Hawaiian Island of Maui (Westside) where we had an amazing upbringing to say the least. I got an early start in the Hospitality Industry, which isn't unusual as you may have guessed for a tourist driven state. I had the opportunity to Graduate High School early and made it happen because of my enthusiasm to exceed in my new found career. I immediately flourished in both the Ritz-Carlton & Hyatt Hotel Corporations and worked hard gaining the respect from others (due to my achievements & age) as I moved up the corporate later. After almost 10 years with an immense knowledge of how companies should be run, with the emphasis; Guest Relations, I decided I wanted to start and run my own companies. The entrepreneurial heritage kicked in full force and I was in a hurry to accomplish my new set of goals. With the slightest aperture, I escaped my Corporate America...
I jumped back in to School for Psychology and Interior Designs which had actually been my passions to pursue prior to the Hospitality endeavor. I had observed how my parents mastered their business relationship (Dad Built, Mom Sold) over many years, and I wanted in! On my 18th birthday, when I had still been working for the hotels, I decided to get my Real Estate License. At that time I had no intentions of doing anything with it, but because you could get it at 18-I felt the urgency to at least shelf it!
So, back in school headed towards what I really wanted to do (Interior Designs) I started casually collaborating with my Dad on his ventures. Looking back on my youth, I realized the idea of becoming an Interior Designer hit me in a Lighting store when I was about 9 years old. Along with holding Open Houses with Mom, I frequently ran errands with Dad and learned about all the details that go into building a house. I loved looking at all the plans/blueprints in my Dad's office and starting sketching designs as a tween. I'll never forget giving my Dad a drawing for a Master Bathroom which he then implemented in one of his Spec Homes, which to this day I still smile about.
About 6 years ago I had my first "A-ha!" moment regarding Real Estate. Interior Designs had become more of a specialty, something I'll always be passionate for but expressed for select Clients &/or Projects. With this first "A-ha!" moment, I [finally] realized I had been putting off Real Estate for all these years because I knew I'd be doing it for the rest of my life! It was an incredible feeling I still can't seem to put into words. I was emancipated and immediately ready to move toward fruition. When I was ready to activate my Hawai'i Real Estate License, I had the opportunity to move to Southern California. I contemplated this possibility for awhile, and decided it would be a great learning experience at the very least. While never living anywhere but the Islands I was ready to accept this challenge of not only living in a new area with a different way of life, but also entering a new career where I'd be competing with Top Producer's who probably had been there for 20+ years, much like the life I was leaving back home on Maui.
After I acquired my California Real Estate License I started my own company: Pederson Properties, Inc. and affiliated my team with the #1 company in the United States: Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. I laugh now, but when I originally got my Real Estate Licenses it was for Commercial Real Estate. However after a few impromptu deals for friends - Luxury Residential became my niche. I continued to go with what was thrown my way, and was smitten - now, I'm completely in love! I definitely experienced-and continue to experience the love-hate relationship at times, but nonetheless my passion is for all things real estate.
Real Estate is unlike any other ‘job' I've ever experienced or heard of. I can't explain it to my friends and when I try to, they just don't get it. I think you have to be a Realtor® to understand? The process of finding a home, the offer & sale/escrow process and the emotional roller coaster involved - dealing with other peoples money and participating in the biggest purchase of their lives (in most cases). I was thinking today, about simple tasks like previewing properties-and how bizarre it is to me. We have this License which allows us to go into people's homes and scrutinize everything about it! I'll never forget the first time I previewed by myself-I felt like I was actually ‘breaking-and-entering'!! Another time I caught myself laughing about was when I previewed a property that was noted as VACANT by the listing agent and after knocking/doing my ‘pre-entry' ritual, I walked in on a houseful of passed out Spring Breakers! Oh, the joys of Vacation Rentals! Never a dull moment in Real Estate...and always good stories to share-which is why I'm so happy to have this Diary!
In closing, I must make known-I experienced my second "A-ha!" real estate moment today. I was finishing my second very long day of showing properties with great Clients and was reminded of how much I love what I do. Real Estate has always been part of my life-and would continue to be so whether I had my Licenses or not. I get to meet amazingly great people and assist/be part of their home buying process. Finding that gem. The diamond in the rough. Their dream home, or vacation home. Even in a market like this, it's still exciting to me to go out there and find opportunities. I've experienced the 80's & 90's & ‘01's lows, the '04, '05, '06 high's and our of course current crisis. Even so, there is no better feeling than helping people attain their dreams, goals, desires etc.
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