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Sophie followed the others out the door and they took the subway to Troy’s listing. “It’s almost always faster than driving,” Caroline explained.
When they reached the listing, Troy let them in and showed them around. It was a beautiful unit, and in the distance, the sun glimmered on the water of the East River.
“That is a great view,” Caroline said.
“Check out the balcony,” Troy opened the door, and they stepped outside. It was a really nice outside space. Bigger than most balconies that Sophie had seen.
The kitchen was on the small side, but the bedrooms were big, with high ceilings and lots of closet space and the living room had exposed brick walls and a gas fireplace which made the room cozy.
“I think this will go fast,” Sue, one of the more senior agents said.
“I’ll mail it out to my buyers,” Tessa said. “I have to get a newsletter out this week anyway and this is a great property to showcase.”
Troy looked at Sophie and grinned. “What about you, Sophie, do you have a buyer for me?”
She laughed. “I wish I did. I can’t wait to have some buyers.”
“Buyers are great, but my advice is to focus on getting listings. That’s where the real money is,” Troy said.
“He’s not wrong,” Tessa agreed.
They headed back to the office and Sophie was relieved that they made it back five minutes early. Andrea disappeared into her office and Sophie fished around in her purse for an energy bar that she’d stuck in a pocket over a month ago. She was too late to eat her salad, but she could quickly eat the bar and that would hold her until dinner. She was almost too excited to eat her salad anyway. She couldn’t wait to get going and start finding buyers and listings of her own. Even though she had no idea of where to start.
Chapter Sixteen
Andrea found Sophie after the morning meeting the next day and showed her to her new desk, which was in the middle of a huge room. There were no private offices for the agents, it was what Caroline called ‘the bullpen’—just over a dozen desks, a few feet apart. Along one wall there was a giant whiteboard where people wrote pending activity and deals closed for the month.
“Here you go,” Andrea said. She pointed to a stack of books and a binder. “That is your study material for the real estate exam. There is a course starting next week we can get you into if that works for you.”
“That works,” Sophie said. She had no plans and was eager to get started.
“Perfect. I’ll email you the details of where to go. Until then, if you want to get a head start, you can read over these books and the info in the binder. Rick wants you to join him in his office at one. You’ll spend the afternoon shadowing him.”
Sophie nodded. She felt both intimidated and excited to be following Rick so soon. He was a dynamo of energy, and she knew she could learn so much from him.
“All right, I’ll leave you to it,” Andrea said.
She walked off and Sophie looked around the office. Everyone was at their desks, either checking email or talking on the phone. Both Caroline and Tessa were on the phone talking to clients.
Sophie looked at the sales board and saw that for year-to-date sales, a woman named Melissa was by far the top seller. Troy was right behind her. Followed by Sue, and then a little further down, Tessa and Caroline were neck and neck. They were right in the middle of the pack with six other agents below them at various levels. Sophie’s name was already on the board, at the very bottom, with no numbers next to it. She hoped that soon, she’d be able to put something on the board, even if it was just rental dollars.
She flipped her book open and started reading. There was a lot to learn about the industry itself and selling real estate in New York. Each state had slightly different rules that had to be followed. As she read, Sophie listened to all the activity around her—agents on the phone with clients, and their interaction with each other as they discussed new listings and brainstormed approaches for working with buyers and helping them to make offers that would be accepted. The market was still hot, and Sophie knew that many properties immediately generated multiple offers.
The office emptied out as the agents all left for appointments to show properties to their buyers and to meet with potential new clients. Sophie ate her salad at her desk and was only one of two agents in the office at that point. The other was Troy, who was the agent on duty who would work with any walk-ins or calls that came through.
As Sophie ate her salad, she listened to Troy on the phone with someone who had called in for information on a listing. He was patient and asked a series of questions to determine what the buyer was ultimately looking for. By the time he ended the call, he had an appointment set up to meet with the caller that afternoon and to show the listing soon after. He turned to Sophie and grinned.
“Did you overhear any of that?”
She nodded. “It sounded like a good call.”
“It was. Normally I wouldn’t agree to a showing until I meet the buyer in person, but I’ve been doing this for a while and based on how they answered all my questions, I could tell they are a serious buyer. So, we’ll meet here and then head right out to the property.”
“Is it your new listing? The one we saw yesterday?”
“Yeah. I made sure it went online yesterday and there have been a few calls already. I think this one might go fast. The price is good and it’s an in-demand neighborhood that doesn’t have a lot of inventory.”
“Good luck. I wish I had a buyer for you,” Sophie said wistfully.
