With over 30 years of Atlanta real Estate under my belt, one begins to think you’ve heard or seen it all.  Not true!   As an analytical person that usually utilizes this column to the explain Atlanta market statistics, I decided the end of the year needed a little levity.  Those of you that know me, would state that I have a healthy sense of humor anyway.  Therefore, this column is devoted to the more humorous true stories I have experienced in real estate.

Auctions and Land:

1. In 1983, I went to Mendenhall Auction School in North Carolina, exactly 20 years after my Dad had graduated from the same auction school.  He fronted the money for the school and the expenses for me to attend, on the condition, that we deduct it from future auction commissions. Well, in the eighties, auction and real estate were mostly male occupations. Therefore, 90% of a class of 100 was men.  The first day of school, the schoolmaster, Mr. Mendenhall, announced that, “We have a very special student here.  She is the second generation to attend auction school, and, her father is the President of the National Auctioneers Association.”  With that, everyone wanted to meet me, and, a group invited me to play poker with them.  Well, I inherited my math and card playing abilities from Dad, and, I am sure this group had no idea who they were tangling with. The following Monday after my graduation from school, I was in my Dad’s office, when I started counting of hundreds of dollars to him.  “Here’s the tuition money.  Here’s the expense money.  And, I am keeping the rest”, I exclaimed.  “Where did you get all that money, girl?” my father questioned.  “I won it playing poker with the rednecks that wanted to learn to sell cows and tobacco,” I proudly said.  With that, he slammed his fist on his desk and stated, “Way to go, Girl!” Read More→