I met her when she first got into real estate. We worked for the same brokerage, and before that, she’d been in the wedding industry – so we had that creative background in common, that understanding of what it means to help people through significant transitions.

We were colleagues and friends. Connected by shared experience and the day-to-day reality of working in the same office.

But when she and her husband started looking for their first home – freshly parents to their first baby – she found herself in a familiar but frustrating position: being her own realtor.

When Being the Expert Gets in the Way

In theory, being a real estate agent looking for your own home should be an advantage. You know the market. You know the process. You know what to look for and what to avoid.

But in practice, it’s complicated.

You’re too close. You’re navigating your own emotions, your partner’s opinions, your conflicting priorities, and the very real stakes of making the right decision for your growing family. And when you’re the one who’s supposed to have all the answers, it’s hard to step back and admit you need help sorting through it all.

She had been helping them through the process but got to the place she needed someone outside the loop – someone who could help them get on the same page, sift through all the conversations, and pin down what they were actually looking for.

That’s where I came in.

Finding the Signal in the Noise

After a few conversations, we started to get clear. Not just on what they thought they wanted, but on what they actually needed.

A few weekends out looking helped refine it further. You can talk about must-haves and deal-breakers all day, but walking through homes and seeing what sparks excitement and what falls flat – that’s where clarity shows up.

And then we found it.

They were both smitten.

A huge backyard. A courtyard in the front. And, this mattered for new parents, clear sight lines from the kitchen and living room to the outdoor spaces. They could watch their little one play safely, could keep an eye on things without hovering, could let their child have space while still being present.

It needed some mild work. A few projects they’d have to take on. But they were ready for that. Ready to make it theirs over time, not just move into something already finished.

Making It Theirs

They bought the home. And over the past few years, they’ve done exactly what they hoped to do.

They’ve grown their family. She’s grown her wedding business, back to the creative work that first brought us into each other’s orbit. And they’ve made the house theirs, project by project, decision by decision, layer by layer.

It’s become the home they needed it to be. The backyard has held birthday parties and first steps and lazy Sunday afternoons. The courtyard has been the safe play space they envisioned. The sight lines from the kitchen have mattered exactly the way they thought they would.

And the projects – those things that needed work when they moved in – became opportunities. Not burdens, but ways to shape the space into something that reflected them, not just the previous owners.

What It Means to Help a Fellow Agent

There’s something uniquely meaningful about helping another agent find their home.

We understand the weight of the decision in a way most clients don’t. We know how many variables are at play, how much research goes into pricing and neighborhoods and resale potential. We know the process intimately which sometimes makes it harder, not easier, to navigate our own.

But more than that, we understand what it means to be trusted with someone’s transition. And when a fellow agent asks for help, it’s not just a professional courtesy. It’s a recognition that even those of us who do this for a living need clarity, need perspective, need someone to help us see what we can’t see when we’re too close.

She didn’t need me to teach her about real estate. She needed me to help her and her husband find alignment. To cut through the noise of too many options and too many opinions and get to what actually mattered for their family in that season.

And once we had that clarity, the rest followed.

The Gift of Clarity

Looking back, I think the gift wasn’t just helping them find the house. It was helping them find the things they agreed on so they could move forward.

When you’re stuck in the middle of too many conversations and too many possibilities, forward motion feels impossible. You’re spinning and debating and second-guessing. And even though you know what you’re doing professionally, personally, it’s a mess.

Clarity cuts through that. It gives you permission to stop looking at everything and start looking for the right thing. It lets you say no to what doesn’t fit so you can say yes to what does.

They found the home. But first, they were asked the right questions to land in clarity. And that made all the difference.

Fellow Agents, Fellow Humans

We were colleagues. But this process with them reminded me that underneath the professional roles and the market knowledge and the transactional expertise, we’re all just people trying to make good decisions for our families. We all get stuck. We all need help sometimes. We all benefit from someone stepping in and saying, “Let me help you see this differently.”

What a gift to be able to do that for a fellow agent. To watch her and her husband move into confidence together. To see them settle into a home that worked.

They’ve grown their family. She’s grown her business. They’ve made the house theirs.

And I got to be a small part of helping them get there.

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Home matters. Finding it requires clarity – the kind you can’t always give yourself.