Isn’t it Hot in the Desert?

The temperatures are rising and the snowbirds have all gone home. Those with faint hearts have made their vacation plans for somewhere cool.

Still, 40 families a day are moving to the Desert and homes don’t sell themselves.

Last summer, we held our listings open nearly every weekend. The record-hot summer days of 122 degrees were especially uncomfortable thanks to a monsoonal flow bringing uncommon moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico. Shorts, lightweight silk shirts, comfortable shoes and it was still hot.

Soaking with sweat, panting and pulling up open house signs, we saw a car suddenly stop, back up and motion for us to come over. She needed some information and couldn’t find an agent. We sighed, looked at each other and said with a forced smile ”Sure!”

People thought we were crazy, our competitors laughed and our co-workers scratched their heads.

We met many interesting people, most of them nice, who were either looking for homes and didn’t see very many open houses or who had been vacationing here for years and were just curious. I think we even met a few who wanted to soak up someone else’s free air conditioning.

Did we sell all the houses we held open? No. We did meet people who were looking for a Realtor and liked the fact that we worked no matter what. We also met three different couples who said they were just looking around getting ideas. We did find houses for all three of those couples.

We got a phone call on one of the very hottest days from an out-of-towner who found a $600,000 home online and needed more information. She couldn’t find the listing agent (whom we found out later was on a cruise for the summer) and just happened to call us. We got the information she needed. She didn’t buy that house; she bought a house for $850,000.

It’s the Desert. It’s hot for 3-4 months out of the year. For the remaining 8-9 months, this is the place where people from all around the world travel to for their vacations. We get to live in the desert year round; we get to play in the desert year round and we GET to work in the desert year round.