It was the summer of 2001, and I was waiting tables at Carrabba’s Italian Grill. He was that guy. Cocky. A little too sure of himself. The kind of confident that makes you roll your eyes the second he walks into a room.

I could not stand him.

I’ll be honest with you, because that’s how I’d rather do this. I disliked him so much that I once tried to get him fired. It didn’t work. He was too good at the job, which somehow annoyed me even more at the time.

Then one night, fate, or maybe just bad planning on his part, left him without a ride home. And somehow I was the one behind the wheel.

Four hours. Four long, unplanned hours in a car with the last person I wanted to spend them with.

Here’s the part I didn’t see coming.

Somewhere on that drive, the cocky guy went quiet, and a different person showed up in his place. Thoughtful. Curious about things I never expected him to care about. Funny in a way I’d never given him room to be. He had a whole layer of depth I had written off before I ever gave him the chance to show it. By the time we pulled into his driveway, I wasn’t annoyed anymore. I was paying attention.

That guy is my husband.

We’ve been married seventeen years now, and twenty-four years after that drive, we are still finding new things in each other. The worst first impression of my life turned into the best thing that ever happened to me.

So here’s what I’ve carried ever since.

Your first impression of someone is almost never the whole story. It’s a snapshot taken in bad lighting, from one angle, on a day you may have already decided how things were going to go. Sometimes the picture is right. Plenty of times, it isn’t.

I think about this often in my work, because choosing the person who helps you buy or sell your home runs on that very same instinct.

You sit down across from an agent. They have the polished website and all the right answers. The market numbers roll off their tongue. On paper, they look like exactly who you’re supposed to hire. And then you leave the meeting with a small, nagging feeling you can’t quite name. You wonder if you’re being too picky. You wonder if “fine on paper” is simply how this is supposed to feel.

I don’t think it is.

After years of sitting at kitchen tables with people in the middle of one of the biggest decisions of their lives, here’s what I’ve come to believe.

The clients who feel steady all the way through a move aren’t the ones who hired the flashiest name in town. They’re the ones who found someone who actually got them. Someone who asked about the why behind the move before the what’s-your-budget. Someone who caught the thing they were nervous to say out loud and made room for it instead of rushing past it.

I’ve watched people nearly talk themselves out of a home they loved because the agent across from them never thought to ask what the move was really about. And I’ve watched the opposite, too. People who walked in unsure and left settled, not because anything about the house had changed, but because someone finally listened.

That kind of fit is hard to fake. And most of the time, you can feel it inside the first real conversation, the same way I felt something shift somewhere around hour three on that drive.

It’s also why I show up the way I do. Sneakers instead of heels, because when it’s time to get to work for you, I want to be ready to move. I’d rather ask you a handful of real questions than run you through a checklist, because I can’t help you get where you’re going until I understand where you actually want to land. And where that is looks a little different for everyone who sits down across from me.

I won’t pretend the road is always smooth.

Buying or selling a home comes with moments that will test your patience, and a few that test mine. I can’t promise you that every single thing will go perfectly. What I can promise is that you won’t spend any of it wondering whether the person beside you truly sees you.

Because when it’s the right fit, you tend to know.

I knew it somewhere on a dark highway in 2001, with the radio low and a guy I’d sworn I couldn’t stand turning out to be the one I’d build a whole life with. I’d love to be the person who helps you recognize that same feeling when it arrives as a front door, a set of keys, and the start of your next chapter.

Joyful real estate that feels like home.

WITH JOY,

P.S. What’s Jennuine Living, again?

We’re a gaggle of REALTORS®, Lenders, and Creatives that makes joyful real estate feel like home.

We bring creativity, peace of mind, and a sense of delight into one of life’s biggest transitions, so that our clients’ experience:

➝ More joy, less stress and fewer ‘oh crap’ moments.

➝ No guesswork, no surprises, just honest communication.

➝ Connection first – here, you are family.

We love new friends, so visit our website, see a bit of our good work for our community, or follow us on the ‘Gram to join the family.