06/22/2026
There is a moment before the sale that most agents do not prepare people for.
The boxes are almost gone. The papers are almost signed. The house is almost ready.
And then it hits.
I try to get there first.
Before we are standing at that door, I have already been walking through this with them. Reminiscing as we go. Asking about the room. Letting the memory come up instead of pushing past it. Because if we never make room for it during the process, it will show up at the worst time and feel like it came out of nowhere.
Grief is not a problem to be managed. It is part of the transaction.
That moment happens in probate when a family sells the house a parent lived in for forty years. It happens in divorce when someone walks out of the only home their children have ever known. It happens in relocation when a person stands in an empty room and wonders if they are making a mistake. It happens when adult children sell the house they grew up in and realize there is no going back to that version of home.
I let people feel it.
Happiness. Tears. Fear. Relief. All of it is okay. All of it makes sense. And none of it means something is wrong.
My job in that moment is not to rush past it. It is to let them know they are alright. That feeling everything does not mean they are falling apart. It means they are human.
That is what complex real estate deserves.
Not just a professional who can close a transaction.
Someone who understands what closing it actually costs.
Have you ever had a house feel harder to leave than you expected?
More on how we work through complex transitions: https://sterlingglobalrealty.com/?blog=y
Where excellence meets expertise.