change. redirection. focus. family. strength
Where to even begin? What a strange time we are living in right now. Constantly feeling like we are all stuck in a bizarre movie plot.
Changes are going to happen - are happening. For me, the change had already begun before we ever felt any impact from covid-19. As much as I absolutely love creating and doing macrame, it just wasn’t enough to help my family and be where we want to be. Don’t worry, I’m never going to stop, it just won’t be in the forefront like it used to be. I’m sure many of you don’t know, but I’m also assistant to my realtor husband. I do a lot of the behind the scenes stuff you don’t see. We also renovate and flip houses when the market is right and things align for us - between Shaun and I, the skills/professions we have are contractor, development consultant, interior designer, realtor, property manager, artist….
We had just sold our house and thought we were moving back up to Whistler (I grew up there and Shaun lived there for over 20 years), when things didn’t go exactly as planned. We know all too well that’s part of the real estate game and you have to be prepared for quick changes. We had to let go of the new ‘project’ house because it was going to stretch us just too thin and involved more work than what we wanted to do right now. In hindsight, I’m extra glad that we backed out with everything that is going on with covid-19, I can’t imagine trying to make that work right now! So thankful.
In the meantime, we had to be out of our house because the new owners were taking possession so we packed everything into a seacan and a storage unit and continued to figure it out on the fly. Our kids are such troopers. I did my best to pack suitcases with the things I thought we would need to live for the next couple of weeks (not knowing the pandemic that was about to hit). Lucky for us, a house in Squamish on our choice street in our favourite neighbourhood came up for sale and we were able to purchase it - the only catch - we don’t get possession until May 15. We are totally set for skiing, winter, March break, the kids going back to school….. it is now April, the ski hills closed, the kids are still home and the warm spring weather is upon us.
The four of us, five if you count Sunny the dog, are now in a two bedroom rental with just those suitcases I packed (and maybe a bike or two ). If I knew we were staying in Squamish, if I knew the ski hills were going to close, if I knew the kids wouldn’t be going back to school after spring break, if I knew real estate was going to slow down, if I knew it would be a few months until we were into our new home, if I knew we would have to ‘stay home’, I most definitely would have packed differently.
I am absolutely missing my macrame right now - it would be the most perfect time to create and not feel guilty about just staying home and crafting. Sadly, my studio and supplies are all still packed in boxes (and are at the very back of that seacan I mentioned) so I’m unable to get access to them until the middle of May.
In an attempt to still be productive in this strange world we’re living in and because I don’t have my macrame to distract me, I should be able to focus on Real Estate. With interest rates so low, it would seem a great time to buy, but with the future unknown a lot of people are holding tight and have basically hit the pause button. Still, there is branding, social media, websites, client updates, filing….. and now homeschooling.
If I had to be stuck in isolation, there’s no one I’d rather choose than my husband, business partner, co-parent, business driven, self motivating Shaun. It is inspiring to watch him navigate this crazy time and never give up. Always working, always planning, always dreaming. There will be a way.
The personal plug because I have to! If you need any help in the Real Estate world, I’m here to help. Buying, selling, commercial, leasing, mortgages, etc., we have you covered. I’ve taken over Shaun’s business Instagram (@shaungreenaway.realestate) if you want to follow along or you can contact me through this site, my cell 604-935-7737 or my other email is jenn.greenaway@gmail.com