Going the Extra Mile: What That Actually Looks Like in Texas Real Estate

Every real estate agent claims to go above and beyond for their clients.

You've probably heard it a thousand times. We put our hearts and souls into our businesses. We go the extra mile. We treat every client like family.

Usually, these declarations come accompanied by a stock photo of two people shaking hands in front of a house.

But “above and beyond” sounds a little different when you've actually sifted through rat shit for a client.

During COVID, I listed a home in Seguin, Texas, for an elderly woman who had moved to Chicago to live with her daughter. She had shut off the water and left most of her belongings behind.

The city's rats were delighted with this arrangement.

By the time I got involved, the house needed considerably more than a sign in the yard and an MLS listing.

I helped coordinate the entire cleanout. We figured out what furniture could be donated, what was too badly rat-damaged to save, and what needed to go straight to the trash. I personally sifted through things I would have preferred not to sift through to salvage pieces worth keeping and eventually staging with.

Then came painters. House cleaners. Landscapers. More coordinating. More cleaning. Staging. Professional photography. All while my seller was several states away.

And here's my favorite part: she had a daughter-in-law who was also a REALTOR® and lived about an hour away.

Some people can't mix family and business. That's okay.

I paid the referral fee.

Sometimes the Job Description Gets a Little Creative

Another out-of-state seller had a property in San Marcos, Texas, that had been poorly maintained. He already had contractors lined up through his property management company, so technically I didn't need to manage the work.

Technically.

Instead, I spent my time making sure shortcuts weren't taken.

Trash wasn't being hauled off. They didn't have proper disposal lined up. Paint overspray was left on windows. Things that were supposedly finished weren't exactly…finished.

At various points, I personally replaced filthy toilet seats, tore down a falling fence and hauled it away.

There may also have been a small, perfectly legal country trash fire.

The owner probably didn't need that particular update.

Finding Properties That Aren't Even for Sale

Then there are buyers.

I've spent months combing through tax records looking for properties that weren't sitting neatly on the MLS waiting to be found.

That kind of work doesn't photograph particularly well for social media. It's mostly me, a computer, public records, and an unreasonable number of browser tabs.

Sometimes, after all of that work, the buyer passes.

I've found off-market opportunities for people who ultimately decided they weren't interested, only to turn around and list the same property for the owner after telling the buyer I thought the seller could get more for it.

And sometimes the hours of digging turn into one of those transactions you remember forever.

Years ago, I found a couple a large piece of acreage in Guadalupe County, Texas, at a price I thought was an incredible deal.

At first, they were going to walk away from it.

I told them that was absolutely their choice—but if they did, they needed to tell me pretty quickly, because I thought I could turn around and list it for the gentleman who owned it for considerably more than he was asking them to pay.

They reconsidered.

They bought it.

They built a beautiful home there.

The sellers kept an adjoining 20 acres and spent their winters in a little trailer next door. They were some of the sweetest people you could ever meet, and somewhere along the way, the buyers and sellers became friends. I stayed in touch with the sellers, too.

Eventually, my buyers discovered that maybe living quite that far out wasn't actually for them. A few years later, they sold their beautiful home for an incredible profit.

That's still one of my favorite transactions—not just because they made a great investment, but because everybody walked away from the deal having gained something.

There. That's my Hallmark moment.

Don't worry. It gets less glamorous again.

The Less Glamorous Side of Property Management and Rentals

On some recent rental properties in Dickinson, Texas, I've installed two window unit air conditioners myself, pressure-washed the property, and scrubbed dog urine out of grout.

I've worked around insane Airbnb schedules. I've driven across town to deliver checks that weren't remotely my responsibility to deliver.

And then there's one of my favorite examples because the math makes absolutely no sense.

Finding Housing When the Traditional Rental Market Doesn't Fit

I work with a client who operates sober-living homes.

Finding suitable rental properties in Galveston, Harris County, and the greater Houston Bay Area requires a little more work than simply scheduling showings.

Before we even schedule a showing, I build spreadsheets of potential MLS rentals and screen them individually.

Then I start calling.

Every listing agent needs to understand exactly what we're proposing. I want the owner to know the intended use before my client ever walks through the door. There is absolutely no point in wasting everyone's time looking at a house if the owner is never going to consider it.

Just compiling the list can take several hours.

The phone calls can take days.

Because getting a busy listing agent to stop long enough to actually listen to an unconventional proposal—and then getting them to take that proposal to their owner instead of dismissing it outright—is its own job.

After all of that, we may eventually lease a house for around $2,000 a month.

My side of that commission might be about $1,000.

There are certainly easier ways to make $1,000.

But the work matters.

What Going the Extra Mile Really Means

I really do put my heart and soul into my real estate business.

Not because every transaction warrants that much work on a spreadsheet. Not because every commission check mathematically justifies the number of hours I put into earning it.

And definitely not because installing air conditioners or scrubbing dog pee out of grout was covered extensively in my real estate licensing courses.

I do it because once I've agreed to help somebody, I have a very difficult time doing the bare minimum.

Sometimes my job is negotiating a contract. Sometimes it's researching land records. Sometimes it's coordinating contractors from a thousand miles away.

Sometimes it's finding housing for people who aren't particularly easy to find housing for. Sometimes it's crawling through tax records looking for a property nobody has bothered to put up for sale.

Sometimes it's making sure a house looks absolutely beautiful before anybody sees it.

And sometimes it's standing in somebody else's filthy bathroom holding a brand-new toilet seat and wondering how exactly my career led me here.

Real estate is weird.

I think that's probably why I've stuck with it.

About Tinaya Sisler

Tinaya Sisler is a Texas REALTOR® with The Sears Group, serving Dickinson, League City, Galveston County, the Houston Bay Area, and Central Texas, including San Marcos, Seguin, Canyon Lake, and surrounding communities.

With more than a decade of experience, she works with buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants, specializing in unusual properties, land, off-market opportunities, and real estate transactions that require a little extra creativity.

Learn more at tinayasisler.com.