Sleepless broker fighting to hang on amid recession
Sales in the Issaquah Highlands were supposed to be booming. But in a market in which low prices and for-rent signs prevail, they've gone bust.
Scott Gibbons of Plateau Real Estate used to sell homes from his Park Drive office. Now he's selling three homes of his own.
"Like a lot of people, I probably bit off more than I can chew. I invested in several properties over the last two years. Now I find myself doing everything I can to hang on," he said.
In the last five years, Plateau Real Estate sold more than 130 homes. This year, it sold only eight.
Last week, Gibbons sent out an SOS e-mail to his old clients, pleading for new business. He told them, flat-out: times are tough.
"I'm not asking for their pity; I'm just asking for their consideration, and sometimes that's all it takes," he said.
With low rates and tax incentives, Gibbons was hoping things would turn around quickly. But so far, he's gotten no new business.
Gibbons admits he stays up at night, wondering whether it's time to get out of the real estate business. At 48, he's working to reinvent himself.
The veteran realtor now lists his properties on the Web and blogs about life on the Highlands.
"Ask me a month ago what blogging is, and I couldn't tell you," he said.
But he hasn't tossed all his old ways, either. Gibbons continues to advertise in the community paper.
For three generations, real estate is all his family has known. Gibbons' name hangs in front of homes worth millions, as well as more affordable town homes. Times may be tough, but he's not ready to give it up yet.
"I'm sticking with it. I'm going to stick out till the end. I'm going to see it through. I am determined to do that," he said.
Things may very well soon turn around for Plateau Real Estate. The agency is scheduled to be featured on the cable channel HGTV on Thursday.