Editor’s Note: Our fantastic intern for this semester has been Juliana Kattos, who will graduate from Huntsville High School later this month before heading on to the University of Alabama this fall. This is a day-in-the-internship post she wrote about her work this spring.
As a Senior at Huntsville High School, I have had the option to use some of my remaining elective credits to work outside of school as a co-op student. This year, I took on an internship at VanValkenburgh & Wilkinson Properties.
This spring, as a break from office tasks, I was asked to “ride along” with a REALTOR® from our office to see what she does in a normal work day. The purpose of my ride along was to show me more about what being a REALTOR® means and what goes along with the job. I didn’t realize how much detail went into helping buyers and sellers buy and sell real estate!
(I also didn’t realize that the term REALTOR® is a trademarked title for an association of real estate professionals who have to follow a strict code of ethics on behalf of their clients. It always seemed strange to see the term in all capital letters, but that is part of the trademark…)
We started out at one of her new listings to see what happens when photos of a house are taken for an MLS listing. At this house, I learned that REALTORS® use staging to make their listings look their best in photos, since these photos are the first impression the buying public has of a property when it first hits the market for sale.
I saw that she brought in a few décor items to add to the photos to make the houses look more appealing. I even got to help place the items around the house as well as move a few pieces of furniture. This exercise was really fun because I got to input some of my thoughts about the revised furniture placement. I found it incredibly interesting to observe how the clients and the REALTOR® interacted and collaborated to help the client prepare the house be presented in the best possible way. Once our staging was done and the photographer completed his work, the REALTOR® and I left to go on another appointment to help a buyer finalize the decision between their 2 top choices.
