The Buyer Asked Where the Sun Sets. I Froze.
I can tell you exactly where the sun sets from any dock on Lake Winnipesaukee now. But there was a moment early in my career when that question, asked by a buyer standing at the end of a dock, made me stop completely.
The buyer asked a perfectly valid question. I had plenty of experience fielding questions about beach access and dock rights. Sun exposure? Sunset orientation? That was a different level of lakefront expertise, and I was not there yet. I stood at the end of that dock and I had nothing to offer. The other agent on the transaction was Steve Bush from Maxfield Real Estate. He read the situation immediately. I was reaching for my phone, trying to pull up compass directions while maintaining some appearance of composure. Steve leaned in quietly and asked if I wanted him to take that one.
The graceful save
What Steve did in that moment was the model for how I try to behave when I see a colleague struggling in a situation I can help with. He did not jump over me. He did not make the moment about himself. He offered quietly and let me make the call. I said yes, and he handled it with knowledge I did not yet have. That transaction taught me two things that stuck. First, that waterfront expertise includes physical knowledge of the lake that only develops through time on the water and deliberate attention. Second, that professional collaboration between agents who respect each other is a resource, not a threat.
What I do differently now
Sun exposure is now part of my standard showing conversation for every waterfront property. Which direction does this dock face? Where does the afternoon sun land? Is the cove protected from the southwest wind that comes up in summer afternoons? Those are the questions that connect buyers to the actual experience of using the property. Learning to ask them, and to have real answers, came directly from standing on that dock and not knowing.
"The buyer asked where the sun sets. I froze. Steve Bush from Maxfield leaned in quietly and asked if I wanted him to take that one. That is the kind of colleague worth being."
Margot Skelley is a REALTOR at Compass Real Estate in Wolfeboro, NH, specializing in luxury lakefront and waterfront properties across Carroll County. She is the author of The Skelley Report, a monthly market letter published the first Friday of each month.