This housing market is no joke — unless you’re a seller laughing all the way to the bank. We checked in with Marty Krieger, an agent with Russell Real Estate Services by day and comedian by night, for help on keeping one’s sense of humor in the face of rapidly escalating prices, low inventory and insane bidding wars.
What’s your advice for buyers?
The best tool they have is knowing what their buying power is. That falls on the agent and their loan officer to explain. Understanding the numbers can relieve some of that anxiety and some of that stress.
Can humor help?
It’s been a coping mechanism of mine forever — to be able to bring levity to a situation. I use it to get them to turn the corner on a situation. Ok, this stinks. You didn’t get the house. We can wish something horrible on people or move forward. Let’s look at something else.
How fast do you have to be these days?
If the house is in really good condition and if it makes sense, they’re going to have 30 minutes. They’re going to have to come in with whatever their highest and best is.
How did you end up in real estate?
I needed a different career path. As a single dad, being a Realtor allows me to provide for my kids and gives me time to pick them up from school and get to games and theater performances. It also gives me the flexibility to do more comedy.
Does your real-estate work inform your jokes?
I crack on the fact that there’s a lot of people who got into flipping homes. You look down at the floor and you can see the sub floor. You see things like that and you say, ‘What are people thinking?' They literally cut corners.
Do you specialize in any types of homes or clients?
I’m a senior real-estate specialist. I joked last week about being the sandwich generation. Today it’s a kid at the dentist; tomorrow it’s mom at the cardiologist. Anyway, comedy comes from life and being relatable.
Where can we see you perform?
