Time for Beth to close the door

People: ZOE HAWKS

AFTER 22 years, Beth Chappell knew that the time for retirement had come.

So, last Wednesday, she closed the door on a successful real estate career.

“There haven’t been too many times that I haven’t wanted to go to work,” she said.

“But in the last year, I’ve been dragging my feet through the door.

“I started to feel like it was time,” she said.

Beth has seen many changes in her time at local company Elders.

Among those changes is house prices.

“When I was selling years ago, you could buy a decent house in Collie for $60,000,” she said.

Beth said she has also seen local houses change hands many times.

“Sometimes I've sold the same house two and three times over,” she said.

“I've actually sold to parents and then got to sell to their kids when they’ve bought homes.

“That’s been pretty special being able to do that,” she said.

Beth has become a trusted face in an industry not generally known for being trusted.

“It doesn’t have a good reputation the real estate business - same with car sales and lawyers. We’re in that same pool of negativity,” she said.

“But, it's not like that at all. It's what you make it.

“If you do it with honesty and integrity, you can't go wrong.

"You really put your own stamp on things, on how you want to do it.

“When you’re in a small country town, you know everyone and your reputation can precede you,” she said.

Beth said she has enjoyed the opportunity to build relationships.

“I have met lots of people that have become friends over the years,” she said.

“It's not just sell, list, buy then end of relationship.

“I always catch up with them and get invited back to see what renovations they’ve done, and what improvements they’ve made,” she said. Beth put her heart and soul into her work.

For the first five years of her career, she worked in property management. Then she moved into a sales role.

“The job is quite time consuming. It can be seven days a week,” she said.

“If you want to sell a house, people might be working through the week and need a weekend appointment to go and have a look,” she said.

“If it's not weekends, it’s after hours - so you’re often waiting for people to finish work.” high on that list,” she said. Beth said she is now enjoying the new freedom of retirement.

Despite its demands, Beth said she loved the job.

“There were days where anything that can go wrong, did go wrong but you just breathe through it and soldier on,” she said.

“There’s definitely more good things that have happened than bad.

“The property management was very stressful but as soon as I went into sales, I knew I was going to get my teeth into it and enjoy it,” she said.

And she was right.

Beth enjoyed it so much that she stayed for 17 years before the thought of retirement crossed her mind.

“It’s not that I wasn’t enjoying the job, but it was time to do other stuff that’s not work,” she said.

“I love it. I’ve joined the local golf club,” she said.

‘grey nomad’ thing and hook off and see a bit of the world,” she said.

“I’ll probably flit off and do things with girlfriends and for myself while he’s working.”

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“You have a few things happen in life where friends get sick or you lose someone close to you and you start to prioritise what's important, and work is not

“I’ve been having lessons, so I wouldn’t call myself a golfer just yet. “It's lovely to go out and socialise and spend time with other people,” she said. Travelling with her husband, Bryce, is also part of her retirement plans.

“We've bought a caravan to do the

While travel plans are high on her to-do list, Beth said she has no plans to leave Collie.

“Collie will always be home,” she said.

“It’s only been just under a week, but I'm really content. I know I made the right decision at the right time.”

THE LOOKS AROUND BYSTANDER Help!

A local senior was having plumbing problems, so his daughter called the plumber, and drove to the senior’s house. As she arrived, she saw a snake on the driveway, and sent out a cry for help to her husband. Wait for the plumber, hubby advised. Plumbers carry tools. Plumber arrived to find wife hovering around the driveway, snake still there. Still, be- cause it was dead. He approached with a shovel, inspected it, picked it up and removed it from the premises. Tradies get things done.

Gen Z things

A local manager (a millennial) asked a young, Gen-Z staff member to organise a letter for the post last week. Manager grabbed an envelope and stamps, and gave some vague instructions about pop- ping it in the post. When manager came back from a quick bathroom break, GenZer was standing at her desk, looking a bit uncomfortable. When asked what was wrong, Gen-Zer held up the non selfstick stamps and, slightly red in the face, said, “What do I do with these? They won’t stick”. After the manager stopped laughing, she explained they needed to be moistened first.