So the real estate game keeps going. As a semi-established realtor, my eyes are opening up to see the job in a way that I never did from the outside. It's a job with few guarantees.
As a new agent, the big hurdle is showing up to an empty office and asking yourself, "What do I do?"
I hear that before COVID offices were bustling and phone calls would come into the office for agents to answer. Everybody got "floor time." A time to answer the phone and pick up leads.
These days most real estate agents work remotely. Before, all of the listings were in a physical book you would have to flip through in the office to find a house for your client. Now everything is online. You can find every house for sale in the country on your cell phone, and so can all the buyers. These days, many buyers are very aware of what's on the market and what they want to see before even speaking to a real estate agent.
It's a different world for realtors.
I've found that there is a culture of training and learning in real estate. Most realtors have coaches and there is a big push to read all the latest business books. There is a push to use all the newest technologies. In a job where a small percentage of the workforce makes the majority of the money, there is a large pool of people looking for guidance on how to break into that group.
There is a whole business of services that cater to real estate agents. Coaches, training events, seminars, not to mention all the vendors like stagers, photographers, and people offering to help with marketing.
A lot of people have a head start in the business. That could be family connections, advice, or even certain pressures or professional and working experience.
One thing that strikes me is that real estate agents can be competitive. Many agents see the client pool as a limited resource. To them, the real estate game is a zero-sum game.
"Every client you get is one less potential client I get."
I can see how people may fall into that. I'm not one of those people. And I'm not saying that to brag.
Real estate has been very good to me. In a tough job market post-COVID, they took me in, gave me somewhere to go every day and people to see every day. I love that it gave me motivation to reach out to people. It helped me bring out the most social part of me.
I think if somebody wants to work with you, it's because they feel comfortable with you. They feel like they can trust you and they can interact with you.
After being a realtor four years and counting, newer realtors start out and I try and let them know what will give them the biggest head start and give them the most realistic expectations.
There are no guarantees in this job. It can be lonely and isolating if you choose to work it that way. There are a million people with answers, trying to sell you answers, to the question of how to make this job work like in the movies.
I don't think anyone knows exactly what's going on.
I'm just going to keep showing up and let you know what I find.
