My sister is a doctor, both my brothers have their masters degrees. I graduated from a 4 week real estate program!
I don’t get any respect. Even though I have a bachelor’s degree and years of experience as a Vice President of Marketing, Entrepreneur & Communications Expert, when I mention to you that I am a Realtor, I see you pull away. I know you’re thinking, “Oh, great a pushy sales person who makes too much money for doing something I could easily do myself” Perhaps I am a glutton for punishment, or maybe I won’t feel I have actually ‘made it” until I convince the naysayers and the negative Nellie’s and those who think-‘I could do that job easily’ that being a Realtor is hard work, and everyone needs a good one when buying and selling property. In this economy, more than ever, a good Realtor is required, not just to get a deal, but to get any deal done and closed! Let me tell you why.
We don’t have to go to school for very long to get our license, but we are not just well dressed sales people driving nice cars. Yes, many of us do drive nice cars but we do it because we practically live in them and we spend more time in them than our offices and they are what you see and often judge us by. If we drive less than a great car you figure we aren’t successful enough so perhaps we can’t sell your home. If we drive too nice of a car, you assume we charge too much and are only in this for the money. But in reality, when we are driving you around all day, if there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable or to make the difficult and grueling process of trudging through houses all day easier than we will do it. And if that means investing in a car with seat heaters and a TV to entertain your kids, that is what we’ll drive! And we dress well because we are professionals. For many of us this is our second or third career and we were previously “tops in our business’ career people. This is our career, our passion, our calling. We take it seriously. We want you to take us seriously as well.
Yes, we know you can access a lot of information online. You can also look up all kinds of symptoms for diseases on line and perhaps have a good idea what you might have before you make your appointment, but that doesn’t make you a doctor or give you the knowledge you need to treat the disease. I know, I know you are thinking “She isn’t seriously comparing herself to someone who saves lives, is she?” Well if you have ever talked to someone who lost their home because they were in a house they couldn’t sell because they bought directly from the builder without using an agent and thus didn’t have anyone to tell them not to buy the first home at the entrance into the development that also backs to the main road that goes through the community. Or that they of course should have it inspected even though it is new construction and later found out it had structural problems and are now facing foreclosure because they went broke trying to fix it and now can’t sell it. They will tell you that having a Realtor would have made at least a life changing difference
So maybe the comparison to a Doctor was stretching it, but we are more than just real estate knowledge providers, we are real estate knowledge analyzers. I spend my free time reading real estate periodicals, watching real estate news updates, listening to economist speak and deciphering what changes in the market means to your neighborhood, your real estate and how I can best help you make good decisions with your real estate investment. I do so much more than just sticking a sign in your yard or opening a door so you can look at a home for sale. If that was all there was too it, there wouldn’t be so many people who went to real estate school but NEVER did anything with it or dropped out in the first year. The National Association of Realtors Member Profile showed a whopping 42 percent of Realtors with two years or experience or less grossed less than $10,000 in 2006, while only 13 percent of those with three to five years experience made that amount. Wow!
Would you even apply for this job posting. REALTOR: Work nights, weekends, and many holidays. Absolutely no benefits. Drive your own car, buy your own computer, pay your own marketing expenses, find your own leads, no 401K, no retirement. Pay your own taxes and all of your own expenses and have people constantly trying to cut your salary by at least 33% (yes that is what it is when you ask me to reduce my commission by 1%. It is a 33% reduction in my salary.)
But I went off on a tangent, as I so often do. Sorry. This was supposed to be about respect. I not only know how to sell your home, I have spent countless hours learning how to build a house, so when we are searching for your next home and you say, well if I just opened up this wall, I would like it better or I would love it if it had a new kitchen, I can give you a good idea if those plans are possible and cost effective. While you might buy 2-6 homes in a lifetime. I do that in a quarter. And as much as I would like to say I don’t take it personally when friends and former clients don’t call me and tell me they are thinking of buying and selling. I do! All I ask is for a chance to interview for the job. If you choose someone else because you think they can do a better job, then, oh well, bummer for me. I have not gotten jobs before, and I am sure it will happen again. But when I don’t even get a chance to apply, I am seriously bummed! I just hope you understand, this is my career. It is what I do to make money, to put food on the table.
Do I give free advise? You bet! Some of my clients I work with for 2 years advising them on what to do to their home to get their greatest return on their investment for when they want to sell. But please realize that if after that time, you decide to use the lady down the street or your friends cousin without even a courtesy call to me, I will be hurt. It will be difficult to understand. This business is built on relationships and I value mine greatly. I spend a lot of time on them, I nurture them, I cherish them and I hope they “Feel the Love” so to speak! and in return I only ask that they give me the the opportunity to apply for the job! And come on, give me some respect! Especially these days when the woman at the McDonald’s drive through is making more than I am, and she gets benefits! And if you have worked with me before and I did a good job, think of me when your friends and family are talking about making a move. I will be so grateful for your referral, you have no idea!
I know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well call me crazy, because I am going to keep selling homes and doing a great job for my clients and even if it is only one client at a time, I WILL eventually change people’s minds about the value of a Realtor! I will earn their respect one client at a time. Give me a chance to earn yours! Call me at 720-422-0950. To learn more about how I do business watch my video profile at www.mediamaxvtours.com/jill
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