Musings from the World of Real Estate

Despite my love for real estate, I was hesitant to formally enter the industry.  I had poisoned my mind against it when I came to believe early in my career that real estate was where people were put out to pasture.  There is no barrier to entry, which results in far too many people getting into, and subsequently out of, a business they probably didn’t fully understand to begin with.  The bulk of people in real estate have come from other industries, many of which provide little to no transferable skills, or anything related to relationship building and customer service, and their experience does not translate well.  Others just do it as a side job or hobby, which just adds to the field of agents, making consumers’ decision on good representation extremely difficult.

Just because you flood the market with agents and your signs seem to be everywhere, it doesn’t mean that you are offering quality representation.  If you know anything about the structure of real estate companies you understand that each agent basically runs their own business, so the quality of your representation can vary widely from agent to agent.  This has now resulted in the latest trend of “teams” being formed within companies.  This puts the focus more on the individual agent and his team members within the larger organization, and the marketing of these teams can sometimes appear as if they are completely independent. 

There are many benefits to the scale, experience and network that a large real estate organization can provide, and if that is what suits you there will be no shortage of them willing to take you in as an agent or represent you on the buyer/seller side.  My preference has always been to create a powerful core, working with a manageable sized group of individuals who are focused on raising each other’s game to accomplish shared objectives- and provide clients with the best possible counsel.  To me it comes down to service…are you just looking for a place to sleep or accommodations more like the Four Seasons.  Obviously, expectations would be different in each case, as they should be, and it’s not different among real estate agents.  

As someone with a lifelong sales background I hesitate to even use the word “sales” when it comes to real estate.  My experience in sales has always been that the prospecting, connecting and cultivating of the relationship is the most difficult and time-consuming aspect.  Once that stage is reached it becomes exponentially easier to conduct a transaction.  In real estate that time line is greatly reduced as home buyers are easily identifiable.  Home sellers are what the best agents target, and while they are more challenging to uncover, it still pales in comparison to making traditional cold calls trying to sell a product or service.  To me real estate is more of a counseling relationship- and probably should require a degree in psychology- than anything to do with sales.  One exception being negotiating skills, which are proving to be invaluable.  

I am always stunned at how practically every agent I meet is focused on money.  The numbers are there for everyone to see- and if you like to be judged solely on that, the scoreboard is not hard to find.  It’s easy to make assumptions based on numbers, but true sales people know that there are so many circumstances in play that dictate results.  For me, I am not in the business for the money alone.  I get my fulfillment from the satisfaction that I have impacted peoples’ lives in a positive way, and somehow the money has always followed.  That is how I am wired and some things you cannot change.

Maybe people in the industry will take offense to these opinions, but that has been my experience to date.  There are agents who take the representation of clients and providing critical information as a badge of honor, and accept the fiduciary responsibility and all that comes with it.  They understand how to treat people with respect and dignity while asking the type of questions that enable them to put their clients in the best position to succeed, and following up to ensure goals are attained.  Those are the folks I seek out, so if that is your preference, please look to myself and our group for assistance in any way.