Are you a Realtor or a Freelance Project Consultant?

Since the times of "Wine and Roses" have left us in the real estate industry (at least for me right now) I have decided to go back to the JOB world and to my previous profession, Project Management.  But I had to pause and ask myself - "did I ever leave it?"  Funny question I know but the more I thought about it the more I was able to draw parelles to what I have done before to what I do now.  You, Mr/Mrs/Ms Real Estate agent might be surprised at the answer...

What Is a Project?

A Project, by definition is a "Temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result."  And by "temporary" we mean it "indicates a defininite begining and end".  Well, you can certainly put a real estate transactioin into this catagory can't you? (Although, some of those clients that you have been nursing along for years now may not seem like there is an end).  Even though there may be repetative elements in our deliverables, or what we do, this does not change the uniqueness of every deal.  And the service or result is that they get a property, or have a property sold. (At least this is the ideal.)

With that in mind, and an understanding of what I have done in the project world in the past, I was able to define my work on my resume like this:

Fancy, I know, but with some new definitions I was able to work it out.  

Sponsor - What We normally call the client, who, in the project world is the one that is funding and has a vested interest in the end result of the project.

Project Charter - What you are trying to achieve, "buy or sell a property",  in what time frame, and for how much money, "what is their price range."  This we refer to in Project Scope and is the end result of the charter.

Aquisitions/Dispositions - Buying, helping the client aquire a property or Selling, helping a client dispose of a property

Managed Vendors and Stakeholders - Vendors are you title company, home inspectors, pest..., and Stakeholders are the other agent and the other agents client.

So when a recruiter calls me and ask what I have done for the current company that I am with I tell them that I am a Freelance Project Consultant that is called in to manage the aquisitions and disposition of assets for the project sponsors.  Because, that is what I do.