Working as a solo agent is a decision TLW and I made a long time ago. We truly enjoy our freedom and personally I have a little bit of an issue with control. I am not good at delegating, so having agents and employees just does not work for me.. Since TLW retired from the active side of Real Estate about 5 years ago, I go it alone. The only downside to doing business this way is getting time off. I work out of my home and primarily with Sellers, so I don't really spend that much time away from my home. However, I do spend a lot of time on the phone. My Sellers are guaranteed that I will answer my phone 7 days a week from 8am to 8pm or I will call them back within one hour. I also, arrange all my own showings and handle all the contracts and paperwork. Usually, I have 20+ listings and try to call my Sellers daily. So needless to say I don't have much down time. I haven't had a vacation in seven years.
The way I work does have advantages though. I have the freedom to do what I want, when I want, when it comes to business. The money I save on overhead, by working from home, and not having a staff, is used towards marketing. So even though I am a one man office, I am able to spend thousands of dollars a month on marketing. This keeps the customers rolling in. I never have a problem getting business.
Anyway, today I made a decision. I have decided to take the rest of the week off and to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family. I will still have to arrange showings but judging from how slow the week has started, this won't be too difficult. So, I had to tuck all my Sellers in for the week. If I don't call them everyday, they worry about me. This is the E-mail I sent out this morning.
Good morning folks,
This is just a short note to let you know I am taking some much needed down time over the Thanksgiving Holiday, starting today, Tuesday the 21st. I will be back in full force on Monday the 27th. I will be spending time with my family. However, rest assured that if anyone calls wanting to see your property I will be taking care of it and will give you a call. I do not miss showings, EVER.
This week could go either way. I am expecting it to be very slow but you never know. There are a lot of folks in town over the weekend and some may be wanting to look at homes. So we'll see how it goes. My suggestion is to relax and enjoy this time with family and friends. Unfortunately, the Real Estate market is very unpredictable and this time of the year things are getting more difficult. As of this morning there are 1635 house on the market in Poinciana. This does not include For Sale by Owners or homes that may not be listed in the MLS. So in reality there are probably more like 1800. This figure is up 10% from 2 weeks ago. I currently have 20 homes on the market. On the positive side, all of your homes are priced properly and will sell in due course. As always, I will continue to do everything I can to make sure that that happens, sooner than later.
So folks, have a great Thanksgiving. Hey, at least we have homes to sell! That in itself is something to be thankful for.
Make it a great day!
Your friend and Realtor,
Broker Bryant
So what do think? Think my letter will work and I'll get a little bit of a break from the phones? Do you think I will be able to let calls go to voice mail? I sure hope so.
I can already smell the turkey.
**The photo is of 2 of our 5 grandchildren. Caleb Bryant and his new sister Jordynne Raine.
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