Home : Blogs : Ted J. Williams : Ted J.'s Blog

The Future

I am new to ActiveRain, and have been following a few of the blog entries, and one which saddens me a bit was reading about some of our fellow Agents who must leave the Practice to survive. I do wish them well, and can understand completely because not even companies, namely Foxtons could survive on commissions that didn't pay to keep the lights on. Doctor Phil says it best, "We teach people how to treat us!" I think if we all remember, and remind our clients/customers that they have a job which they do and have been trained for, so have we as Real Estate agents. We have been trained, and more than most need to be "licensed" to do what we do. Going into the New Year, I think, if we all just remember "who" we are, then we will get the respect that we deserve as practitioners of a worthy profession, which contrary to some popular opinion can not be done by anybody.

Posted by Ted J. Williams on 12/18/2007 03:27 PM

Comments (44)

Generate short URL

44 Comments on The Future

DEC

2007

Welcome and very well said. Thanks for your post.

Ted - Great post and welcome to ActiveRain. I hope you find AR very rewarding!

Hi Ted, Agents are expected to leave the buisness in droves..but they came in droves, so it makes sense. Real Estate can be a tough buisness and you've got to take the difficult times with the easy ones to make it.

Ted, Welcome, nicely put. Today on AR I was surprised by the anger coming from a mortgage broker who said real estate agents are just sales people and we do not have the right to compare ourselves to doctors or lawyers. I think mortgage brokers are under a lot of pressure, too. I hope that we can all come to understand one another's situations when the time gets tough rather than putting each other down. I do think of myself as a licensed professional and this requires me to put my clients' interests ahead of my own, even when that means that I have to forgo a commission check.

Ted,

Great to see you come on board AR. It's sad to see so many agents and originators leaving the industry. Perhaps if they had joined AR they could have generated the marketing muscle to allow them to make it in this tough market. Welcome.

Well said - I know of a few agents that should get out of the business.

It would be beneficial to the industry if part of the education is how to thrive in every market. A lot of people jumping into a busy market didn't even realize that Real Estate, like many other industries, is cyclical. When the market is trending toward either end of the spectrum there are professional ways of handling business, and it is the professionals that will last. There are always people buying and selling, its just a matter of connecting with them and providing them value.

Good post. I agree that the education to get a real estate license is sorely lacking. You really should have training on how to run a business, because that is how you have to treat it. In my market, many agents are getting second jobs to weather the downturn.

Ted, welcome to Active Rain!

Well said! Rodney Dangerfield said it all: WE GET NO RESPECT!

Many should be leaving but hopefully those who are very good will weather the market...

Hi Ted,

Welcome to AR! Part of my family is originally from Staten Island...and I mean OLD Staten Island. My great grandparents were there in the early 1900s.

Welcome to AR! I think you need to put all the real estate professionals that are having to make a change in the same boat. I know in Santa Barbara we are seeing some good hard working professionals forced to leave our industry.

Another welcome Ted, I watched them build the Verrazanno bridge from the windows of my high school classroom at Lafayette HS in Brooklyn

I was glad to see this post has been Featured.

I've read quite a few posts on ActiveRain by members who seem to be saying "good riddance" to those forced to leave the industry. Many of those same posts argue that only the good will survive, that people who have had to exit the real estate business are all somehow inferior.

I don't buy the claim that only good agents will remain when the smoke clears. There are good people suffering as a result of the market shakeout.

Ted- Im glad that the market is correcting itself as many people jumped into Real Estate for the fast buck. Those that are surviving hopefully will be respected and professional.

Great post and THANK YOU Eric. I have been in the business for over 10 years and have seen some of the up & down through this time. HOWEVER, this is really a horrible time in our profession and there are a LOT of GREAT Realtors in my area of North Texas (rural area with lots of ranch land) feeling the bite. We have monthly get togethers in our area and I'm seeing several re-thinking their careers and some of these have been in the business for decades. I hate to think of losing their valuable knowledge and work ethic.

Welcome to the Rain. I hope you enjoy walking in the rain as much as I have.

Hi Ted - Welcome to Active Rain, and a nice job on your first post! We are all professionals, and this market has done a number on some, understandably so. I wish everyone well, and I hope we all have a wonderful 2008.

Welcome again,
Ann

Welcome. I have found that in real estate, like in life, 85% of success is based on attitude! Sounds like you've got a good one.

Welcome to the Rain. I loved your very simple yet very profound post.

It is a tough time in the business. Many people are being starved out. I am working twice as hard to make less. It is the price to stay in the business.

Welcome aboard Ted, pleasure to have you here.

Welcome Ted. Thanks for the professional manner in which your blog is written. Best wishes.

Ted, welcome to activerain and well said.

Welcome to AR. As a NEWB myself, this is a fascinating idea exchange marketplace. I know our state association (California) is expecting to drop 10% - 15% of our members this year. That's not totally bad because a lot of them weren't in the business as a career - they were just 'trying' real estate to siphon a few DNA sales from the rest of us when times were phat. (DNA sales = relatives). When I joined this board in 1994 we had about 450 members. The first time I chaired it in 2000 we reached the 1,000 member mark. I chaired again in 2003 and we hit 3,000. This year we peaked at almost 5,000 but our market produced only an average of 1.4 transactions per Realtor for the year, about a 70% drop.

One column I read yesterday said that this market stabilization will actually be good for the consumer because it will clear out a lot of marginal practitioners and get the market back to the professionals. I think there's some truth to that. It takes stamina, professionalism and a plan to make it through times like this. Welcome to the Rain.

Dear Ted,

I started in real estate a year ago in October. Everyone said "Boy, you picked the worst time to go into real estate!" I feel the opposite. I picked the BEST time to go into the business because this environment will keep me honest and make me a better agent. Those who jumped on the real estate bandwagon when even a monkey could sell a house are either getting better or have left the business. A real estate practice is not something you have overnight. It's takes planning, persistence, patience, and a good attitude. You seem to have all of those. I wish you the best of luck, and remember, tomorrow will be a GREAT day to sell real estate. We just have to adjust our thinking. Have a great holiday! (I'll be holding MORE open houses during this time!)

Scott

This is in response to the post from Gail Robinson in which she stated, "Today on AR I was surprised by the anger coming from a mortgage broker who said real estate agents are just sales people and we do not have the right to compare ourselves to doctors or lawyers."

So, after I cooled down, I figured for someone in an industry that has caused a lot of the current meltdown, this was a backhanded compliment. He is right because we are not sales people (we don't transfer ownership of inventory), we are Managers of a complex process with as many as 101 complex parts. Sales people in 99% of all other jobs don't have to be licensed. "And I don't have the right to compare myself to a doctor, or a lawyer?" Well, I wished he'd tell that to the Secretary of the State of New York when they start chopping me up under Article 12-A of The New York Real Property Law. The operative word being LAW.

Just as a doctor, lawyer, or stock broker, I can be the source to the source, but never the source. I tell all my clients that real estate is (as I see it) 85% law, 10% networking and 5% everything else and nothing in my eight years in the business has done anything to change my view. Sure there are agents that shouldn't be in the business, but there are a heck of a lot more who really treat this as a business and run it as such with real business plans. I don't know one successful agent who doesn't live on repeat business, referrals and team work.

People aren't stupid, and you won't be successful screwing up peoples lives. Frankly before real estate I couldn't spell "liability!" Now like my enemies, I keep it closer than my friends. Of course I can compare myself, but only to the good doctors and lawyers.

Hi Ted,

Welcome to Active Rain! The opportunities to learn and network are incredible here. Best of luck to ya!

-Keith

DEC

2007

Ted, Welcome to Active Rain, great post.

Well said!!

I think those really committed to this industry will stay. I too took a look at my career and made a conscious decision to stay. I deliberated for a couple months. Was I doing to do what it takes or find something else to do. I decided to stay and do what it takes and learn what it takes to make it. So it is back to basics and we are on the road again! Good post!

Welcome to Active Rain. It is a shame when anyone decides to leave a business because they can't make a living. There are plenty of people around the country who face layoffs do to downsizing and have to make some tough decisions about theirs and their families future. Not just agents. One of my issues with real estate "training" is that it is about teaching you to pass the exam and doesn't talk about running a business. As someone with 25 years of successful business experience I didn't come into real estate with just a piece of paper in my wallet that said I had passed an exam. Yes I had to learn about contracts (I mentored with good agents with 30+ years in the business) but I already understood what it would take to think like a business person and not just a someone throwing people into houses. So I expect to continue to be successful and will gladly mentor any other newer agent who would like to build a business

Ted, Congratulations on your first post being featured. I joined AR a year ago and my first post was featured as well although I haven't had a featured post since. I just wanted to let you know that having your post featured is quite an accomplishment.

It is unfortunate that some agents are leaving the business because they are unable to make a living. I think part of this is due to the fact that some agents look at selling real estate as a job and not a business. In a job you do your work and get paid for your labor a week or two later. A business may operate in the red for years before ever making a profit. Welcome to AR.

Thanks for the post. And welcome to A/R.

Great writeup I always knew you had it in you , this really came from the heart Good luck

Hi! Congrats on your first post.

Welcome to the site. There is a lot of reading on this site. I recommend that you read, read, read and then comment, comment, comment. There are so many different blogs to read. There are tons of topics out there from real estate, marketing, technology, seo, staging, mortgage, etc. It goes on and on. You'll start to get to know people and before you know it... you'll have figured out the benefits of the site.

Also check out Resources for the Active Rain Newbie.

Good luck!

Ted, I am a newbie to Active Rain as well so a mutual "welcome." Thank you for articulating so well the fact that being a good agent involves considerable professional training along with plain old hard work and commitment. I wish those that think we make too much money or that real estate is easy money could follow us around for a day and see firsthand how difficult our jobs really are.

Real estate is not a JOB......as many others have said, it's a BUSINESS and should be run as such. Any business person should have goals, projections and plans, etc. Fortunately the 'good' times outlay the 'bad' in the long run, when real estate careers are implemented professionally. As with anything, many have a hard time committing to something....especially when times get tough. Budgets are necessary with regard to real estate careers, as well as personal expenses. Every dollar spent needs to be justified, to a degree.....making certain it's a "need" verses a "want." Laziness as well as poor planning definitely gets in the way of any career. For those that want or truly need to leave the field.....it just leaves more business for the rest of us!

DEC

2007

It's happening here also. Hopefully some will come back when things get better.

Very True observations. Welcome to Active Rain and Best Wishes for a Success Filled New Year!

DEC

2007

Good Job Ted, and Never Surrender!

DEC

2007

The real estate industry is one based on the distruction of most of the new players each year. 29 out of 30 new agents fail each year.

DEC

2007

James,

All I can say is WOW! That's some statement. I have to ask why? Is it because the standards for entry have been too low, and driven by local boards need to generate revenue, or the States need to generate revenue? Or that folks get a license, are then dropped in the pot and left to swim on their own without further guidance? Or because it is called a "sales job", when it is really a management and consultant job? Or that folks getting into the business have no business experience?

If all of the above is true...who's at fault? If generating revenues is the deciding factor, we are losing more than we gain. If maintaining standards is desired we are losing more than we gain. If having the public believe in us as a group of respected professional, we are losing more than we gain, so I ask again..."Who's at fault?"

Ted

FEB

2008

Ted, it's good to see someone I know on activerain. Especially someone from business guild 3. Keep up with the informative blogs and I'll see you on Wed.-Frank Giunto, touchofthebrush@msn.comma

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?

Ted J. Williams

Staten Island, NY

More about me…

Safari Realty

Address: 1958 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, NY, 10314

Office Phone: (718) 442-5200

Email Me

Links

Archives

Find NY real estate agents and Staten Island real estate on ActiveRain.

Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.