Real Estate - Science or Art? Or both?

Way back when I started as a new agent, I was determined to Do It Right!  Coming from a variety of business backgrounds, I was sure that there was One Right Way to do things, and I was going to find it!  I kept asking my Sales Manager for checklists and things of that ilk so that I'd KNOW that I was doing it right.  She kept, very patiently, telling me that every deal was unique and that no checklist would fit them all, and trying to get me to relax and go with that flow. 

A little over a year later, I went to her door and said, "Hey, you know what?  No two deals are the same!"  (She very kindly didn't throw anything at me, perhaps because she'd learned patience over the years - she just laughed at me.)

Reading Active Rain, I often feel that there are agents, new or old, who, for some reason, never got that message.  We learn the bones of real estate, we learn the tools, we learn the statutes, and then we go out into the real world and use them to create art - the art of the closed deal.  And that takes being able to go with the flow - it's not just a matter of 1 + 1 equals two or two parts hydrogen plus one part oxygen equals water, but also of red and blue make purple, or the steps of a dance, while definite, combine in many ways on differing occasions to make a beautiful, graceful, and unique whole. 

Just as it takes science to create the paints or sculpting tools with which an artist creates a beautiful work, but it takes the vision and creativity of the artist, as well, in real estate, we take the tools created by "science" and work with the elements to create a successful conclusion to a real estate transaction.

So,if you're stressed out because you're not doing it just like someone else, or, worse, stressed out because someone else isn't doing it exactly like you are, and your way is Right, Darn It!, relax.  As long as you're behaving ethically and with the client's best interests right at the front of your mind, you're doing fine.  Remember, just as no two works of art are alike, each created with the same tools by different artists in different conditions, "No two deals are the same!"