I'm feeling nostalgic...don't really know why but I am.
I've been a real estate professional for 22 years now. I've been through many ups and downs...good markets and bad ones....been there... done that and got the T- shirt!
Over the years I've seen many agents come and go...the lure of "easy" money and then the reality of having to really work hard to earn that easy money sets in and poof their gone!
Years ago I once trained an agent who after sitting through 2 weeks of our company's new agent training program thought he knew it all. I thought to myself...I'll give him a month. His first customer did him in...he showed her four houses and refused to show her more...he thought she should just buy one of the four he showed her and she should be grateful that he had taken the time to show her those four. What did she expect that he would cart her butt around until she found something??? He lasted 3 weeks.
Another agent didn't understand why he had to be available to show homes during the customers schedule...he wasn't wasting his weekends with Looky Lou's.
One guy told me point blank that he couldn't stand real estate agents...he had all sorts of degrees and certainly knew how to sell real estate...he didn't want to waste his time participating in training. After all he had sold many of his own homes without the help of an agent...what was it that I could teach him that he didn't already know...I wonder what he is doing today?
Then there was the nurse who left a highly stressful career to do something "easy"...she needed to remove all
the stress from her life and real estate sounded like fun!
The guy that takes the cake was in his late 50's, he sat through training...a good student, watching everything I did. This was the days of the floppy disks...Bill Clinton was president...remember those days? Anyway after training was complete, he came up to me and gave me a floppy disk labeled "Monica" and told me I left it at his house. I had never been to his house and reminded him of that and that my name was not spelled Monica with a c but Monika with a k. It didn't matter he insisted it was mine and left it on my desk.
Much later I decided to play it and see what in the world it was. I was pretty grossed out as it was full of pornography... an X rated spoof of Monica and Bill Clinton. It really grossed me out and made me wonder what he was thinking about all those times he sat in class watching me. Yuck!
The list is endless...and it always bothered me to see someone spend $1,000 plus just in start up money just so they can do real estate and last less than a month. They were clueless about the reality of being a real estate agent.
What does it take to be a good real estate agent? What would you look for if you were to hire an agent to represent you? Can you describe you ideal agent?
Often I've wondered what special attribute do you have to have...to love this business.
I've never been lucky enough to get rich in this business.
I've missed more family time than I care to remember. My kids had to learn to accept that mom might jump in the middle of dinner or laugh when they cut into their birthday cake in front of all their friends to find somehow the table spoon got baked into the cake...mom must have had a real estate call in the middle of mixing the cake and forgot about the spoon.
Just what is that makes us a good agent?
I may not financially be rich but I am rich in many ways...I've helped shape the future for many people...helped them be able to create memories and achieve the American dream of home ownership. I'm a damn good agent...I know my stuff, I'm ethical even when no ones looking and I love what I do. Is that enough?
What makes you a good agent? What sets you apart?
Monika McGillicuddy
Serving Southern New Hampshire and Rockingham County
Monika McGillicuddy Real Estate Training Website
Hampstead NH Real Estate
603-548-7728
put yourself out there. :)
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