I tried to help someone today. I was in a local real estate office (not even mine) and I saw an older Realtor® that I knew. He sold one of our old homes....15 years ago.
He looked the same, maybe a bit more worn. Probably worn out. He was surprised to find I was an agent also..and that I was having a great year. He has barely been hanging on the past few years (the bust of the boom).
He asked me to go to coffee. Even though my day was very busy, I went. There was something in his eyes that bothered me. As he's a gentleman, he ordered for us both and treated me. And we started to chat.
He wanted to know how I found clients. He felt that he had outlived, or out-used his Circle of Influence. Ah Real Estate 101....the Circle of Influence. He was finding that people were busy around him, but he didn't know how or where they were finding business because he wasn't finding it.
Over the following hour, I found out that he had no website nor web presence. He was barely able to log into an email account he had with the company. I talked about Active Rain, Trulia, Zillow....etc. but these were words he'd never heard of....much less what I was trying to explain. This was not his world. He told me that he still missed the listing books (before my time). He is comfortable with paper.
Before I left him I made him promise to set an appointment with the company webmaster and set up his free website. We'll see! But I know it won't happen. He wants to adjust, but probably can't. He talked about retirement and some time with his wife.....I hope he does it. This lovely gentleman...a true "gentle" man.....is still looking for a time and method which is long gone.
Time moves forward fast in the Internet Era.
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