I sometimes think my job is the best one on the planet; for me that is. After all, as a Realtor I get to do two of my favorite things almost all of the time.. hang out with and get to know lots of people for most of the day as well as keeping my head buried in my computer for the balance. Yep, I get to hang out and talk with people and play with my computer all day. What a life!
Of course if any other Realtors were ever to read this column, they'd all be screaming by now. Keep in mind I said that it's only sometimes that I'm so enamored with the lifestyle that I'm motivated to express such optimistic sentiments because the life of a Real Estate person is far more...complicated, lets say.
Some of my colleagues suggested that I do a little "Day in the Life" piece at some point, so just for kicks, I think I'll share with you one of my days in the life as a Realtor here in Central Oregon. The following is a summary of one of my days:
0430 am: Was rudely woken up when my ninety-something pound Labrador Retriever (Barney) made a spectacular flying leap from the floor to my body, complete with panicked barking and howling over a deer that had walked past the house. Got up, let the dog out. Climbed back in bed. I was thinking that the dog could stay out for a while.
0447 am: Woken up again by Barney barking outside my window, now wanting back in. Got back up. Let the dog back inside. Crawled back into bed.
0510 am: Phone rang; it was family from back east that can't seem to grasp the notion of time zones. Barney was barking again and bouncing around in a panic by the window over what, I can't imagine. My head began to pound. Let the dog out again and attempted to get off the phone as soon as possible.
0715 am: Got off the phone. I was up at that point. Decided to jump in the shower. Got undressed and started to get the water running in the shower.
0720 am: Halfway in the shower the doorbell rang accompanied by spirited POUNDING on the front door. Threw on a robe, and answered the door. It's my neighbor yelling something about the blankety-blank dog (Barney) who had not only knocked over my trash barrel and spread garbage all over creation, but had somehow done the same to his trash across the street. So-much for that fancy so-called "invisible fence" I had just installed and had assumed was working beautifully keeping the dog in the yard. Yeah-right.
0745 am: Finally finished both cleaning up the trash and chasing the dog all over the neighborhood while still in my robe. "Chase me" is Barney's favorite game. It wasn't mine that day. At least the neighbors were amused. I could tell by the laughter and round of applause I received after finally collaring Barney.
0830 am: While driving into work the cell phone rang. It's one of my clients asking if we could make another trip out to Christmas Valley to look at houses it seems he'll never buy. I said "Of course!" and suddenly my next Saturday was booked. At least I like the guy and it would be something to do. Was determined to find something that would entice him to buy.
0845 am: Visited one of my listings. Re-filled the flyer box. Took a look around to make sure everything looked OK. Everything did. I took a deep breath.
0910 am: Rolled into work. Another agent pounced upon me immediately asking if I could cover their "floor time" this afternoon. I agreed.
1115 am: After spending the last couple hours following up with several clients wanting property information, making new flyers, building a Virtual Tour on the computer for a new listing and fielding a variety of phone calls, I felt that maybe I'd caught up. Then my PDA alarm sounded reminding me that I had an appointment to show houses in fifteen minutes. I was caught totally off-guard. Yikes! It was time to scramble.
1135 am: Clients showed up, gratefully, five minutes late, in just enough time for me to plan the showings and make the necessary phone calls to get us in. Showings went nicely. They really liked two of the homes and I was excited.
1:00 pm: Got back to the office to take floor duty. This was good. I was thinking that maybe I'd have some more time to catch up with the work on my desk.
3:35 pm: Spent the last couple hours fielding more phone calls to the office. Pulled listing information on three properties and may have picked up at least one potential buyer that's serious. A walk-in showed up wanting information on our listings. Asked him if he was already represented. He said "Yeah, I've got a lot of Realtors out there looking for stuff for me.." I bit my tongue and give him what he wanted with my card included just in case he decided to commit to an agent. I knew however, that this rarely works.
5:25 pm: Started packing up my computer and other items I needed to look at when I got home when the cell phone rang. It was another agent saying that they'd be faxing over an offer on one of my listings. Cool beans. I called my client to say that an offer's would be on its way and I waited for it to come.
7:45 pm: The offer finally came. It's was a serious "low-ball," about twenty thousand less than the number I knew my clients would accept.
9:05 pm: Finally got finished faxing copies of this-and-that back and forth and making phone calls to everyone...and we were still not done, even though the deal would not be going anywhere.
9:45 pm: Finally got home. My pal Barney had been a good dog all day. Amazing. I was glad to see him and the bed shortly there after.
Yep, being a Realtor involves doing a lot of talking and a lot of playing on the computer. Just how much on any given day is what tells the whole tale.
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