I bumped into a Realtor friend of mine yesterday whom I hadn’t seen for a while. Like most conversations we started off by asking those ‘catching up questions’ like ‘how have you been’ and ‘how’s business’?
I immediately got the sense that she had had a few very hard months – she was wearing it on her face. That became even clearer when I saw tears appear in her eyes.
‘I can’t seem to catch a break’ she told me. ‘I have plenty of listings. As you know I’m a hustler when it comes to getting home buyers to work with me. I work so hard to come up with innovative solutions and bend over backward as far as I can to help my clients get into these homes. The problem is that during the past 3 months I have had 4 deals that have totally collapsed right before we got to closing. Nothing I could do about any of them. Circumstances just changed for the buyers and the agreements fell apart. Frankly, I’m not sure how much long I’m going to be able to stay above water.’
Sound familiar?
This is a woman that’s I’ve known for the better part of 20 years. She’s a go-getter. She understands this business and she really is an innovative thinker who puts together some really engaging web site for her listing clients and is always there for her buying clients. She’s also a true believer. She believes that the work she does can really make a positive difference in other’s lives. But now she’s running on fumes.
What angers me the most about her situation is that this is a woman who gets up every morning and works her ass off. She’s not sitting at home eating bon-bons and catching up her ‘soaps’. She in the trenches working hard hours doing everything she can to make it all come together and she stills need to rely on luck in order to make a living. It’s sad that somebody who works that hard is eligible for food stamps!
This situation just helps to reinforce my firm belief that the current model is broken. Real estate agents deserve to be paid for the work they do when they do it. Having to keep your fingers crossed all the time is a lousy way to make a living. Hey, here’s revolutionary idea – why don’t we find new ways to give home buyers the support they need without sacrificing the livelihood of the professionals who offer that support?
Yes, my friend has had few tough months and I wish her the best. Hopefully the next few months will make up for the past few but she has no guarantee even if she does the best job she can. It would be a shame to see a person with her skills and passion decide that she would be much better offer working the drive through window at a local fast food restaurant. But at least then she would be able to get paid for the work she does when she does it.
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