A Real Estate Career Can Be Isolating Rely on Your Fellow Agents

A Real Estate Career Can Be Isolating   Rely on Your Fellow Agents

Sounds kind of crazy doesn't it?   A real estate career, Isolating.    Kind of flies in the face of what we do.   After all, we meet, we greet and we talk.  All day.  

But I believe that over the course of my career, the profession has, with the change in office structure and technology, become more isolating.   

The sharing of ideas and solutions once common place is now something that one has to seek out.  

Gone are the days when the broker/owner advertised listings that came into the office making it necessary for a Realtor to physically man the phones or the front desk in hopes of securing a buyer for a property or obtaining a new listing.      Today folks inquire about property by calling a cell number that is answered directly by the listing agent or team, or in even more cases an inquiry is sent by email or text.   No need for those agents sit at a desk waiting for the office phone to ring.    That means less office time and less face to face time with other Realtors.

Gone too are the days when agents flocked to the office in order to be the first to pick up the MLS "book" or to use a computer in order to keep abreast of the current inventory.    With the progression of technology came less need for agents to "preview" homes in a caravan.     All this eliminates the face to face interaction among agents.

Back in the day, these scenarios led to the networking of agents and the sharing of ideas or solutions to problems. 

Today's real estate agent works very hard at securing new business and keeping old clients.     But they do it in different ways.    Many, like myself work from a home office a lot of the time.   When not doing that, we are out on appointments with buyer and seller clients.    We spend little time with other agents unless we are involved in a transaction or promoting a cobroke.

With the excellent technology that we have today, the opportunity to meet with agents on a less formal basis has dwindled.

While we have become somewhat more isolated from face to face, day to day dealings with other agents, it is important to foster a network of agents that one can rely on.

Enlisting the advice or relying on the experience of another in your network is smart business.    It can be invaluable when looking to solve a problem or a help to simply cement your own ideas.    

Networking.. is not just for referrals!