This is by far the most, well... for lack of a better word, interesting market that I have ever experienced in Real Estate. And, I've been playing in this Garner, NC sandbox for ten years now. I've not met anyone who has anything real (substantial, sure, actually going to close anytime soon) in a while. I thought I'd take this "downtime" to get my continuing education out of the way, make a switch to a different company and learn a bunch of new technology that might help but recent changes have me second guessing my decision to stay in real estate at all. Now, I love this profession. It fits all too perfectly into my lifestyle but I need more than volunteer work. I need a paycheck. How do you know when it is time for a change? After ten years, this feels more like a decision to get a divorce or not, than whether or not to switch professions. This is what I know. Do I really want to know something new at 40?
Well, my mom taught me a long time ago, that if a decision has to be made and it is not an easy decision to make, the most simple thing in life was to make a pros/cons list. Whenever I get stumped about something... or finding myself not sleeping and instead, blogging on Active Rain at 3:00AM, I always go back to basics! On the one hand, in the one column, I'm vested in Real Estate. I have dedicated a lot of time, money and energy to it. I know it. Just one sale...okay, maybe two, depending on your split, can cover all of your basic fees for the year. Anything over that is in my pocket. I basically work my own hours and if my kid is sick, I go home and work from there in between pediasure and tylenol rounds. On the other, in that other column, what is it costing me for the gamble that I may or may not get paid for my efforts? MLS and E & O fees, company fees, advertising, all of those cold and lonely open houses, floor & phone duties... time I could be spending with my family or even doing nothing! Or, time when I could be on another job... getting paid... for showing up. Oh, and there is the Board of Realtors fees coming due very soon, that enables me to be considered a Realtor vs just a Real Estate Agent as well as gives me access to the MLS? Just how much am I using that MLS lately? Hmmm? Could I really go back to punching in, a schedule, having a boss? Can I really deal with someone telling me that I could not have off that weekend in December when I usually head up to Virginia? There are definately some Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes coming?
Perhaps the answer is somewhere in the middle, in that grey area in between black and white. Perhaps the answer is to inactivate... but, just for a while. Watch the economy, see how it all plays out. Maybe reactivate in six months, or nine months, or in 2010. Let me see... can I say, "Do you want fries with that?"
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