Many non-realtor people view realtor life as “seamless” and “glamorous”, some adding comments like, “I always wanted to be a realtor” or ” I am going to get my license and have your life”. One thing realtors are really good at is, making the job look easy. Many realtors drive sporty and/or higher end vehicles, are usually well-groomed and love to eat out a lot, giving the impression “they have all the time in the world”. What people do not see is the phone pinging and buzzing off of its edge, emails stacking and clients having anxiety attacks when their realtor doesn’t get back to them in five minutes and yes, realtors have anxiety attacks when they see their clients name on the display but are unable to answer because they are with a client; realtors have more than one client at a time. There is no 9-5 or weekends off in realtor life, there is rarely any downtime unless one is sleeping (and one could possibly dream about real estate!), at least not if a realtor wants to be successful. In the real estate world, to be successful is to put everyone but self first. There is no such thing as “time management”, in realtor life its “priority management”. Those romantic dinner dates with ones significant other? Don’t count on that going undisturbed. Those weekend hockey or soccer tournaments for ones 7 or 8-year old? Don’t count on attending, at least not without the possibility of losing a good chunk of one’s income (realtor life is 100% commission which only pays on the closing day of a sale). The average potential client gives a realtor 5 minutes to return a call before making a call to another realtor; is it wise to EVER turn off one’s phone? Don’t get sucked into, “the job is flexible, one is able to “make ones own hours”. Not completely true. One can make one’s own hours but, one will pay for doing so. Of course not all is lost, eventually, over time, when one develops systems and a good referral data base (5-7 years) one will have more control of their lives, but, count on the first 3 years to be a roller coaster of ” I have no money”, ” I cannot do this” to ” Oh my god, I can do this” to ” I am quitting” to “I love what I do”, all the while making the job look “seamless” and “glamorous”.
