visiting the rents

So, my mom had surgery a couple of weeks back, and I finally got a chance to get up here (New Jersey) to visit her for a couple of days.   I need to be back on Friday for a mandatory full-day rental transaction certification training class, so it will be a short trip, but it's enough.

 

Back in Maryland, I'm in this weird place where I have 4 transactions moving toward settlement with more than one of them on somewhat shaky ground.  Such an odd profession: you can bust your butt earning your paycheck, and then not get it in the end even if you were successful in your job.  But, it's the nature of the beast.  Honestly, in my opinion, the unlimited earning potential makes up for that.

 

I was talking to a friend of mine from college about things.  Trying to help a buyer continue to buy a house even when problems arise (and they always, always arise on some level) can be a rather precarious place.  On one level, I need to help my client keep the issues in perspective and stay with what they are committed to do.  On the other, I need to actually listen and empathize with their concerns.  On top of all that, the fact that I don't get paid if settlement doesn't happen looms over both of us as the elephant in the room.

 

After the many hours of seminars I've been to, I have come to be in agreement with those speakers that encourage the Realtor not to "take sides" as much as possible.  I need to represent the buyer.  As part of that, I need to constantly remind them what their major goals are, even if some of the minor ones are not going to be met in the process.  I also need to be very clear what their options are and the possible outcomes of taking the different paths they can take.  And, after that, I need to just let the chips fall where they may.  As any parent has learned with a child, the stronger I appear to be forcing something to happen, the more resistance I am likely to meet.  I tell my clients a lot that I can't (and won't) be any more committed to them buying/selling a house at any moment than they are.  It's not healthy for me and it's problematic for the transaction.

 

Not really sure what all of this amounts to...just thoughts skipping along my brain right now.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Peace,
Greg

I got an e-mail from a woman who was looking to become a Realtor with her boyfriend and she wanted some basic advise...here was my reply:

To answer the gist of your questions, I would just say that you need to know that real estate is not a get rich quick profession. I had experience in networking as a campus pastor (I raised my own budget) and sales and client-work as a personal trainer, and these experiences have proven invaluable in helping me get a jump start on most other new agents. Plus, I invested about $2,000 in education and seminars after getting my license to really help me learn the business. Overall, when you add licensing costs, the extra educational expenses, and marketing, I probably spent about $6K before I made a dime.

This might be something that one of you want to jump into, having the cushion of the other’s salary until you both can be in the business, but I don’t know your situation. The standard is that you want 6 months salary saved up before you switch…I didn’t have that, but my parents loaned me some money and I had my wife’s salary to support us until she just quick last week.

Where are you? If you wanted to meet at some point in person, I’d be open to that.

I hope this answered most of your questions, but don’t hesitate to ask me some more specific ones if I missed anything.

Peace,
Greg

In other news, two sales last Monday (one that still has some wrinkles to be ironed out before the contract is fully ratified), and a couple of more in line over the next couple of weeks. I am getting my newsletter together today, so I need to run.

-Greg

2 sales, 2 new clients, and the first day of school :)

So, Sara is at her first day of medical school today, which is kind of fun. :) Yesterday was our 3rd anniversary, and we were able to celebrate both with a few of her new classmates (and one other husband tagging along for the medical school ride) last night.

 

Meanwhile, I had two ratified contracts on Monday, and two new clients over the past 3 days, so I am busier than ever...plus a meeting at 6pm tonight that I have a couple of hours of prep work to do beforehand.  Hence, because of that (and because no new rants are pressing on my mind), I'm gonna have to run.

 

Peace,

Greg

faxing...faxing...faxing...

So, fax machines can be one of the most annoying parts of being a Realtor. I am waiting like an hour for 66-pages to magically appear in another place so I can get my little confirmation, which assures me that this hunk of machinery didn't decide to screw up from page 20 on just to let me know that it took itself 40+ more pages of "processing" and "memory in use" to figure out that it didn't do it's job right. Ah, technology.

So, having 66-pages to send is both a blessing (yeah, potential to get money) and a curse (boo, sitting at the office at 8pm waiting for a stupid fax to go through). It's all a potential major frustration because the contract may not be accepted, so you just spent an entire day carefully crafting 66-pages of what is ultimately only good for the recycle bin.

Anyway, I think we are on page 40 by now, so we are almost there...

Peace,
Greg