Time for Realtors to Face REALITY?

ARE WE THERE, YET?

The talk I keep hearing is that while things have spun 180 degrees from a Seller's Market to a Buyer's Market we still don't quite know fr sure if we have reached the bottom...yet.

Currently (and that's all that really matters) sales are on a pace that is 25% lower than last year at this time. And by all accounts last year was the slowest year anyone every remembers seeing.

So if we're not at the bottom, I sure hope we can see it from here!

This has been an extremely challenging time for all of us in the Real Estate Industry. Everyone has been feeling the pain - not just Agents - but also Loan Officers, Title Closers, Home Inspectors, Decorators, Moving Companies, Builders, the list goes on and on.

There have and will continue to be casualties. People are leaving the profession seeking something more stable, and I can't say I blame them. These are scary times.

But those of us who have been in it for the long haul and are determined to stick it out do so because we believe that this market, like all markets, is cyclical. There will be brighter days ahead.

I know a lot of people out there -especially the "Freakonomics" fans - are taking some delight in the current situation. To them, all of us over-payed agents are now getting our "just desserts." The "free ride" we have been enjoying for far to long is over. Time for "Realtors to Face Reality?"

And I can understand these sentiments to a point, only because I remember what the profession looked to me from the outside. But once you live it, and your livelihood depends on it, you really see it an entirely different light. We work solely on commission and if a deal doesn't close -for any reason- we don't get paid. We are all splitting the commissions that are paid with the participating agents and their brokerages and once we get our piece of the pie there are marketing bills to pay, taxes, health insurance, social security, transaction fees, desk fees, and any other business related expenses.

There's not an agent I know who doesn't feel the stress and strain of sweating out deals that we NEED to close from time to time, no matter how big a profile they have, the fancy car they drive (likely lease), and how "successful" they appear- you're always only as good as your last CLOSED deal.

It's definitely not for everyone.

Now I know this might sound like POOR ME and maybe it is a little bit, but I genuinely believe most people have very little idea how our job works. We put our clients first, working evenings, weekends, holidays, late into the night in an effort to provide them with the best possible service.

And sometimes despite our best efforts the deal still doesn't work out, financing falls through, a buyer get cold feet, the market grinds to a halt, a house doesn't pass the inspection...

That's when we pick ourselves out and charge back into the game again, head held high, smile on our faces, stepping back into the void and hoping, visualizing, planning, striving, working for the best.

So the next time you meet some agent at an Open House and they seem a little too friendly or a little too desperate to get you attention or your business, at least now you might know why. And maybe knowing what you know now you'll see just how determined we as Agents are to do our absolute best for you.

Well, I think that is true for most of us anyway.

I'd love to read your comments on this. Please leave them below. Thanks!