Until you start working in real estate, you have no idea how many hours per week the career truly entails, like how insanely late or early clients will call with urgent needs, how much you live in your car, and how novel the memories of a 9-5 are.
From the outside, it looks like you can do anything you want when you want, and yes, you have some flexibility, but successful agents are seriously devoted to working their tails off. Many sacrifices are made, meals missed, and the idea of a non-working vacation is not usually a reality for practitioners (even when there is an assistant and/or team at play, but there’s always something only you can answer).
You’ve changed a shower head in your client’s listing to appease a picky buyer and get the dang closing done, you’ve kept your promise to attend every closing (even on your wedding day – true story, my husband did that secretly).
The internet has only changed the process, not the number of hours worked. Technology has made Realtors more efficient, but as a population, you’ve just added more to your plate and worked even harder.
With the advent of smartphones and wifi, other industries have now adopted the same always-on pace and mentality, and it occurred to me recently that the entire workforce has now adopted the Realtor method of working all day and figuratively all night.
“So to the rest of the world, I say, welcome to the club!”
Veteran Realtors can tell you that the pace can be grueling, but that the concept of work/life balance isn’t some new wave buzzword-filled theory, no, it’s been the Realtor way for decades upon decades.
So when people complain on Facebook about their boss calling them for some arbitrary reason at 10pm, or complain on Twitter that a customer expected an instant response at 1am, just tell them gently, “Welcome to the Realtor way of life!” because you’ve been adapted since the day your license number was issued!
Lani is the COO and News Director at The American Genius, has co-authored a book, co-founded BASHH, Austin Digital Jobs, Remote Digital Jobs, and is a seasoned business writer and editorialist with a penchant for the irreverent.
