Caroline Ashe Your Source in Augusta, GA Real Estate July 28th, 2012
How Busy is a Realtor, Really?
Phone calls…text messages…emails…phone calls…text messages…more emails!
But that’s not all of it! Ever wonder what it’s like for a busy Realtor? In this post I am going to try and explain what a Realtor’s schedule really looks like and a glimpse into my days, months and years.
First, not all Realtors are busy. Period. Did you know the average Realtor, according to the National Association of Realtors, sells only 2 houses a year! Yep that’s right…2. I consider myself a busy Realtor so I feel qualified to give you a good idea of what it takes to make a living in the real estate business. FACT: The top 10% of agents in a given real estate market sell 90% of the homes.
As a busy agent I don’t have much time for myself so I start my day at 5:20am with a daily trip to the gym for spinning and training with a personal trainer. It’s honestly the ONLY time I have when the calls, emails and text are not distracting. After the gym I’m home and showered by 8:30 before the phone to start ringing at 9AM on the dot! I don’t know why 9AM is the universal time for “not to early to call”, but it is…and so the work day begins.
I always have a well laid out plan on what I want to get accomplished in the day, but the one thing to know about real estate as a career is you need to be flexible and ready to change gears at a moments notice. So from 9AM to 10ish I’m normally in the office doing a number of other task. Here’s just a few: listing new property, downloading pictures, updating all the gazillion social media sites, returning phone calls, answering emails, writing amendments, placing advertising and hopefully making a lot of deals happen.
As a busy realtor, I am normally working 5-6 buyer clients and on average 20-25 seller clients. In the course of the day I wear many hats including financial advisor, marriage counselor, babysitter, dog walker, cleaning lady, good-cop and bad-cop (sometimes), but ultimately I’m a problem solver and a damn good one I’m told. This is one of my favorite aspects of being a busy Realtor, you give me an issue and I will find a solution! A good agent is a GREAT PROBLEM SOLVER!
In the middle of remembering to call back, answer and meet everyone I can…I stop to eat a quick lunch. I stopped doing the hour-long lunch a few years ago…it’s just not productive for me. Believe it or not I do not show houses everyday of the week…thank heavens! When I am showing I try to pack it in and my schedule is usually 3 an hour and I try not to do the marathon showing of 20 houses in a day. I’ve found that the houses begin to “run together” for buyers and if they are not taking notes it too can be counter productive.
My late afternoons are usually filled with more of the same with the added task of getting ready for the next day. Fridays are a little different because I’m usually holding an open house or two on Sunday and Friday is the day I make the invite calls and emails along with getting my materials together.
If I have no evening appointments my day is done by 5:00 or 5:30, but if evening appointments are set I’m finished by 8:00pm. These make for long days, but I’m doing a job I really enjoy so that makes it well worth it! Weekends are not my own and it’s usually a steady stream of calls and house showings. It’s true that Realtors work when others do not, so holidays are not off limits either. I may get Thanksgiving and Christmas Day truly off.
As I said before, I do take time for myself. I feel it’s what has kept me going after 10+ years in this business. I take 2 personal days a month, one to get a massage and the other to get my hair cut. Girls, you know how important those hair appointments can be! I attend church every Sunday and I see a therapist at least twice a month. I firmly believe in making myself the best I can be and that includes mind, body and spirit. I do all these things in order to be at my best for the people who choose to do business with me.
The word vacations brings joy and panic to a busy Realtor. Getting prepared to go on vacation takes double the work as a regular week and sometimes I think, “maybe it would be easier for me to just stay home!”, but one long vacation a year is another priority I take seriously. When I say long I mean 10-14 days and usually out of the country so I can’t be easily reached. I have a travel bug and real estate hasn’t stopped that yet! So I continue to plan my dream trips and I work hard to enjoy them.
This should give you a good picture of how a busy Realtor spends there time. This business is not for everyone, but for those of us that love it…we LOVE IT with all we have!
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