34 reasons why I love my real estate career

This current real estate market is _________________. But, regardless of how you finished that sentence I still love being a Realtor. Here are 34 reasons WHY.

1. I love waking up each morning knowing that no matter HOW much planning I do, my schedule will change at a moment’s notice. Apparently, I like living on the edge.
2. Being ill does not mean I will not make money. Enough of what I do can be finagled from the comfort of my own home … at least for a couple of days.
3. Real Estate makes me cry. I cry when homeowners, who have been religiously on time with their payments cannot re-negotiate their loans when they have been simultaneously laid off and their rate adjusts … even when their unemployment more than covers the original payment. I like being in a business that brings out the passion in me.
4. I love real estate agents. Yes, some of them are complete imbeciles – but they just make me look good. The good agents make the business fun.
5. I love marketing. Real estate marketing is constantly changing and I love learning all the cutting-edge tips and tricks.
6. Real estate will never die. I don’t care WHAT the market is doing, there is business to be had. Land cannot go away and people will want to buy and sell it.
7. I hold a HUGE chunk of people’s financial life in my hands. Scary as all heck, but it keeps me honest! … and I like being honest.
8. Real estate is what brought me into the world of blogging and social media. Now I have even MORE friends who think I am odd. I love you all.
9. Those months when I made nada zip zilch sure made me thankful for the months that I made more than some people do in a year. Learning to be thankful and learning how to stretch a dollar is one of the BEST lessons.
10. Real estate has created monsters out of my kids. My youngest one, at the age of 4, came back from a friend’s house and said, “Billy has a 4 bed 3 bath home with a finished basement!” and my oldest son wants to grow up to be a real estate agent so he can “play” on the computer and go to lunch with people every day. My kids amuse me in the name of real estate.
11. I create my own schedule and can be there for my kids, friends, and family when they need me.
12. The dynamic nature of this business keeps me on my toes. Shifting markets fling me from my comfort zone and into a place where I HAVE to be more effective for both my team and my clients.
13. Even though I do not want to LIVE in one, I like old homes. The Colorado Springs real estate market does not have a lot of old homes – but the ones that they DO are way cool. I never cared about houses until I became an agent.
14. I like roof lines. Again, I never cared about architecture until I became an agent.
15. I like solving problems and real estate is an all-you-can-eat-buffet of problems to be solved.
16. I LOVE teaching. I used to be in the Special Education field and although I LOVED it, it was not where I was meant to be. Now I am a real estate trainer, and I LOVE IT. Teaching other real estate agents how to be better at what they do is probably my FAVORITE part of my business.
17. Real estate gives me the opportunity to excel in my business without the fear of being outsourced, downsized, or fired.
18. All your base R belongs to us.
19. I love the business building, goal setting, and high-5 accomplishment camaraderie that real estate brings out in agents.
20. I love that real estate CAN BE a low-cost, high-revenue business… If you are smart with your business budget.
21. Derek really, really likes team-building and mentoring other agents. I like that about Derek, and therefore like that about real estate.
22. Real estate gives me the opportunity to make a HUGE impact on someone’s life. We have been to baby dedications, surprise weddings … and all because we were the people who helped them buy/sell their home.
23. I know more about humanity than I EVER thought I could know. Thanks to real estate, NOTHING surprises me anymore.
24. Real estate is the ONE thing that I can relate ANYTHING to. It is kind of amusing, actually.
25. I love Seller’s-Markets as it challenges me to figure out ways to stand out among the masses of other mirror-foggers that have a license.
26. I love Buyer’s-Markets because it challenges me to be one of the ONLY people in my market who can actually SELL my listings.
27. Real estate has given me insight and respect for other professions that are commission-based. I always make a point of purchasing a service or product through the person who helped me make my decision (if that person is paid on commission). This applies to restaurant staff too (although my time waiting tables helped with that as well…)
28. It has brought out a love of photography in me. I look at the world in a whole new way.
29. I am not an organized person, by nature. Real estate has taught me the importance of being organized … at least sometimes.
30. Law. I have never been more in tune with legal tidbits than I have been since becoming an agent. I have whole new respect for the reams of paper that stipulate what can and cannot happen in real estate.
31. Law … again. I was taught that as a real estate agent, it was not IF you would be sued … it was WHEN. Dotting my “i”‘s and crossing my “t”‘s and keeping great notes has been the shield and sword against many a whacko. I SO appreciate the foreknowledge of keeping great notes in a situation that could be potentially sticky … real estate or not.
32. Real estate gives great income and business growth opportunities to people who are not traditionally, scholastically refined. You do not need to go through thousands of dollars in educational debt to be an agent. Some of the BEST agents I have ever met only have an HS diploma.
33. Choose your own adventure. Real estate is an endless series of entertaining choices. Should I show the home that has 4 stoned teenagers in the basement and a random passed-out adult in the living room? Or, should I bypass THAT house for the one that has 4 shrines to Elvis? Should I take the condo listing that smells like a parakeet factory? Or should I take the listing where each room is painted a different hue of fluorescent pink?
34. I could write a book about my life prior to real estate. Now that I have been an agent for 8 years, I can now write the sequel.

This editorial was featured here a decade ago by Realtor Mariana Wagner.