Weird time in real estate right now:
Buyers are acting like it's 2008. Sellers are acting like it's 2021. And agents think the best way to explain the market is by pointing at disappearing captions on TikTok.
Some days in real estate you just have to drive across town to show a buyer a house you know they won't like and know they can't afford just to teach them that they don't like it and can't afford it.
I’m thankful for clients who don’t think they know more than me, non-alarmist inspectors, agents who want to actually work together, easy-open locks, sellers with fluffy dogs, and open houses with finger sandwiches and cookies.
If only clients understood how epic it is to successfully schedule five showings in a row, spaced out perfectly to spend the right amount of time at each property.
Scheduling six consecutive showings, back to back, in the perfect order, with the ideal amount of time in between each one, is truly a work of art and doesn’t get enough praise.
Real estate is an amazing industry. You can fail the exam five times, sell zero houses, and then somehow speak at conferences as a thought leader because you had one IG Reel that went viral.
REALTOR CODE WORDS Part 1
Cozy: tiny
Hidden gem: shit box
Won’t last: will last
Motivated seller: desperate
Up and coming: ghetto
Stunning: completely normal
Feels like: doesn’t feel like
Good bones: about to collapse
Attention Agents:
If you sell a lot of real estate you don't need to start coaching people how to sell real estate.
You can just...keep selling more real estate.
If you hate the house, you don't need to see the garage and you don't need to spend another 40 minutes in the kitchen telling me everything you hate about it.
There are three types of people:
1) People that love Mondays
2) People that hate Mondays
3) People that don't notice Mondays because they work every day (Realtors)
Today my friend asked me if it was exciting working in a real estate office. I told her it can be but it’s usually just a bunch of people asking each other if the WiFi seems slow.
Me: “When are you available to see those properties? I can schedule them any day this week besides Thursday afternoon.”
Buyers: “How about Thursday at 3:00 PM?”
Merry Christmas to everyone except agents who don’t read the MLS descriptions and then call you with a hundred questions that can be answered by the MLS description.
My show on HGTV would be like:
Billy is a 23 year-old DJ looking for a 3 month lease with no credit score.
Gary just broke up with his girlfriend and needs a place to crash for two weeks.
Dave might buy a condo in 8 months if he makes it big on Bitcoin.
I used to get excited when I got a lead. Then, I used to get excited when I got a house under contract. Now, I only get excited two months after the deal closed when the house hasn’t some how exploded yet.
Person: What do you do?
Realtor: I’m in residential real estate.
Person: Oh cool. I will now spend the next ten minutes trying to convince you I know just as much, if not more than you about your job.
Buyers who say they are "casually looking" will buy something tomorrow with the listing agent.
Buyers who say they are "ready to buy something tomorrow" will put thousands of miles on your car for 14 months and then renew their lease.
Hey agents, don’t upload close-up pics of staging decorations to the MLS. Highlighting a corner house plant in picture 58 will do nothing to sell the house.
This is real estate:
You are waiting on a phone call all day from a lender, agent, etc. You check your phone every 5 seconds. It never comes.
At the end of the day you take a shower. They call in that 4 minute time period. The second you get out you call back. No answer.
Me: Have you done any recent updates to the home that I should know about?
Seller: Yeah, we have a brand new roof we put on 16 years ago and a new A/C 8 years ago.
Some days in real estate you have multiple closings and it feels like the best career on the planet.
Other days you struggle getting a lock open in front of your clients for 30 minutes.
Sometimes I show a home to a couple and think to myself, “damn.. these two should not be moving in together.”
But then I think to myself, “damn.. but if they do buy it and break up, I get three deals out of it.”
Anyone else think like this?
NEW RULE:
Real estate agents fine buyers $50 for every house they show after the first 10.
After 20, it’s $100 a showing.
It keeps doubling every 10 until you hit 50 homes, in which case the buyer must verbally admit they are being an asshole.
The life of a real estate agent:
Some weeks I think, “damn, I just need like one day off to get a break from this. I’m not taking any calls after 11 PM anymore.”
And other weeks I think, “damn, am I unemployed?”
I feel like my buyers hate me until they get an offer accepted.
Then, I feel like they hate me until the deal is closed.
Then, they temporarily love me until something breaks in the house and they hate me again.
When you get your real estate license you will start to call EVERYTHING an "appointment."
Haircut = appointment
Car Wash = appointment
Happy Hour = appointment
Buyer: “Let’s see this.”
Me: “You’re gonna hate the location.”
Buyer: “Still want to see it.”
Me: *drives fifty minutes to show it*
Buyer: “I hate this location.”