Broker Life

Being a real estate broker is a great job and I love almost everything about it. Almost. Funnily enough, while I enjoy being a broker, part of me hates other people knowing I’m a real estate broker. That may sound strange, but do you know how many times a day I get asked about the housing market? It’s constant. Non-stop. I love meeting new people but they will inevitably ask about what I do for a living and that is when I cringe. Quick, find a way out! Oh god this pause is getting awkwardly long. Fine. “I am a real estate broker”. Is that person waving me over? Please be waving me over! And then it comes… crap, too slow, “Oh really? How’s the market”? *Internal face palm.

The problem with this question is that the person asking it is usually looking for a one word answer. “Good”, “bad”, “up”, “down” – as if that tells any kind of story about the current state of the real estate market. Those words effectively tell a person nothing and, in my personal opinion (I also have more of these if you want), they should never be used in terms of the market. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than happy to sit down over a cup of coffee (or a glass of wine) and talk with you about what the market is looking like right now and the changes that have been occurring over time. In fact, this is a conversation that I thoroughly enjoy having. Let’s get into it! You tell me what you know, I’ll tell you what I know, we’ll get loud and obnoxious debating all the parts and pieces of what’s good and bad, what’s been done right and wrong, and by the end of it we will have solved the affordable housing issue for the entire nation! Well, maybe not, but someone has to try, right?

No, talking about the market is not the reason my insides start turning when someone asks me “how’s the market”? It has to do with the fact that the real estate market is a complex beast that cannot be summed up quickly or with a single word. And if you really don’t care to know about the market, then please don’t ask that as a courtesy question because you found out I’m a realtor. You’re not doing me a favor, so let’s just move on to the next topic. It’s okay, it doesn’t have to be awkward and weird. Or if you want to indulge me on the subject of my occupation, why not ask how I like the job? What makes it enjoyable? What are the challenges? Why did I decide to become a broker? These are questions that I will gladly answer and then you get to actually learn something about me, you know, that new person you just met and know nothing else about. Instead of talking shop, let’s talk about us. That sounds like way more fun anyway.