What's The Difference?

The Stats

From the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Brokerages: 106k

Realtors: 1.39m

% of Realtors that are also Brokers: 22%

Average Realtor: 55, white, female, college education, homeowner

Average income: 50k

Average hours worked: 36

What's the difference, anyway? 

The differences I noticed among the agents I interviewed and myself...

Me v.s. "average" Realtors - I'm the first bullet point, average realtor is the second bullet point

1. Communication 

    - Social media, instant messaging, texting, CRM, Personal Notes, team player

    - Call, email, not good at calling back, shady with other agents

2. Paperwork

    - Electronic signatures, Airdrop, Dotloop, electronic files

    - Hardcopy files, snail mail, print/scan, wet signatures

3. Advertising

    - FB, Google, Snapchat, Blogs

    - Print media, commercials, celeb testimonials, mailers

    

4. Agency

    - Broker choice, license maintenance, independent agency, going for Broker's license, volume caps

    - Stuck in teams, bouncing brokers, not getting broker's license, less motivated, units cap

The younger the agent, the more similar their tactics were to mine. Aside from one outlier.... an agent who is actually younger than me, 19, kind of sucks at real estate and it shows in her methods. She is not good with people, they don't trust her, and it's because you can tell she is not even confident in what she knows about the trade. Confidence is everything in this industry and that's what a lot of the older agents have as leverage. 

I also noticed that many of my interviews with "average" Realtor's exposed that agents are somewhat lazy, unmotivated and sometimes shady. There is a certain tone to the song which regular agents sing to each other when doing business. Less regular agents are off pitch in regard to transparency, sneakiness and composure. Some agents straight up embody the reputation of a used car salesman. Like... they don't care who's toes they have to step on, or who they have to fool to make a buck. Younger agents couldn't be farther from this model. Also, it shows in how agents interact with one another, not just with clients. Younger agents are much more team-oriented when participating in a transaction. Older agents tend to pawn off as much work as possible on the other agent in the deal, especially if they are younger. While young agents will commonly pick up extra work, going above and beyond, to be sure that the deal is going smoothly on both ends. As is the case with all team work, the final product is dependent on all team players. Therefore if one team player slacks off, it leaves the other players responsible for picking up the ball whether they want to or believe they should or not. One thing the average Realtor does have over the youngsters, is confidence. We definitely lack a certain degree of confidence as young players in this game, but it will come with time. We were born in the age of digital communication and for that we will surpass the average Realtor standards. Meeting with Allisen Whittaker Wednesday this week to talk more about just that!