So you wanna be a part-time rock’n’roll star.
No doubt you’ve heard of the "overnight success" rock star who spent years clawing his way to the top? What got him through those years of rejection and bad gigs? From what I've seen and read, an overwhelming belief in his commercial appeal, despite evidence to the contrary, and an unhealthy obsession with success.
And for the few who do make it to the top, staying there takes just as much obsession and belief. With the possible exception of Paul McCartney, I'll bet there aren't any part-time rock’n’roll stars.
What does rock'n'roll have to do with real estate, aside from notoriety? The other day I got an email seeking advice on a question many ask, now that real estate is in the spotlight: can I be a part-time agent?
In other words, does the glam world of real estate have any low-hanging fruit? And may I pick it, please?
The short answer to both is “yes”. The longer, qualified answer is “yes, but you won't get to pick it unless the tree is already in your back yard”.
"Just how committed do I need to be to make a buck in your business?" That's a darn good question, but it tells me the questioner doesn't know what it takes just to make a decent living in real estate, let alone claw his way to the top.
No, the real estate agent is no rock'n'roll star, but she's often a local celebrity, thanks to the miracle of modern marketing and the mythos of a profession that's often envied (when it isn't loathed) and misunderstood. When I got into real estate I was so awed by the big-name agents I was meeting for the first time that it's a wonder I didn't ask them to autograph my tour sheet. But like the rock star, the real estate agent almost certainly paid heavy dues to get there, and still pays those dues today to stay.
The wannabe part-time agent, on the other hand, is someone whose real job leaves him enough spare time to pick some of that low-hanging fruit. You might guess the problem with this business model: its utter, naked opportunism. Mr. Homeseller may think twice before entrusting his single largest asset to someone whose real job leaves him enough spare time to pick some of that low-hanging fruit. The part-time agent's mission statement badly needs refinement.
Real estate isn't rock'n'roll and it certainly isn't rocket science, but it does take time, practice and focus to do right. Heck, even doing real estate wrong, year after year, demands a consuming passion for getting and keeping clients and then keeping them on track. That's how you make your living as an agent, day in and day out, even if every one of your transactions is a train wreck, your clients throw rocks at you as you motor away from their new home, and other agents cross the street to avoid you. Done well or done ugly, real estate is usually a full-time, sixty- or eighty-hour-a-week job.
But take heart, part-timer wannabes, because sometimes real estate's pickings do hang low.
A few months ago a friend was telling me about a young couple, Santa Barbara old money, who glide through a gilded Gatsby-esque life. (Yes, Gatsby was nouveau but I still like the allusion.) These folks aren't just plugged into the old boy network, they are the old boy network. As an amusing diversion—one does like to feel useful—they were thinking of selling real estate. Hearing of this, I voiced gentle skepticism at the idea of Brad and Muffy Trustfund rolling in the muck and mire of the real estate marketplace. I had this vision: Muffy finding out that the lovable young couple she'd just shown the perfect house to had promptly and without feeling one ounce of guilt dumped her to buy it through the listing agent and, why, there's Brad over there taking a call from a buyer threatening to sue because the planning department just told him that the illegal addition Brad fully disclosed as an illegal addition is, in fact, an illegal addition, and...
"I think real estate would be fun", my friend snapped.
It's hard to dispute this without sounding like one of the walking wounded of real estate. "Come close and I'll show you my scars." And in fact, I should and do feel lucky to be in the business. But my friend's comment did remind me of World War II ace Adolph Galland's description of the life of the combat fighter pilot: "Long hours of total boredom interrupted by seconds of sheer terror".
But fun.
Later I realized that, once again, my backwoods sensibilities had kept me from seeing Life The Way It Is. Heck yes, real estate would be fun for ol' Brad and Muffy. No daily grind to put food on the table and keep the wolf from the door. Sell a friend's zillion-dollar house every now and then, just to modulate the ennui. Market yourself as what you are—the right sort—by doing what comes naturally to you: knowing the right sort.
But as for the rest of you riff raff—and I think we know who we are—you guys will just have to quit your day jobs. Because for us, real estate is always a full-time job. We're meant to work hard, and then some, for relative unknowns and nobodies.
Folks just like us. Good folks, despite our lack of social distinction.