Toby Boyce
By Toby Boyce
I stood quietly waiting for the smiling-innocent faces to calm down as they stared back at me. They were so fresh and ready to change the world.
Was I teaching another class of new REALTORS® in one of my CE classes? I wish; the faces were third-graders at a local middle school. I was their “guest teacher” for the day.
Yep, that’s right, for the second time since becoming a full-time agent in 2006, I’ve had to pick-up a second job to stay afloat. I know I just lost a collection of you — as I’m now one of those part-time agents. Really? I am? Tell that to my wife and she’ll laugh at you.
Too often this question becomes too black-and-white. Is real estate my only source of income? No. So I’m not a full-time professional? That’s crazy talk. How many of us have accountants, lawyers, doctors, etc. who are doing property management to add a little extra income? So does that make them less of a doctor?
The bottom line is that it isn’t whether an agent is full- or part-time on the clock, but how they are in action.
I have two short-sales in contract and buyers are represented by a full-time and part-time agent. Which one responds to e-mails, calls, and knows the contract verbiage better? Yep, you guessed it — the part-time one.
So next time you go to bash a “part-time” agent — remember it could very easily be you.
Toby Boyce, MBA, is a real estate practitioner with Keller Williams Consultants Realty in Westerville, Ohio. Visit his Web site: www.delawareohrealestate.com.
Crystal Webster
By Crystal Webster
Do you ever feel like you’re back in high school and trying to get your college application all put together? At least for me, during the final push for college grades didn’t matter, classes were out the window, and books were only for propping open your door.
The extracurricular section of the application got 100 percent of my attention the last semester of high school (even though it was probably too late at that point to matter)…
Anyway, sometimes that’s how I feel – as though all the “extras” are more important than the grades and classes. Especially going into the “slow time” it seems like everyone wants to know: “What else do you do?”
I DO do lots of other things: volunteer my time, sit on boards, blog, administer a networking website, manage residential property, spend time with my friends and family, help old ladies across the street, nurse stray dogs back to health…but don’t you want to know about my grades? Don’t you want to see my stats and just how good I am at what I actually do?
Come on, it’s not like every time you go to your doctor you ask them about their “second job.” (in fact, I think I’d be a little scared if they had a second job).
Do you get this question often? Do you steer clear of answering it or how do you answer it? What do you WANT to be known for?
Crystal Webster is a REALTOR® in the Kansas City area. Visit her networking site at www.kcyoungprofessionals.com and her Web site and blog at www.theheritagehometeam.com.
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