Yes, I do enjoy helping people - and if you do it well, it pays well too!

Lenn Harley wrote a very interesting post called "Is it really the joy of helping people that motivates a person to sell real estate?" This was followed by a post by Scott Hayes referencing Lenn's and called "Real estate agents don't want real jobs."

It is a complex discussion, because I feel that each of us in this business has his or her own reasons for choosing real estate, and some probably shouldn't be here. Others are so good at it that they can't imagine doing anything else.

I think many people who have always had corporate jobs are used to being told when to start work and what to do. When they decide to "get into real estate" they have no skill at organizing their time or figuring out what to do and how to do it. Some do nothing or all the wrong things, and then they complain about the market. Others struggle wile they try to get the hang of working without a boss, and it may take them awhile before they can really be a true asset to clients and work efficiently on their behalf. And if there are no closings, there are no paychecks!

I do feel that I am self-motivated and pretty organized, and I know what I need to do.
After all, I have been in real estate for more than 30 years, and I also ran my own law practice for many years, in which I had an emphasis in real estate and construction law. If I couldn't motivate myself (and my employees when I was practicing law), decide what needed to be done and just do it, and if I didn't want to help people, neither the law nor real estate would have been right for me and I would never have made a dime at it.

I do genuinely like people and sincerely enjoy helping them to find their homes or to sell when they need to move. Clearly I expect to be paid, so that is obviously why I work at all, but helping people is a big part of why I chose real estate as the way to earn my pay. Also, I wrote a post some time ago about why real estate was a natural business for me. Until I wrote it I hadn't realized how much destiny played in that choice!

I loved practicing law too, but when we moved from Southern California and sold my practice there, I just didn't want to start over setting up a new office, hiring, establishing new accounts and relationships and becoming familiar with a completely different set of local court rules, etc.

It made sense to focus on real estate, in which I had always been involved one way or another and in which I felt competent and able to work without setting up my own office. I checked out all of the area brokerages and met with the managing brokers before choosing Century 21 Noel David Realty.

Then I spent over a year attending open houses, touring vacant listings and driving through neighborhoods to learn the area market before I ever tried to represent a client. I wanted to make sure that I would be able to provide the help that a client had the right to expect - and that required area knowledge.

Luckily I had a bit of money to get myself started while my husband was also starting a new sales job in which he had to build a territory from scratch, and I found many ways to promote myself and my listings heavily at little or no cost.

Of course there were all of the dues and fees that every Realtor has to pay, but those go with every business.

Once the marketing starts paying off, those fees become simply a good investment in yourself and additional marketing expenses become very cost-effective, but anyone who thinks they can just decide to be a real estate agent and the money will start rolling in had better think carefully and have some seed money before jumping in. There will likely be a lot of outgo before there is income.

All of that said, I wouldn't choose to do anything else!

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Susan Neal

Broker / Realtor
Century 21 Noel David Realty
Fair Oaks, California

Full time real estate services in Fair Oaks CA, with friendly professionalism, 30+ years experience.

I work hard to give my buyer or seller a low-stress transaction.

"Happy clients make me happy."

For all your real estate needs or questions, call me at (916)705-8951or visit my website at www.SusanNealFineProperties.com.

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