Why I Can't Sell a House

The simple answer is, it isn't my specialty.

Sure, I passed the same test and classes that everyone else took to get their Texas Real Estate license, but I don't have any experience in residential real estate. I've never sold a house, leased a house, leased an apartment, or sold a condo. Would you want me to represent you, as a homebuyer? Probably not! In fact, I wouldn't take it, I would refer you to somebody else that I was comfortable with.

For the same reason, I think it can be difficult for residential agents to work on commercial deals. The intricacies are very different, and the commercial brokerage community can be tough to break into on a social level. Given the shear difference in the number of agents, it tends to become very cliquish.

The reason I'm writing about this today is because I had a friend ask me to help his friend with the purchase of a home. Sure, I'd like to have an extra $5K in my pocket from working with a buyer, but if I can't do the job right, I'm not going to take it in the first place.

When I have a residential deal that needs to be done, which frankly doesn't come along that often, I'll likely refer it to somebody on ActiveRain. That's part of the reason I'm here. By the same token, if anyone needs help with commercial real estate in Austin, I'll be happy to return the favor.