A Day in the Life of a Realtor

On occasion (usually during a rare vacation), I read a magazine article or two. I've seen various versions of "Day in the Life" articles. These articles never seem remotely realistic. Who uses 10-20 various marketable products, retail stores, and restaurants during the day??? 

So, I thought I'd do my own version.

Wake Up

6AM...
or 5AM...
or I may not have gotten to sleep that night because I had to prep for 3 open houses and create comparable market reports and setup 3 automated searches... etc.

What day is it again??? Oh, it doesn't really matter. Realtors don't get days off. And that's okay, because being my own boss is worth it!

Check email.

Getting Ready

My soap, and my vanity, do NOT look like this.

Get dressed while lamenting the sad state of my wardrobe. Vow for the 10th time this month to do some online shopping.

Take time to wash face, apply some makeup, maybe straighten hair. 

Products used:
Uh, soap?
Hairbrush
Some kind of SPF face stuff.
Eyeshadow from, um, a palette I got for Christmas. Wonder idly how my makeup choices affect my business. 

Breakfast

Ha! Who am I kidding? I'll be lucky to have enough time to brush my teeth.

Stuff packet of almonds and fruit leather into laptop bag because having your stomach growl in front of clients may be amusing but might not be the best first impression. Try to remember to fill up a water bottle AND actually take said water bottle with me.

Grumpy until I realize that I'm still early.

Get in car and start to pull out of driveway.

Remember that it might help to put the laptop sitting on nightstand INSIDE of the laptop bag... Run back inside house.

Check email because it's been at least 5 minutes since I've looked at it.

Pull out of driveway again. Panic because I didn't leave as early as I planned. Still arrive 10 minutes early because I'm always early.

Where am I?

I might be meeting a client, attending a class, going to a signing, or letting an inspector into a house.

But, I might still be in pajamas working on email, task list, blog, scheduling showings, etc.

One of the greatest things about technology is the ability to get work done from just about anywhere. Even from my house. Especially from my house.

Go to the office

Let's play "Is it safe to eat?"

If possible, stop by the office and get some "real" work done. Promptly become distracted by all the conversations going on. 

Forget about lunch or find some leftovers in the fridge. These were from yesterday's class, right? Or was it last week... Shrug and trust in the might of a cast iron stomach.

Check email because it's been at least 5 minutes since I've looked at it.

Remember to take care of some business fundamentals (paying bills, catching up in Quickbooks, etc.). Because "Fundamentals are the foundation of excellence"... or was the saying "Fundamentals are a crutch for the talentless"?

Idly wonder why my mind thinks of this stuff.

After a quick scan through my task list, check on active clients and active transactions. Touch base on status where necessary. Make sure all paperwork is properly organized and check on timelines and important dates. Relay info as necessary. This might be the most important thing I do all day.

Think about closing gifts for current transactions. Promptly and proactively choose to procrastinate because I'm terrible at putting together gift baskets and stuff like that. 

If it's a slow day, do some blogging. But, I'll probably not have time until later. If it's a Friday, spend a bunch of time prepping for open houses.

Back on the road

Manage to find time to get the car washed. Idly wonder why my car is in much better condition than my wardrobe.

Check email because it's been at least 5 minutes since I've looked at it.

Around this time, I'm not sure if I'm feeling like the apple or the guy with the axe.

Preview some homes for out of state buyers. This is always fun and I like taking "honest videos" of the properties. I like to imagine my buyers laughing at me while watching them.

Meet a potential client for coffee (tea for me, thanks). Jump straight into showing some homes because that's how I roll.

Provide some showing feedback to any agents that ask, because that's also how I roll.

Time to head home

Dinner of champions.

Realize I didn't eat much that day and am super-hungry. Try to resist stopping for fast food. Try to convince myself to go to the grocery store. Decide that having soup sounds like a plan.

Manage to drive past 3 fast food places without caving.

Haha, just kidding. Stop and grab some fast food.

Back home

Check on email because it's been at least 5 minutes since I've looked at it.

Let dogs out, feed dogs, wash face with, um, soap? 

Remember that I've got a bag of fast food rapidly cooling in the car. Fetch food and laptop bag. 

Check on email because it's been at least 5 minutes since I've looked at it.

Eat food.

Think about what I want to write for a blog post. Come up with 10 ideas and quickly forget all of them.

Fall asleep while watching Family Feud.