Time for a little fun, and time to laugh a little at my own profession and at myself. Â Okay, I’m in a coffee shop. Â I’m doing some work on my laptop, checking and answering emails, and writing some articles. Â So imagine the humor in the following scenario. Â I’m a Realtor writing on my real estate blog when a customer walks into the coffee shop. Â Now I rarely pay attention to what other people say, but if they speak loudly and the words catch my ear, I can’t help it.
I hear one of the employees making coffee say to a customer, “Oh, you’re a Realtor?” Â The reply was from an older woman whose health did not look good, and carried little enthusiasm, “Yes, I work for [so and so broker],” to which the young female employee loudly and enthusiastically replied, “I’m a real estate agent too!”
I laugh to myself, because one of my observations is that every Tom, Jane, and Mary got a real estate license because it seemed like an easy way to make money. Â Does anyone not have a license?
I look around the coffee shop. Â There’s an old man with thick spectacles sitting two tables away, apparently reading the classifieds. Â He doesn’t move at all for minutes. Â Has he died? Â No, he turns to the next page. Â I wonder. Â Is he a Realtor?
A woman and a girl about 13 years old are sitting across the room at a little round table. Â Is the little girl a Realtor? Â No, I remember you have to be an adult to get a license. Â I think.
Two bicycle riders stagger into the shop, all sweaty and obviously hot and tired. Â Are they Realtors? Â Could be, but I hear no dialogue on real estate issues emanating from their mouths. Â But I do pick up some phrases, like “It’s hell out there,” and “a person could die in stuff like this,” and “I don’t know if I can make it.” Â Wait a minute, they are talking about real estate. Â Maybe.
Finally, I pack up my laptop and head out the door, and as I’m walking past the shaded tables in front of the coffee shop, I hear three ladies talking. Â I pause and listen. Â I know it’s impolite to listen to other people’s conversations, but this is a coffee shop and they’re talking about real estate. Â One is saying, “You should get your real estate license. Â It’s easy. Â Well the online course is no fun, and the test is a drag, but you can make easy money if someone writes an offer through you. Â I don’t have to work if I don’t want to, but when my husband and I want to do something, I start trying to sell a house or find a buyer. Â If I’m lucky, I pop a few thousand or even more. Â You could do this. Â It’s easy.”
Oh, how I seem to have gotten this whole life upside down.  I went to college, worked real estate  as a Realtor and then Associate Broker, and then went to law school to specialize in real estate, worked as a real estate lawyer for 20 years, and now I’m a real estate broker.  All that when I could have just been a housewife and taken an exam.  Silly me.  Well, live and learn, right?
Last Updated on August 1, 2009 by Chuck Marunde