Andi Grant's Blog - Everyday Real Estate with a Twist

A few weeks ago, this newspaper was hand-delivered to my office by an "operative."  I was surprised and just a little giddy at having something hand-delivered to me in such a fashion, after all I live a pretty boring life!  I untied the leather ribbon, opened the newspaper and out fell a TOP SECRET assignment and dossier with instructions to attend a Murder Mystery Dinner event as an undercover secret agent.  It turned out to be a very creative birthday party invitation from a good friend of mine!  My code name was to be "MacGyver" for the duration of the evening. Why MacGyver?  According to the Superior Officer (birthday girl) I was very creative (the turn lemons into lemonade; turn a rubber-band and staple into a hammock type of gal).   It was also interesting to hear the other attendees operatives code names as well because they were based on the Superior Officer's observations of them.  I had so much fun operating as a secret agent for a night!

Well the other day, I was attending a loft grand opening and networking event and came across a colleague who had been in the real estate business for about 6-7 years (we'll call him Agent B).  We began to discuss the industry and the more the room filled, the more our little circle grew.  A guy interested in purchasing a loft asked everyone what they thought about the market forecast of doom and gloom.  I shared some of my thoughts and was asking Agent B his thoughts so that I wouldn't hog the conversation.  Agent B's answers were very vague and non-engaging.  There were no silver-lining answers, or open-ended questions to keep the discussion flowing.  Towards the end of the discussion, I handed the guy my business card and Agent B reached into his back pocket for his wallet and handed him one as well.  The guy looked a little surprised and said, "Oh, I didn't know you were a real estate agent too."  OUCH!!  

A little while later, I asked Agent B what happened during the conversation earlier.  Apparently it boiled down to him losing his "Mojo." He said that he would rarely say he was an agent unless someone specifically asked him what he did for a living and/or was serious about buying or selling. He was still in business based on referrals.  He went on to say that he was sick of everyone's negative attitude of the real estate market and its agents. I was speechless.  If my undercover secret agent name was "MacGyver," was his name "Defeated?"  I told him how it was also a great chance to enlighten them with facts regarding the highs and lows of the real estate market in past years and to see this as a great opportunity and time to invest. 

His response: Perhaps

Mine: 

I hesitated to write this blog, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered was this an effect of having started in the business during the meaty times? How many other agents are going "undercover" because of the lack of confidence in either the market or themselves?   I wholeheartedly admit that when I first started off, I was very shy when it came to mentioning I was a real estate agent because I felt I was too new and feared a person would ask me a question that I couldn't answer.  My solution to that?  In addition to surrounding myself with a GREAT team of mentors, I started reading about real estate everyday!  The more informed you are about any business your in, the more confident you'll become on where things were yesterday, are today and what they will be tomorrow!  You are not doing yourself, your clients, your business or this industry any favors by being a secret agent hiding in a corner until the market is easy and favorable again.  Unless a person has just recently met you, they should already know that you are an informed and active real estate agent or Realtor®, ready to guide them through making the most of any real estate transaction during these challenging times.