【MARS Blog】The life of a real estate agent

Sheina set her alarm for 6:30 am, she had all her clothes ready, ironed and hanging up in the wardrobe, breakfast smoothie in the fridge ready to be consumed and her spare makeup kit in the car in case her alarm didn’t go off.

Sheina had waited for this listing for close to a month, she knew that she was competing with three other agencies and she was second in line. She was allocated one hour to turn on as much charm as she could muster and to convince the client that she was the right one to sell her potential clients most valuable asset.

Sheina had done some research on her clients, she knew they wanted to holiday in Europe after they sold the property and she knew this was one of the biggest hot buttons which she intended to discuss in length.

The alarm went off with a shrill, it seemed to shake the bedside table with an urgency that expressed whatever needed to be done should be done immediately. Sheina leaned over slowly and hit the off button, she had been wide awake since 5 am, waking up on and off throughout the night worried about what might be the outcome of the following day.  She lay there in bed wondering if she should pretend to be sick and just go back to sleep, making it all go away.

Without thinking, her body dragged itself out of bed, into the shower; she then got dressed and turned on the hair dryer. As she brushed her long blond hair and stared into the mirror she remembered what she had read in the paper about the December stats. There are 6969 real estate salespeople in Auckland (1) and 2313 sales (2) which meant only 33% of salespeople were paid before christmas. In realty, she knew that it was more like 20% as the 80:20 rule applied to real estate where 20% of the people make 80% of the money.

Sheina waited outside her clients property at 7:30 am. Her appointment was at 8:00 am and she was going to make sure that she did everything right. She looked in the car mirror to check her lipstick, was it too bright? Did she put too much eye shadow on..gosh, the foundation looks thick in this light. She took a deep breath and told herself that as long as she does her best, then nobody can blame her..

She waited..and waited.. trying to calm her mind and think of nothing. The passage in the paper flashed into her mind, the number of sales in December totalled 2313 which was a decline of 29.4% (2) and she wondered that if the trend continued how will she pay her mortgage next month. In a haze, far away in thought, she found herself staring at the BMW emblem on the steering wheel. If she had to sell the car and get an aged Toyota, she would do it but she knew that if she didn’t keep up appearances then potential clients will think she is obviously a non-performer. I’ve got to get this she said loudly within the closed windows of her car.

Five to eight, time to make her move, Sheina threw open the door, nearly tripping over and twisting her ankle as her high heel shoe hit the uneven pavement.

She stood up, looked at the front door and she was ready. Like a warrior princess she prepared to go into battle. Sheina was embraced with a wave of confidence and a wry smile and a wry smile appeared on her face when her body felt a sense of euphoria as her pituitary gland followed orders and provided a river of endorphins to all the places it was needed. She knocked lightly on the door and was greeted by an older gentleman who stood and stared momentarily at Sheina, before snapping out of it and inviting her in.

Sheina sat down and as per her plan, she listened to take in as much information as possible. She has always been told she was a good listener, even back at high school she had been told by her english teacher that she had a skill of picking up and remembering details. She concentrated, looking for another hot button, something that the vendors wanted to do after they sold the property. 

 The lady of the house delivered a pot of hot coffee, where just the scent was a form of relaxant that set a non aggressive and friendly mood. Perfect.

After listening to the Vendor’s expectations, Sheina started to feel a little tense but practised her slow breathing and outward smile. She had been taught that no matter what the situation, the golden rule was to never get in a position of conflict with a potential client. The clients’ expectation was about $150,000 over market value. She wanted to tell him that his price was on point six months ago however since then the CCCFA had been modified (3) and interest rates had gone up, the market was starting to drop.

The gentleman continued explaining to Sheina how the real estate prices will keep on increasing unabated for the next three years, Sheina started to drift off. She thought that if she got a brand new Toyota, it might look ok, but then no, she needs to pay off the finance company with the Bema and there won’t be a lot left.

Sheina came around and put her palm up to stop or least slow down the gentleman from rambling untruths about the current state of affairs of the NZ real estate market. Sheina forced a thin smile on her face and a thought flashed in her mind that her smile lines might be shown up by the foundation she put on..her confidence was starting to wane.

She started to explain that the first home buyers were having huge difficulty in obtaining finance (3) and property investors were no longer allowed to write off their mortgage interest for properties such as this one(4). Sheina watched the gentleman’s reaction carefully as she continued speaking. “ The ANZ, ASB and Reserve Bank are all forecasting a downturn in the market and this theoretical forecast is backed up by statistics from REINZ. We have a copy of these reports in the office which is titled ‘Mars Realty NZ Property Forecast 2022’. I can provide a copy to you if you wish.”

Sheina then fell into silence, wondering how long the mortgagee sale process would take on her house if she couldn’t pay the mortgage for the next two months. She took a breath, the gentleman said nothing, he just stared out the window while the ice was just about visibly forming around around the edges of the pane. Sheina felt this and jumped in before the damage she just created was beyond repair..

“I can assure you sir that no matter what the market experts say, I will do the utmost to buck the current trends and you can relax in knowing that I will be working day and night to achieve the highest possible price as I know how important this is to you”

The gentleman remained silent. Eventually he rose from his chair and thanked Sheina for coming in so early. He reminded her that he still has to see another agent and he will be in touch in the next couple of days.

Sheina was already losing weight, unhealthily so. It got to the point that she pushed the weighing machine under the bathroom vanity so she didn’t see it when she hopped out of the shower, what on earth was she thinking when she decided to get into real estate.

With listings being so sparse, Sheina had nothing else on the go. She made a few phone calls to people in her farm area however two of them cursed at her and the others were not interested. The real estate agent roller coaster rolled on, she looked into the horizon and wondered where this was all taking her, how long can she live with these ups and downs before her GP tells her she needs to find another profession due to the heart palpitations she was sure she was having.

Two days went by, she hung up calls from family and friends as their names appeared on the phone. She was not going to miss the phone call from her potential client, although she was almost certain that she will be turned down. Finally the clients name appeared on her phone, Sheina quickly grabbed the phone from her desk, fumbled it, nearly caught it and the phone seemed to have a life of its own, skillfully teasing Sheinas hands, daring her to try and catch it. The phone crashed onto the ground. The ringing continued..

 Sheina, angry with herself, reached down and grabbed her phone, forced a smile on her face and said in a relaxed voice “Hello Mr X, thank you for coming back to me”. The gentleman started talking, explaining what the other agents had said which was predictably mostly the opposite what Sheina had told him. Hmm, buying the listing, the oldest trick in the book, she thought. Sheina waited for the death knell, knowing that the gentleman was trying to let her down slowly and justifying his decision for doing so.

The gentleman continued “And so, after a lot of thought and deliberation we have decide to give you a three month sole agency to sell our property. We know the market very well and wanted to see what all the agents were going to tell us. You were the only one that told us the truth, therefore you have earnt our trust. Let me know what the next steps are”

Sheina was gob smacked, she didn’t expect this at all. She could feel the blood rush up to her cheeks, her pituatry gland went back into action and opened the dam of endorhines, the warrior princess was back! Yes!!      

This story is true for close to 80% of real estate agents. Although the common perception is that they are all rich and living the high life, this is far from the reality for many agents. The emotional roller coaster journey is exhausting and even when they do get a ‘win’, the commission is dwindled down by the company’s portion, marketing fees and sometimes other deductions when the selling agent is not the listing agent.

Where the typical working person can go to office every day secure in knowing they will get paid, the real estate agent is constantly hunting, knowing that if they don’t hit the mark, then they are effectively walking the plank to step off into oblivion. Although it can be a good life for some, next time you feel angry about all the money real estate agents make, think of Sheina.

Jeff Brill - Author of "The Sophisticated property Investor"