By Toby Boyce “What do you think Heather Jones* does?” my mother-in-law inquired as we followed a heavily decorated mini-van through the streets of a north-central Ohio community. “Well, I think it would be real estate,” I replied. “You can just make out a ‘just listed’ and ‘sold’ in the paintwork beside the license plate.” “How in the hell was …
Open Your Eyes to the Privileges of Membership
By Chris Nichols I recently attended a conference where I heard the following story related: An elderly man had dreamed of taking a cruise to the Mediterranean for most of his life. The man did not come from means of any sort and had saved for years and years to make this dream of cruising a reality. Being frugal with …
What They Didn’t Tell Me: Things I Wish I Knew About the Real Estate World Before I Jumped In
By Brett Caviness I simply couldn’t wait two more years to graduate college before entering my dream career as a REALTOR®, so I didn’t. I went active as a real estate agent in Cedar Falls Iowa in 2009. Since entering the business, I have worked hard to manage my time. With class, work on campus, activities and friends I was …
March Madness and the Spring Selling Season
By Jason O’Neil March. In like a lion out like a lamb…it is one of my favorite months. Yes, my birthday is in March, but so is St. Patrick’s Day, the first day of Spring, and let us not forget about the Ides. More popular than all of those combined is the NCAA Division One Men’s Basketball Tournament, simply known …
What Feeling Are You After?
By Jared James All goals really have nothing to do with money or other things. Think about it. Are you really after a bunch of pieces of paper with dead people on them? No. Everyone of us is after a feeling whether it be power, security, influence or whatever. Take a moment and watch the video below and then reassess …
I Quit Real Estate
By Drew Burks Breaking News … OK, this is hardly breaking news, but after 10 years in the real estate game this may come as a shock to a few people. To be honest, it kind of shocked me that I am actually throwing in the towel! The past couple of years I have come to understand that my purpose …
Real Estate is Sexy
By Brooke Wolford Recently, I have noticed how often you see a character on TV playing a real estate agent or the several hundred reality shows about real estate. It brings home the point that real estate has the interest of pretty much everyone. You can’t turn on the news and not hear some sort of real estate-related story. Let’s …
A Call to Action
By Chris Nichols At his inaugural, NAR President Ron Phipps, issued a challenge to the members. He said, “We shouldn’t merely be the voice of real estate; we should be its architects and engineers.” I remember hearing those words and thinking about the responsibilities that architects and engineers have in the building process. Both refer regularly to a set of …
A Part Time Agent Isn’t Necessarily Less of an Agent
By Toby Boyce I stood quietly waiting for the smiling-innocent faces to calm down as they stared back at me. They were so fresh and ready to change the world. Was I teaching another class of new REALTORS® in one of my CE classes? I wish; the faces were third-graders at a local middle school. I was their “guest teacher” …
Don’t Be a Real Turd
By Jessica Hickok Our profession is one of the most mispronounced professions of all time. Those of us who know that we are REAL-TORS just roll our eyes when someone calls us a Reel-A-Tore. I remember a story that my broker’s wife told me once when I first got into the business. Her husband (obviously a REALTOR®) took a business …