Deerwood Realty and Friends Podcast
It may be surprising to the general public that real estate agents deal with a ton of stress in their everyday business. That’s not to say that every job isn’t stressful in one way or another. Here are some unique ways our business tends to be stressful.
a. We’re usually dealing with time deadlines with respect to contracts.
b. If you have no buyers, and you have no sellers, you are essentially unemployed.
c. The most active days to practice real estate are nights and weekends…and you constantly get the dilemma, go show a house where you might make a commission or go to your kid’s birthday party?
d. Traditionally the general public has put a very low value on real estate agents…constantly you hear combinations of insults … we’re unethical, we’re not needed, we just drive up the cost of homes, we aren’t human….pretty tough stuff to deal with on a daily basis.
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Thoughts: I wanted to go over things I’ve read to help with dealing with stress. Thing’s I’ve worked on from time to time, and things I haven’t done may help you. Here they are in no particular order. Full disclosure, I’m not a doctor or health professional…I just work in the business.
1. Reflect on your wins and not your losses. We have a tendency to always focus on the negative. That listing you didn’t get, that buyer who lost their job just after they wrote an offer on a house. I don’t know why…maybe it’s to avoid having the same bad thing happen, but you’re in real estate sales. Bad things happen! All the time and it’s highly unpredictable where!
Instead, try to focus on your success. You helped a young family get a wonderful home…you helped an overwhelmed and grieving family sell a home with little to no drama. Focus on the positive.
2. Stay in the moment I have a tendency to look ahead. The question is always, if this happens and that happens, what will I do? That’s not helpful if you’re stressed. You need to compress your schedule to hours, not days or weeks into the future. Ask yourself, “what’s the one thing I can do now that will have the greatest impact in getting something done?” Then do it. If you can feel a sense of accomplishment on something, even something small, it might get you out of the stress you’re feeling.
3. Set a routine. This is so hard for us working in real estate. Our career decision was likely chosen because we wanted flexibility in our work day. Sometimes though, flexibility isn’t so great. If you can, set a routine. Somehow it just works. I pretty much have my mornings planned out until noon. It’s not a task list….you end up putting too many things on the list. It’s more of a schedule…For example, I’m going to follow up on emails between 9 and 10. I’m going to prospect between 10 and 11. Just get something to where it becomes natural.
4. Talk to your friends in the business. You know, it’s not likely you are the only one in the business who is stressed. Mortgage lenders, title company workers, and even other agents often feel stress. Give one of your friends a call and chat. Don’t call them all the time and heap your problems on them, no one needs that in their life. But call. Ask how they are doing. You’d be surprised how honest they will be when they tell you they are stressed about this or that. Somehow, knowing that you aren’t the only one stressed seems to help with my own stress
5. If there is bad news for a home buyer or seller, tell them. Look, things happen. Sometimes they aren’t good. If you have bad news for your buyers, like say they didn’t get their offer on a home accepted that they REALLY wanted. Tell them. Don’t wait. Don’t put it off. Just let them know. Will they blame you because you didn’t get the deal done? Maybe. Not likely if you have a good working relationship with them though. Waiting to give someone bad news adds way too much stress. There’s also a way to give someone bad news. For example, if a seller is getting a home inspection report from hell, best to have a plan in mind with steps that they can take versus just throwing it in their lap and hiding.
6. Remember, there will always be another day. I have times where I stress about a file closing for days. I stress about an inspection report for days. 6 weeks later, and I’ve moved on to something else to worry about. The point is that what seems like an insurmountable task might not be all that significant a year from now.
7. Quit for the day, walk away. Some days, things just don’t go right. Bad things keep happening and maybe you just aren’t that sharp for whatever reason. If you can, take the afternoon or day off and try to spend it with the people you care about. Put the ringer on silent, get the email autoresponder up and running and just get away from the business. An unanticipated day off can do wonders for the mind. It can be counterintuitive to think that taking the day off when you are in the middle of problems will help, but ask yourself if you would be doing any good … I mean things aren’t going well as it is…what makes you think it will change in the afternoon?
8. Pet your dog. If you happen to be lucky enough to work from home, go find your dog and give them a treat. Then maybe some scriches. Dog should be happy to get some attention, and you will feel less stress because dog is a magnet for stress! This doesn’t work if dog is sick or annoyed with you. Take your chances accordingly.
Source: Me
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