What Realtors Actually Do

It’s amusing to see how real estate professionals are portrayed on movies and television. Most often, we are portrayed “hosting open houses” (see Annette Bening’s oscar-nominated character in American Beauty, or the laugh-out-loud Courtney Cox character in Cougartown). In real life, hosting open houses represents the tiniest fraction of how Realtors actually spend their time.

Perhaps open houses have more “comedic potential” on screen, and that’s why we see it so much. But I believe another reason, is that the public doesn’t always have a full understanding of what a real estate professional actually does.

In reality, Realtors are professional consultants who spend much of their time dealing with contracts and documents, client care, and negotiations. (In this way, we are asked to conduct ourselves more like attorneys — and yet sometimes are appreciated as tour guides!) This is especially true in Southern California, and exponentially true for Westside LA Realtors, where the market has a significantly higher price point that most of the rest of the country.

Last week, one of our listed homes received eleven separate offers (I took a snapshot of them, which you can see above). Each of these offers has to be explained, written, signed, delivered, negotiated, and replied to. The negotiation is the key piece in this process. Negotiation is both an art and a science. It can be done effectively and with aplomb, or it can be done sloppily and with emotional reactivity.

In this video below: I explore how Realtors negotiate for a client’s best interests: