The TRUE JOB of a Realtor

When I first started in real estate, I thought my job was to help home buyers find great homes and help homeowners sell their homes.

I was wrong.

The Realtor® profession is in trouble today because this is how most industry professionals view their job as well. Helping others buy and sell homes.

The same thing already happened to the travel agent industry.

Most travel agents thought their job was to help people book their travel, then technology caught up to make it fairly simple for people to book their own travel and poof, the travel agency industry was turned on its head.

It’s springtime now, so you may be working on your taxes before the April 15th deadline. Are you using an accountant or are you using software (technology) to complete your taxes?

If you are using TurboTax or some other tax software, it’s likely because your previous accountant assumed his or her job was to help you file your taxes. Once you found a lower cost option that was fairly painless, you made the switch.

However, if you are using an accountant, it’s likely because you ultimately don’t want to make a big mistake that could cost you thousands, and you hope your accountant is helping you save thousands. Right? In a nutshell, does that sum it up?

The reason why technology hasn’t blown up the accounting industry completely is because there are still a number of CPAs who understand what their true job is.

It’s not filing your taxes. Nope. Great accountants know their true job is helping you avoid fundamental mistakes and maximizing your tax returns and write-offs.

There are some travel agents left, because buying your travel online maybe simple, but if a travel agent can help you avoid making critical mistakes that would have tainted your precious travel time with your family, and they help you save thousands on your trip, they’ve done their job, and they will be hired again.

This gets me back to the real estate industry. It’s an industry ripe for implosion because too many Realtors believe their job is to assist you with buying and selling.

I predict the real estate industry will soon look a lot more like the accounting industry, where a large number of consumers use technology over hiring a traditional agent.

However, I also predict there will still be a place for Realtors, just like there is still a place for accountants and travel agents who understand what their true job is.

The true job of a real estate agent is to make sure their clients avoid fundamental mistakes that will cost them thousands, and helping them net thousands more than what they would on their own or by hiring someone else.

But every day I see agents, even ones with many years of experience and good reputations, make this mistake of not understanding what their true job is.

I wrote a book for real estate agents to warn them of this upcoming shift in our industry so they could take steps now to redefine how they do business and understand what their true job is.

And I’ve collaborated on a book for homeowners to help show them common fundamental mistakes many homeowners make when selling their homes, which end up costing them tens of thousands of dollars.

It’s not a question of IF the real estate agent industry will flip on its head, it’s WHEN. If it happened to the accounting industry, it can and will happen to the real estate industry.

There are somewhere around 5,000 real estate agents operating in my community (Boise area) right now. I predict this shift will reduce the number of licensed agents by 25-50%, causing a traumatic ripple effect to many industry professionals in our community and across the nation.

Their survival will be predicated, first and foremost, on understanding what their True Job is.

Until next time, have an awesome day.

Mike Turner

Co-Founder: Impact Club Boise
Host: Idaho Speakeasy
Collaborator: Value Drive Approach
Founder: Front Street Brokers
Author: Agent Entrepreneurs
Voice: 208-340-8399