Super excited to announce that my weekly podcast, REalizations will be available on Apple, Hulu, Spotify, and anyplace podcasts are found!
The whole point behind REalizations is to have conversations with people from all walks of real estate life to illuminate, for all my listeners and readers, the many different aspects of real estate.
While we all are aware of the ramifications of the most recent real estate commission lawsuits and all the DOJ/NAR conflicts—and their profound disrespect for Realtors® and our work—I believe ignorance is at the base of all these issues. Real estate is at the base of most local economies. Cities could not thrive without the extraordinary amount of transfer taxes they receive from real estate transactions.
(Realtor® is a trademark that may only be used by members of the National Association of Realtors®, who are bound to uphold higher standards than “real estate agents.” That’s a critical distinction when looking for someone to handle your home sale or purchase. )
People literally do not know what a Realtor® like myself actually does (or real estate agents in general)—so I thought that in announcing my podcast here I would introduce you to the kinds of people whose livelihoods, passion and energy go into making real estate the major component of our economy that it is today:
You know about real estate agents; they list residential properties, residential lots, and multi-units up to four units, market them, coordinate vendor bids for our sellers, and make sure that the presentation of these properties is extraordinary and successful for our sellers. As buyer agents, we endlessly show properties, source properties, read and explain all disclosures for our buyers, and in general help them to have a successful purchase of a home or investment property.
Commercial real estate agents handle real estate transactions for properties that are not residential, or are over four units. There are some that also handle business sales.
On my podcast you’ll meet leaders from brokerages, but remember behind every executive there are their admins, office managers, risk managers, and real estate attorneys. Not to mention errors and omissions insurance agents, insurance companies and insurance agents, transaction coordinators, mortgage brokers , title companies, title officers, and escrow officers. Then there is the governance at Realtor® associations, their staff, the boards of directors at the local, state and national level, boards of the multiple listing services and their executives and staffs.
A whole secondary real estate economy is made up of the stagers, interior designers, property inspectors, plumbers, painters, carpenters, landscapers, haulers, and movers; big box stores, hardware stores, and furniture stores; business coaches, printing companies, marketing companies, photographers, videographers, sketch artists, mailing companies, sign companies… and this is just a partial list!
On top of this, it has been customary for members of the National Association of Realtors® to volunteer, give, and work for many charitable organizations because it is the right thing to do.
All these people make their livelihoods in and through real estate, and all the communities we serve benefit profoundly from the work of a Realtor® and other real estate professionals.
