Today I sent a picture to one of my clients of my sign in their yard as we prepare to sell their home after already helping buy the next one. The response I got: 
and it reminded me why I love doing what I do.
REALTORS® have received a lot of attention in the news this year. Most of the stories paint a picture of money-hungry salespeople getting rich while doing very little for the consumer. I will share a few stats here and then get on with the point of what I am writing today. The national average income for a real estate agent is roughly $30,000 per year, closing on average 3 deals a year, while working 50 or more hours per week. For many that is less than minimum wage and we still have to maintain our license with education that isn’t free, pay our professional organization dues, spend thousands of dollars on technology and tools, and we haven’t even calculated overhead from advertising and signage, to fuel and the toll it takes on our vehicles. Despite these challenges, I can’t imagine doing anything else.
So why do we do it? This is the real discussion I would like to share with you today. Most of us really love helping people. We guide people through all kinds of life changes. Some of them are the beginning of a chapter, some of them are the end, and unfortunately, we are even involved with ushering people through the closing of a book. Marriages, births, coming of age, upsizing, downsizing, career changes, divorces, and death are all reasons people contact REALTORS®. No matter what, we are dealing with folks in the peaks, or pits, of their emotion, and we want to be the kind souls who bring stability, enlightenment, professionalism, and balance to the situation. To be the rock that they can rely on to see beyond their emotions and shine a light on the future that is still ahead of them.
I cannot speak for the industry as a whole or even other agents you may know. But I can speak for me and those I choose to keep near me here in Hunt County and across the great State of Texas. We love real estate. We love our communities. We love helping people find their way through the happiest and the toughest times of their lives.