Thirty Years in Real Estate

This week I’m going to focus a little on my husband.  I thought with his 32 years in real estate it’d be interesting to “interview” him.  Yes, I did say 32 years, isn’t that crazy.  In the real estate field, we see realtors get into the business and we see them leave for one reason or another so for him to still be thriving and enjoying a career in the business after 32 years, I can just say Wow! 

He does joke these days saying he is ready to retire and let me take over the business, that he would be very happy being my chauffeur driving me to meet buyers and sellers, I just don’t know if he will ever truly want to retire. 

I asked him in his career in the real estate business what is the biggest change he has seen from when he began to now.  He answered quickly, computers.  When he began his career, there were no computers in the industry. You found a home for sale by searching the large paper index of homes currently on the market, a big paper book. 

Where he sometimes feels like computers are the enemy taking away from that personal one- on- one experience, they have also helped. They give buyers the opportunity to educate themself on the real estate market and most buyers are coming to him with a good base understanding of the current market. This allows him to focus on their specific questions they may have after doing their research.

There have been many other changes like the contract itself. The contract used to be 1 page front and back and now you have 14 pages for just the main contract plus multiple pages of other disclosures.  

He indicated that the transactions have lost a big part of the personal experience.  You are no longer meeting with buyers at the office and driving them from home to home.  The contracts are all signed electronically on the computer.  It feels less personal now.  He tries his best to still bring that personal touch he has to each and every transaction in one way or another.   

Home prices have increased two and a half times what they were when he began.  He says that what balances that out is the interest rates.  He has seen them decrease significantly going from 10-15% down to current market rates of 2.5-3% making the buyers be able to still purchase homes. 

He originally chuckled when I said let me do an interview with you but I think he enjoyed reminiscing on when he began his journey and I know that I did. 

Larry has attained his Associate Brokers License and he has completed countless hours of continuing education that is required to keep your skills up to date.  He has received many awards over his many years.  

I asked him why he has stayed in the business so long.  In his 32 years, he has seen some tough times in the real estate market and a lot of people have jumped ship.  He indicated he stayed because of his love for people. He truly enjoys meeting the people, becoming lifelong friends with some of his clients.  He said he also has enjoyed teaching me the business.  He can smile when he sees me making accomplishments in the field as I trek through my own journey.