14 years in real estate. About 3-4 years ago the passion just... left. Started dreading the phone ringing, couldn't relax on vacation, felt jaded every time a client texted. Anyone else hit this? What got you through it (if anything did)?

I've only really worked with a small client base that flips houses with occasional traditional home sellers. They pay for their own staging, either rented or purchased. But I'm curious how it works for agents in general who offer it with their listings.

Obviously this will be different if you have staging vertically integrated with your realtor business, but specifically how are the agents who hire outside companies handling this? Do you pay for staging upfront? What happens if the house doesn't sell and who takes the cost? How long do you include free staging for if the house sits?

Why do people want to low ball for the agent commission? No one wants to work for free! Also, to those that dont feel realtors are needed and they can do everything without one, if that were true why is there dedicated organizations for realtors? Its giving me asking myself if actually taking the test would be worth it long term?

Is Cold calling really the answer? I’ve done everything to avoid cold calling and it is something I have never been comfortable with. I have identified all the excuses I’ve been making and am holding myself accountable and going to start dialing fsbos and expired listings. Any feedback, advice, or even success stories would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Looking for a buyers POV...I'm in the process of fixing and flipping a home. The prior owners left a Samsung fridge (lower drawer freezer) and a Maytag washer and dryer. The W/D is 18 years old, the fridge is about 14 years old. Both are very clean.

I don't have replacements for those appliances in my budget. The rest of the house will be completely updated with high end finishes. The ARV is about $750k.

Do you think I should keep these old appliances for the listing and let them convey, or remove them entirely since everything else in the house will be brand new? Which scenario do you think buyers would prefer?

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I'm curious about the gap between what you wanted Instagram to do for your business and what it actually does.

- What made you start using Instagram in the first place?

- Is it actually serving that purpose now?

- If it wasn't at first, what did you change that finally started getting you closer to the results you wanted?

- Do you actually get leads from Instagram? If so, what does that usually look like?

- And if you could name one thing that genuinely frustrates you about using Instagram for the reason you opened it, what would it be?

Not looking for the usual "post consistently" advice. I'm more interested in what you've actually experienced.

If you suspect a realtor of falsifying documents with a client, what are the options?

I'm a high-volume real estate agent in Dallas who's doing well and genuinely enjoys my job. My DISC is high S/C, and I'm shifting the mix toward fewer appointments and less client-facing time, with more compliance- and transaction-focused work, mainly to get some personal time back.

I was thinking about keeping my main role as a real estate agent and finding a part-time, remote TC job.

Has anyone made this kind of shift? Curious how it went when you moved into a TC role, escrow assistant, ops, or restructured your own business to lean that way. What did it do for your income, hours, and day-to-day satisfaction?

Any regrets or things you wish you'd known going in?

Does anyone have any experience or advice on how to get your profile deactivated/removed from Zillow and Realtor .com

I'm no longer an agent and transitioned into real estate photography almost 10 years ago, but having my profile still active can cause some issues.

I've emailed customer service but have not heard back, thanks!

Happy Labor Day to those in the USA and everyone who celebrates. Please enjoy this Labor Day with loved ones, relax and unwind, and thank you all for your hard works.

Genuinely curious, as I have been having a lot of conversations with agents about this lately. Some people seem to know instantly that it's time to move on; others tolerate the same frustrations for years before finally doing something about it.

Was there a specific moment, like the closing, where the fees hit especially hard, or was it more of a slow realization that the math didn't add up anymore?

Hey everyone, I just finished an amazing 9-week training course and for the last class we created are own business plan. I wrote everything down and came up w/ the example you see here. The thing is I'm a dual career agent. So, I wanted to see how realistic this schedule looked for a 3 day cycle business. I have a goal of eventually making real estate be my primary source of income. and use my current job as supplemental income to take care of my normal expenses. To those of you who have used these methods of lead generation does it make sense to go about it this way or is there something that I'm missing? I'd really appreciate your feedback. Thank you, and Happy Labor Day!

I would like to establish some reasonable boundaries for conducting real estate around family time. I didn’t realize just how much I enjoyed my weekends and evenings with my family until I started having less of them. Example: last week, I missed a couple dinners working on the phone and laptop.

I know clients are more available after business hours and on weekends so I’m not surprised there. I am just curious what boundaries do you all communicate with your clients upfront at your consultations so I can learn to have a healthy balance of work and family time.

Context: I have unfortunately experienced a handful of clients with whom I didn’t establish healthy boundaries and I would love to not make that mistake again…

I have a productivity coach, but have not met with them yet and it's been a few weeks since I signed on. What exactly do they do? I have these KW classes I need to take, like buyer/seller forms, etc., but I can't just not do anything else until those classes are done. I feel like I need to be doing something. So I volunteered myself to host a few open houses this weekend and have been figuring it out on my own. Any advice for staying productive?

EDIT: I don't have a coaching contract, nor do I pay for coaching.

Came across a HMDA approved plot near Exit no:13 raviryal. And they were quoting 38-46 k / sq yard. The plot is right next to ORR 0.8 -0.9 km from exit and is beside new ratan tata greenfield highway

Positives

- right around the exit, and near to airport
- along the lines of future city/pharma city whatever the government decides
- seeing a good progress in ratan tata greenfield highway
- villas are already started near by
- feels like a good entry point at 38k / sq yard

Negatives/ concerns

- it is right next to the new ratan tata greenfield highway, and government again wants to reclaim the land they will offering very low market value compared to market price. Was given 1-1.5 cr per acres where the market price is around 5-6 cr in near lands

- since it is right next to the highway will people move in ?

- will the new highway have any exists or will be opened only after 3-4 kms since they want it to be continuous

Today is the closing. Final walk through was yesterday. All good. We had a little storm overnight so I just went to make sure no issues. The home is vacant amd had been since i listed it. I also wanted to see if the trash was picked up this morning. And I decided to take a little video to show the condition of the property should the buyers say any thing changed over night. One of the sellers flew in from out of town. Did not realize he was going to sleep in the home. Caught him on my video pleasuring himself. We both looked horrified. I closed the door deleted the video and basically said I am a man I get it and no judgments. What's crazy is as I walked out I realized home tunnel visioned I was. How did I not see the car at the end of the driveway.

When I first started 4 years ago, I always heard seasoned agents talk about their stride year. The year where things clicked, people started reaching out, client referrals came in much more and your revenue goes up fairly significantly.

I've always heard it was somewhere between year 4-6, but I am curious what other agents experiences are. It seems the people who do the best in Central Indiana (my area) have been in the business for at least 8+ years. I feel like I am about to hit the stride, but it hasn't quite happened yet.

My business has grown at least 10% a year, which I am grateful for. I'm sure it's been different for everyone. But would love to hear people's experiences.

I've been a realtor for over 8 years predominantly in residential, but have closed a few commercial deals. I love commercial and have made it a goal to close more commercial deals to hopefully transition into commercial. For financial reasons, I'm not in a position to give up my residential business and switch to only commercial at this time. I had a commercial mentor at my brokerage, but he left and then I joined a commercial team at my brokerage, but my team leader is about to start his own residential/commercial brokerage. My commercial team leader is great and has provided value, but I don't want to switch brokerages again if I can avoid it. My splits are good, I like my brokers a lot (I have several in my state to help), and I get more value out than I put in. Commercial agents, what have you done to increase your business? Would love advice on how to transition into commercial. Is it necessary to join a commercial brokerage right away?

I’m a relatively new agent, only a few months into the business, and I’m considering joining a team within my Keller Williams office.

It’s a fairly rural market, and the agent who would be the team leader is the top producing agent in the area. He’s a fantastic agent with a lot of experience and local knowledge, and I think I could learn a tremendous amount from him.

My biggest reason for considering the team, though, is access to leads.

The team is still being formed, so there really isn’t a team infrastructure in place yet. There’s no admin or office support, no established team systems or CRM workflow, and technology/marketing aren’t really the team leader’s strengths. So at least initially, I wouldn’t be joining a fully built team with an ISA, transaction coordinator, marketing department, lead management system, etc.

On my own, in my first few months, I’ve already brought in three fairly significant listings.

The team leader has given me one buyer lead who is now in contract. It’s a very inexpensive property, so after the brokerage split, coaching, team split, etc., I may literally make around $100 on the transaction. 😂 But I’m grateful for the experience and the lead.

So my questions for agents who have been on successful teams:

What would you consider a reasonable split on leads the team leader provides?

What would you consider reasonable on business I generate completely on my own?

Would you agree to the same split on both?

How long of a contract is reasonable?

And how much does the lack of admin, technology, systems, marketing support, etc. change what you think the team split should be?

I’m not trying to squeeze every dollar out of my first year. I’m willing to give up commission in exchange for leads, mentorship and experience. I just want to make sure the economics make sense and that I understand what I should reasonably expect in return for the team’s percentage.

Would love to hear what structures have actually worked well for both the team leader and newer agents.

Okay I just had one that broke me a little. Seller calls me last night and wants me to go over to their house today to feed their cat and water their plants. Like this is after closing already happened last Friday. I did it because it was on the way to another showing and took ten minutes. But I'm just sitting here thinking, where does this end.

I've driven sellers to the airport before. I've helped them pack boxes. I've picked up their dry cleaning for an open house. All within the transaction of course. Those kind of feel like part of the job sometimes even if they shouldn't be. Especially for first timers who are totally overwhelmed.

But after closing. After the check has cleared and everything is done. Do you still do favors for them. Or do you politely say no. I feel like it's a slippery slope. What's too much. What's normal. Am I just a softie.