Real Estate Market in Southern California
Right after I began in Real Estate, there was a “gold rush”. I received my license at the beginning of 2006 because a friend talked me into it. Neither of us, nor anyone else for that matter, had any idea what was about to happen. We saw an unprecedented market in Southern California. Not only was there a great demand for housing, prices were skyrocketing. People that had spent decades building equity were also trying to cash in on the market. Lenders were approving people, legally and not-so-legally, at an alarming rate. It had to end somewhere and when the dust settled, everybody knew it wouldn’t be good. It wasn’t just California, it was happening in a lot of areas of the United States.
A side effect to the housing market’s record breaking numbers, was the number of people trying to get their Real Estate License. It seemed like everyone was a Realtor. At the time, it wasn’t that bad, for lack of better terms: there was plenty to go around. A lot of Realtors were becoming “rockstars”. Lavish lifestyles were being lived and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight to the amount of money that could be made. A lot of people were involved in the loan side as well as the Realtor side. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in my opinion because being a Real Estate Professional is a rewarding career to those who are willing to work hard.
Showing houses and listing appointments usually have to be done when other people are not working, so being a realtor generally means you are not on a 9-5 schedule. It literally means you work for someone that can contact you at any time, so your are on call 24-7. Being an honest and hard-working Realtor means that you can help a lot of people realize their dream of owning their own home. A home is where you raise a family, share good times, build things, have privacy, and accomplish your daily tasks. Owning a home is a source of pride. Real Estate Professionals realize this and develop our own sense of pride knowing that we facilitate the manifestation of this dream for a lot of people. It is hard to meet someone, share time with them, get to know their family, and help them fulfill a dream without becoming connected as people. Sometimes Realtors get a bad rap as “used car salesmen”, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Realtors can’t be successful without caring and most often develop life-time relationships with their clients. A Real Estate License isn’t easily earned or kept, but is definitely worth the work