I Hate My Job.

No, I love my job. But I hate my job TITLE.

I am allowed to call myself a Salesperson or Sales Representative. Lee has taken courses to qualify her to open and operate a real estate office, so she is a “Broker”.

Any of us who do not state somewhere in ANY promotional material that we are one of the above; or are so bold as to instead call ourselves a Consultant, Manager, Facilitator, Guru or some sort of real estate deity … is breaking the rules set out by provincial legislation. You may notice the commonly used "agent" isn't mentioned... not allowed. We've been known to break that rule in the interests of common sense and common usage, but by law it's not right.

Yes, I “sell” my services in order to attract clients. The end of the most active period in a “job” is a “sale”. We certainly produce a wide array of marketing materials to assist in the sale of a home. We work with buyers and sellers to help THEM get a sale. We negotiate on behalf of clients. And so on.

But we cringe at the idea that we sell homes. The implication is that our job is to get a buyer to buy or a seller to accept an offer. It isn’t. Our job is to help a buyer find and acquire the right home for them. Not the first home, or the most expensive home, or the one that pays the highest commission rate. The Buyers buy it.

Our job is to help a seller market their home effectively in order to get the best possible offer for them. Not the first offer, or the one that closes fastest, or the one from our own buyers because then we get more commission. The Sellers sell it.

That's the job: work with clients through the real estate buying/selling process so that they are happy and satisfied at the end. I like it. The title ... not so much.