Benefits of being a real estate agent: Data fix

The group is silent as the real estate agent cautiously rises, knowing every eye is upon her.  She takes a shaky breath and figures, “it’s now or never” and she says those dreaded words, “Hi, my name is Kat, and I am a data junkie.”  “Hi Kat,” they respond.

So now my secret is out.  I love facts, in fact (!), I am data-driven.

Being a data junkie is probably the reason I cringe when I hear any political ads.  The ad might say something like, “Joe Smo stated, “Women shouldn’t vote””.  While many people might say something along the lines of they just KNEW it because Joe Smo is a demo-repub-conservative, I think, well, what are the facts? How long ago did Joe say this? Where was he? Who was with him? What was said right before this and what was said right after?  What was the entire context? How does he feel now? How many times has he uttered those words?  What has his opponent said on the issue?  I don’t believe any ads tell the true story, and I don’t feel many of them are backed up by data.
So what does this have to do with the benefits of being a real estate agent?

Successfully helping people buy or sell a house is heavily based in fact and data and timelines, all things that can be verified and measured.  What are the taxes? What do those taxes that include or not? How do those compare to similar homes? Should the taxes be grieved next tax cycle? What price should this house be? What has sold in the area recently? And at what price?  Are the bedrooms listed in the MLS listing the same as those in the town tax records? Did the contract get signed and if yes, when? And on and on.

And not only do we get to manage things like those data points above, but ohhhh, the monthly results! I can download a list of all the homes that sold, or the homes for sale, or the expired/pending homes, and analyze to my heart’s content.  What’s selling?  What style homes are most popular?  What is the % sales price to list price? How long were the homes on the market and is there a specific reason why, or is it just the market trending in a new direction? How do the results in my town compare to the county in general?

While this benefit of being a real estate agent might be a challenge to other agents, getting my data fix is, to me, one of the benefits of the career I have chosen.

“Hi, I’m Kat, and I’m a data junkie!”