Referees and REALTORS Explored

September 25, 2006 |

Refwithball
When I’m not practicing real estate, one of the things that I do is officiate basketball (I mentioned this once before). The letters from my officiating supervisors have been coming in, the rules clinics are coming up, and the season is on the horizon. All this got me thinking about the similarities between being a REALTOR and being a referee. Officiating has helped me tremendously when it comes to business, and vice versa. Here are some things I find similar about being a referee and being a REALTOR:

1) Referees adhere to a code of ethics, too.
2) For REALTORS, a well-managed transaction brings satisfaction. For the referee, it is the well-managed game.
3) REALTORS must build trust with their clients, referees must do the same with coaches and players.
4) Referees and REALTORS must possess and constantly improve upon their skills of interpersonal relations.
5) The technology of the Internet is changing the way REALTORS conduct business, Internet and video technology is changing the officiating landscape.

Those are five of the most glaring similarities I can think of. More on these and some others in future posts. I plan to expand on this relationship a little bit more, since The Charlottesville Area Real Estate Blog is the only place where you can get this perspective on real estate.

Incidentally, since I know, or at least I hope, that all of you have lives outside of reading real estate blogs; and many of those lives include sports (at least as a fan), you can always email me with officiating questions. There aren’t a lot of good places for the public to learn about what goes on in the minds of officials, so if you ask, I’ll answer.

Posted by Daniel | Filed Under Fun Stuff, Industry Issues, Officiating, disintermediation 

Comments

One Response to “Referees and REALTORS Explored”

  1. Jeff Brown on October 4th, 2006 10:15 pm

    I’m a recently retired NCAA baseball umpire, and you hit the nail on the head. Much of what I dealt with in games translated very nicely to life in general, and my real estate practice specifically.

    Here a few things:

    1) Pressure is umpiring the plate in front of thousands in a late season game between the top two teams. Extending an escrow? Big deal. :-)

    2) Concentration on the task at hand is imperative. Enough said.

    3) It developed a keen sense of what I call ’situational awareness’. This allows us to see potential problems and either head them off, or have a solution read to launch.

    4) Sometimes your judgment is wrong. It’s not the end of the world. Fix it and remind yourself that your mother still loves you.

    5) Teamwork. Try umpiring a D-1 college game by yourself. The same goes for a solid real estate agent. Solo performances aren’t an option.

    [Reply]

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