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Part-time real estate agents put in full-time efforts
Part-time real estate agents put in full-time efforts'No less professional' says area Realtor
By Betsy Parker
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
With the nation's real estate market taking a steep tumble from the boom years of the early century, agents across the country are working overtime to stay afloat in difficult times: Part-time agents as well as full-time.
The virtues and faults of "part-time" versus "full-time" agents and brokers are the ageless subjects of discussion and can be a deep pit of controversy. You wouldn't hire a part-time surgeon, goes the argument, why hire a part-time agent? But many part-time agents feel that is not a fair comparison.
"Real estate is the perfect second career," said Orlean's Janet Rehanek, a part-time agent associated with Long and Foster in Warrenton. "Before I had kids, I worked full-time in the medical insurance business. Then, of course, I worked as a full-time mom. But, after my kids both went to school, I decided I could be a mom and have a career, too."
Encouraged by her own mother, who worked for the Greater Piedmont Area Association of Realtors, Rehanek took courses in real estate and passed licensing tests in the summer of 2005. "Real estate is a career I can make work around my schedule," she added, saying she only considers herself "part-time" because she also substitute teaches at her kids' Fresta Valley school. "It may be a part-time job for me, but I'm available pretty much full-time.
"I think a benefit of being a part-time agent is that we can give more time to our clients," Rehanek explained. "For instance, I had some people moving here from New York that I showed homes to, but, also, I was able to show them all around Fauquier County. It is fun to share your town with new people. Maybe I'm biased, but I think Fauquier County is one of the best places to live in the country."
Part-time, she insists, does not mean partial service. "I am committed to the business."
Full-time real estate agent Patti Brown of Warrenton said that working in real estate, no matter what the status, definitely requires commitment. "I think the main difference between part-time and full-time agents is, literally, the 'time' you are able to put in," said Brown, with $26 million in sales the number one agent out of Long and Foster's Manassas office in 2006. "It all boils down to time."
Brown said that, as a full-time agent since 1999, she is able to commit to mastering the latest technology available to licensed Realtors, and pursuing advanced training in the business.
Established in 1968, mid-Atlatic based Long and Foster had $61 billion in sales in 2007.
"It is very difficult to be a continually successful agent and not work at it full time," said Phillip Thomas, who opened Middleburg's Thomas and Talbot Realty in 1967. "Most people think it's 'easy' to sell real estate, but it's not. You're dealing with different personalities, the economy ... so many factors to consider."
Since real estate agents do not necessarily keep traditional 9-5 hours, it can sometimes looks like a part-time work, Thomas said. "Networking is part of the job," he said, explaining that much of an agent's work, whatever their status, is out in the "field," to find properties to sell and customers to buy them. "It's just as much work to sell a townhouse as it is an $8 million property. Hard to believe, but that's true."
Thomas and Talbot had $160 million in listings and sales 2007.
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