I know what you’re thinking, “Is this guy a nut job or what?” or maybe, “That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard…. Hug a Realtor… they’re a bunch of over paid, fancy-car driving so-and-so’s.”  I mean, talk about an easy gig right?  It reminds me of that Dire Straits song, “Money for nuthin’ and the chicks are free.”   Okay, I get it, so now tell me how you really feel…

But seriously, we have Labor Day, a day in which we honor organized Labor;  Veteran’s day; Memorial day, where he pay homage to our lost heroes; Father’s Day; Mother’s Day, Grandparent’s Day; President’s Day; Secretary Day – actually I think that’s for a whole week; even Boss’s Day – talk about dumb… So why not, Hug a Realtor Day?

Most people see Realtors driving their fancy cars, wearing designer clothes, touring luxurious mansions and of course getting paid huge commissions often times for homes that could, “sell themselves”.  Admittedly, I consider Realtors the “Rock Stars of the business world”, but let me shed a little light on why we deserve our own day and why it should be tomorrow.

Last week I closed escrow on a bank owned property listed by Jordan Cohen of ReMax.  Now here’s a guy that sells homes for pro athletes like Pete Sampras and Elton Brand, but he just closed escrow with me on a little one story in a quaint subdivision, nothing glamorous, just a home owned by Bank of America and he’s out there in his jeans, pulling up his for sale sign, picking up the lock box.  Ahhh, the glory of real estate; also known as grunt work.  Or how about this? Have you ever seen a Realtor putting out open house signs in your neighborhood?  How about putting out signs in the pouring rain, or picking up a muddy stake sign in the dark, and placing it in their “expensive” car?  Perhaps you’ve seen a Realtor in high heeled shoes that sank into the soft grass in the middle of that rain storm…  What about the old adage of the Realtor business card saying something like, “Working 24/7 for you”.  My wife frequently laments my taking a call at 9:00 at night, or getting up in the middle of a movie to tend to the needs of a client.  I work when others are off – it’s just the nature of selling real estate.  Clothes…I was showing a $2M home last week and the prospective buyer complimented me on my Mark Nason shoes; my shoes!  Don’t think buyers and sellers don’t notice clothes and cars, because they do and they want to be impressed; and frankly they should be, after all, they want to know that the person they are entrusting their most important financial decision to, is successful, and what quicker way than to look at their car and clothes.  Real estate is not a business that conforms to the book, The Millionaire Next Door.  Having a lot, but not showing it, does nothing for promoting one’s real estate business.  “You are what you drive”, “Clothes make the man” and “Dress for Success”; these aren’t phrases that made their way into our social consciousness without reason.

Realtors often get involved in very intimate and personal inner-family issues.  Sometimes there are divorces or deaths, where the principles are very often emotional and with good reason, but none the less, not rational.  I was once told by a retired Beverly Hills cop that I was “lower than the lowest used car salesman”, because of issues having nothing to do with me, but rather I was the punching bag for a man frustrated that we couldn’t find a home with bedroom downstairs with a sliding glass door, so his dying mother could step outside during her final days.  She died before we closed escrow.  He never apologized and I never asked.  That was 16 years ago by the way.  Some things in the business of selling real estate, are hard to let go of.

So why tomorrow?  Tonight’s the beginning of Daylight Savings Time that’s why.  Except for dairy cows, most everyone likes DST except for tomorrow morning when we lose the hour of sleep.  There’s more sunshine and longer days to go enjoy the out of doors, especially here in Southern California, but Realtors dread it because it means open house hours change from 1-4 every weekend, to 2-5.  It means more clients can see property after work, which means, dinner will be served later and later.  When I sold new homes, tomorrow was the worst day of the year because DST meant the office hours changed from 10-5 to 10-6; God how I hated that.

Thus I propose tomorrow shall from this day forward be known as “Hug a Realtor Day” because darn it, we deserve it.