The Tech Savvy Realtor
A personal journey of my career switch into Web Development
I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about my decision to switch my career into a web developer. Albeit, most of it has been quite positive and supportive and I am grateful for that and grateful to be embarking on this journey that I have considered a dream.
However to some, especially those in my real estate circle, the question of why still remains. The question is followed by the subject’s head turning at a 31 degree angle and their neck snapping back with a confused look. Web Development? Why? Why not Real Estate? You can’t make as much money as easily anywhere else? Don’t listen to your drunken monkey! (Yes, I’ve been told this before in Real Estate).
Soul Searching
My journey from Real Estate to technology has been six years in the making. After graduating, it felt as if the glass was half full. When I walked down the spotlit auditorium and stepped on the podium to accept my degree, I could feel that there’s something missing.
My undergrad was not as straightforward as I would have thought. Coupled with the fact that I was more mature leaving university than starting it, I had this inner instinct to learn more and the fuel to prove myself right never went out. However, I thought that required I had to pursue a Masters Degree, or if I wanted to do something completely out of my scope, I had to start from scratch and complete an undergrad all over again (and there was absolutely no way I would consider doing that). Although I could’ve studied more, at this point, twenty-something year old me needed to get some work/real-world experience. I needed a break from all those textbooks!
Life In Real Estate
I found out about Real Estate through family and friends, I was amused by the fact that I didn’t need to climb up the corporate ladder and be someone who managed my own business. I had freedom, I had autonomy and that was very alluring because I wanted to control how my future looked like.
There was one constant that always remained, that I had passion to make a difference in people’s lives. Having a degree in Psychology, I have always been amused by what drives human behaviour and our constant need to innovate and find the next big idea in every field. In terms of Real Estate, my education thoroughly helped me understand human behaviour and what drove a person’s decision making process when it came to possibly making the biggest financial decision of their life.
While the decision making process has been relatively the same since centuries, it was the role that technology has started playing in this process which sparked my interest to transition to it as a career. My passion quickly transitioned into how to make people’s lives easier using technology and data.
Using Technology In My Practice
I was helping my clients use technology to research and compare multiple neighbourhoods, price points and other relevant factors which help them make more informed decisions and increase collaboration so they would feel empowered about their decision. I would create systems that would make the client experience seamless from beginning to end, for example, they could view properties via video chat if they were working late or sign away documents through their mobile phone.
Beyond the client side, when it came with managing my book of business, I would use any technological tool at my advantage to boost my sales and increase my ROI. Automated email campaigns and reminders for each client set, which was personalized whether they were looking to buy, sell, rent or invest. This saved me from hiring an assistant and allowed me to leverage technology in an industry that has been incredibly slow adapting to the new age.
Discovering Myself
The inner flame was awoken. Tech. Tech is what I want to do. It revived all those memories of me troubleshooting problems on my computer in my middle school and high-school days. Those days where I would fiddle around with my computer when I had nothing to do, open it up for fun and examine all its parts. My oldest brother was also in Computer Science and I looked up to him quite a lot. Everything in conjunction just gave me this aha-moment.
Furthermore, I was working at a technological advance real estate brokerage for a significant portion of my career in Downtown Toronto’s Distillery District. Being in constant relationship with the dev team, providing input to improve the front-end website and the interesting projects they were working on made me always wonder what life would look like on that side.
In the time when I went independent, I created my website for my business. I found that I was having more fun creating a website than I did doing real estate! This sparked my love for web development.
Realities of Real Estate
Unlike common conception, there’s a lot more to real estate than showing properties, real estate is hard work. Though that didn’t deter me, I wanted to find a career with more structure.
And also, get back my weekends with my family.
I liked Real Estate but I didn’t love it. My heart was there with my clients but not with everything else.
I have much respect for a lot of people in the game, especially the small names you don’t hear about. They’re doing everything to make sure they provide for their families. It’s an industry with high-stakes and immense competition.
When you lose a deal, everyone is told to ignore it, but in reality when you lose out on one deal that could potentially be thousands or tens of thousands of lost earnings. It can hurt – big time. Remember, ain’t nothing changed but the weather and rent’s due on the 1st. A different reality from what you see on TV.
Last Words
One of many blessings I’ve learned being in the real estate industry is that it taught me grit. How to keep going when the clouds are dark. Doesn’t matter what’s going on with me, there are others that are facing much worse in other parts of the world. As long as you have food to eat, clothes to wear, clean water to drink, family and friends to talk to, then we should definitely count our blessings.
I am extremely lucky to be embarking on this journey as a web developer and to be taking Juno’s Web Development Bootcamp Immersive Course. I wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for the support of my family, especially my wife. So a special shout-out goes to her. I am excited for the program and what the future holds for me. This is just the beginning.
