Week two of my internship was lined up to be the busiest week. Unlike week one, which eased me into the sales process, this week was structured around heavy client interaction. Troy and I prepared for what was expected to be a packed schedule. Between Friday showings and Sunday open houses, we were preparing to show roughly five houses. However, by the end of the week, those five opportunities were reduced to only one.
The majority of the week was spent preparing for those five properties. A large portion of my responsibilities focused on marketing. I created two posters, one specifically designed for a cabin listing in Harpers Ferry, Iowa. And another more generic branding poster with the slogan “Family Man Selling Family Homes.” The purpose behind the slogan was to highlight Troy’s identity and values. Presenting him not only as an agent, but as someone rooted in family, trust, and especially community. For the cabin listing, Troy and I worked together to develop slogans that would appeal to buyers looking for something unique and outdoors oriented. That collaboration helped me understand how marketing needs to align with both the property itself and the agent’s personal brand.
To design the materials, I used Canva and AI to create cartoon-style images of Troy and his family and turn it into a sort of logo to build a recognizable and modern brand identity. Working within RE/MAX’s specific color scheme was challenging because the brand has strict and recognizable colors. I had to balance creativity with professionalism and consistency. The goal was to create something modern that showed that I was sort of technologically advanced and innovative in my work. As an economist, I find it interesting how technology can enhance traditional industries such as real estate. In addition to these posters, I created a newspaper ad that was going to potentially be run in week three. This made me think more carefully about spacing and printing outcomes. The entire week felt productive and fast moving because everything we were doing was in preparation for what we expected to be a very busy weekend.
Friday was supposed to involve multiple showings for a client traveling from Iowa City. This was the day that I was most looking forward to, because it allowed me to observe the showing process in real time and see an agent with buyers during decision making moments. However, we received approximately six inches of snow, and the three showings were canceled due to weather conditions. Travel became difficult and the client understandably postponed. In addition to the showing we had scheduled for Friday, we had 2 open houses scheduled for Sunday. But, as a common theme for the week, one of our open houses was cancelled due to the pending sale of the property. That house was sold by a different agent before Troy had the opportunity to show and sell to one his clients. I asked Troy a few questions and he told me that although he wasn’t able to make the sale himself, he was still happy with the outcome. In detail, he received commission from the seller’s side of the deal and missed out on additional commission from the buyer’s side. Since he only represented the seller in this situation, the buyers commission goes to that other agent that was able to sell the property first.
Despite these setbacks, we still held an open house and there was a great turn out. Although there was a lot of learning, this blog/entry is kind of all about our setbacks this week. Overall, week two taught me that real estate involves much more than just selling houses. It involves marketing, branding, preparation, adaptability, and resilience. It showed me how unpredictable the business can be. Even when you do everything right, external factors like weather or competition can change the outcome of what you prepared all week or all month for. As I move to week three, I am excited to incorporate what I learned during the open house and continue to learn more about the real estate process. Each week is giving me a better understanding of not only the business itself, but also the skills and mindset required to succeed in such a competitive and ever-changing field.