I spent yesterday at the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates office in Stroudsburg, PA. They told me it was a typical day in the office, but what does a typical day in a real estate office look like these days?

If you based your answer on what you hear in the media about the economy and housing market you might think a typical day in a local real estate office is quiet, to say the least. That was not what I witnessed yesterday.

At 8:45 a.m. the office was a buzz of activity with agents and support staff arriving. Spirits were high as everyone was happily starting their work day. Then for a group of us we were off to a managers meeting. Throughout the morning, the intercom buzzed with notifications of incoming calls and visitors for various agents. Through my position in the boardroom I could observe the front lobby where agents were greeting their guests. All this activity reminded me of the excitement that lives in a real estate office.

I remembered back to my days of managing a real estate office as we took a break from our meeting and one of the managers left the boardroom to be greeted by an agent looking for some advice on a transaction she was working on. Down the hall two agents were discussing a new listing from the weekend. In the lobby, an agent was dropping off paperwork to the administrator on a sale. In another hallway, a discussion on a local resort market was taking place. This is energy. This is the type of energy that the personality a real estate professional thrives on. This is what motivated me as a salesperson and rewarded me as an office manager.

The successes—the competition—the challenges—the interactions—the relationships.

These are the reasons we love this business.

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges ahead for the local real estate office is how to create this energy in times of virtual agents, downsizing and restructuring. The successful offices of the future will be the ones that figure this out.

Thanks to Tom, Yarrow, Dominick, and the team at Better Homes and Gardens Wilkins & Associates for a great day!