Real Estate work is the lazy man / woman job

My friend Cliff is a real estate developer like me. He joined me impromptu while I was having lunch at a local restaurant.

As we were trading war stories about the real estate market, he made a statement that caught me by surprise and made me reflect. “You know Walter, you and I work in real estate because it is less work.” When he saw my incredulous face he added: ” How many hours do you actually work in a week?” This question got me thinking … I thought about the days and sleepless nights when loans were due and market was crashing: 1988, 1991, 1997, 2008… I could not agree that we real estate people work less. But the statement gnawed me. On second thought I had to concede:  that was not “work”, that was emotional work.

Real Estate W(o)rrier

He was mostly correct! I basically work 26 to 30 hours per week and then spend the rest of the time looking for the next deal which I think goes under the heading Fun Socializing or Public Relations which I love. Real Estate is fun for me!

Disclaimer: Of course the part that not everyone can stomach about real estate is the very high risk always present and the loss of liquidity in bad times. You cannot liquidate your real estate on command like a stock: if the market is bad, you have to be able to hold a real estate asset until better times. Thus reducing leverage is the secret to all successful real estate holders.

But Cliff was right: real estate is for light worker yet heavy worriers! We spend less time working, but lots of time figuring out ways to pay for loans!