英语小故事第073期：Priced to Sell!

It can be a lonely, depressing job. Not for the successful realtors, of course. Their job is almost glamorous. Some of them, the most successful, work with wealthy people who live in, buy, and sell beautiful houses in beautiful neighborhoods. But for a new realtor, life is hard.

A realtor has to pass a comprehensive test, and then take continuing education credit classes annually. He (or she) has to join a realty company and attend meetings regularly. He has to spend hours on the computer researching the latest properties that are being offered for sale. He has to make "cold calls" to potential clients. These cold calls are uncomfortable for the realtor and annoying to potential clients.

Once a realtor gets a client, he must chauffeur the client from one property to another, patiently explaining this and that while answering questions about these and those. It’s always a contest between the seller trying to get as much as he can for his house and the buyer trying to pay as little as he can for the same house. Neither one wants to give in. On top of it all, the seller often lies, proclaiming that there are no problems with his house—“No, sir, absolutely none whatsoever.”

The realtor has to put up with the seller’s lies and the buyer’s cries of poverty, and in the end he hears these same words from the buyer: “I don’t know. Let me think about it."