Why don't you look like a real estate agent?

When I told Andy that I wanted to go into real estate he said, "Are you going to get a red blazer and grow out your fingernails?" It's a common misconception that agents have to wear their company colors all the time, with matching Lee Press-On nails.

I'd have to say that none of the agents I know fit this description. I have yet to see any of my RE/MAX colleagues in red blazers. I do own one suit jacket - it's a nice sandy gray color from Ann Taylor. My finger nails are, as always, bare and clipped close to my finger tips. I don't think Andy's disappointed.

I do get some interesting comments when I'm out and about wearing my RE/MAX Executives Name tag. Most of the time people ask me about the market. But more than once I've heard, "Aren't you a little young to be in real estate." This might be true. Agents work so hard, with such odd hours (at least the good ones do), that it would be hard to be a mom or a newlywed and keep up the pace. Maybe that's why the stereotypical agent is past child-bearing years. But, with new technology - on-line MLS searches, blackberries, cell phones, wi-fi - it is possible to work hard and still be available to your family, so maybe that stereotype will change.

Does it hurt or help that I don't look like an agent? I think it probably helps.