The Service Conundrum
Rethinking what it means to serve in real estate—and beyond
Service is a multifaceted word. It means different things to different people.
So let me ask you: what comes to mind when you hear it?
Maybe you picture someone pumping gas at a full-service station—yes, those still existed not so long ago. Maybe it's store clerks at Walmart or Target, or the baristas at your local coffee shop. Is it the fast-food worker at Chipotle or Panera? Or the well-dressed, always-helpful salespeople at Nordstrom?
Or does your mind go deeper—to the people who serve in the military, law enforcement, education, or healthcare?
Somewhere along the way, service became synonymous with serving—and not in a good way. It started to conjure outdated images of maids and butlers waiting on their seemingly helpless employers.
How did something rooted in helping others develop a negative connotation?
Why shouldn’t the image of a teacher, nurse, or paramedic be held in the highest regard? These are roles that require dedication, knowledge, empathy, and often, sacrifice. Their service is a gift to society. It should be lauded.
These thoughts have been circling in my head because I see real estate—clearly—as a service industry.
I say this often in the classes I teach, and let me tell you—the reaction is not always positive. Some agents bristle at the term. They want to believe they’ve ascended to something more prestigious, more elite. Something that deserves a higher pedestal.
But here’s the truth:
You are there to perform a service.
Your role is to guide your client to the best possible outcome for their needs. You are a limited fiduciary in a highly specific transaction. You are not everything to everyone.
So why the resistance to identifying as a service provider?
Honestly, I think it’s about money. About status. About justifying a paycheck.
There’s this idea that working hard alone merits high compensation. But “working hard” is relative. One person’s version of hard work might be completely different from another’s. In many fields, compensation reflects the level of:
Skill
Education
Training
And the real impact your decisions have on others
I say this with love and honesty:
I’m tired of hearing agents compare themselves to doctors or lawyers.
Those roles require years of education, rigorous licensing, and carry consequences over people’s lives, health, or legal protection.
Real estate agents would benefit enormously from more education and training. In fact, I believe college—or at least some college—should be required. Not as a formality, but as a way to stretch the brain, build critical thinking skills, and understand complexity.
And no, I’m not talking about taking the easiest path to a certificate.
Let’s return to the heart of it:
Service is not a lesser thing. It’s a privilege.
Yes, real estate is sales. And yes, it’s often compared—unfairly—to used car sales. But that image exists for a reason: the old scripts, the manipulative tactics, the pressure-driven methods that linger from an outdated model.
We’re past that. We must be past that.
So if you’re in real estate: rise to your calling.
Lead with professionalism, transparency, and integrity.
Be of service—and be proud of it.
Bravo, Ruth. You said the quiet part out loud—and then gave it a microphone.
Service is a privilege. And yet somehow, in our profession, it’s become the equivalent of admitting you work the drive-thru. The moment an agent hears the word service, many imagine an apron, a tray, and a tip jar. But let me offer this: if you’re bristling at being called a service provider, maybe it’s because deep down… you’re not doing it very well.
Here’s the part that gets uncomfortable fast: Real estate has spent the last few decades playing dress-up. Fancy branding, “top producer” awards, and Instagram reels have replaced what should be at the core of this work—professionalism, responsibility, and yes, service.
Let’s be blunt. We’re not brain surgeons. We’re not appellate court judges. And yet we routinely advise people on decisions involving hundreds of thousands—sometimes millions—of dollars. With less mandated training than a barber.
I’ve met agents who couldn’t explain dual agency if you handed them a flowchart and a flashlight. I’ve watched offers get butchered by folks who didn’t understand contingencies, who then walked away from the mess without so much as an apology. I’ve sat at tables where “fiduciary” meant “whatever helps me close this fast.”
So, yes, real estate is a service industry. But done right, it’s more than that: it’s a form of stewardship. You are trusted with someone’s largest asset, their hopes, their future. You don’t need a stethoscope to understand that this kind of responsibility requires clarity, care, and competence.
We need a reckoning—not with consumers, but with ourselves.
Because when agents reject the word service, what they’re really rejecting is accountability. It’s easier to call yourself a lifestyle entrepreneur than it is to admit you owe your client the truth, especially when the truth doesn’t favor your paycheck.
Ruth, thank you for reminding the grownups in the room why we got into this business in the first place. May the rest catch up—or step out.