Inside a real estate professional's mind. Here is a touching letter.

Yeah. That is who we are. And we love it. Image - deere.com 

Hello. I have been bewildered for many years now, trying figure to out where my life is really headed. Right and wrong, better or worse and failure or success is your judgement. I am just writing to let you know what I do.

# I am passionate about building, planning, creating, innovating, communicating and transacting real estate. Only passion can keep you away from family and friends on Sundays, which happens to be a critical working day for me.

# I am used to difficulties and challenges. Simply because fire fighting is my primary job. You would hate it if all the work done by you in the last 30 days was lost. Right? But with my customer, contractor and regulatory body, this loss happens to me everyday. I understand that. I can take big hits from life and keep smiling.

# I love to see see gleeful children playing in pretty, manicured gardens. The same earth where once stood a vast, wasted and barren field. Or a decaying factory. It brings me amazing memories. It fills me with pride and satisfaction which others sadly do not understand. It pushes me to work harder and make more sacrifices.

# While my friends leave on that amazing holiday, I bring home some cheap toys for my children and a bottle of wine for the wife. Because with a busted economy, inflation, slackening sales and rampant corruption, I am left with very little to call my own. And when I do put some money together, saving it for a 'coming soon' rainy day is the priority....

# I don't really enjoy coming to your house warming party. Especially if you have put together a beautiful home. Sorry. But I just hate the look in my wife's eyes when I am driving her back home from your party. I am a hard working, honest real estate professional but I cannot afford a nice home like that.

# I take all kinds of stuff from large corporate entities. I bend backwards and more to accommodate their whims and fancies as a client or tenant. But once their signboard comes up and the swanky office is operational, I am the guy who is forgotten first.

# I know how it feels to be the guy who does not show up at a party and no one really cares.

# I am the guy who builds homes for the poor and the homeless, subsidizing these homes from my profits. Giving away a big portion of my earnings. But that is no CSR for anyone. And my wife does not run a cool NGO.

# I take sh** from my employees, my banker, my prospective customer, my local municipality, the local politician, the local goons, the cops and the media each day. Yet, I come home and smile like nothing ever happened. I even help my daughters paint clowns and village scenes.

# I work for a firm where the salaries are overdue because we are not being paid from various quarters due to various reasons. I understand that. I don't let that hamper my work and my winning spirit.

Yeah. I am weird. You could also call this crazy. An attempt to get a piece of your heart for the 3 minutes that this lasts in your head, before other things take over. But every time you enter your office, a shopping mall, an airport, your son's school, the hospital and every time you crank up the AC in your bedroom after an amazing summer Sunday lunch, know that a crazy man like me, built and sold all that you call home. :)

Bring it on.

- A real estate dude!