As Realtors we typically don’t get healthcare benefits, a 401k or paid vacations.  In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I got an UNPAID vacation.  This is not to say that being a Realtor is completely without benefits.

We are among the select few who can hang out by the side of a creek in the middle of a hundred acres and still be “at the office”.  (Admittedly, most people don’t really like having bugs and other critters in their office, but for cool running water and shade trees I’ll put up with some critters.)

Sometimes my office is on the deck of a million dollar house overlooking a beautiful lake.  A few times my office has been in a rock cave where damp earth and rock insulated me from the world and for a moment it was like going back in time.  Many times it’s in a big four wheel drive bouncing over rocks and logs on an old forest track.

There is a sweet and subtle joy of being in the middle of nowhere and discovering you have a cell signal. Especially on a spring day when there is a light breeze and you think, “Yeah, I could stay here forever.”

I was reminded of all this  yesterday when I was at a listing appointment.  The client had a small berry garden in this front yard with lush and highly productive thornless blackberries and juicy, sweet blueberries.  We stood, he and I, in front of the huge berry bushes and ate our fill of warm summer fruit and reminisced about being kids sent out to pick berries with our gallon ice cream buckets or gallon milk jugs with the spouts cut off.

So, yeah, sometimes my job involves gorging on gigantic blackberries in some guy’s front yard.  Sure, it’s not a 401k, but I can live with that.

What’s your best perk of the job?  Tell us all about it in the comments section!

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Wendy Russ is the Principal Broker of United Country Spot Real Estate in Clinton, Arkansas. She and her husband Rob work as a team fighting the evil forces of ticks, chiggers and snakes to unite buyers and sellers in the lush Ozark foothills of North Central Arkansas. She is never too busy for your referrals.  Or for ice cream. Drop her a line at wendy@wendy.com.

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