Recently, my State Farm agent, Greg Lyons, had the unmitigated nerve to retire on me.

Then, one of my Active Rain blog buddies mentioned that he’d never ever been to a retirement party for a real estate agent.

Come to think of it, neither have I!  I’ve been to some memorial services for some agents who worked long into their geezer-hood, but they never retired!   One of them ratified a contract on an $8 million dollar house in Georgetown only hours before drawing her last breath.  And her friends actually convinced the Washington Post obit writer that she on only 79.  Yeah!  Right!

And I have to wonder whether so many agents hang in there forever because they didn’t plan financially for a normal retirement, or because they just love real estate and can’t bring themselves to quit.

I have a colleague who has to be in her 90’s by now, and her only concession to old age is that she is now partnering with her daughter.  When I was a new agent a bunch of years age, we had a 70th birthday party for her.  She is still sharp as a tack and spry as all get out, and she still can qualify on her own for membership in Workahaulics Anonymous.  And she could have retired very comfortably decades ago had she wanted to.  But this woman loves real estate, and real estate clearly loves her.

But there are probably just as many agents who didn’t sock it away in any type of retirement account.  We hear so many stories of agents who have been living from one brokerage check to the next, and if they’re lucky, their taxes are up to date.  But they are still out there working hard because they don’t have other options.

I’m at a point where many of my friends are retiring, and I could if I wanted to.  But it’s hard for me to imagine what it would be like.   Other than bad knees (to be fixed soon), I’m in great health.  I love what I’m doing and have gotten pretty good at it.  I’ve learned to work smarter and take vacations.  But if I hung up my lock box keypad, I’d really miss it.  I’d miss the interaction with colleagues and clients.  I’d miss all of the people and houses and condos and flat tires and almost running out of gas.

So, am I going to be one of those geezer agents who doesn’t know when to quit?

Yeah.  I think so!