Experiences of Successful Realtors® Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and systematically describe the essence of the experience of successful REALTORS ® before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methodology. A phenomenological design was used to explore the experiences of successful REALTORS^® before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researcher used a purposeful sampling and utilized Patton’s (2002) steps for phenomenological analysis. This included epoche, phenomenological reduction, bracketing, textural portrayal, and structural synthesis on the data. Validity and reliability were established through the use of Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) four aspects of trustworthiness. This includes credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability.

Findings. During the data analysis, 33 codes were generated from the significant statements. Further synthesis and analysis of the statements created meanings. Six overall themes surfaced from the data. The six themes were explained and backed up with significant statements from the interviews. The essence of the experiences before and during the COVID-19 pandemic as described by successful REALTORS^® was detailed.

Conclusions. The findings of the study support the literature. The following six themes emerged: (a) agents chose an entrepreneurial career to be able to work for themselves, have unlimited earning abilities, and have flexibility in their schedules; (b) relationship building resulted in consistent business; (c) experiences of overcoming challenges in the past led agents to believe they can successfully overcome challenges in the present, which lead to a high self-reported, self-efficacy rating; (d) education was important to the agents’ business; (e) working with someone you can learn from helped develop qualities of a successful agent; (f) and listening and strong communication skills were important to develop.

Recommendations. Further studies should involve more participants or random sampling. Other quantitative or qualitative methods could be used that would provide results that can be generalized to a larger population. Each discovered theme in this study could be researched further provide additional insight into the phenomenon.