Anyone here a Real Estate agent?

[HardDrive]

I've always been curious about what it would be like to sell Real Estate. It seems like a pretty sizable number of real estate agents are part timers who come and go with the wind. But the professionals I know who have been in the business for years are are just that, professionals. Hard working, and very good at marketing.

What makes a good real estate agent?

[porsche4life]

Look up 911Rob or notfarnow

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Look up 911Rob or notfarnow

+1

There are a couple others as well

[1979 930]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

I've always been curious about what it would be like to sell Real Estate. It seems like a pretty sizable number of real estate agents are part timers who come and go with the wind. But the professionals I know who have been in the business for years are are just that, professionals. Hard working, and very good at marketing.

What makes a good real estate agent?

A good seller or good buyer !!!

[scotricker]

BTDT...

The BEST plan is to have a spouse with a real job, or have a big available savings account to keep your bills paid for a couple of years or so. I lasted for awhile, but figured out that the best long term agents had another source of income, either a spouse, or retired with retirement income, etc. It was fun for awhile, but expensive.
If you give this a go, be sure to target big money houses with big commissions!

[Seahawk]

I believe MT930 is as well.

My Mother sold real estate in Aiken, SC when we moved there in the '70's. Like most agents, she started at the bottom of the heap with rentals and small properties. She had little to no network.

She worked very hard and treated everyone, from renters to buyers the same: She made them all feel important. Her mantra was that when renters became buyers they would remember her...when buyers looked to move up, they would remember her. It worked. She was very honest and forthright and had the gift of relating to every strata of customer. She created a network of referrals and customers on her own.

She ended up as a partner in a very successful outfit that specialized in horse properties. If you know Aiken, that is an incredible market.

What I saw as a kid was people liked the fact that she listened and didn't try and force her listings. Years after she became very successful, she would still find rentals for seasonal horse people she had worked with when she got started. Aiken is a winter home to over 500 thoroughbred horses: the trainers, breezers (exercise riders and jocks) and grooms come in every year for four to five months with the horses.

$50 bucks a month on a rental was worth the word of mouth.

During her holiday parties the clientele was an eclectic mix of young, often foreign horse people and older, wealthy folks. Everyone had fun.

She also had a very good eye and was able to discern what clients wished and match them with appropriate properties. Very little time wasted. Selling real estate is hard, thoughtful work if done well.

[herr_oberst]

Listen to the buyer.

Treat them fair.

Remember, you are the professional; in very few instances do buyers know all the tricks you know. The buyer is most likely an absolute amateur, and if you do even ONE THING that makes him or her feel like you took an unfair advantage, you will not get repeat business.

(This is advice from a buyer, not a real estate professional. I've had only 6 real estate transactions, but 4 of them were from the same Real Estate agent, and I would use him again, in a heartbeat. The other 2 are off my radar completely.)

This advice my not be appropriate for commercial real estate.

[p911dad]

This is a hard business to get into, unless you want to do the usual housewife thing, which is to dream of sales, but end up sitting in the office answering the phone for others. Getting the salesman's license is relatively easy, the broker's license is normally much tougher, and takes years to get.

The way to be successful is to bring in business to the firm. This means bringing in listings that can be sold, not dogs, and then selling them. Getting listings requires building a good network and building a reputation of getting things sold. Once you get a reputation for selling, then listings are easier to get. It is very hard work with long hours and lots of disappointments. Also, getting screwed out of a commission is possible. You can work a month on a sale and end up with nothing to show for it.

You must bring value to the firm, and that means listings and sales. Not easy to do, especially for a newcomer. So you must really want it and don't give up. It also helps to live in a growing area or in a hot neighborhood. Real Estate is a big tent, and lots of different specialties in it, and you will be welcomed if you apply yourself. The rewards can be great, but like all things, nothing worthwhile comes easy.

[syncroid]

My wife is a real estate agent. It is a very hard business. (if you are doing it right) Don't expect to make any money for the first three years. As others have said, have a spouse with a steady income or some other type of reserve. She started in 2002. She wanted to grow her business by referral and not the "turn em and burn em", or "cold call" philosophy. Her business has survived the down turn in the economy and is starting to pick up again. (Thank God!) Her business is working as per plan. She is getting lots of referrals from past clients. She just sold a very nice $1.5 million property in our area. Her clients were stoked with she and her business partners job.
Just my .02

[syncroid]

I forgot to mention that she came from a marketing background. It is a strong point to have going into this business.

[drcoastline]

Work in an up scale market where it only takes one or two sales to do well.

[A930Rocket]

Communication!

I've sold 5-6 homes I've built in the past 20 years and most agents never gave us feedback: good or bad. Just having them check in once a week, follow up with a showing or the agent who showed the home.

A good marketing plan with quality pictures in brochures and on-line, etc. for prospects to take home or look at on-line.

[notfarnow]

I started selling in April of '09, after being laid off at a 9-5 job. I posted here asking for help, and got lots of great advice:
Starting in real estate: tips?

Rob's advice was especially helpful, although to be honest I am just doing a lot of the branding & advertising stuff now. I think it's fine to kick off in a BIG WAY, but in my case I really wanted to get a feel for the business, figure out my approach and THEN build my branding etc around that.

You'll get lots and lots of advice on how to advertise, how to brand yourself. Even more advice on how to handle buyers and sellers. That's what most people will talk about and advise on, and that's the fun stuff they show on TV. In reality, the biggest obstacle is GETTING CLIENTS. If you want to make a reasonable living at selling real estate, you need to bust you balls to get clients, and that is very very challenging and time consuming.

Every market is different, but you should be getting advice on how many deals a year you need to make a reasonable living, and then work your goals back from there. Around here, you need to around 24 "ends' (deals on either the selling or buying of a home) per year in order to make a decent living. For you, that will vary depending on average sale prices, average commissions, and what you need for a salary.

Starting out, I'd shoot for 60% buying ends, and 40% listings ends. You want to move towards listings, but it takes time to get a decent (self-sustaining) listing inventory. Everyone is different, but I did a lot of research on starting from scratch and this is how I did it:

Buyers: open houses. Do open houses on listings for other agents in your brokerage. Try to get in the good books of a high producer in your brokerage, and do consistent open house on WELL PRICED listings. Do at least two a weekend, maybe even three. (I often do one on saturday, and two on sunday). you are looking for buyers who aren't already working with an agents. It's a complicated dance, picking them up as clients, but once you figure it out you should be able to get 1-2 good buyers from any decent open house. I can go into detail if you need more info, but the real trick is to have useful info that makes them WANT you to show them more homes. You need to be able to demonstrate your value without being pushy

Listings: My first year, I knocked on doors 15+ hours a week. I targeted neighborhoods with decent turnover, and with homes that were ideal for first-time buyers. Again, there are tricks to doing this effectively without being pushy or obnoxious (I swear, it's true!). Biggest things is getting THEM talking, and telling you about which of their neighbors will be selling. Once you get good at it, you should be able to get 2-3 decent leads every time you go out for 2-3 hours. Some of the leads will be for a year or two down the road, but some will be for next week. I knocked on thousands of door in 2009, and that accounted for more than half of my listings that years. I haven't door-knocked since, but by following up with those leads, they accounted for half of my listings in 2010 too. In 2011, those leads still accounted for a quarter of my listings.

I got laid off with my wife 7mths pregnant, so I didn't have 2-3 years to get up and going. I had to match a professional salary, right away. It's tough, tough, tough to build momentum, and I had to work like an animal my first year... we're talking 80+ hours a week. I did 19 ends my first year, and *just* matched my old salary. 2010 I worked more like 60-70 (no door knocking), and did 27 ends.

This year I am doing around 50-60hrs, have someone doing admin work part time. It's still a LOT of work, but I am much more focused on LISTINGS ( I carry about 20-25 listings at any given time) and that gets me a steady supply of qualified buyers. I gradually becoming able to filter out time-wasters and unpleasant people. I have 34 ends closed so far, 5 more on the books, and should get another 5 or so that close before the year end, so 44 ends. I'm making decent money, and for the first time in my life I am not worried about finances. By christmas the only debt we'll have is our small mortage.

I still work like a lunatic, but this year I am really enjoying it. I work like an %$#@* animal in the peak periods in spring & fall, but I had a pretty relaxed summer. We had a second baby this sept, and I am spending a bit more time at home. It's all working out really, really well. To be frank, this has been the best year of my life.

I closed a couple big deals last week, and tonight I bought my wife a 2003 c320 wagon, and paid off her student loan. She has no idea, and is gonna $hit herself tomorrow. She deserves it... the last couple years were real, real hard on her. Funny I read this on my blackberry while waiting for the guy to show up with the car.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

Work in an up scale market where it only takes one or two sales to do well.

easier said than done. Getting into the high end market is a slow, expensive process.

High-end listings typically go to agents with a solid presence in the market and a proven track record for selling them. The buyers tend to be very discerning and REALLY know the market & inventory, and they don't like having an agent who knows less about the inventory than them.

I have managed to carve out a bit of a niche in the local waterfront market, and have had to invest a disgusting amount of time in order to get qualified 700k+ buyers. Just in the past month, I've had 3 deals over 600k that ALMOST came together... Know what I get paid for a deal that ALMOST comes together? Nothin, other than catching $hit for evenings and weekends working, instead of spending time at home

any one of those deals would have put a decent 964 C4 in my driveway, but I have NOTHING to show for my time and effort, other than loyal clients who MAY buy eventually.

On the other hand, I've had several deals between 90-180k in the past 3 weeks, and they pay my bills.

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by syncroid

I forgot to mention that she came from a marketing background. It is a strong point to have going into this business.

My marketing professor is also a realtor....

[Jim Bremner]

I've just sold my house. The first agent that I called in said that he could sell my house for 150k less than what I knew it was worth. He didn't know the area. I didn't list with him he didn't have the customer base for the sale. The second was very pushy and priced it 50k to low with out seeing the house. ( Town council women). I knew what the home would fetch and I missed it by 25k that I could have held out for but my wife was very stressed over the open houses and with MS patients it's best to keep them calm.


I sold it. I showed the house to the buyer. During the time negotiating she took over. I did show the house to a few agents that had brought people over and the good ones took notes.

The real estate agent listed it. She did her job well and will get a nice check.

I know that I can do this job and I'm thinking of it as well. I've looked at 40 open houses in 3 months and I've met a few good agent. ( She was from an open house that I went to.)

I wish that I had the art of being able to sketch well. There are so many people that lack vision. I was at an open house that was priced well within my reach...but was a dog. It needed 100k in work and would have been a great home. Joanna my wife couldn't see it.



I did get a flier from an agent that held a Engineer's degree He also has a contractor that works with him! very smart.

[911Rob]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Look up 911Rob or notfarnow

I'm not sure how Sid did this, but I got a link on FB to this page just now?

I'm a real estate agent in the interior of BC, Canada.
I'm in it for the money, which is between $250K - $450K/year
Shuswap Real Estate Specialist! : Rob McKibbon - REALTORŪ - BIGRob.ca : Home

I'm always happy to help out anyone in the business, I do a lot of RE training now too; however I do believe the markets here and the USA are different during the current economic times. That being said, most agents here are doing poorly, but the harder I work, the luckier I get?

Shoot me a message if you want to hook up and exchange ideas?
Cheers and thanks Sid

PS: Find me on facebook: Rob McKibbon | Facebook Love to hook up with PHeads.

[porsche4life]

I just sent you a link on FB chat Rob, its not Voodoo....

[911Rob]

Originally Posted by Jim Bremner

I did get a flier from an agent that held a Engineer's degree He also has a contractor that works with him! very smart.

Yes, I'm also an engineer and developer. I usually have one or two projects going on the side; but the experience is very helpful and I work very well with local builders and developers.

Bottom line though is it's "SALES"
Any kind of sales person can be successful, but it's sales.
If you knew my wife you'd know I was a good salesman

+1 on being a Real Estate Agent, it's been a very good career choice for me this past 7 years.

[911Rob]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

I just sent you a link on FB chat Rob, its not Voodoo....

Oh, you're good

[Love this guy]