ROI : The Expense of Knowledge, Time, and Experience and its Beneficiary

[Matthew F.]

I am 21 years old and a Real Estate Junkie. I quit my day job for a full-time night job, and another day job. I am a house mouse , a residential real estate agent primarily working with investors (big eyes and small pockets so they say). So that I can learn the ropes, raise some capital, and network for future investments.

Basically I subtract my pathetic social life from 2 months of my time which is equal to 600-1,000 dollar commission plus minimum wage from my overnight job. I really do not mean to whine and complain, But I am exhausted.

I love where I am, Sometimes I am actually helping people build "retirement funds" or wealth and real estate knowledge, while learning for myself, but right now I am barely breaking even on the investment of simply getting my real estate license, much less marketing expenses or the time/lack of sleep I put in to this.

I am learning about market trends in specific residential areas. I have even gone as far as to formulate and assign numeric values to such things as one side of vinyl on a house vs. brick in more than one zip code in my area or the number value of Laminate vs. Hardwood per square foot in a couple of different zip codes. So that I can sleep instead of comp !

I Know this is common for a lot of Agents in understanding specific areas they serve. I am truly focused on the return for my clients as well as ROI for my time and money, and not being stuck.

Thank you, If you are still reading, either it hits you where you are or you have been in similar shoes,

Please share your experienced advice.(be harsh if need be)

Am I being a baby ? on the right path, just suck it up ?

Should I take out a loan, get a bachelors in Real Estate Finance, and explore options ?

Maybe Work it out, learn the business more, get a brokers license ?

Aim to Sell commercial real estate as an agent/broker ?

Just focus on capital now, quit agency w/ stress, and save to invest?

Dump RE , get my series 7, become a stock broker, financial advisor and possibly hedge with real estate ?

What do you all believe should be my next step to Real Estate Holdings, or In general wealth or ROI ?

**If you've been there, please share, what would you do in my shoes ? The sky is the limit , Pilot is ready for absolutely anything, Engine 100 percent full. I just need to figure out (maybe be reminded) where the sky is !

and i'll post a picture because most people don't on forums, and i don't know if it will bring more traffic and/or solid experienced answers or not.

Regardless, Thanks for reading my plea in sleep deprived exhaustion at the very end of the week.

[Bill Gulley]

Matthew, you're just lost like all new agents, LOL

Don't advertise unless you have a listing to advertise, not on a thin budget.

Not sure what you meant by getting your client a ROI, that is a myth that a Realtor can determine a property's ROI, you can't, unless the client gives you their financial information and their use of cash. You're spinning your wheels trying to do financial calculations for prospects, don't even go there. If your clients are investors they will figure their estimated ROI.

If they aren't investors, sell the sizzle not the steak, a homebuyer isn't interested on financial returns (except that they'd like to know an average appreciation rate for the area) as they are living in the home.

People buy homes they don't buy houses, investors buy houses. It's the personal and sentimental aspect of a home that sells the home not the Realtor. And, investors buy investments they understand and that meet their investment needs, which you won't know, so your job is to advise, find potential deals and present them as units of inventory, as potential investments.

Walk and talk (I just posted about this, search BP for "walk and talk")

RE is a people business more than it is about dirt, sticks and bricks. You need to walk and talk face to face with people. You find deals through connections with people, if it's already listed or on the internet, that means it's in the public domain, you have to get lucky to get a deal if it's presented to the whole world.

Take your advertising dollars buying a few lunches with Realtors, closing agent/title folks, an appraiser, loan officer and mortgage brokers. Build a network of team players that can facilitate your deals. Find the personnel manager at companies that have a good paying work force, the goal is to get your name in the grapevine of industry, public and private organizations and government service areas.

Know yourself, you likes, hobbies, sports, education, religious and social niches where you feel most comfortable. Look for residential areas of like folks and know those areas. Wear out a pair of shoes, walk and talk those areas and introduce yourself.

All you young'ns out there are getting too caught up in technology, real deals in your area are made with people, again, get face to face.

Analysis has a place in RE, but you can get bogged down in irrelevant data. I could care less about the difference in value of siding materials, it's not that big of an issue that the intrinsic value of a 2 story all brick home over that of one of lap siding won't be obvious when you look at it. Your client isn't that interested in knowing the brick comps out at $4,200 more at that size as they are seeing the home and simply being more appealing to their eye. Buyers use their heart first, then their mind in buying a home, it usually comes down to affording a payment. Or, for an investor, the cash flow.

Get a formal education, degrees in RE, finance, accounting, engineering, construction management are all good for RE, lots of specialties.

Probably your next educational hump will be RE financing, know the basic guidelines and understand what your bank will do and why, most Realtors don't get to the why stage, that's important to understand as exceptions to rules are based on the why it is done this way. Finance is the key to the door of real estate.

Go walk and talk and meet people! Good luck :)