Year one as a Realtor

[Michael Jobe]

Hello BP community! First off, I want thank each and every one of you especially @JoshuaDorkin and @BrandonTurner because without you guys we would be missing the wealth of information that this community provides. I listen to every podcast and have learned as much as my brain can handle!

With that being said, one thing I decided to do more of in 2014 is being active on the forums here instead of the lurker I have been for over a year now. I think I should start by sharing my story as a first year active Florida real estate agent which has a little bit of both failures and successes. Moderator feel free to move this post to wherever you see fit. Enough small talk let us get onto the good stuff...

After going back and forth with the decision for quite awhile I decided to take the plunge and obtain my real estate license. The class itself was quite easy but the Florida real estate exam was a bear of a test. After three failed attempts, I finally passed it on the fourth try. With that out of the way, I set out on my mission to become the most successful real estate agent that ever existed in south FL. I paid my dues to join the Greater Fort Lauderdale Board of Realtors, found a broker to hang my license with, and thought that I was well on my way to dominating the real estate market. So after I woke up from that dream, I realized that this planned takeover would not be as simple a process as I had anticipated. Bear with me as this will be a long but informative post.

This is the part where I will share some failures that hopefully will prevent others from making the same mistakes I did starting out as a Realtor.

• Setting unattainable goals when starting as a new agent. My thought process was that I would pass the state exam, get my RE license, and immediately begin making lots of money. WRONG! Unless you have several high dollar listings already lined up then don't plan on making much money right off the bat. My broker's office manager put it to me like this on the day I joined them: "Most new agents don't make it past the first year because it's pretty slow starting out. But after that first year things get a little better...not much, but a little." Boy was he ever right! After about six months of not making much progress I was ready to give up but thank goodness I didn't. That brings me to my next point...
• Giving up before I got started; not keeping a positive mindset. This is much easier said than done and I'm sure has been posted many times on BP. It is truly the foundation to building anything great. My problem was that I had a "can't do" attitude towards everything even though I considered myself a very upbeat, positive person. As much as you may get discouraged, you must continually make a conscious effort to keep yourself focused on what you CAN DO, not what you can't.
• Not utilizing my contacts. Your network is your net worth. Again, you have probably heard this over and over again but it is very true. My big mistake was that I thought complete strangers or people I barely knew would trust me to be their Realtor. I would go so far as to say I thought that they should trust me because I'm such a stand-up guy, right? WRONG! You can be as honest as Abe Lincoln but that means nothing to someone who barely knows you. Needless to say, as soon as I tapped into my network of friends, family, associates, etc. I got my first client. Woohoo!
• Rushing to join a brokerage without doing my homework. I basically went blind chasing the lights in the beginning. My first broker was a successful young man who portrayed an image of success very well; he had multiple million dollar listings, had his initials stitched into the cuffs of his dress shirts, owned a nice car, boat, and a helicopter, . He's a great guy and still someone I would call on if I needed advice but it just wasn't a good fit for me as a new Realtor. The brokerage offered minimal training, marketing, etc. which basically left me to fend for myself. Not recommended if you're a brand new Realtor starting out but a learning lesson nonetheless. I found a mentor, switched to the same brokerage as him, and the rest is history for now.

With that being said, let's get into my first deal which was a rental. Almost four months into being a newly licensed agent I finally picked up my first clients at the beginning of June 2013. They were a couple in their mid-30's who had been renting for two years. The husband had dealt with a foreclosure from his previous marriage so that kept them from buying a home. They were renting a pretty big house in west Broward county for $2,300/month. However, the landlord decided to sell the house which forced them to move. So I began searching for properties around the $2,000/month price with the idea that they would save the extra $300 per month to put toward a down payment when they were ready to buy. Fast forward to August and we found the perfect rental house for $1,900/month. Even though my commission was only a little over $900 it was still an invaluable learning experience just dealing with the client and showing properties. They will be buying a home in the $200-$300k range in the next six months. And they also referred me my first seller lead!

My first actual listing was a 2BD/2BA condo in a 55+ community located in west Broward county. The owner was a 99-year old lady who was surprisingly of sound mind & body. She had purchased the unit brand new in 1994 but hadn't lived there since around 2008. Let me just say that dealing with this particular area proved to be a pain in the you know what. No disrespect to any of the 55+ folks here on BP but you can't tell older folks a damn thing! My client was pretty easy to get along with but the potential buyers were the exact opposite. For a property that finally sold at $61,000 you would have thought it were closer to $61 million. I got this condo under contract in August 2013 and it just closed at the end of January 2014. I had several offers come in but they all fell through due to the banks not wanting to finance the deal because of the recreation lease. Essentially the recreation lease means that when you purchase a condo in the development you are leasing out the recreational facilities (pool, tennis court, golf course, movie theater, etc.) rather than owning a percentage of said facilities. That caused three separate deals to fall through for us. Thankfully a cash buyer came along a few weeks before my contract with the seller was set to expire. Once we got the ball rolling and the deal was set to close, Chase bank informed us that the payoff amount was more than the price my seller had agreed upon. A little over $1,000 was standing in the way of me closing my first listing! At this point I'd had enough of the headaches & heartbreaks so I decided to take a reduced commission in order to seal the deal. Do I regret taking less money in order to make the closing happen? NOT. AT. ALL. My seller was happy to get rid of the condo, the buyer was happy to get into the new place, and I was happy to close my first deal as a seller's agent. All is well that ends well and I think it ended pretty damn well. Here's to hoping the second year in real estate is better than the first!

Thanks for reading and I hope my post is both informative and helpful to anyone who may be venturing down the same path as myself!