How to get started as a real estate agent

How to get started as a new real estate agent.

How to get started as a new real estate agent? The broadness of this question did not hit me until after I got my shiny new real estate license. Where do I get started?

In all my entrepreneurial adventures to date, I have always placed a high importance on conducting myself in a highly professional manner, and projecting an image of the same. Being a professional in my mind means knowing the business inside and out, and being able to explain it in a simple way others can understand.

Being a real estate agent is one position in a huge industry, separate from real estate investing, with many different ways of doing things. It is virtually impossible to know everything. 

I found myself becoming overwhelmed with all the different items I was learning. So one day as I sat there overwhelmed by information overload (that day I was reading about setting up auto responder campaigns to new leads) I realized that I have no clients, so why am I learning about auto responders for them. I needed to focus, focus is what will get me back on track, so I asked myself these questions to gain that focus and move forward:

What clients do I want to focus on?

There are many different kinds of clients to focus on. You may be able to focus on them all, but I can’t. So I chose FSBO clients, buy and hold/flip investor clients, and traditional first time buyer/move up buyers.

I chose FSBO clients because these are people that have already raised their hand and announced to the world I WANT TO SELL.

I chose buy and hold investor/flip investors because that is what I personally am focusing on because I am looking to get into my first flip. Since I am personally focusing on it, it puts me in a great position to help others doing the same.

Lastly, I chose buyers because I had a personal experience during the purchase of my first home that could have went really bad for me if I had not had representation by an awesome Realtor. I want to be that person for the buyers I represent.

What do my clients need?

FSBO- FSBO clients need to sell their home, and they want to save money. I understand this completely. I want to save money everywhere too. I see a lot of agents who just let time grind the FSBO clients down, and then they swoop in for the listing. I do not want to operate in this manner. This is why I put together a lengthy FSBO guide to help them through the process. This way, when I call them, I am not asking to list with me, I a providing something of value, free of charge, followed up by a free Comparative market Analysis (CMA) This is my way of bringing tremendous value to another person, to establish a relationship. This relationship will put me ahead of every other agent who is just calling every week waiting on the easy listing.

But what if they sell their home? (this is usually the question I get) If they sell their home, great! I am happy to help them, but guess what, not all of their friends and family are going to want to sell FSBO, and who do you think will get the referral? The agent who was bugging them on the telephone every week, or the agent who provided enormous value?

Buy&Hold/Flip Investors- Right now I am working on an informational guide to provide new investors who are looking to buy and hold, or flip a property. Again, I want to build relationships, and provide an avalanche of value.

When my MLS access was granted the first thing I did was set up a custom search for myself that will identify all properties in an area that are potential investment candidates. I got over 100 potential properties, I am still sorting through them now for my first flip.

I am exploring ways of putting this information in a weekly newsletter of some sort that I can make available to investor clients. If you are a new investor comment below with some of the things you feel and agent can do to bring monumental value into your business. I am always open to learn from everybody.

Traditional buyer clients- Again, I have a free guide for buyer clients. This one I did not have to create, it’s provided by a subscription service I use to stay on top of all the latest trends in the national real estate market.

In addition to the guide, I feel buyers need a person who can protect their interests. it would be nice if everyone was ethical in this business, but we all know that is not the case. There are bad apples everywhere. I want to be the buffer between those bad apples and my clients. No one should be ripped off when purchasing their first home.

To wrap it up, I just want to say that mapping out a plan to success can be overwhelming. There is a very high failure rate among real estate agents, and I believe that it’s because they may get overwhelmed and bounce around to every shiny object they see, never making any progress.

Everyone is out there trying to sell everything to real estate agents. The next big thing that is going to bring you a mountain of leads, or whatever else they are pitching. Learn to fish for yourself, ask yourself the above questions, and get to work setting up the foundation you need to attract the clients you want to work with, and the skills needed to get those clients to the closing table. This should give you a crystal clear direction to keep from becoming overwhelmed, and wandering down every path someone points you to.

Who are my clients?

What do they need?

I hope this helps you out :) Feel free to connect with me on BP if you have any questions.