All Forum Posts by: Irene Nash

I agree with Charlie MacPerson's reply regarding listing remarks, but if you like writing about real estate you could look into writing blog post articles for real estate agents. I'm not sure what that market is like in terms of payment but I do know that real estate agents in general find it very difficult to regularly write and post content. 

If you're asking from an agent's perspective (not a FSBO), some people do really well at open houses. Traffic mostly depends on what type of listing and your market, but you can drum up more activity by inviting the neighbors to stop by. Do everything you can to increase your conversion at every step (although I don't mean by being pushy). A few ideas:

Kevin Ward (Google his book "Yes" on Amazon) has a couple of non-cringeworthy open house and invite scripts in his book, and probably on his YouTube channel as well. I've heard that using an app like Open Home Pro makes people more likely to sign in compared to a guest book, and also have heard they're more likely to sign in at the end of their visit than at the start, but mention the sign-in at the start so they have it in mind. And I recommend having something branded to give out that people will keep around, i.e. a resource list, sports schedule, etc. Otherwise even if they like you, if you haven't actually made a strong enough connection that you actually have an appointment or a way to follow up, they may have a hard time remembering how to get back in touch with you. That kind of thing can pay off way down the road.

From a home selling perspective, I used to also think that they never sold the house, but in the past few years have had a couple of listings that really did sell from the open house (not on the buyer's list but were nearby, and another time the people weren't even looking but popped in and fell in love).  As a listing agent they're super helpful in terms of getting feedback and even getting a feel for which potential buyers are going to be nice or not so nice to work with. 

I haven't been trying to get business from opens the past few years, but 5 years ago my husband was doing them to pick up business, his method was to only chat with the nice people. :) (He didn't use the neighbor invite or leave-behinds or any sign-in options, which I believe would have increased conversions.) Ended up with 3 sets of clients and 12 transactions total including their referrals. So it only takes one nice client to make it really worth it.

PS. I recommend not wearing anything bright red, my one experience with that was that visitors seemed to think I was some huge territorial bird defending the open house. Not a fun day. ;)

Hi Aleksandra,

I can't tell you how much you should expect to spend to make $100K because there's so much variation in the rate of return of various marketing channels and a lot depends on your area, demographic, median market price, etc. 

But one thing I would recommend is to look at some less traditional forms of advertising, i.e. Facebook, Instagram, and maybe Pinterest ads - consider using lead magnets that deliver educational value to get contact info, showcase your expertise, and build relationships with buyers and sellers who may not be ready to buy or sell right this moment. (As opposed to the traditional 'buy or sell with me now' stuff - not saying that doesn't work, just saying I think things are shifting.) 

And don't spend a huge amount right off the bat on something unproven, or at least don't commit to a year-long expensive contract until you're pretty sure it will more than pay for itself in sales.  I recommend NOT spending a lot of money on a logo, fancy website or IDX on your website - consider saving money there and investing it in consistent marketing.  Anyone who knows you should be reached at least monthly with something that showcases your expertise and sets you up as a trusted guide. If you're doing things on a small budget that can even be a self-printed postcard mailing. 

I think one of the main challenges most agents face is falling prey to paralysis by perfectionism. Excellence is a great goal, perfection is different and by definition impossible - I think by nature we tend to be perfectionists and most agents have a slew of great marketing ideas that have remained undone for the last ten years. My two cents. I know there are people on here who know more than I do about FB ads and messenger bots, etc., maybe they will chime in. Good luck!

Hi @Cyreah Steele, 

In line with points some others have made, if your true goal is to be a successful investor and not build a career as a real estate agent, then I would recommend keeping your job, at least for a while. 

Not having enough income can be a more significant barrier than not having enough time if it forces you to make decisions that aren't good for your business goals. You know your own situation best and will have a better idea than any of us, obviously. :)

If a career as an agent were your goal, then that would be a different scenario and it would make more sense to look at freeing up your time sooner rather than later, but it would still be a major decision to quit your job to focus on that if you weren't sure you had enough financial reserve or else clients lined up.

As others have mentioned, many people invest without a license, and many agents don't invest at all. I totally agree with @Aaron K.'s point above about consistent marketing and follow up being more of a success factor than how an agent actually does their job - not saying that's a great thing, but I believe it's often true.

I think 'old school' real estate marketing is transitioning more into education-based marketing, in which the agent is more of a guide than a salesperson. I realize a lot of people have been working with clients this way for many years, it's what I do as well, but in actual advertising it appears to still be less that way.

Along those lines and in terms of networking and advertising, I think a really (really) good book is The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib. He covers a wide range of important topics in a very hands-on way that doesn't overwhelm, rather he gets to the highlight of each point so that the advice is very actionable, unlike many business books. Good luck!

Unless there is something in the listing agreement that prohibits the seller from speaking to prospective buyers, I don't see how this is unethical. Even if the buyer were trying to get past the listing agent, as long as the seller abides by the listing agreement then there should be no problem with ethics (the buyer didn't sign a listing agreement and isn't held to any standard of behavior as far as the listing goes. They may owe their buyer's agent something, depending on their agreement with that agent.

@Account Closed  Hi Ken, I'm just curious as to whether or not you feel like your question has been answered on this thread?

The personalized curriculum you described (which makes total sense IMO) is kind of like a mentorship scenario that would probably work best if it were tailored a bit more specifically to your mother than something you might find offered by one of the mainstream coaches - not saying they don't have good programs and maybe one would be exactly the right fit, but it kind of sounds like you're looking for a well-qualified mentor.

With that in mind I'm wondering if you might be able to look around in her area for experienced agents who clearly have good branding and a strong community presence and who do a good amount of business and contact them directly to see if they might be interested in something like that, or if they can recommend a specific agent. Someone who's very good at networking and community-driven stuff may not necessarily also be the current expert on websites or Instagram, but as far as training on the actual job, effectively marketing to community and sphere, and actively soliciting referrals, they might be able to help a lot - and those are huge cornerstones of success in real estate.

A busy agent might struggle to find time to mentor someone, but a successful agent who's not as full on as they used to be (but who still knows their stuff) could be the right kind of person, and obviously it depends as well on what you'd expect to pay them.

One thing to keep in mind is that while it's easy to pick out the big agent names in a community, there's usually a large under-the-radar segment of lesser known agents who may look like your grandmother or your kid's high school teacher and who are quietly "crushing it" in real estate. Someone like this who's interested in mentoring or who is phasing out and would enjoy this type of arrangement might be a good option for the personalized type of coaching you described. So you could look around and try to track down someone like this yourself, or you could post on other agent sites such as Active Rain (I think that's a pretty involved community and it's huge) and just ask for someone there. (I'm not affiliated with them.) Good luck!

@Jacob D. Hi Jacob, I have a few more minutes now so will jot down a few thoughts in case they're helpful. I didn't start out in RE part time, I was full time, however I did not have much financial padding, knew nothing about RE and had virtually no sphere so I at least know a bit about scrambling in the beginning. :)

I'll try to break this down so it doesn't end up too long. Essentially the must-have cornerstones of your foundation are:

1) Bringing in new clients - through effective and hopefully not expensive marketing (I'll give ideas later)

2) Wow-ing those clients - by being as competent and attentive as possible.

3) Actively soliciting referrals and testimonials from them and EVERYONE you deal with - there are ways to make that easier.

4) Keeping EVERYONE you know who could refer a client or might become a client on a 'watering system' of marketing that positions you as an expert in the field. Once a month is OK IMO and it doesn't have to be expensive, but it's crucial.

It's easy to get caught up in day-to-day real estate stuff and let one or more of those things slide, but not focusing on generating referrals is like farming a crop and buying new seeds every year when the crop could self-seed exponentially. And not having a consistent marketing system is like not watering your garden - the potential is all there but a lot of will wither away if it doesn't get tended to and you'll find yourself re-planting again.

For #1, if I were starting out now I would be looking at some new ways of marketing, esp. developing a presence and positioning myself as an active agent and a guide to buyers and sellers via Instagram and Facebook. I'm not an expert in that area and I'm not looking for new clients now myself or I'd be exploring that, but Gary Vaynerchuk says FB and Insta ads are very underpriced right now. Old style blogging is much harder to get found by these days.

For a website (and all marketing) I would concentrate on something with lead capture so you have peoples' emails, and from what I hear the 'search for homes' leads may not be as powerful as leads you can get by offering, or at least also offering, something like a guide or a course or set of videos you've made to help people through the buying or selling process, etc. You said you'd been a teacher and a coach so it sounds like this might be up your alley - I don't know if you'd get lower initial response if you position yourself as a 'guide' but I'm wondering if you might still get higher conversions because you develop trust and expertise before people even meet you.

To be clear, you can do targeted ads that market a Home Buyer Guide' or course or something along those lines for email capture. If you're not familiar with the Facebook pixel just Google that and you'll see how it allows you to target advertising on FB and Instagram. 

Also, Donald Miller has a new book called 'Building a Story Brand' that talks specifically about the guide concept in marketing, you might find it interesting.

These are three people I'm curious about, I am not affiliated with them and have not tried them out but if I were a new agent I'd be checking them out, I think they all focus strongly on lead capture and conversion:

Easy Agent Pro  https://www.easyagentpro.com/

Honey Bar Media   https://honeybarmedia.com/

The Lead King  http://theleadking.net/

If you try any of these out I'd REALLY appreciate it if you let me know your thoughts on them, good or bad - I'm looking for good resources I can recommend to newer agents.

If you go the expired listing/FSBO route, I would recommend using good scripts (I think Tom Ferry has good ones? Also Kevin Ward from YesMasters, he gives away a ton of free scripts and has a good Youtube channel) and internalize them so they feel and sound natural and are 'you'. (I'm not affiliated with either of those two coaches.) Some people mock scripts but I think the good ones simply allow us to get out of our own way.

#2) Expertise - sadly the name of the game is currently to learn as you go, so if you can find an excellent mentor that would be huge. I'm working on changing that because I think it's insane that new agents get so little training on how to actually DO real estate, but currently my courses are not ready yet - there's some free stuff on my site and podcast that you might find helpful, I just won't link to it because I think that might break the BP terms of service.

#3) Asking for referrals and testimonials - this is so easy to let fall by the wayside, and it's one of the most important things. Unfortunately it's also one of those things that doesn't announce itself by its absence - in other words, agents can go years and years and never realize how much money they've lost by not actively asking for referrals. I have a written guide and a podcast issue about this, with some tips on how to make asking for referrals and testimonials easier. Do whatever it takes to become comfortable with some kind of non-awkward-feeling 'referral spiel', internalize it so it feels natural, and then use it. A lot. :)

#4) Marketing consistently - I like the Brian Buffini concept of marketing that shows 'character and competence' - people need to know you're competent and they want to know you're a good person. (i.e., Market stats or a how-to homeowner tip, plus something more personal, inspirational, or funny.)  In the beginning twice a month is probably great, but once a month is probably fine too - most of all it has to be do-able, and if possible automate this if you get too busy.

Finally, if you're a perfectionist and find you're getting hung up on over-planning and not executing (this has been my big problem, I'm not saying it's yours :) a book I think is excellent is "Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done" by Jon Acuff.

Apparently I'm incapable of writing a short post. :)

Would love to hear how things work out for you, I know people throw around a lot of dismal stats about starting out in real estate but I was a long shot and I lasted (including through the recession as a single-income person, my husband conveniently showed up in 2012 :) and I have a friend who started out new in 2007, right when we were gearing up for the recession - she did amazingly well while other agents were leaving real estate - combination of good sphere, amazing work ethic, high competence and she's very good at articulating her value.  So definitely there's plenty of room to succeed, best wishes!

Hi Jacob, I have some thoughts about your question that I do not have time to respond with right at this moment, I apologize, but just wanted to ask if you saw the answer by Jake Roland on this other thread about lead generation? 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/21/topics/647...

I find it can be hard to get detailed info when asking questions in general and I think his answer is helpful and quite specific in terms of what he did to generate leads during his first year. 

Also just wanted to say for now that while I agree that real estate agents are a dime a dozen, GOOD real estate agents are absolutely not a dime a dozen, in my opinion.  Lots of well-meaning, honest agents out there (and of course a few who aren't), but to find good character combined with lots of practical expertise and knowhow is much harder - including plenty of agents who are happy to tell you how many decades they've been in the business. So while of course it may be harder to get clients when you're brand new, understand that if you do everything you can to learn the ropes as fast as you can, you could, in your first year, become more competent in many areas than agents who have been around for a lot longer, and your clients will sense that.

(I'm not downplaying experience, I just happen to have a friend in another state who has been a vortex of weird real estate events over the last couple of years, and every agent she has worked with has been a long-time pro - some of the most hair-raising things I've ever heard of have happened or nearly happened due to their advice, so I'm just saying... :)

Appreciate the confirmation from the lending side @Chris Mason!

@Priyanka K. Glad that helped. For what it's worth, the same scenario came up with a friend in Idaho and that was also the case regarding the EM, no need to deposit because contract was terminated before the deadline. (Actually her buyer's agent told her that yes, she needed to deposit it anyway, but the managing broker - and the contract language if the agent had read it - said 'No'.)

I don't do Texas RE but from a contractual standpoint, if the buyer is still obligated to fulfill obligations of the contract that have deadlines after the contract termination date (like the EM deposit), technically it seems they would be obligated to fulfill all their other deadlines.  For example, if they were required per the contract to make application for financing within 7 days, then why would they not be obligated to do that as well?  Unless there is something really specific to TX state law regarding this.