If you have ever thought of becoming a real estate agent, I have some Pointers for you.

First Pointer.

I want you to think about 3 things before you embark on your career. You need to know what you want from this new career and what can be expected.

• What type of business do you want to make?

Residential, commercial, property management, just to name a few.

• How much income do you need to make?

Are you looking to supplement another job? Do you want to change careers altogether? Will you invest your income into real estate?

• What do you plan on gaining from all of your work?

Is it satisfaction from helping others? Access to good deals for investment?

One thing I have learned in my time in real estate is it can be easy to create bad habits. You should spend enough time answering the three questions I ask. If you do not know the answer to them, you may start out behind in your new career.

Second Pointer.

This is something that will take a lot of effort. It will be a continuing process for you, as well.

Become the local market expert.

When your new one of the ways to set you apart is by being an expert and know the neighborhoods, schools, other professionals in the area.

If you can speak with confidence when discussing market conditions, people will not know you are new unless you tell them.

You can achieve being the expert by studying the market.

Market segments – Low end, mid-market, high-end/luxury.

Daily hot sheets – You need to be inside your MLS tracking activity on a regular basis.

What’s selling, what’s not – Use your brainpower to analyze why individual market segments are selling while others are not. Being able to communicate that to prospective clients will be extremely impressive.

Expireds and FSBOs – Even if you don’t have any luck converting these people to clients, you can learn A TON from talking with FSBOs and Expireds and asking them about their experience.

Contracts – Read, learn, and understand contracts so you can speak intelligently about them when your client’s life savings are on the line.

Your MLS – Get in there and learn the ins and outs to be sure you’re maximizing this essential tool. Most agents only use about 25% of the MLS tools.

Communities in Your Market – Study to learn their differences: Amenities, school districts, pros, and cons. It is recommended that you become familiar with the city council and planning commission as well.

Third Pointer.

Learn as much as you can from those who have been in the industry. When you’re new, you do not have a lot of clients and will have time on your hands. Go to as many Brokers Opens as you can. We have meetings once a month for our office. Attend realtor events and talk with others about what is working for them. Ask them what they like and don’t like about real estate. Ask the questions you don’t think they will answer. I also recommend joining some of the real estate agent Facebook groups. One thing I learned early on is once you’re a member of the group you can search there page to answer questions you have from previous post.

Fourth Pointer.

Get out there a get busy. Take action doing what will build rapport with potential clients.

Open Houses Are great place to build you a buyers list. The critical thing to remember when hosting the open house is to learn as much as you can about the buyer coming through the house. You will want some method of getting their contact information, name, phone number, email, etc. When deciding if holding a home open for someone else’s listing is a good idea or not ask yourself one question. Will this help me build my business? Don’t take houses that have been on the market for weeks. Also, you will want to make sure it is priced right. Selecting the right home for you is crucial to the success of your buyer list building.

Fifth Pointer.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you make a mistake, make sure you learn from it. A way to help you with this is keeping proper records of your activities and the results. In another career I had we use to call it “ Correction of Errors” I prefer “ Record Of Results.”  Some people simply use a journal. Whatever method you chose to go with making it a daily routine to notate when you do this and the result when it is fresh you can ask yourself what could or should you have done differently and added that to your book.

Sixth Pointer.

Get After It. Everyone who knows your needs to know you are in real estate. There are numerous methods of communicating that you have a new career.

Phone calls: Dig into your contacts, you know your contacts better than anyone else. If a contact is not one who likes to talk send them a text, let them know you are in real estate, and would like the opportunity to help them with any of there needs. If they respond they have none ask them who do they know that is thinking of buying or selling in the next six months.

Facebook: You can introduce yourself as the new agent to your friends on your personal page. You will need to set up a business page and ask your friends to like your page.

Letters and Cards: Go through your contacts, and for all of them, you have an address to send them a letter or card informing them you are in real estate. You should include your business card or cards so they can hand them out.

Door Knocking: If you know your neighbors, you should walk the neighborhood on a Saturday morning, knocking on the doors and telling them about your new career. If you don’t know them, what better way to meet them, so they know who you are. Remember, you are not asking for business you are merely making them aware that you are in the real estate business. Hot tip: always give them something of value, a newsletter, market trend report, tips on how to maintain their home. Again something of value not necessarily cash related.

Car Lettering: Less than 1/3 of the agents in your area will have their name, phone number and logo on their car.

Seventh Pointer.

Power is knowledge, make learning part of your daily routine. Don’t hide in classrooms; you will not find clients walking into classrooms looking for an agent. If you can afford it I recommend a coach. Most brokerages have coaches available for the first few months. Some will have coaches you can hire to help you. There are even professional coaches that will teach and train you as well as sign you up for ongoing training courses and or videos. One of the best, if not the best is Tom Ferry. I highly recommend using Youtube to view Tom’s videos. He will cover so much material for free on his videos.

The last piece of this pointer is to take action, learn something, and put it in place.

Eighth Pointer.

Pick the right brokerage. Interview as many as you need to until you find the right one. Remember, you do not work for them. You hang your license with the broker. Things to look at or questions to ask when selecting a brokerage.

How is your training programs: Some brokerages offer free classes for newbies to get you started. Once you are no longer considered new, what types of continuing education do they provide and is there a charge for them?

Who will be your mentor? I recommend meeting the person that will be mentoring you before you sign with the brokerage. You will want to know how much time they will be giving you. How many mentees do they currently have? Can you talk with a couple of their mentees?

In the end, you will want a brokerage that checks numerous boxes like training, up to date technology, assistance in marketing and many more. If you make a mistake and select the wrong brokerage it is not the end of the world. You are a business owner, a private contractor in 1099. You can transfer to another brokerage without penalty. Be sure to follow the guidelines of your state, so you are in compliance.

Lets Review.

• You need to learn as much as you can quickly.
• Implement what you learn.
• When dealing with clients under-promise and over-deliver
• Everyone you know or meet needs to know you are in real estate.
• Use a systematic approach and document your successes and failures.
• Picking the right brokerage will make a huge difference. Some agents are willing to give up a little more split of commission for a great training company starting out.
• Know what you want and need from the new career.

If you would like to know more about joining the number one team in real estate check out my website. REAL ESTATE CAREERS . ME

Click the link to watch Tom Ferry in 10 reasons why most real estate agents fail. TOM FERRY VIDEO