Thread: Real Estate Virgin

Congradulations and Thank you...., Congradulations on passing your exam and Thank you for representing the USA. I could go on but I try to keep the forum politically neutral when it comes to politics and religion because everybody has an opinion and it is usually a deeply felt opinion.

Anyway, now you have your license, The most important thing is floor time. Most vetern agents don't want it, but it is the most cost effective way to perfect your pitch and get in front of potential clients.

Just remember to tell yourself at this stage of the game....it is a numbers game. The more people you are able to contact and meet, the quicker you will be successful on your own. Over time, your talents will separate yourself from the other 90% of agents who do an average of 1.5 deals per year. Right now, you are all in the same boat and you will be for the first year you are in the business.

Lastly, Set realistic goals. One I like to recommend for new agents, is do what you need to do to get in front of as many people as possible in the first year because as I said, at this stage, it is a numbers game and 9 out 10 agents fail in the first year.

Just my two cents...

Congratulations Big Mike and welcome to REF!

Lot's of great people here and a lot of sharing going on.

Big Mike,
I remember after I took the test there is so much still to learn. Best thing you can do is meet as many people as possible and make sure they all know you sell real estate.
Also ask some of the agents in your office, that have a lot of listings if you can advertise one or two of them with your name and picture. Put them in the Real Estate book or News paper and that should start the phone ringing for you.
Good Luck!!
It's a good thing you don't mind hard work.
Lori L.
ERA Southern Oregon

Hey Big Mike, congrats and welcome to REF. You'll find many helpful people here. They helped me tremendously when I first started.

Thank you for your service, congrats, and good luck!

Anyway my .02,

In real estate when new agents start out, everyone will want you to go on the caravans to get familiar with all the in-house listings. I understand that, but I am encouraging the agents that I am helping to take a different (or additional) approach.

When you go on caravans - you see properties all across the price ranges. Good for seeing what different price ranges are - but IMO does not prepare an agent to show property.

When an prospect wants to see property - for the most part they want to see options all in the same price range. I encourage you to identify the price range that most of the prospects in your market are seeking. Find a colleague or 2 to partner with and schedule pre-view appointments to see properties, much like you would with a client.

After you leave the first home ask each other for thoughts about the house, learn what others notice, like and dislike about each property.

When you go to the second and subsquent properties compare the properties like you would with a client. After 5 or 6 properties go back to the office, make notes, and schedule more appointments with properties in that price range until you gain a strong understanding of the comparable communities and properties.

As you contact a prospect, you will know that price range and have the confidence to be able to discuss the communities and properties in that range.

When you get comfortable with the most common price range for buyers, decide what price range or market segment you want to pursue getting listings in and then gain a mastery of that price range or community. When you go on a listing appointment, it is great being able to talk about the other properties that their home will be compared to. Helps your confidence and the property owners can tell.

Knowing the properties is the best way to level the playing ground with more experienced agents. When you gain the confidence from knowing the properties - then you are at the point where you can share with the prospect your individual strengths.



Best of luck,
Dave

When creating a website, make sure that you create one from scratch and not from a template site like Advanced Access or Superlative. It is extremely difficult to rank high in Google utilizing a template site since Google really emphasizes unique content, and template sites have almost all the same content. Even if you create unique content, the search engines have a difficult time recognizing it.

I also have a military background. My strong advice to you is to foster team spirit and build "alliances" like in the military. Build strong relationships, but rely on NO ONE!

If you really want to be successful, there are two important areas:

1. LEADS - Create multiple sources on your own, independent of your broker. You must have continuous leads from varied sources. Never stop prospecting!

2. CONTINUING EDUCATION - Attend as many course through your local board as you possibly can. Even if you have to pay for them! You cannot put a dollar value on education. Knowledge IS power - your business will grow quicker.

You will have many ups and downs. Always focus on the big picture, and always treat your business like, well, a business. Good luck.

I got my first listing a few days ago.
I think this little venture is gonna be entertaining more than anything. I have talked to many different types of people the past couple of months and it seems that everybody has a story to tell. I like it though.

Don't wait another day, get a domain and put up something on the domain ASAP. After a basic site is up submit it to Google. A lot of the search engines have something called "SANDBOX" and new domains are basically limited for a certain time.

Even if you don't have any good info to put up, at least when you are ready you will have 1 leg up.

Godaddy has cheap domain and $4 hosting. I have 4 sites with them and I'm still in Sandbox with 3 out of 4 of them, I wish I had bought the domain a year ago, but live and learn.