5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Got Into Real Estate

Real estate can be a great career, but there are things you need to know before you get started —it's a lot more than just listing and showing homes. 

These are the 5 things I wish I knew before I got into real estate:

1. Join a team

When I started in this industry I was fortunate enough to join a rock solid home selling team and we were selling between 2 to 4 homes a month. In the real estate industry the standards are to sell 4 to 6 homes a year. 

Joining a team with higher standards for production made me a stronger agent and put me on the fast track to success. While most agents fail in real estate within their first couple years, I sold over 30 homes. 

2. Find a good mentor

This goes along with joining the right team, this team should have a good leader and mentor. My mentor taught me everything about real estate sales, he would even listen to my phone calls and tell me exactly what to say and when to say it. As a new agent this experience was invaluable. I owe a lot to my mentors for molding me into a top agent.

3. It’s not what you know it’s who you know

You can be a very successful agent and be completely stupid about real estate. This is what I believe gives agents a bad name but also prevents people from becoming successful in real estate. 

If you spend all your time learning and studying real estate, you may be the smartest agent but not necessarily the best. If you’re not helping people buy and sell homes, then you’re not really working in real estate. 

The idea that you need to know everything before you start selling homes will hold you back. As a new agent I advise you to find a good support system and lean on them when it comes time to dealing with the unknowns. 

4. Know what you’re selling

After selling real estate for years, I knew that real estate was a good idea to buy but didn’t fully understand all of the benefits. Now I have learned the extensive amount of benefits and I can show a renter or new investor why they want to buy real estate and exactly what benefits they are missing out on. 

Everyone knows they need to buy real estate, but not everyone, even agents, understand why. 

5. Know your clients

Real estate sales are an emotional decision based on your clients needs, your clients tastes and your clients’ experiences, but not yours. I see newer agents make this mistake a lot. Some agents will try to push the homes that the agents think is best for the client but totally ignore what makes their client happy. 

Our job as agents is to help people realize the benefits of owning and teach them about their options. I will always share my honest opinion but if I don’t think it makes sense it’s not up to me to make that decision, it’s up to the client. 

So always listen to your clients and what makes them happy. As long as you show them all their options and what’s best for them, then you have done a good job. Even if they don’t take good advice, they are still better off owning. 

If you're interested in joining a real estate team with leads and tailored support. Please reach out, I’d love to share with you what we do and how we can make you some money.

Thinking about joining a real estate office and have more questions? 

Call us directly at 562-521-8575