As a real estate agent, it’s always helpful when you come across new real estate agent tips to hone your craft. Who doesn’t love little insider tips, tricks, and nuggets of advice?
If you’re just beginning your real estate career or in a rut, we have a bunch of tips that will help you get your career rolling. We will be breaking these tips into sections so you can find information that will be most helpful to your unique situation.
New Real Estate Agent Tips: Getting Started
1. Figure Out How Committed You Are
Do you know why you wanted to be in real estate? Did you come into the business to make a lot of money without caring just how hard you had to work? Or are you in the business to make extra money while keeping your full-time career?
Real estate needs dedicated agents willing to go the extra mile to make their clients happy. If your heart isn’t in it 100%, this may not be the right business for you.
2. Consider Joining a Real Estate Team
If you’re struggling to get your career off the ground, consider joining a real estate team. There are a lot of benefits of joining a team: support from experienced agents, access to resources for success, more leads, and much more.
3. Interview at Different Agencies
One of the reasons agents fail is because they join the wrong agency. Even though you may be interviewing with a brokerage, you also have the chance to interview the agency back.
Some questions to ask could include:
- What is the commission splits?
- Do you offer training or mentorships?
- Is there a franchise fee?
- How often do you have team meetings?
- How do you handle floor calls?
- What expenses will I be responsible for?
- Business cards
- Lockboxes
- Website Hosting
- MLS membership
4. Find Ways to Enhance Your Training
Even if the brokerage you join offers training, you should always try to be proactive and seek out training opportunities on your own. You can use new real estate agent tips like these, read real estate books, join memberships, and consider becoming a NAR member.
5. Set a Schedule and Stick to It
Your time is precious, and if you aren’t careful, you can easily find yourself overworked, stressed, and disorganized. Although working in real estate is more flexible than a traditional 9 to 5, it’s still a good idea to have some kind of schedule and stick to it.
Credit: FitSmallBusiness.com
6. Figure Out What Makes You Unique
There are millions of active real estate agents in the United States, so you need to figure out what qualities you bring to the table that other agents cannot. Do a little soul searching and
7. Consider Starting as an ISA or OSA
This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but when you sign on as an ISA or OSA (Inside Sales Agent or Outside Sales Agent), in doing so, you’re getting hands-on training. You’re learning how to talk to clients, build rapport, learn people’s motivations, and much more.
8. Find a Mentor
If you look behind the most successful people, they were mentored by other great people; Oprah Winfrey was mentored by Maya Angelou, Steve Jobs mentored Mark Zuckerberg, and Woody Guthrie was mentored by Bob Dylan.
In short: If you aspire to greatness, find a great mentor.
9. Keep Detailed Notes and Records
Whether you’re just starting or trying to get back into the swing of things, keep track of everything you do. Track how many leads convert to sales. Track how well your marketing efforts pay off. When you look over your data, you can see what doesn’t work and then focus on what does.
10. Understand Your Local Market
You don’t want to “just sell real estate”; you should want to live and breathe it. When your clients ask you a question about the local market, you want to be able to answer their questions and more.
11. Invest in Marketing Materials ASAP
Investing in marketing materials early on in your career is essential. You won’t have to have dozens of signs printed, monogrammed pens, or letterheads right away, but you should have some things ready to go.
Marketing materials to invest in early include:
- Business cards
- Professional real estate agent headshot
- Professional social media accounts
- A real estate agent bio
12. Create a Business Plan
Most people don’t think they need a business plan when they become a real estate agent, and they’re right… In the beginning. As you grow your client base and gain experience, you’ll want to create a business plan for long-term success.
Your plan should include:
Set goals in 90-day increments
Determine your priorities
Establish a marketing strategy based on your strengths and priorities
Establish a marketing budget
Network with other professionals and prospect clients
13. Discover a Lead Generation Plan That Works For YOU
You can generate leads in many ways, but not all of them will work for you. Some people can use their social media connections to generate leads, while others are active in the community.
If unsure of what would work for you, stick to what you know. Network with friends, family, acquaintances, and neighbors. As you gain experience, you’ll figure out what works for you. Just remember to keep track of what does work!
14. Study the MLS Religiously
To know your market like the back of your hand, you must study the MLS religiously. Check the MLS at least once daily to know when new houses come on the market, price changes, etc.
15. Study Up on Laws and Important Documents
Whenever there are legal changes in real estate, study the laws and corresponding documents, so you’re operating above board.
New Real Estate Agent Tips: Choose a Specialty
16. Find Your Niche
There are many real estate types, and you can focus your career on one or two niches. For example, you could combine niches based on property type (single-family, condos, mobile homes) and buyers (first-time buyers, empty nesters, investors).
17. Don’t Try to Do It All
There are many different directions your real estate career could go — don’t try to do it all!
18. Choose a Niche That’s Underserved
Everyone wants to sell luxury real estate, but few are willing to help Section 8 renters. There are underserved niches in real estate where you can make lots of money — they’re just waiting to be tapped into.
New Real Estate Agent Tips: Choose Your Market
19. Choose a Market with the Most Potential
The market you choose to enter should offer plenty of room for growth and earning potential… But, you should also consider the type of lifestyle the market can provide. For example, if you love being in a city with a lively social scene, you aren’t going to want to enter a market in rural America.
20. Become a Master of Your Market
Today’s market doesn’t require a lot of skill — real estate pretty much sells itself! However, that shouldn’t stop you from mastering your market!
21. Be the “Go To” for Your Market
Own. Your. Market.
Know it like the back of your hand.
It will serve you well. Very well.
New Real Estate Agent Tips: Lead Generation
22. Network, Network, Network
Wherever you go, make connections. Introduce yourself and be approachable. The more people who know your name and what you do, the larger your network will grow, be they potential leads, contractors, or other agents.
23. Have a Professional Social Media Presence
Social media is a fantastic tool, not just for keeping in touch with your existing network but for finding new connections too.
24. Cultivate Genuine Relationships
Since your career relies heavily on connections and networking, strive for genuine relationships. You don’t have to become best buds, but be someone who reaches out every so often to say hello.
25. Use Your Personality to Generate Leads
You don’t have to be a people person to sell real estate. Use your personality and strengths to generate leads. If you’re a social butterfly, networking events like mixers and community events are your ticket for lead generation. If you’re analytical, you can refer to local market listings and focus on cultivating leads through expired listings.
26. Invest in a Great CRM Software
Technology has made many aspects of the business easier, so why not invest in it from the start? CRM (customer relationship management) software will be your best friend. It helps you to manage communications with leads and clients.
Forbes published a great article about CRM software and rates some of the most popular options.
27. Don’t Be Afraid to Buy Leads
There’s no shame in buying leads. You know what they say: you must spend money to make money!
28. Get Involved with the Community
There’s no better way to get people to know who you are and what you do and see the type of person you are than by getting involved with the community. This could be through community politics, volunteering, or daily chatting with people you see.
29. Don’t Let People Forget What You Do
There’s a fine line between reminding people of what you do and being obnoxious about it.
30. Open Houses Are Your Best Friend
When you host open houses, get the names and contact information of the attendees. Even if they aren’t interested in purchasing that house, send them a “thank you for attending” note.
Not only will you have a list of leads you can contact every so often, but that note will also be a pleasant surprise, and they’ll be sure to remember your name — or at least pass on your name to someone they may know that could use your services.
31. Don’t Be Afraid to Cold Call Prospects
There’s nothing wrong with cold calling. — it’s still a lucrative way to generate leads. If you don’t know what to say when you call someone, Indeed has a good article about cold calling and scripts you can tweak to fit your personality.
New Real Estate Agent Tips: Good Client Relations
32. Don’t Think of Yourself as a Salesperson
Yes, you’re selling real estate, but you aren’t a salesperson. You are an expert on the housing market who can find people the properties that meet their needs.
33. Be 100% Transparent
When you’re talking to your clients, be transparent about the market. Let them know how aggressive it is, what it’ll take to get an offer accepted, and the likelihood of bidding wars.
34. Remind Clients to Manage Expectations
Even if the market favors your client, you have to remind them to manage their expectations because nothing is a guarantee until the transaction is complete.
35. Be Empathetic
Your client is bound to experience a range of emotions throughout the process, and they will call you for reassurance. Listen to their concerns and show empathy. It’ll go a long way!
36. Flexibility Is Key
It doesn’t matter how organized your schedule is, things will always arise when flexibility is necessary. Whether you have to reschedule a showing or meet with a client at a coffee shop instead of the office, your ability to be flexible and make things work will certainly help you succeed.
Your Success Is Within Arms Reach!
The level of your success amounts to the effort you put into it. You’ll be ahead of the game when you go above and beyond to cultivate an extensive network of professionals, nurture leads, and make genuine connections. But it’s not all about your people skills (although that’s a huge part of your business).
You have to have a strong marketing strategy and business plan. You need to be able to meet the goals you set for yourself and stay consistent. You must know your market inside and out while staying on top of market trends.
Most importantly, you must continue investing in yourself through continued education, training, and improving your marketing materials. Your success is within arm’s reach with hard work, careful strategy, and consistency!
If you found our list of new real estate agent tips useful, check out our blog.
