Mentoring New Agents – Like We Aren't Having Enough Fun Already

My favorite part of my real estate career has always involved teaching my clients what I know about real estate. So I suppose it isn't much of a stretch to figure I would also love teaching new agents how to be the best at their new career. There are some who might figure that now, the strangest time we have seen in real estate in quite some years, might not be the best time for a new agent to begin a career in our industry. I beg to differ.

As my mentor told me when I began my career in 1980 and prime rate hit a high of 21%, “you don't know what it was like to sell real estate before this so how can it get in your way now?”

Granted, the entry level materials are a little more expensive. I had my newly minted brokers license along with a pad of paper, a nice pen and an HP calculator. Today a new agent needs a license, a computer and software plus at least six months of living expense tucked away.

But the most important thing I had was my mentor. He was also my broker-in-charge. He set me on the right path from day one and I have never looked back. I sold houses with 16, 17, 19 or 21% interest rates because I didn't know that was impossible. He is still a dear and trusted friend.

Today I am the mentor. I am thrilled to be part of the start of a new agent's career. There is absolutely nothing in the buying and selling process I will not include them in with my client's permission. I know that many real estate agents are generally loathe to share their “secrets of success” but I prefer to think of it as adding future value to our industry. I have always shared techniques, skills and experiences with colleagues, inside my company and out, and I can't say I have ever been put at a disadvantage or lost a client because of it. If you are a great agent there is plenty of business to go around.

I'm training a new agent these days and I know that I will continue to take opportunities to do so for a long time. The fun of doing it may even extend my “retirement”, when that day comes, because I really only do this for a living for one reason...I love it and I want to help others love it too.

There is one little selfish reason though. At the end of an eight hour day last week, when my first time home buyers, my new agent and I were debriefing after a long day of looking at homes, the new agent was ready to take her leave of us. She turned to the buyers and thanked them for allowing her to be included. Then she said “You have a great agent!” They beamed and said “We know.” After 30 plus years in this ever changing, always interesting industry; I know how to take a compliment.

It's Simple...When You Have A Great Agent!

SarahGray Lamm is a licensed, full time, residential real estate professional in the Raleigh Durham area of North Carolina with over 60,000 hours of experience. She specializes in serving the real estate needs of home sellers, home buyers and investors in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham and Northern Chatham County and is proudly associated with Allen Tate Realtors, the Carolinas #1 independent realty company.

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