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The failure rate in real estate is so high... New Agent Survival!

Real estate has a big turnover every few years. It is talked about at real estate seminars...and real state articles, but no one ever really talks about the specifics of why! What are the causes? Brokers do not want to talk about it because they need to retain agents! Wouldn't it be better if they had a plan to help you survive and do well, instead of constantly dealing with fall out? Retention...what a concept! Brokers should train agents in the realities of real estate. They do a very poor job, and sometimes lie, but not presenting the realities of the business! Imagine that! It's not about the one deal, it is about surviving a lifetime in a great career! Full timers in real estate know that there is a tremendous turnover in real estate every few years, and they know why! Real estate is an extremely lucrative business, but it has its downsides. There are major expenses! Checks come in spurts, and sometimes we can feel like a camel wondering if we will ever make it across the dessert!

If you haven't noticed, real estate has changed an awful lot in the last few years. Relocation traffic is way off since 9/11. People would rather stay put in local communities rather than uproot the family across the country. Also, the days of sitting in the real estate office waiting for a broker to give you a relocation lead or for a hot prospect to just walk in the door are pretty much over. Real estate doesn't work that way too much anymore. It is not the norm. The Internet has put a kink in that! So survivors pretty much develop their own leads.

New agents that enter the real estate business have lots of energy, major tech skills, college, good looks and more! They have a lot going for them, and may work very diligently going through their personal contacts, and sphere of influence like a hot knife through butter. But when they've exhausted all their friends, relatives and co-workers what next? Where will the next lead come from? Will it come from a cold call, knocking doors, holding buyer or seller seminars, or from a mass mailing campaign?

There is a lot to consider in real estate. We have to ask a lot of questions, it is real smart to do so! What will it costs be? Do you have a budget? How much will be allocated from your last sale for marketing, tax withholdings, and other real estate expenses? Have you guessed what is missing? Lead generation! A predictable stream of clients! Old timers in the real estate business have cultivated a source of business. Leads are not easy to come by! That is why the term in real estate is called "Prospecting!" Getting a good lead or a referral is like panning for gold! Seasoned agents know this gravy train can come to a quick stop! It is wise to budget, and put a side for a rainy day! There are a lot of great real estate agents with great skills that leave the business every year, because they have not developed a formula, a source of recurring leads, contacts, and referrals that can sustain them. Do you have a plan to survive? Do you have a budget? What are your sources of leads and referrals?

http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20030320_newagentsurvival.htm

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Posted by Jim Crawford ~ Atlanta Real Estate-ABR E-PRO on 03/12/2007 12:37 AM

Comments (52)

lead generation, real estate survival, real estate farming, prospecting for leads, real estate prosepecting, leads, real estate clients

Originally posted at: Atlanta Real Estate | Atlanta Housing News for Real Estate: The failure rate in real estate is so high... New Agent Survival!

52 Comments on The failure rate in real estate is so high... New Agent Survival!

MAR

2007

Jim,

Your post brings up some good questions and the linked article answers many of them. Oh how I wish there was some magical thing to buy that would lead all the buyers and sellers to call me. I learned quickly that none of the stuff pitched to us is magical. A colleague who started at the same time I did bought a "kit" from a seminar we went to and it certainly wasn't magical except for how fast the money disappeared. With my limited budget I have had to build my own website (with my husband's help) and make my own marketing materials (thank God for the Design Center RE/MAX provides). I saw another colleague with a neat email template that "only" cost $59. I showed it to my husband and we made our own! Call it cheap but that is where we are right now.

Thanks for the information!

Rita

MAR

2007

Rita. Anytime! You are on the right track. This is a business that you can not buy your way to success with software, a fancy real estate car, or even a seminar. Knowledge is always they key to survival. Generating your own marketing materials is a major step in the right direction, What comes first the real estate software, contact managers, big flashy real estate sites, or is that putting the cart in front of the horse. I believe it is the first deals that are more important. Start adding software and other items later as you need them, but never stretch for them "what comes first the chicken or the egg?"

A nice dose of reality Jim.

I think if agents were really prepared for what this business is all about they will do very well. Others dream.

Jim, I've seen too many agents sit in their office and do nothing and wonder why they aren't busy. My first days of being an agent were extremely busy!!! The first thing I did was ensure that the professionals in town knew what I was doing, so I arranged for a brief meeting with mortgage lenders and inspectors as often as possible. I took our local real estate magazine and made a business card sticker and affixed it to the front and visited every business I could find with a waiting room, leaving one in each spot. I joined clubs and threw myself into every possible situation I could. I knocked doors and handed out promotional materials. My first year in real estate I closed over 50 transactions and spent less than $1000 on marketing. Since then I have definately upped my marketing budget (mostly in the form of internet lead generation), but think sometime of the guerilla marketing I did and the fun I had!!!

Chris you are inspiring! Even I did not work that hard! LOL! But that is what it is all about.

My experience has been that I hope to be (more) in the position to help new agents, because I have keenly felt the lack of real help in developing business as a newer agent. Much of my past experience (before RE) was training, ongoing development, and retention of employees, and I am surprised by how little real help I received as a new agent.

I have been informally coaching some new and newer agents in my office with strategies and ideas to help them develop their business...more innovative ideas than simply sending out company generated mailers to their SOI! ARRRG!

Good points Jim!

I think we all have a part to play. Brokers need to be much more involved! They are in the front lines. They need a proactive approach, and should be more like a boot camp drill Sargent! Careers and lives depend on the real facts! New agents do not need a pat on the back Kiwiand be told you'll do just great! How? What? When?

Jim, I had quite a bit of pent up energy at that point. I had been a stay at home mom and I also was wanting to be successful (whatever that is!) by the time I turned 40. I like my life quite a bit more now, but have to say that was quite an adventure!!! In some ways I miss it! (the exact same way that you miss the days before you could afford to buy necessities at the store).

I think it is extremely important to let new agents know that they aren't going to be able to sit in an office and tranqually sip coffee and expect to make it in this business. They need to know that it will take alot more effort and dedication than most jobs. I am my own boss and I sometimes hate my boss!!!

There are some great points here. In my opinion it's all about creativity. Just as Chris mentioned you just gotta get out and make it happen. That's the adventure. By making your own path you learn about yourself and success seems to follow.

JIm I was up all night pondering those very same issues and I am about to embark on a whole new journey. I am about to change firms and move to a more recognized brand name and I was thinking...what does it take to make it in this business? See I have been in sales for over 12 years and it has been very good to me and my family but since entering real estate full time the last 2 years, it has been a struggle for me to figure out the right combination to make it long term. Your post mentioned "sometimes we feel like a camel wondering if we will ever make it across the desert"..that had me laughing because it rings true to me.. All sorts of questions come to mind like..how do I brand myself? How do I compete with the juggernaut agents who have 20 years experience and an established footprint in the market? How do I capture every lead instead of just generating leads? How do I set myself up for long term? and not just the next months bills I need to pay. I feel I am missing some key ingredient because of my past success in sales, I have struggled with why my real estate business is lagging..not really taking off as I expected. I am a diligent worker with a college education and have mastered about every technical gadget to come out...but still not the success I experienced in the past. I think the key ingredient might be for me, is to get around those agents who are getting it done and learn as much as I can from them..maybe find a mentor. I liken it to golf.. If you always play golf with people who are not as good as you, your game will rarely improve..BUT if you play with people who are constantly whipping you around the course, eventually you get better because you are motivatred to raise your game and you pick up things just by observation that might be the difference in a round of 98 versus a round of 89. SO I commend you on your post and your linked article.. Very good advice and any other advice you can lend this Agent in it to make it, I would really appreciate.

Great Post

Eddie

Chris's comments are so inspiring to me! As a new agent and stay at home mom I am pumped and ready to give 110%! It's great to know that there are some first year in real estate success stories out there. Thank you!

Yvonne

I have a great time working with new agents to help build their network and lead stream. It's great to start off with new agents and see them grow over time.

Scott

Jim, I think that this should be a major part of pre-license training. Before getting your license, you should be taught what it will take to stay in business.

Jim, You offer great advice. The business of Real Estate is to sell to the Agent, Maybe the best thing a New Agent can learn is just to say NO! and use a simple Business plan - Percent of your sales to purchase marketing materials.

Wow! I am overwhelmed by the response! I think that there is a hole in the safety net. When an real estate agent emerges out of a pre-license and obtains their real estate license, not one wants to burst their bubble or take them off the pink cloud they are on. It is not about being pessimistic, nor is it about being negative. Instead the old model in real estate is to take everyone on! Why, because even if it is to sell their own home, or to buy a home for someones mom...the broker gets one more sale, one more sign out there. So multiply this by a large number of agents that will only do the same thing. You see where this is going. That is why in normal times the turn over rate is about 80% every 2 years.

The problem is that after you have sold a few homes it is like a crack addiction! The money is nice. You cannot believe that you worked a 9-5 for so many years and made nothing in your other job, but the dilemma is the same. How do I generate more business? How do I do it that I can create a steady stream of income that is predictable. In the 90's before 9/11 you could get in with a company and perhaps provide your services to relocating employees. That was a great niche for a lot of agents, but that has gone the way of the dinosaurs. No one transfers anymore. So again we come back to lead generation is the key! And there are more folks out there in our industry that prey on agents by offering very expensive referral leads that do not work! It has turned into a major scam perpetrated on REALTORS that no one wants to talk about. It is also the same with pay per click. Almost all of what I see is absolute fraud. Yet no one in our industry wants to talk about it.

Thanks for the great blog. I am a fairly new agent. The hardest thing is getting business from strangers. I have bought some things to help me with my prospecting. Thanks for the insight.

For sure times have changed as a Realtor for 16+ years I've surely found that out. Like anything else when times change....you have to change with it or you sink usually. Like the internet....everyone has high speed internet in most homes across America. This is the way to seek stuff out on any subject and this is the way people are hunting for homes when they need to move. Get with it....move along with the flow to survive!

Patricia Aulson/SEACOAST REALTOR/NH & ME

patricia4realestate

Ronda Thanks for the reply! It is always hard getting in front of strangers, abut it builds character and business. the money is good too! It works great, Stick with it!

Patricia Change is the only constant we have in this business. That is what make real estate so interesting. We are constantly reinventing the wheel and tweaking the model. If we do not change and adapt, it is us that are gone, not just the newcomer. Change is good! It keeps our minds open, and young!

Best wishes!

Jim,

Here in Florida, in the last 3-4 yrs, most agents that had joined companies only joined for 1 sole purpose....to be able to buy and sell their own properties and maybe drag a few investors into the vacuum we see now.

And some companies will not even hire them if they are only doing transactions that relate to their own property.

Now...because of the change in our market the ones who bragged about their production ,have all but disappeared and their licenses have expired and they have moved back into another career, they were looking for the flash in the pan, now that there sources have dried up and they realize to make a living in this business ,they are no where to be seen,you need to work hard,follow up, and alittle luck too,work with the public or strangers,arms length transactions.

I work hard and there is alot of stress in this business and maybe I do it more off the cuff than others, but I feel good at the end of the day

It is ok to brag once in a while but I just wish some would concentrate on being alittle more humble at times, but those who had the big heads are expiring just like some over priced listings.

I too.. bought and sold quiet a few in the last few years and made out pretty well, but I continued to cultivate "real" business and do not rely on my own , no one ever handed me anything and I know what I have ,how I got it and know where I came from, I might not be the top top top producer, but I am proud of my accomplishments.

Like I said before ,it was easy to get on the band wagon, but it is hard to stay on without falling off.

I just wish the ones that want to stay in this business for along time to come ,would take the time to learn alittle along the way and in time if you can be patient, your time will come.

It took me a year into real estate to figure out some of these basic principals. I use a generalized approach to prospecting. In general I mean I try many things to generate business (cold calling, sphere of influence, the occasional open house).

I have been in business for about 10 months now. We had a Buffini 100 Days to greatness start that I signed on for. The key thing to this course is it steps you through utilizing your SOI to grow your business. Too many experienced agents recommend making cold calls or expires. This just results in way too much rejection for anyone to have to take. These folks are irritated before you even call them in most cases.

NeilYou're right! It is an ego driven business. Most of those doing the bragging are doing just that. They may be producing statistics, but not walking home with the dollars. It about what you walk away with. We have been stopped time after time and asked why don't we own our own company? Why not make 600K instead of 250K. I used to run a union on the executive board. No thank you, I do not do adult day care! I am very satisfied where were are.

Dan we always have to try an figure out the business. But it is the application, into action that is difficult.

Patrick Buffini is very good... however, do not generalize about exipreds! They are very easy money. No rejection there! They have already listed once, they are willing to work with an agent, they just need the right one. Very early in the business I sold 37 expireds. All at full commissions, no discounts! They were the most appreciative of all the clients I ever had!

my saying is ,I'm not so concerned with the volume, it is how much money goes in my pocket to support the family!

When I went to Real Estate school, I quickly went and tested for my license... hmmmm that was a long time ago. I'll never understand it, but the other class members never even took the test. So, not only is the retention low, but these folks never even tried.

I think if brokers would do something to bring in more leads, and train their staff better there would be a higher retention. They need to stop bringing on new agents just to get the 5 "friends and family" deals.

Neil You are correct! It is not the volume, it is what you walk away with!

Diane - "brokers would do something to bring in more leads" But as independent sub-contractors we are the rainmakers, not the brokers. When that mindsset changed in my mind is when we started to make money. I would work hard and look at those getting leads from the broker...crumbs from the table. If I look back at those that received, they never achieved on their own. We moved on. Sooner or later in life the training wheels come off the bicycle, and we have to ride it on our own. I think we all go through this in our careers. It is the cost and the effectiveness of the lead generation that can be scary.

I agree that brokers should be more involved with training new agents. If the broker is successful and has experience it would only seem logical that they would want their new agents to learn from them. Why do they feel that this is not important?? It's almost like they don't want to share their secrets, why not? It would only benefit them in the long run!!

Jim,

I think the problem lies with the brokerage firms ,some offer large splits and you can run the business the way you want,but that is not a place for a rookie to start, such as Remax where i am currently with,I pay alittle more,but I do not have the cuffs on, when I was with Keyes for 5 plus years, even then I came with experience, but i liked the company and stayed with them, they have lots of training there and most agents start there, get a few deals under their belt and leave because the splits are not as much,but they get the training so they are not lost,some stay because they are afraid of change ,you pay less , get more training, but splits are lower and it used to be based on volume, they then changed to dollars,I for one didnt take many training classes as I was a bit of a maverick,but I took the ones that I needed more strength, I left them because management changed and my philosophies and theirs were different from the way I wanted to control my business,alot had to do with internal issues and political issues,now I do what I want as long as it is legal and ethical, but the other company is still a good company, I still have friends that work for them so there were no hard feelings.

I think when a new agent hears,"no desk fees,large splits" the impulse is to go there first and train 2nd, but when they find out they need training because they are lost, they go to the other if they can afford to make it, I tell newbies if you do this full time for 1 yr, you should have some sort of idea if you will make it in this business.

Just my 2 cents

Mellissa I totally agree! I think it would make sense that all should succeed.

Neal I agree, train first at another company, take off the training wheels and move forward. Do not start at a the top. It is better to get your feet wet first before marking a leap into the water!

What is the new agent failure rate - 80/90% within the first 2 years? Its the nature of the beast and until it is made more difficult to become a realtor, I suspect it will stay like this....

Jim,

You should do seminars because that was a great blog. Great Job!

Ben

Being half way through my second (so far very successful) year in this business...I'd like to offer my perspective on this subject.

1. Real Estate is a BUSINESS. There are (IMHO) way too many 'part-timers' out there who are only looking for a few deals a year. I come to work every day, ready to work. I am in at nearly the same time every day, and I try and leave at nearly the same time each day. The fact that I keep a professional appearance (yep, I wear a tie almost every day), that I keep fairly regular office hours, that I schedule meetings...all part of the overall package and perception that I want to make my brand.

2.Real Estate is a competitive business. Especially in a small town (like mine) there are already so many agents that everyone already knows one (brother, cousin, friend from church...). It is extremely difficult to build a base of experience or a reputation until you HAVE experience and a reputation! In order to get past this you have to work hard and focus...you have to follow up...and have a system. I don't think it matters if you follow Tom Hopkins, Brian Buffini, or Rick DeLuca (or create your OWN system); you HAVE to have a systematic approach. If you fail to do this, you will fail.

3. TRAIN on the right things. Too much (although not all) of the real estate training that I have heard about and experienced is how to market yourself. There should be MORE training on how to be a great real estate agent; how to help your clients; how to do the paperwork correctly; how to negotiate on your clients behalf...I believe that doing the hard work of being a REALTOR is ultimately the key to long term success. This is the chicken and the egg for me. I want to be a great agent for my client because then I'll have a client for a long time. Some newbies focus on GETTING clients, only to underserve them as they are learning and gaining experience. I was determined to do this right.

4. Build relationships. Put people first; the money will follow. Build strategic relationships with other professionals in the community (both fellow REALTORS, as well as in mortgage offices, escrow/title offices, etc...). When dealing with your clients, find out what they really need and help them achieve their goals. One of the other featured blogs today included a discussion on the common marketing theme of "how you are better than the next agent?" What happened to "how I can help YOU achieve YOUR goals?" Feature, Advantage, Benefit...right? Its about THEM, not us.

Ahhhh....I feel better now. Thanks. In a town of about 40,000 (and over 400 REALTORS) I closed 3 million in my first year, and am almost half way there already this year. There were only 2 other first year agents that have fared as well. I LOVE what I do, and I'm having a great time doing it.

Have a blessed day.

Great comments! I was never asked to do a seminar on agent retention, or education. That would be an interesting topic for me.

Dave! Wow...what can I say? You are a passionate about your beliefs, and just reading your response you will do very well in this business, because you treat it as a business. I think many agents do not. For them it is about the leads...then when you get it.

My broker does a "sweathogs" course for new agents every spring. I think it is a great idea. He motivates instead of shooting them down.

Sweathogs is great tool! I also think thought the brokers need to talk about budgets, business plans, and a lot more. Taxes, LLC's, incorporations, teams, liabilities etc. Reality checks.

Jim it's so painfully obvious that brokers see it as a numbers game now. Check this out, I joined Metrobrokers in 2003 when they had 2100 agents. Their recruiting average is 70-90 new agents per month. When I left 2 years later they were advertising they had 2200 agents. 70-90 new agents per month and over 2 years you only grow by 100 agents??????

It pays the bills. It is another source of revenue. Sad news is it wasn't just your old company...most are doing the same thing. There was another company in Atlanta years ago that made sure every new agent had to buy a $5000 laptop with real estate software! One little catch, you had to buy it from their supplier! I thought it was criminal!

Jim, This is a great post. I'm bookmarking it, because you said it first!

Wow, I got my first Blueberry"

Thanks Tom! I think a dose of reality helps us all!

MAR

2007

Jim,

This post has been great to read through! I started as a Realtor 2 years ago in a military town and did wonderful, I had my husband handing out my business cards to fellow soliders in Iraq and let me tell you they all called me! I was really busy and had a great business going. Then...he got out and we relocated back home. Now I'm starting out fresh and finding that it's not always going to be as easy as it was before!

Do you have any advice on prospecting expired listings? You mentioned before that you got a lot of closed transactions from them and I just can't seem to make any of them pan out.

Thanks for any pointers you have!

Wow you hit the nail on the head and I am one of those Rookies swimming in the sea with no real mentor to help me lead the way. BUT - I'm trusting the "ME" that I've known all of my life and though it is slow going I am planting roots that I truly believe will come back around in a good way over the next few years (and hopefully until I can no longer drive :) ).

As others have done; I too create my own marketing material. The only thing I do order is Business Cards and Nascar Magnet Schedules; those 2 things I cannot have enough of and it's cheaper to order them than print them myself (time is an issue as well).

One thing I noticed foremost is the lack of "Internet" presence Spencer County Indiana has. So many local business folk don't yet see the benefits in online marketing; I however am a total geek and over the past 5 - 8 months I have followed a strict regiment of getting my face and name on "Search Engine" band-wagons. I use MySpace, WannaNetwork, Care2Connect, EBay, Yahoo Groups and as many Free Submit Online Directories as I can manage. Now I realize that you "Get What You Pay For" in many instances but to do a search today vs. before I started doing this tells me that regardless --- it's helping and I AM pulling up in those searches (and I'm far from finished).

As for local marketing ideas: I used to manage a Payday Loan company over in Jasper. The majority of it's centers were destroyed in hurricane katrina but to succeed in that industry in JASPER was like pulling teeth and I took my Brand NEW branch to 2nd in the state for "New Growth" in only 8 weeks time. So - when they closed their doors and I decided to launch my Real Estate Career I knew I would use some of the same methods I used to build that store.

Partner with Buy Here/Pay Here Car Dealers: Just exchange Flyers and Business Cards
Partner with Pizza Companies: Offer to build their boxes in exchange for putting a flyer on the box
Partner with Toys 4 Tots: Do you realize that you get more than 20 Radio Ad Mentions PER DAY during the Toys4Tots Season? Take advantage of this and know it's for a great cause!

I even maintain a membership on our Local TV Channel Blogs/Groups and try to post on a weekly basis because everyone in the tri-state (or a LOT of people) log on and see my signature etc...

Being a Rookie is tough; especially where there is not true set of "Training Standards" happening in your office. All I can say is to use every avenue, get creative and just keep plugging.

-- Jenn

Wendy On expireds you have to know your market. ots of stats, very tight on pricing, and showplace condtion! Sometimes in a really soft market they are better the second or third time expired. The sellers will really listen now! Also. I get a lot of expired listings from out of state owners who find our Atlanta real estate very easily on the Internet...I have no competition there!

Jennifer - You are doing everything right! Read my article on Zero Based Marketing on RealtyTimes.com. That may give you some ideas! You are on the right track!

Oh, I agree with you, we do need to do our own business, but some newbies in the business still need those training wheels. All I was saying wad that if there were more broker support the newbies would stick around more.

Neal and others;

It's a shame when a new agent (such as myself) partners up with a Brokerage in complete trust that they will teach them the important factors and then fail to do so miserably. I do however agree that the agent needs to just step up and find the information themselves; after all Real Estate is very much a "Self-Starter" type of business and if your nature is to wait until someone brings it to you --- you won't make it in this business.

However .... I'm nearing my 9th month since taking my state test and it wasn't until December 06, that the light bulb went off in my head that said, "HEY --- JENN, You better just take the bull by the horns or get a job"! My problem WAS (I say was because this is what had to happen to my mindset) that I felt obligated to STAY with the 1st broker because they were nice and I'd actually purchased 2 homes through the broker prior to getting my license.

Now it isn't that I've turned into a monster or anything, I just had to get REAL with myself and my thoughts and recognize that this was MY CAREER; not my Brokers' Career at stake! So for roughly 6 months I stayed in the "Obligated" location and achieved a whole ONE (1) Listing and no less than 10 dead leads (they never panned out).

In January I finalized my association change and rather than hitting hard for "Listings", I have focused my attention the past 3 months on relearning the finite details of this career I chose to devote my life to. I read endless articles, read and re-read contract laws - ethics issues and all the other dry paperwork because I knew in my heart that I couldn't help a client unless I TRULY Understood the material. Earlier this month I began networking more .... I joined a local Garden Club and joined some "Town Spirit" organizations (Charitable in nature) and stop at the local Hucks in the morning for my cup of coffee vs. doing up my Travel Mug at home. When I go out to eat I choose a LOCAL establishment and I leave 3 business cards with every 20% TIP (I don't leave less than 20% because I want that waitress/server to REMEMBER ME) and I absolutely TALK TALK TALK whenever the opportunity presents itself.

For other ROOKIES out there --- Don't be afraid. Find a community like this one (which is a god-send in my opinion) and READ, ASK and Read some more. Keep a Journal (I Do) and don't allow yourself to make excuses for NOT Talking to people. It may take a while (and I'm fully prepared for that) but the ONLY THING Holding you back is YOU!

--- Live The Dream!
-- Jenn

Hi Jenn, love the "Neal and others" LoL, i should be complimented!

Anyway, remember ...do not second guess in switching brokerages, i said that the worse thing will be i would just go somewhere else if i didnt like it, no big deal, the best part of our job is we can do this anywhere ,anytime , so do not second guess change ,it is good and if we make a mistake because we had to take a step back to take a step foward, it will be ok, as long as we have our health and family, of course money is important too.

As far as education, shoot, after 11 yrs I finally had time to go for my CRS designation and I have one more course to complete before i am done, and who knows,maybe it will be my GRI next, but these designations should not stop you from moving foward, that is all the wisdom I could think of for now, good luck!

You might want to read a blog I wrote a few months ago on a simular situation, Is it fair in this market to give a new agent only 60-90 days to produce?

LoL Neal, it was the main name of a post I read up that'a way so I had to mention you.

The education part --- I am looking forward to the 2 courses I am guaranteed through the Real Estate Apprentice Grant I won (more if I win the grand prize tomorrow) but admit I'm not entirely sure which ones are the best to have.

I considered getting both for Buyers and Sellers Representative - would that be too conflicting? Also - in our area (It was on the NAR I believe) there is a new program that teaches us how to approach and present local companies on helping their employees build "Home Funds". If I remember right it is the employer matching so much money (Up to a certain amount) to help their employee's purchase a home. Anyway, I'm very drawn to programs like that -- ones that truly get down and help those who fall prey to predatory lenders and cracks of home ownership; my hope of being able to offer a better option.

So in your OP -- would obtaining designations for both buyers and sellers be conflicting or good to have? These 2 classes are paid for 100% so I'm not out any money. There are other options so if the more seasoned Realtors recommend one or the other I'll trust that and choose something else for my 2nd class.

-- Jenn

Great Article Neal, thanks.

Great posts! As far as the listing Sellers Representative designation...I think that is a bunch of BS! That is my opinion. I also do not see a conflict if you chose to to both buyer/seller. The reason why so many of the buyer agent companies failed...is that there are many sources of income. When we first got in the business we did all listings, when the Internet first came 90% buyers, and today the mix is almost 50/50. It is not so much the designations, but rather having the confidence that you can handle all aspects of the deal as a professional.

I agree Jim, in this market you need to work with both sellers and especially buyers, the designation is just for referrals, nothing more, I could care less about the 3 letters next to my name, that is why I took more than 10 yrs to do it, but actually some of the course modules are intersting, and I picked up a few things, I never heard of the Listing Sellers Rep designation either, I am all street ,learn on the streets, that is the best way to interact with people and experience the issues and learn from mistakes, I do not think there is any special recipe, you need to be a people person,and not worry too much about all the BS education when you probably will never use it on the street,but I would never tell a new agent not to take a course if they feel it might help them, but as I said,most of them are also BS.

No offense to anyone,and not to be negative, but I always wonder why all these teachers teach you ,but they are not actively doing RE transactions, they make a living selling all these seminars, I just do not believe in many of them.

I believe in hard work and effort to follow up, and eventually if you can follow that ,it will happen!

That is my opinion.

There is an old saying, "Those who can't teach!" I think there is a reason some pontificate, but never really have any experience. The other thing, I am a firm believer that sales is not about scripts. It is about having knowledge,and being able to share that knowledge in a way that your clients can grasp it, and make informed decisions. I also feel success in real estate is feeling comfortable with yourself. You are a good person, doing the right thing, trying to help others achieve their goals and objectives without compromising your own values. God gave each of us talents. Some of us are better at numbers, selling, closing, seeing the big picture, being a deal maker, or a finder of solutions! We just have to be the best that we can each day...success will come!

Too bad licensing focuses so much on legalese, HUD statements and the like. Reading good advice on here has become my mentor as I have found a ton of new ideas in a short time.

Rita

MAR

2007

I agree. The real issue should be "Street Smarts in Real Estate!" It is what you need to know to survive and prosper. The office is a poor classroom also. I found that when I used REMAX Forum, Mainstreet and Mastermind groups is where I really started to lean about real estate. There was a a sharing of ideas, solutions to issues, a positive outlook etc.

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