real estate career: A Few Suggestions - 07/05/17 05:57 AM
When you are newly licensed and have begun a real estate career, you tend to follow the lead of some major players in your professional life.  Brokers, trainers, and top producers will all have a few suggestions as you muddle your way through the first month of filling out forms, attending meetings, setting up sites, ordering cards, and generally staying bewildered and wondering when and if it will ever end.  Once the paperwork is done, and the dust has settled, it may be time for a few suggestions about what to do next.
 
Granted, not every new real estate agent starts out … (1 comments)

real estate career: The Freedom to… - 07/02/17 04:08 PM
Now that the 4th is over and things are back to normal, reflection on our various liberties is in order.  We have such freedom in this country!  We have the freedom to practice real estate and to earn as much money as we want to.  We are only limited by ourselves.  We also have the freedom to enjoy ourselves when, in fact, we don’t wish to work.  There is no one to tell us we must work today and we should put in so many hours.  Being an entrepreneur gives us the freedom to make our own way.
 
Sometimes the freedom to … (0 comments)

real estate career: Raising Your Bar - 06/28/17 07:29 AM
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, there were 1,255,619 active members as of June 1st.  This figure does not include licensees, like myself, who are not members of NAR, but who hold active licenses.  I cannot imagine how many more that represents, but suffice it to say we have lots of real estate licensees in this country!  So, you might agree that raising your bar is necessary to stand out from the myriad of other agents in your area.
 
Our country grew out of visions of entrepreneurial spirits.  Back in the earliest days of this nation, men dreamed of owning a … (1 comments)

real estate career: Inspiration - 06/27/17 06:43 AM
In life, we have many inspirations, and some are relegated to our personal lives and some are relegated to our professional lives.  When blogging, I usually try to keep my personal life experiences to a minimum because after all, this is a real estate school blog.  When thinking about inspiration from a professional point of view, it’s easy to figure out what inspires me, and I would love to share that with you!
 
Having entered the real estate industry as a single mother of two small girls, no child support, 32 years old and living in a city where I knew only … (0 comments)

real estate career: The Rules of the Game - 06/25/17 02:09 PM
Although the practice of real estate is laced with many consumer laws and licensing laws, there are rules of the game that are not specifically statutory rules or written laws.  For example, there has always been a rule that says if we don’t have anything good to say about someone or something, we probably should keep our mouths shut.  In the real estate industry, this rule is important because just as sure as you say something negative about another real estate agent, it will somehow come back to haunt you.
 
Additionally, the Golden Rule has always been promoted by the National Association … (1 comments)

real estate career: It’s Your Choice - 06/21/17 03:33 AM
Again, it’s raining!  We’ve had more rain than we know what to do with, and quite frankly, calling Florida the “Sunshine State” right now is a bit of an oxymoron if you ask me.  As I write this blog, I am in my nightgown, sipping a cup of coffee, listening to the rain flood my yard and, of course, I began thinking about the practice of real estate and how it’s your choice when it comes to getting dressed today.
 
In a real estate career, it’s your choice to go into the office, to go into the field, to go door knocking … (0 comments)

real estate career: How Do You Know? - 06/15/17 09:46 AM
This question plagues me each month we teach a pre-license class.  At least one student will ask us, “how do you know you’re choosing the right office?”  What a huge responsibility that is for us!  I’m always asking the very same question!  We’ve taught at Keller Williams offices, an ERA office and now we are using Coldwell Banker facilities.  So, how do you know it’s the right fit?
 
When a student asks that question, the answer isn’t always simple.  Sometimes it depends on what the student is looking for in a brokerage.  Some students cannot jump into a full-time real estate career, … (1 comments)

real estate career: A Rainy Day - 06/15/17 08:47 AM
It seems our neck of the woods has had more rain than sunshine lately.  We know it will end, but we also know that since it’s hurricane season, a rainy day is something of a regular occurrence.  We’ve all heard that we should save up for a rainy day in case something unexpected happens.  While this idiom is appropriate for saving money, it can also be appropriate in your real estate career.
 
Saving for a rainy day makes sense, and for REALTORS® and real estate agents, it’s a matter of success or failure of careers.  Most of you know real estate is … (4 comments)

real estate career: You Are Not Your Thoughts - 06/12/17 12:55 PM
When negativity sets in and your mind begins to ramble or you create conversations with others in your mind, it is easy to fall prey to your thoughts.  To train your mind to reject all negative thinking takes years of meditation, training and is never easy to attain.  Some of us are products of great negativity over the years.  It could be difficult to realize you are not your thoughts.  Because thoughts come from within ourselves, we assume they are part of us, which doesn’t have to be the case.  It’s okay to observe your thoughts and to be aware of … (1 comments)

real estate career: My Idea of Fun - 06/05/17 11:57 AM
When I was younger, my idea of fun was quite different than it is now.  Thank goodness for paradigm shifts because I’d miss the mark if I was out every night drinking, dancing and carousing.  When I think about all the times I did things like that, it’s as if I wasn’t the one doing them, but rather, someone else did them in my name.  It’s a funny thing about age.  The older we get, the more “establishment” we become, and the realities of our past become memories that fade along the way.
 
My idea of fun today has more to do … (2 comments)

real estate career: A Commitment - 06/03/17 06:46 AM
TEAM Hughes Real Estate School is winding down its June Fast Track Real Estate Class, which will finish up tomorrow and then the students will take their final exam on Sunday.  This class causes me to think about commitment.  Even though the Fast Track Real Estate Class is only one week out of a student’s life, it takes a huge commitment to see it through.  We ask our students to literally give up their lives for a week.  We ask Moms and Dads to inform their families that they won’t be around for them for a week and to remove themselves … (2 comments)

real estate career: When All Else Fails - 06/01/17 05:53 AM
Every part of the U.S. is experiencing an influx of real estate agents and REALTORS®.  
The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials, ARELLO, estimated there were over 2,000,000 real estate licensees in the U.S. during 2015, and that number has had to have grown with the successful market we’ve experienced.  There are some fascinating statistics offered by NAR that show the practice of real estate is growing throughout the country.
 
With all this growth, why then do we see real estate agents failing?  According to REALTOR® Magazine, there are four main reasons why agents do not succeed.  Without going into … (0 comments)

real estate career: Try - 05/31/17 01:22 PM
As an instructor, one of my pet peeves is to hear a student say he/she would like to “try” real estate.  I’m reminded of something my instructor told me that has resonated to me over the years.  He said he could not recall a doctor, lawyer or accountant tell him they were trying their chosen vocation.  So many of us seem to forget the practice of real estate is a career, not a job to try out until something better comes along.
 
Statistics show many real estate agents drop out their first year of practice.  I’ve pondered that dilemma more than once, … (3 comments)

real estate career: Advice to Youth - 05/29/17 03:35 AM
Graduations are all around us and at every ceremony you hear advice to youth that is supposed to make some sort of change in the direction of many of the graduates.  Young people are told to go forward and to set the world on fire, to make changes that will ultimately change the world around them.  Some advice to youth is to go on to a greater education, to be become someone important.
 
My outlook, however, is a bit different.  I graduated high school at age 17 in 1966 and was not one of those kids bound for college.  As a matter … (0 comments)

real estate career: Memorial Day - 05/26/17 04:41 AM
A memorial is defined as something designed to preserve the memory of someone or something.  We observe Memorial Day to honor those who died in service to our country.  I personally observe Memorial Day to honor all those who have served in our country and who are no longer with us.
 
My Dad, my uncles, my father-in-law and many of my friends should be honored today for their service to this country.  In addition to the many people I know who have passed on, I have many in my life who have served and who still enjoy the pleasure of this life.  … (2 comments)

real estate career: Don’t Be Afraid of Change - 05/26/17 04:12 AM
TEAM Hughes Real Estate School was asked last year to open a real estate school in Daphne, AL at a Keller Williams Office.  At the time, our main Pensacola campus was also in a Keller Williams Office, and it seemed like the right thing to do.  We kept telling ourselves, “don’t be afraid of change” even though every fiber within us told us not to do it.  One year later, and we know that we do not want to be in Alabama.  Alabama is a nice state, and their Real Estate Commission is excellent.  Our reasons for not wanting to be … (0 comments)

real estate career: Daily Practices - 05/23/17 03:13 AM
If you are a person of faith, you most likely make prayer a matter of one of your daily practices.  If you are a person with high control issues, one of your daily practices may be to check your credit cards and banking balances to make sure you are in control of them.  If you are a parent with children still at home, you may make a daily practice of telling your children you love them.  If you are a REALTOR® or a real estate agent, one of your daily practices should be to contact someone.  After all, this is a … (1 comments)

real estate career: Joy Comes - 05/21/17 08:56 AM
The other day I blogged about disappointments and how they sometimes infiltrate our lives.  In the particular instance I used about my grandson, Oliver, not being able to visit, we had a twist of fate the very next day.  My daughter was able to procure a direct flight from Boston to New Orleans, and Oliver can visit after all, which turned my disappointment into joy.  Joy comes in the morning (Ps. 30:1-5) has always been true in my life, and even when the disappointments remained, there were always other things to replace them with joy.  In this case, it is Oliver, … (1 comments)

real estate career: Disappointments - 05/19/17 11:07 AM
We all face disappointments sooner or later, and some of us face greater disappointments than others.  For instance, I have a 10-year old grandson in Maine.  His name is Oliver and he’s a great kid.  His older brother, Sullivan, is awesome too, but Sully has reached puberty and has lost his “baby boy” edge.  Sully wants to work over the summer, and I get that.  Oliver, on the other hand, is the perfect candidate for, “Come to Nana and let her spoil you this summer!”  Therein lies the disappointment of the week.  Oliver was willing, but after all the unaccompanied minor … (2 comments)

real estate career: Amazing Times - 05/15/17 03:59 PM
We’ve watched the market for years.  As REALTORS®, my husband and I were always aware of interest rates, inflationary times, sellers vs. buyers’ markets, and increases in value.  We entered into ministry in 2006, so we were somewhat insulated against the difficult times that were to follow, although we suffered losses in real estate investments, as well as in our portfolios.  We believe we are now living in some pretty amazing times.  Put your theological beliefs aside, lay your political beliefs down for a few minutes, and let me tell you how a broker who has been around this rodeo for … (0 comments)