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Life As A New Real Estate Agent

By
Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker Premier Properties SL3375271

You have your license now.  Do you know where to hang it?

     Determine where you willing to drive everyday.  You want a base close to where you live.  Certainly, you will likely show houses a greater distance from the base but not everyday. 

     Find out what the office fees are.  It can range from a little to a lot. Hidden fees are ridiculous.  If fees are hidden, what else are they hiding from you?  They must be upfront regarding all charges.

     Find out the commission structure.

     Talk to other people who work there or used to work there.

     Find out what the rules are.  For example, when can you get on the 'sales' or transaction floor to receive incoming real estate inquiries.  

     Know what is expected from you. For example, will you be fired if you don't have a

set number of transactions in a fixed number of days. 

 

Open Houses - Do they help a new agent get business?

 

     When you are new, You really work hard to get business.  Some lisiting agents don't

attend their own Open House but allow new people to hold it for them.  They say that

if a walk-in is interested, that person is your client.  The problem I have seen is that the

Open Houses are not well attended.  The new agent doesn't do the marketing but relies

on the lisiting agent to market it.  It is afterall, the listing agent's responsibility.  They

might not put a lot of their efforts into marketing the property.  They will be able to tell

the owners that they had an Open House which makes the owners feel good that the

listing agent is working for them.  No one shows up or very few show up, don't

communicate and leave quickly.  New agents, like myself, held numerous Open Houses

with negative results. 

 

I propose a question to the reader, what is your opinion if the new agent were to charge the listing agent to hold the Open House for them? 

 

    Charge a fee to hold the Open House.  If any Open House ends up in a sale for the new

agent, the new agent will refund the Open House fee that they charged.  Is this going on 

anywhere? 

     Here are some of the elements of an Open House that the new agent may

encounter which, in my opinion, would justify a fee;  The new agent is at the Open

House for 3 or more hours at a time (commited to staying there),  The property might be

devoid of furniture so you have to bring a chair,  The electricity and/or water may be

turned off (forget about going to the toilet), No internet connection to do any work,  No

one shows up to the Open House, The new agent is freeing up the lisiting agent's time so

the listing agent can be productive, The listing agent is getting the credit from the

owners as having done work for them so the owners tell other people about the great

work the listing agent provided to them, and No credit or acknowledgement to the new agent. 

 

 

Show All Comments Sort:
Joan Cox
House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

Brenda, congratulations on getting your real estate license.    Great points on what to look for in an office.   Not sure if you will get a listing agent to pay you to hold an open house.    All the leads would be for you to start with.   Welcome to ActiveRain!  

Jul 14, 2017 09:47 AM
Brenda McCann
Coldwell Banker Premier Properties - Saint Augustine, FL
An Agent That Cares in NE Florida

Hello Joan,

thank you for your comments.  I actually put a question out in the community. It was to ask if listing agents pay new agents to hold their Open House.  It was fun, the variety of responses.

Jul 15, 2017 09:16 AM