Finance Guide Center - real estate!!!!!!?

real estate!!!!!!?

ok, so im interested in becoming a real estate agent, wondering if anyone had any feedback on where they are now, and how they got there. also did anyone got to college or university to study or get there licence? any feedback would be great thanks!!

Public Comments

um my dad's a very good real estate agents actually one of the best in toronto, canada. i know for a fact that my dad didn't go to college or university but im sure it would help. he is a very intellectualy person mainly because he reads a lot. he had a lot of trouble at first and was hardly selling any homes. being a real estate in the yearly years is very stressful because you do not have a reputation at all and no experience. there is a lot of competition in real estate so you have to provide something unique that no other realtor does. ALL i can say is prospect A LOT (meaning call ppl on the phone and ask if they want to sell or buy houses) my dad talks to like 170 ppl a day and i think hes one of the fex that actually do that in NORTH AMERICA. it is most likely 95% or more the ppl u ask will say no so get used to rejection. when your in real estate you have to be a very positive person and look for opportunities. PROSPECT! oh and i suggest when you become experienced that you only sell houses so that you can make your own schedule. when ur dealing with buying clients you have to follow their schedule.
Now is not good time to get this line of work. It's generally a buyers market, but now harder than ever to qualify for home homes with the "credit crunch". Licenses are provided by the state you live in, contactthem for more info. Good luck, hope this helps
College is not a requirement to gettin your license, and I think it would be just too much "bull". The first thing you should know is that, YOU DONT LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT GETTING BUSINESS IN REAL ESTATE CLASS. The only thing you learn is how not to get sued, and how to understand the termanoligy. I have been an agent for about eight years, and I dont think I use more than ten percent of what I learned. Your real education begins when they through you to the "wolves". The thing about being a real estate agent is that it seems so cool. You get to work whenever you want, you dont have a boss, and you can work whenever you want. The problem is that its not like that. Well its not like that for the people that make money. The truth about being successfull is that you have to go in at 7 or 8 every day. You need to look for leads (expireds, FSBOs, Sphere, Website, and so on) to keep your business running.Then you have to call them. This is not always easy with the new "do not call" list. You have to look them up first. I dont think the market will have a big impact on your business if you work hard. Most agent know what they have to do to be successfull, but they dont. It is just too easy to say that the market is slow, or any other number of excuses they come up with. The best thing to do is get the book Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies and follow it closely. You cant pick and choose what methids you use to get business in the begining. Besides most of us agents get our wealth when the market is bad. We just buy buy buy, and then when it picks up again we sell sell sell. You will learn more as time goes on.
I actually own a real estate agency in New Jersey. My advice... In most states real estate schools need to be approved and monitored by the state real estate commission, find their website and you will find a list of approved schools. The market is rough now for many experienced agents, about 5% of the agents out there do 95% of the deals, the rest fight over the scraps. It is a highly competitive industry and most of the people get into it because they think it is so easy to get rich, truth be told many agents would make more off of collecting unemployment, there are also many who have no business being in the business and these are the ones who are giving the honest ones a bad rep. You should be dependable, honest with integrity and a hard worker if you want to make it and make a comfortable living in real estate and it is not hard to do if you ignore the bad advice many agents will give you or try to discourage you with. Most of them don't get to the office until 10 or 11:am anyway, they are easy to spot, some will pass themselves off as big shots and be arrogant. I love this business and try to conduct myself as a professional with integrity and always look out for the best interest of my clients, you do that and you can't go wrong. (Note: this can be a challenge, many of the people you try to help may think you are out to screw them and fight you every step of the way.) You need to be patient, persistent and aggressive when necessary, not in a physical why mind you. If you are looking to break in you will need a source of income or enough in savings to last you about 6 months as backup money. It is not free to get started either, most companies will offer some sort of scholarship or discount for schools, my agency offers this and will reimburse you 100% for schooling after you get your first sale to cover it from our end of the commissions. Look for agencies that make similar offers. You will also need money to pay for: (Below are average costs) Real Estate School $300 to $600 License $100 to $200 Local board of realtors $200 to $600 MLS membership $160 to $1,200 E&O (Errors and Omissions insurance) $400-$600 Business Cards $100 online you can get about $5,000 for this price, don't buy through the brokerage or franchise, you can get them cheaper online. Other marketing materials that cost: Custom Postcards, Letters, CMA software, Contract Software, a good Contact Manager, Name Badge (Like a mini billboard, recommended), website, suite and tie or appropriate business clothing (its critical to look the part), the list goes on but these are the bare necessities in my book. It's a good idea to have at least a $2-3,000 to start, not to mention I would advise doing research about the agency you choose by talking to a few of their agents 1 on 1 asking what they think about the agency. Do they have regularly scheduled good training free or paid available? Critical - Real Estate school only teaches you how not to break the laws! Do they offer any benefits or perks? Example: We offer a vehicle discount purchase program, Group rate health insurance, Discounts on printed marketing materials; we have a postage allowance where we pay for the postage for "x" amount of mailings per week. Also find out if there are any minimum requirements such as you are required to do floor time duty, unpaid secretary! However, you can get leads this way and may be a good way to start. Any minimum sales per specified time period? Do you need to pay any desk fees? This is important because it can be a major expense, many offices offering higher commission splits usually offer little if any support, training, or perks, usually they make most of their money by charging desk rental fees and fees for using their equipment such as fax and phone, photo copies, office assistants, and so on. Be careful for these can be MAJOR expenses and not recommended for newbie’s. It is also a good idea to get involved with an active mentor, one who does a lot of business and won’t just get to share your deals and not offer any advice or guidance. Basically you need to find a good honest brokerage and hookup with a good productive agent who will work with you and guide you, this can be difficult to find and another suggestion or alternative would be to take additional training classes or designation courses, not seminar classes but a designation course like a GRI, CRS, ePro CCIM and others like them to become knowledgeable about the business you choose to be in. This may be the best option and you'll end up more knowledgeable than most "mentors". Good Luck!