You Have Your Real Estate License … Now What?
Develop relationships (lots of them!) and begin building skills necessary for a career in real estate sales. Spend time with members of organizations where you belong. Hang out at Starbucks with friends. Call your family, neighbors, veterinarian, and hair stylist. After you talk about the price of gasoline, Fluffy’s allergies, and the latest hair trends, the topic of real estate will probably come up. Everyone loves to discuss the current real estate market!
When you’re not in the process of developing relationships, try the following seven skill-building tips:
1.) Attend all training sessions offered by your brokerage firm and local REALTOR® association. Not only will you learn something new at each event, but you also will be developing relationships with other new agents.
2.) Spend time in your office. You will learn by simply listening to conversations, and you will be establishing relationships with other practitioners in your office. Become familiar with the phone system and other office policies and procedures.
3.) Hold open houses. Offer to hold listings open for experienced agents.
4.) Tour, tour, tour! This is critical to understanding your inventory and pricing within local markets. Sign in at each home and leave your business card, which allows agents to
see your name.
5.) Preview vacant homes. Again, this is a wonderful opportunity to better understand the product you are representing.
6.) Review contractual and other legal documents. Read each document at least six times (sales agreement, consumer notice, listing agreement, buyer agency agreement, etc.) and meet with your manager or broker to discuss each in detail.
7.) Become very, very familiar with your Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Spend plenty of time using your online MLS system to become familiar with executing property searches, tracking client data, and creating a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA). Regularly review changes in property inventory to identify new and expired listings, and properties that are under agreement or have sold.
Begin your career in real estate by developing both relationships and skills needed to succeed in this industry. Clients will soon follow!
Julie Cain Cwynar is a REALTOR® with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services in Pittsburgh, Pa. She began her real estate career this year after spending almost 10 years as a management consultant for Fortune 500 companies.
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