I think it’s fair to say that more people are getting out of the real estate business than into it right now, but for those of you who are just beginning a career in real estate, this post is for you.  You are getting into the field at a very exciting time, and if you can survive this market, you can handle almost anything the future can possibly throw at you.  Make no mistake however, this is not an easy career path, and the industry has changed a lot over the years.  I realize that the majority of my readers are everyday people looking for information, not real estate professionals, and not aspiring Realtors.  If you are considering a career in real estate, hit the “read the rest of this entry” link. If not, thank you for your patience.

This is not a cheap career path. You will need to have enough money to survive (or a partner who is fully employed) until things take off. You will need money for brokerage fees, dues in professional organizations such as your local chapter of NAR, money for continuing education classes, money for marketing materials including business cards and mailings.

Part time is a path to failure. There’s a line experienced Realtors like to use on new ones:  “Real Estate is great because you only have to work half days, and it doesn’t matter whether you work the first 12 hours or the second 12 hours!” To do the job right for your clients takes time.  The days of “Pamela PTA” supplementing the family income just by helping the rest of the room-mothers find or sell a home are over.   Seriously. If you want a part time job, go apply at Starbucks.  At least then you’ll be eligible for health insurance!

Don’t count your commission money before the check arrives. The transaction is not complete until escrow closes and the property records.  Trust me, a lot can go wrong between “accepted offer” and COE (that’s Close Of Escrow).  It is your job to anticipate, prevent, and mitigate these things that can go wrong, but some transactions can’t be saved.  Even if escrow closes, if you have not done all your paperwork correctly and gotten it signed by all the right parties and into the file, there is a chance you might not get paid.

Think towards a specialty. Granted, you may find that it doesn’t work out, but if you plan on being a commercial agent, there is no point in signing on with an agency that does exclusively residential properties!  You won’t sell a lot of South Side condos from a North Side office.  You won’t have a lot of credibility selling golf community homes from an office in a sketchy area of town.

Choose your brokerage carefully. Ask some working Realtors what sorts of questions you should pose to your prospective broker.  If you don’t know any Realtors to ask, pick some at random!  Make sure you know what your broker will expect of you in terms of performance — and remember, your broker wants you to succeed, because if you fail you won’t be bringing money into his office anymore.  Make sure you understand the costs involved and what kind of training you should expect. Speaking of training…

Get your education out of the way early. Many states have a post-licensing class for newly licensed real estate agents.  Take it as soon as you can.  You might even be able to take it during that lag time between applying for your license and actually getting it!  There are several reasons I suggest this.  First, much of the information in these classes is specifically designed for people with little or no experience. Let the nice instructor tell you exactly what you are going to need to know in the next month! Second, these classes are time consuming;  you want to get them out of the way while you are not juggling a listing, two escrows, and four buyers. Finally — and a little more bizarrely — there will be a good solid 10-20% of the class that did not take this advice and have been working most of a year.  You’ll recognize them as the ones that are immediately on the cell phone once the instructor calls a break.  These people will have all kinds of interesting stories to underscore whatever topic is presented, and will also illustrate some pitfalls you can avoid.

Be judicious about networking events. Once, I went to a very well-hyped event featuring Dave Liniger, founder of RE/MAX.  There were easily 500 agents in attendance. In the first 15 minutes, Mr. Liniger announced that “There is no money to be made in a room full of other Realtors.”  Don’t get me wrong, you can network and get/give some referrals in such an environment, but really most of the other people in the room are competitors, not collaborators.  Go in to any networking event knowing exactly what you expect to gain out of the deal.  Skew your events towards things where you will meet people who actually need your services.

Keep up to date on the industry and the things that effect it. Read!  Talk to experts!  Think! Be aware of how many listings are available in your region.  Look through the business and real estate sections of your local paper regularly.  Keep up with real estate industry news through specialized publications and websites.  Stay on top of what new laws and regulations will be changing the way you do business.  Learn the difference between your local market and the national market for real estate.  Have a good idea what the big commercial developments in your area are, because they will drive residential patterns. Know who your local residential developers are, even if you don’t do tract homes.  Learn to take the opinions of a bunch of experts, compare it to what you are seeing, and come up with your own view about what is going on.

Get in the habit of keeping a time card. You can do this fairly easily in Excel or another spreadsheet. It’s less than optimal, but you could even do it in a calendar.  You need to know how much time you are devoting to your business each day and each week on average. You need to be able to say “you know, my Tuesdays are usually really busy, do you suppose we could do that meeting on Wednesday?” You need to be able to see how much time you are spending with each client, how much time you are spending in the office, and how much time you are spending on lead-generating activities.  Once you have an idea where you are spending your time, you can make decisions to help optimize the time you have. And hopefully it will never come to this, but if the IRS or some other investigator comes sniffing around, you will be glad to have these records.

Goals are important, and flexible. Just because you didn’t actually bring in some absurd amount in commissions in your first year doesn’t make you a failure!  Measure your goals against what actually happened, and adjust accordingly.

Take control of your attitude. There are really very few things you can control in this world;  you are one of the few things under your control.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s any “magic” to thinking happy thoughts, but listening too much to your local “Downer Dave” can seriously effect your ability to get work done.  Ultimately, your motivation must come from within.  Find out what makes you tick, and act on it!

Thanks for reading.  Assuming I haven’t completely discouraged you, I hope to complete a transaction with you someday!