Getting Started in Your Real Estate Career

Starting a real estate business (or any business) from scratch can be daunting. There are numerous ways to go about it but some of the most tried and true methods from the pre-social media era still hold true. These combined with social media as a tool will help you build a lasting career. Below is some guidance to help you launch your career in a way that will provide you with a sustainable business that can take you from here through retirement if you’d like it to. (NOTE – While the below advice can work for someone who is part time in real estate, this advice is geared towards the person who is full time in real estate or who wants to transition out of their other job and have real estate be their full-time income and career). Remember, company leads are nice, but they will not “lead” you to a self-sustaining career on their own. If you don’t want to always be dependent on someone else feeding you business (and, of course, charing your for it – as they should) take your career into your own hands and build something that will last and make you more money while you do it.

First steps: 

  1. Make a list of everyone you know (they might already be in your phone).
  2. Include addresses where you can or start adding addresses over time. You might want to send them an actual piece of mail at some point.
  3. Start calling the people on your list. Ask them how they’re doing and when they ask you how you’re doing you’ll let them you just got your license in real estate and that you’d love it if they would put you in touch with anyone with any real estate needs.
  4. Take notes (mental or literal) on the language that felt most comfortable to you when having these conversations. These conversations will start to become your “scripts.”
  5. Start setting up coffees, hikes, walks, lunches, or whatever you usually like to do with friends and acquaintances to build stronger relationships and rapport
  6. Stay active in your hobbies or join some communities if you are not already a part of any (volunteer work, hiking clubs, line dancing, scrapbooking…whatever floats your boat). The important thing is to meet new people with whom you have an affinity or something in common. This will give you a way to add new people to your list in a way that is organic. After all, people like to do business with people they like (thanks dad – Nathan Freedman – for teaching my this saying).
  7. Start posting to social media about real estate, your newfound (or old) hobbies, what you’re leaning, what you’re doing in your life personally, and (occasionally) that you would like to help people with real estate.

Learn Quickly:

  1. Immerse yourself in real estate. Go to open houses, Broker Tours, Preview properties, study and write sample contracts, work with your mentors, go to Continuing Education classes, spend time at your REALTOR association. Take in the work and world or real estate so you can sound (and be) more fluent when you speak to your developing “sphere of influence.” Become a market expert.
  2. If you have access to training materials at your brokerage, read them. Take notes with questions and go to your broker or mentor and ask about them.
  3. Be your own client. Pretend you are going to buy a house. Create a search in the MLS, use any programs you would normally make available to a client. Sign a Buyer Brokerage Agreement. View houses that you like. Compare them and pick one. Write an offer for yourself. Submit it to your mentor or trainer. Have them write a counter offer to you. Go through the process so you can see what your clients will experience and so you’re familiar with the programs you’ll need to use when the time comes. Do it quick so you have some confidence before you get that first buyer.
  4. Shadow at showings and listing appointments if you can. If you have someone you can shadow on a showings or listing appointment, do it! Experiential learning is critical in anything but especially in real estate where the conversations brokers have with their clients and prospects is as important as the contracts they write. You should still read contracts, info sheets and forms as a part of your training, but it won’t truly all fall into place until you have clients or have the opportunity to shadow someone so you see the work in action.
  5. Do Open Houses for other brokers. This is a great way to (possibly) pick up some buyers but most importantly you get to practice putting out signs, opening lockboxes, talking about houses, engaging with strangers and learning your “open house scripts” (I suggest the simple question of “So, where do you live now?” as an ice-breaker). It also teaches you to “ask for the business.” Ask people if they’re “already working with someone” or if they’d like you to “set the up for a search.” You can let them know there is no commitment needed for you to do that.

Finally, keep doing the above: 

Keep it up! You’ll always need to learn more, meet new people, tell people what you’re doing and improve your skills. The cycle never stops if you’re going to be the best real estate professional you can be and you want to have a successful and self-sustaining career. You’ll sometimes hear people say they have an entirely “referral based business” but that doesn’t mean they’re not also out there meeting new people and adding clients to their referral base. The methods may be able to change over time, but you’ll never stop marketing yourself, growing as a professional and improving your skills and understanding of the market.

If you want a business that doesn’t rely on some other person sending you “leads” for the whole of your career, you need to do what it takes to create a career of your own.