A Fresh Approach to Real Estate Rookie-hood with Jennifer Allan: September 2007

Say Hello to Jake!

One fine day, Jake entered the wonderful world of real estate sales. He went to school at night, passed his test and found an office to bless with his presence.

On his first day as a licensed salesperson, his new broker greeted him heartily and said "Welcome Aboard! Here's your desk, here's your phone, best of luck to you!"

Jake was a little befuddled by this, but he did his best to do as he was told. He spent the first few months of his real estate career learning about cold-calling strangers, door-knocking neighbors, holding open houses for other agents and convincing For Sale by Owners (FSBO) sellers that they couldn't possibly succeed without him.

By Jake's third month in the business, he was working with two marginally-qualified buyers who refused to commit to him exclusively, one FSBO who said he'd be happy to pay Jake a co-op if he brought a buyer, and a seller who planned to list his home "sometime next year." He was farming his neighborhood and half-heartedly calling a few expired listings every week.

Jake was discouraged, to put it mildly. His bank account was dwindling, his enthusiasm was fading and he didn't see anything fun about being self-employed. In fact, the daily drudgery of the 9-5 was looking pretty good to him right about now (and, frankly, to his wife as well who was having a hard time putting on her happy face every day.)

In short, Jake was on the verge of failure.

Stay tuned...

www.sellwithsoul.com

Copyright Jennifer Allan 2007

I haven't written this blog yet, but I suspect it might be unpopular by the time I'm finished with it. Darn. Oh well.

Here goes... There's one thing I feel pretty strongly about with regard to our beloved rookie agents. They don't know what they're doing. If they're fresh out of real estate school, I guarantee that they don't know any more about selling real estate than, well, than I did when I was fresh out of real estate school! And trust me, that's not much.

So, what's our solution? Tell ‘em to Fake it ‘til they make it! Get on that phone, drum up some business and fly by the seat of your pants, just like the rest of us did. Oh, and don't worry, your broker or mentor will be right there with you every step of the way.

And, that's what most of us did and what most of our newbies still do. Scary, isn't it? Sure, it might be reasonable to throw a brand new bartender on the floor and let him sink or swim... but allowing a brand new real estate agent to manage a $500,000 financial transaction? Or even a $50,000 one?

"But, Jennifer," you protest... "We all did it that way and the world didn't come to an end. Somehow, we survived." Well, maybe. Some of us did; most didn't. What's the recent drop-out rate? 80%? 90%? Think that might be partly due to the harsh reality of the rookie experience (or lack thereof)?

Anyway, here's my point. Rookies, take a few weeks or even a month to learn your stuff. I know you want to hit the phones and tell everyone on the planet that You Just Got Your License, but don't you think you owe it to your future fan club to know what the heck you're doing first? I'm not asking you to know it all, but at the very least.... you should:

• Know your contracts and disclosures backwards and forwards, inside and out. Every provision, every fill-in-the-blank, every place to initial and sign ... and why.
  
  
• Know your MLS system backwards and forwards, inside and out. Know how to search for active listings, sold comparables, pending sales. How to find tax assessor information.
  
  
• Know and understand the basics of buyer representation. Make sure you have an overall understanding of the buyer process - from pre-qualification to closing. While you can't know everything there is until you go through it once or twice or a hundred times, you should at least be aware of how it works.
  
  
• Have a familiarity with your local real estate market - this is so important! In a few weeks, if you bust your backside, you can learn a lot about your area and might even be able to become an expert, of sorts, in a neighborhood or two.

This list could go on and on and on, and if I had my way, all rookie agents would be required to undergo a six month internship before they could legally practice real estate. Alas, no one has asked me for my opinion yet, so I'll just do my little part here and beg our rookies (and their managing brokers) to commit to being competent real estate advisors before becoming competent real estate prospectors...

Thanks for reading!

www.sellwithsoul.com

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Confidence-Builders for the Rookie Real Estate Agent

Copyright Jennifer Allan 2007

Let's talk about Enthusiasm and the Rookie Real Estate Agent.

Without it, you're toast. You're going to work real hard the next several weeks, months and years. Your emotions and ego are going to take a real beating and you'll have days where you can't believe you volunteered for this crap. But you'll also have days where you're bouncing off the clouds and telling everyone you know how much you love your job.   It's those days that make it all worthwhile. And don't worry, the good days will outnumber the bad, as long as your enthusiasm stays intact.  

But in order to maintain the enthusiasm you're going to need to make it to your second year, you need to understand what is about to happen to you and prepare the best you can. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Is selling real estate your primary job? Or are you squeezing it in around your "real" job? (read more)
• Is your family prepared for the realities of your new career? Are they supportive? (read more)
• Are you willing and able to "waste" your time with people who probably won't lead you to a paycheck anytime soon? (read more)
• Are you willing to work 7 days a week, when and if necessary?

If the answers to these questions is mostly "No, not really" then you're going to struggle keeping up your enthusiasm. Because all four of these questions need to be answered with a strong YES in order for you to really enjoy your new career. Otherwise, you'll quickly resent it, be miserable, and egads, you might even fail. I'd hate to see that happen to you!

www.SellwithSoul.com

Copyright Jennifer Allan 2007